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"I like you! Please go out with me!"
A love confession.
The crystal clear, determined voice of a girl echoed in this quiet school backyard was surely, without a doubt, a love confession. But that confession didn't come out from her mouth, nor was it directed to her. In other words, she was simply eavesdropping it.
Correction, she was simply accidentally eavesdropping it.
She was the student on duty for her class today, and she was just in the middle of taking the trash out when she happened to witness this scene that seemed as if it was taken straight out of a romance high school drama. To make it worse the confession was directed to one of her teammates, Shinonome Akito, out of all people.
Did she feel awkward? Yes, very. Even so, she couldn't just walk out in the middle of the confession that she had no other choice but to hide behind this wall while waiting for them to get done with their business, not wanting to ruin the event for them.
From this distance of course she could hear everything.
Well, since it's already like this let's just take advantage of the situation and watch it silently.
An peeked a bit to have a clearer look at the scene. She couldn't see Akito's face because his back was facing her, but she could see the girl's flushed face clearly. Seeing her looking at him nervously made her want to cheer for her somehow, you have a bad taste in guys but good luck! She thought inwardly.
She's a cute one... how's Akito going to answer? Are you going to date her?
"I realized I fell in love with Shinonome-kun when you helped me picking up my stuffs last week," The girl talked again. "I thought Shinonome-kun's smile was so gentle that I can't get it out of my mind. I want to be your girlfriend... if you'd like."
Gentle, eh? An questioned the strange word lined up with Akito's name then gasped quietly as she remembered how he was actually two-faced. That's right. Akito is popular because of that good guy face of him, isn't he? He was unknowingly fooling some innocent maidens, Akito, you sinful bastard.
Well, that meant she didn't know his true face yet.
A sense of superiority passed in her for a second and An blinked, face dumbfounded with confusion.
"...?"
What was that?
"...Sorry," An quickly ignored it and peeked at them again when Akito finally answered after a moment of silence. "I have someone I like, so I can't go out with you."
The girl looked surprised, but eventually she smiled and thanked him for the honest reply. She bowed at him before leaving. Akito seemed to be sighing by himself before he left the place too. An was the only one left there.
She still froze in her spot because, An too, was surprised.
Wait, what—? For real??
This was a shocking information even for her. In her eyes, Akito was the kind of person who only had dream and music inside his head. An was sure Akito would say something along the line "I'm dating music" if he got asked about that kind of stuff, since that was how she'd answer too. He must be the same as her, or so she thought.
Yet, she was wrong after all.
"...I see, so even that Akito has someone he likes after all, huh...?"
That's good, isn't it? An thought to herself again. Despite his seriousness, he actually still got that kind of interest in him. He's still your usual high-schooler after all, she nodded to herself, but—
Sting.
"? Again...?"
—for a moment, she felt like her heart was being squeezed tight.
This was already the second time she got some unfamiliar feelings today. What's up with today? She wondered. It must be because today was the first time she witnessed a confession and his answer was so unexpected that she had a hard time processing it. That's right, that must be the reason why.
Let's just hurry and go home now, I have practice with everyone today.
Thinking so, An decided to leave the foreign, gloomy feeling behind.
"An-chan, is there anything worrying you?"
...Or so that was what she intended to do.
Reality wouldn't go as easy as she imagined, she couldn't just forget about the whole thing. She tried to not think about that strange pain from the other day but she always found herself to be out of it these days, just like this time.
"O-oh, nope. I'm totally fine!" An smiled reassuringly to appease Kohane's worry. "Sorry, Kohane. I invited you to eat ice cream together with me but I'm spacing out like this."
"No, no, it's fine, An-chan. But if you have anything in your mind please feel free to talk about it to me!"
Kohane clenched her fists in front of her chest, 'you can rely on me!' was clearly written on her face and An giggled a bit thinking she looked like a reliable hamster mascot. It would be a problem if this hindered their practice later so maybe it would be better to consult to Kohane about this.
"It's not much of a problem, but I just... kind of feeling something strange in my chest. Kinda like it was being squeezed or something...? It's a bit painful."
"Huh...? I-isn't that kind of pain quite bad!? We should get you checked soon before anything happens, An-chan!!"
Kohane panicked, An quickly calmed her down.
"No, it's fine, it's fine!" She waved her hands to get Kohane sit down again. "It never happened anymore... It just happened that time when I was at school, so I wondered what was the reason."
"School... I see. Was there something that made you anxious at that time? Maybe a test or something."
At the mention of test, An nervously coughed. "That's not it at all, for sure! Anyway, I never feel like that even when we get test without warning. It was more like, 'gloom' then 'squeeze'... something like that!" An explained using sound effects but quickly apologized for her incoherent explanation when Kohane just stared at her. "Sorry, Kohane... I'm really bad at explaining."
"Oh, I understand. Don't worry! An-chan... when you got that pain, was someone else also involved?"
"Someone else?"
"Yes, like maybe someone you like at school... or something?"
An blinked when Kohane blushed as she asked her about this. Oh, this would be the first time they talked about this kind of topic.
"Someone I like... no, I don't think there's someone like that but..." An remembered the situation where she got that strange pain again, "Come to think of it, it happened when I accidentally saw Akito being confessed by someone the other day."
As soon as An said this, Kohane's eyes widened. She gasped, looking as if she wanted to say something to her but she kept stumbling upon her words.
"An-chan... that... eh? Maybe that's because... oh my God..." An tilted her head a bit, Kohane took a deep breath before continuing again, "An-chan, I'm sorry if I'm wrong, perhaps... are you possibly in love with Shinonome-kun?"
Her spoonful of rum raisin ice cream stopped midway to her mouth, she gawked at Kohane.
"Huh...? Me?" She pointed at herself.
Kohane nodded.
"To Akito?? It's that Shinonome Akito, you know?????"
Kohane nodded even harder.
"Nope! Nope!"
"Of course, this is just a guess!! But... if you only feel like your heart is being squeezed when you see Shinonome-kun then I think... that could be the case."
Blood rushed to her face immediately as the realization hit her.
"Nope! No way!! There's no way that kind of thing is possible, Kohane! I mean, why would I have that kind of feeling towards Akito out of everyone..." An still tried to get her way out by being in denial, but seeing how Kohane looked at her seriously her voice quickly died down. "...no way, right...?"
She tried to think about it calmly but she couldn't find any other answer.
"...Kohane... help me..."
"Fufu... An-chan is a girl in love after all~"
She patted her head comfortingly while giggling a bit when An buried her face in her own arms to hide her flushed face, groaning. No way, no way, no way, she screamed inside her head.
No way. Since when?
It might take quite some time for her to completely accept this whole thing.
After her talk with Kohane, dealing with her newly found feelings became harder. It was hard to control her quickened heartbeat when she was with Akito, she unconsciously averted her gaze every time their eyes met, and she got unnecessarily jumpy whenever he called out to her.
If even Kohane and Touya could notice that there was something wrong with her then surely Akito could too. He might be the first to notice it even. If her strange behavior towards him was getting this obvious then surely he wouldn't just leave her alone either.
That was what she thought when she found Akito was already waiting for her in front of the shoe lockers.
"Akito? Oh, are you waiting for Touya? Earlier I think I saw Touya with Tenma-senpa—"
"No," Akito quickly cut her words. "I'm waiting for you. Let's talk for a bit."
"Eh~? At this time? We have a team practice today anyway, if there's anything you need to say you can just—"
"An."
He cut her words again, his eyes looking as if they were telling her 'don't try to run away', and she immediately stopped trying to change the topic.
"...Alright, let's talk."
There's no escaping anymore, An gulped.
They went to an unoccupied park where there weren't many people who would walk by. Thinking it was a nice place to talk, they sat on the bench. Neither of them said anything for a while, probably wondering from where they should start, until Akito finally broke the silence.
"You know... you realize you've been acting strange towards me these days, right?" Akito continued when An nodded to his words, "...Were you avoiding me on purpose after all? If I did something wrong to you without realizing it then I apolo—"
"Wait, Akito. Let me say something first."
It would be unfair for Akito if he apologized first when he didn't actually did anything wrong. In the first place it was her fault for eavesdropping on his personal matter and... to fall in love without permission, when they should be focusing on chasing for their dream.
Taking a deep breath and bracing her heart, An clenched her fists.
"I'm sorry, I think I'm in love with Akito."
There was no response from the guy so she continued while looking down, not daring to see his reaction yet.
"The truth is I accidentally overheard someone confessing to you a few days ago and felt depressed when I heard you have someone you like... from that day I realized I actually have feelings for Akito. I tried to hide it so you wouldn't notice, but I ended up avoiding Akito in the process... I'm sorry if that offends you."
She never expected she'd confess to someone in this kind of situation but things would just get worse if she dragged this matter on. Let's just end this once and for all, forget everything, and return to usual. An closed her eyes.
"I promise my feelings for Akito wouldn't be a problem for the team. I'm sure it's just a matter of time, that's why... even after this, let's continue singing together like nothing happened."
Silence for a while, making her grew even more nervous.
"... What's that? Don't joke with me."
Akito finally said, An jolted a bit in surprise.
"I-I know it's annoying for you! I won't bother Akito about it anymore, so—"
"That's not what I mean!"
He pulled on her hand to get her sit beside him again when she was about to escape. An finally looked at his face for the first time since she confessed her feelings to him, and she widened her eyes when she saw what kind of expression Akito got on his face.
She was expecting him to find her feelings annoying, that it would get in the way, and that he'd look at her in disgust.
Yet, totally different from what she expected, he was smiling happily as if he just received a good news. The smile was sincere enough to get her heart skipped a beat, she probably understood what the other girl said about falling for his smile now.
Huh...? Why do you look this happy, Akito?
"Geez... why are you so quick to run away when it's about this kind of thing? At least listen to my part first," Akito groaned to his palm, his other hand was still holding her hand. "That confession, huh... I thought I felt someone else's presence, so it was you. Yeah, what I said that time was the truth. There's someone I like, but that person... don't you have any guess at all who that person is, An?"
An stared at him quizzically as if he just asked the dumbest question, how could I know who Akito's crush is? Akito just let out a tired sigh at her confused face.
"Remember... when you asked me about my favorite color, what was my answer?"
"Oh, that..." An tried to remember. "It's orange, right? Of course Akito would say his own hair color... ugh, to think you like your own hair that much it becomes your favorite color."
"...Stupid..."
There was no one else except them there. When neither of them was talking, only the creaking sound of the bench when Akito got up from it echoed in the air. Just a moment later orange met with yellowish green, staring face-to-face with him standing in front of her and her slightly looking up at him. Akito was still smiling.
"It's your eye color, that's why I like it."
Before she could even respond, as if swallowing her words, a pair of lips gently closed the distance.
Be it her, or him, or the realization between them,
Everything was falling, all at once, but she didn't mind at all.