Chapter Text
Watanabe Akari found herself curious about the sudden change one of her classmates had gone through. Yakuin Jirou was a very plain and boring guy, exactly the opposite of the kind of guys she liked (Tenjin). Normally she would never pay attention to someone of his caliber in the first place, however his recent behavior had caught her notice. It wasn't overtly noticeable, however he seemed less reserved than before. The way he carried himself had changed and he appeared to be more sure of himself.
What really caught her eye, however, was when she would catch him staring at her. Usually she would just chalk it up to yet another guy that had fallen for her charm, however the look in his eye spoke a different story. Rather than attraction, it seemed as though an air of melancholy surrounded him whenever he looked at her.
Well, whatever was going on with him had nothing to do with her anyways. She was far more excited about the upcoming marriage practical. She knew the odds of her being paired up with Minami were small, but she still held out hope. More than likely, though, is that she would probably end up paired with some loser virgin. Who knows, she might even get paired up with-
–
"My name is Yakuin Jirou. Let's get along for the year."
Akari found herself staring at her new roommate for the year and cursing that she managed to jinx herself. She didn't think that she would actually end up with Yakuin as her partner.
"Disgusting, don't talk to me so casually."
Akari was actually more upset than she thought she would be and her words came out harsher than she intended. She immediately regretted her mistake when she saw Yakuin's smile drop a fraction, which made her feel guilty.
Beep
Suddenly a loud beeping noise rang out from somewhere in the apartment and Akari raised her head to find a camera mounted on the wall above a large signboard with a -1 in bright red lighting on it.
“What the- What’s up with that scoreboard? And why is there a camera? Isn’t that an invasion of privacy?!”
“Don’t worry, the camera’s automated, there’s no one watching it.” Yakuin comforted her casually, waving a thick booklet at her, “Also there’s no cameras in the bathroom, toilet, or our rooms. The points are how they score this practical, we’ll earn points if we’re nice to each other and lose points if we’re not.”
Akari ripped the book out of his hands and flipped through the pages until she found the section that said exactly that. She wondered how Yakuin had known all that information when she hadn’t seen him so much as look at the booklet, but then another section caught her eye.
At the end of each month, the top 10 students (A rank) in the rankings will be allowed to change their pairs.
“That’s it!” She exclaimed excitedly, “If we get to A rank then I can switch partners with Minami-kun! And you, Virgin-kun, are going to help me.”
Something she said must have affected him, because Yakuin got that sad faraway look in his eyes again. Without answering he stood up and made his way to the door.
“I’m going to get a drink.”
“Get one for me too!” She called out to him.
“Strawberry milk, right?”
Then, without waiting for confirmation, Yakuin exited, leaving Akari alone to wonder how he knew what she wanted before she even told him. Honestly if she didn’t know any better she might have thought he was a stalker, but she knew that Yakuin was too cowardly to do something like that.
With nothing better to do, she decided to take a shower to try and get her mind off things and help her relax. It wasn’t a particularly long shower, however she was still surprised to see that Yakuin had yet to return from getting drinks.
Finally, after another few minutes of waiting, the door creaked open and Yakuin slipped in holding a bottle of soda in one hand and a carton of strawberry milk in the other. He silently walked over and dropped himself down onto the couch next to her before handing her the strawberry milk.
“Sorry it took a while.” He apologized, “I ran into Minami-kun and Shiori.”
Akari’s head shot up at the mention of Tenjin.
“Minami-kun and Sakurazaka-san? What were they doing together?”
“Ah, right. They’re partners for this practical.”
At the sudden and bitter reminder that another girl was acting as her crush’s wife Akari couldn’t stop tears from forming at the corners of her eyes.
“I hate this.” She murmured sullenly, “I hate that Minami-kun is pretending to be married to another girl.”
It was at that moment that an event that Akari never could have foreseen occurred. Yakuin reached over and gently pulled her into a hug, burying her face into his surprisingly broad chest.
“It’s okay to cry.”
For some reason his words comforted her and she found herself bawling her eyes out in his warm embrace, baring her soul to him. She didn’t know how long she spent like this, wrapped in his strong, but gentle, arms, however she eventually cried herself out and finally pulled back to see Yakuin staring at her with a tender gaze.
“How can you be so calm?” She blurted out.
“What do you mean?” He questioned her.
“I mean, you like Sakurazaka right? Are you really okay with her living with some other guy? Aren’t you afraid that she’ll be snatched away before you even have a chance to tell her how you feel?”
Upon hearing her words Yakuin’s smile drops and a somber look crosses his face.
“I don’t like Shiori that way. I already have someone I love, but she's-”
Yakuin stops before he finishes his sentence and shakes his head wistfully. Just as Akari is about to press him for more details the doorbell rings, interrupting their conversation.
“Oiii! Jirou-chan! My wife’s out right now, so let’s go raiding!”
“Coming!” Yakuin calls back.
Akari isn’t sure what possesses her to do so, but as Yakuin is getting his shoes on she gets up and makes her way over to him.
“Wait! We haven’t earned any points yet, so before you go at least give your wife a goodbye kiss.”
She expected Yakuin to brush her off or get flustered, but what actually happened next stunned her. Without even a moment’s hesitation Yakuin leaned over, grasped her chin, and pressed their lips together for a few seconds.
As they parted, Yakuin appeared to be just as shocked as she, herself, was, because he had a wide-eyed look of surprise on his face.
“Ah, I didn’t mean to- Out of habit I-”
Yakuin seemed to realize something because he quickly slapped a hand over his mouth before briskly slipping out the door, leaving Akari alone with her rapidly beating heart and equally rapidly expanding list of questions.