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Maki takes a deep breath, then walks over to the vending machine where Sendoh is enthusiastically proclaiming his equal amounts of love for Pocari Sweat and Calpico Soda to an uninterested-looking Fukuda. He taps Sendoh on the shoulder, and says, “Hey, you got a second?”
“Maki-senpai,” Sendoh says, surprised. He glances quickly at Fukuda, who still looks uninterested, so he shrugs and says, “Sure.”
He follows Maki down the hallway, just far enough to be out of Fukuda’s hearing, or so Maki thinks. Sendoh has no idea what Maki wants to discuss with him, so he doesn’t point out that Fukuda actually has super-good hearing. Kind of like Batman.
He’s picturing Fukuda in a black rubber suit with pointy ears when Maki clears his throat, twice, then says, “I like you.”
Sendoh just stares at Maki rather blankly, Fukuda-as-Batman momentarily forgotten. Eventually, he says, “Oh.”
When no other reply appears to be forthcoming, Maki starts to wonder if Sendoh actually heard him, if Fukuda down the hall still standing in front of the vending machine heard him, if maybe he isn’t a little bit crazy for saying anything to begin with. He resists the urge to shuffle his feet or look away, and staring directly into Sendoh’s eyes (which are oddly pretty, a guy over six feet tall shouldn’t have such pretty blue eyes), Maki says, “I realise you probably didn’t want to hear this from a guy, but... I just wanted to tell you how I felt. Sorry for bothering you.” And he turns to walk away and go home and perhaps bury his head under his pillow until sometime next year when his heart might stop thumping like it’s about to jump right out of his chest.
Sendoh grabs his arm before he’s taken two steps. “Um. Senpai, did you just... confess?” he asks hesitantly.
Maki turns around again, and he thinks he’s as confused as Sendoh looks. “Uh, yeah. That wasn’t clear when I said ‘I like you’?”
“Well, if you say it like that,” Sendoh mumbles, still holding Maki’s arm with one hand while rubbing his forehead with the other like he has a headache. “Sorry, it’s just that I’ve never gotten a confession from a guy before. Or, well, I have, but that was a really long time ago, I think it was in my first year of junior high? Before my growth spurt,” Sendoh finishes a little lamely, hoping vaguely that Maki doesn’t think he’s bragging or anything.
“Oh,” is all Maki says, because now he’s rather preoccupied with the thought of a shorter Sendoh with those guileless blue eyes and maybe chubbier cheeks.
Sendoh waits for Maki to say something else, though he doesn’t know what, really, and nothing comes. So he prompts, “Was there anything else you wanted to tell me, senpai?”
“No, not really,” Maki says, and he actually isn’t too sure what they’re talking about anymore. “I just wanted to tell you that I like you,” he repeats, again wondering if Fukuda can hear them (and Sendoh especially, since he doesn’t seem to have lowered his voice from its usual volume despite their topic of conversation).
“Oh,” Sendoh says (again). “So does that mean you want to... go out with me?”
Maki looks confused (again), as if he hadn’t thought that far ahead, or even considered the possibility of Sendoh saying yes at all. He recovers quickly, though, and says, “Yeah. Yes. Maybe we could... go see a movie together this weekend? If you don’t have other plans already.”
“Nope, no plans,” Sendoh says, thinking of the assignment due on Monday that he wasn’t going to start writing until Sunday night anyway. “Have you seen the new Resident Evil movie? I’ve been meaning to see it since it came out.”
Maki winces slightly, but Sendoh doesn’t notice because he’s tugging Maki towards the exit and asking curiously, “Am I going to be the girl in this relationship?”
Maki’s heartbeat, after having calmed down a bit, suddenly picks up again to what must surely be an unhealthy speed. “In what respect, exactly?”
“In the paying-for-dates respect,” Sendoh explains, and Maki doesn’t know whether to feel disappointed or relieved. “I think I should be the girl, ‘cause I’m prettier than you,” he says with an almost-innocent grin.
Maki silently agrees but, trying very hard not to act like an over-eager dork, he just shrugs, and Sendoh apparently takes that as assent. They walk out of the basketball stadium with Sendoh wrapped around Maki’s arm, possibly dragging him off to begin paying for dates straight away.
Fukuda, still standing in front of the vending machine and trying to decide between Pocari Sweat and Calpico Soda, ends up buying a can of iced coffee instead.