Chapter Text
Chapter 1 When a Star Wishes on You
The first day of their first year at Seishun
“Hi! My name is Watanabe, Watanabe Akari, let's be friends.”
The tall young man looked up and down at the “gal” with her blouse half open, loose scarf, big earrings, and fancy nails. His eyes spotted the scrunchie she had around her thigh and looked away in embarrassment.
“Uh huh, right… I’m Yakuin Jirou, why would someone like you want to be friends with a guy like me?”
Akari tried to make her smile even brighter and pose even more cutely.
“Let's start by being friends and find out together.”
“Whatever.” said Jirou as he shouldered past her.
The high she had been riding all morning crashed and she was left alone by the shoe lockers with a sinking feeling in her stomach. She had dreamed about this moment since this morning when she saw a Yakuin on the roster board. Yakuin was a rare last name. That meant there was a good chance it was HIM! She scouted his class out at lunch comparing him to the pictures she still had on her phone. He sure looked like an older and taller version of the guy she thought had been so cool, but this guy hadn’t been cool at all. He’d been a huge jerk instead.
It’s the first day at a new school. He’s probably just overwhelmed and didn’t want to go here either, that would make anyone shy and awkward, she told herself.
The next day at lunch she caught him just outside his classroom as he was trying to leave.
“Yakuin-kun, I toates made too much food. Want to help me eat it on the roof?”
She hoped he would be too happy from being invited to a picnic of home cooked food from a pretty girl to notice how forward she was being.
“Why, so you can leave me locked up there? Go pick on someone else.”
He continued on his way to the store leaving her standing there unable to speak. She felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Hey gorge.”
She turned around to find a girl with jewelry and painted nails.
“Name’s Oohashi Natsumi, but my friends usually shorten it to somethin cute.”
“Watanabe Akari, I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“Fufufu, did I startle you? We’re going to be friends, so call me Nats-chan.”
The spell broken Akari giggled.
“Want to eat with me?”
“Toates, Nats-chan, I love your earrings!.”
“Thanks, I told the rents, let me get them pierced or I’ll start paid dating.” She started laughing and patted Akari on the shoulder. “Just kidding, the look on your face. Mom gave them to me for luck.”
Back in Natsumi’s classroom the extra food made her a lot of new friends, but she couldn’t wrap her head around why someone would accuse her of picking on them.
That night she tossed and turned in bed replaying everything and trying to figure out what happened. It was absolutely the same guy, but he had changed. He had really changed. She took a step back and studied him over the next few weeks. He kept to himself and played games during every break, before class, and according to his classmates during class too. She was told during his class introduction he had said “there's nothing special about me” and sat back down.
After she learned that she decided he needed more time to adjust, but before summer break she invited him on a group outing to the beach. He told her he wasn’t interested and then accused her, her friends, and girls in general of inviting as many boys as they could to get free stuff.
When finals approached she invited him to a big study group at the library. It was the gentlest way she could think of to get him out of his shell. Maybe in a safe place like the library, he would let his guard down, learn his classmates weren’t out to get him, and realize she was a nice girl trying her best to be his friend. Then once they were friends she could properly confess.
“Good morning, Yakuin-kun!”
He sighed and looked up from his game. “Watanabe. What do you want?”
Akari batted aside his attitude and kept her demeanor cheerful.
“A bunch of us are studying at the library Saturday afternoon. Please join us. We are going to have breakout sessions for every subject.”
He interrupted her pitch. “Study groups aren’t for me. I’m not smart enough for anyone to need my help. Anyway, I’ve been using YouTube tutorials and it’s worked so far.”
“Oh I see. You’re still welcome to stop by if you change your mind.”
He grunted and went back to his game.
On Valentine's Day she decided to swing for the fences instead and made him a big heart-shaped chocolate. She stayed up all night agonizing over what to write. In the end it said, “Filled with my true feelings.” She tried to find a way to get him alone, but him and his only friend, Kamo Sadaharu, seemed sewn together at the hip. She gave up getting him alone and tried to give it to him anyway by the shoe lockers.
“Yakuin-san, You don’t need to return anything, but please accept this.”
“I didn’t ask you to do anything for me, so keep it.”
“Hey buddy, don’t be like that. Take it and share it with me.”
Akari turned red and was about to explode on the glasses wearing boy next to him.
“Don’t be stupid, Kamo. Does she look like the kind of girl who can cook? She’s been stalking me since the first day of school. There’s no telling what she might have put in it.”
“You idiot!” She ran off clutching the chocolate.
Sachi and Natsumi found her crying and eating it in an empty club room.
“Oh flower baby, what are you doing with all that chocolate?” asked Sachi.
“Making sure my feelings don’t get thrown in the trash.”
“Let’s share it instead. Your feelings are important to us too.”
“Shooter, we’re your ride or die gals.”
After the chocolate was eaten and Akari had stopped crying. Sachi explained to her that some people are determined to have a miserable time and they make sure everyone around them suffers too. She cautioned Akari that the only way to protect yourself from someone like that is to keep your distance.
Afterwards, she followed her friends’ advice, but the damage was already done. Being shot down so publically by such an unpopular guy turned the whole thing into gossip and sent her own popularity tumbling. Trying to find the bright side she told herself, at least I found out who my real friends are.
Eventually the class found a new thing to talk about and Akari worked on a new plan. It took her weeks of work but she got ¾’s of the class to come out and take over a pool. She even held her nose and mended fences with Kamo convincing him to make sure Jirou would come. That had taken an assist from Natsumi. She was between boyfriends and had agreed to help by motivating Kamo. If he could deliver Jirou. He could hang out with her at the pool.
Even motivated by the prospect of spending a day with the class’s shortstack in a swimsuit, he couldn’t convince Jirou to come out and hang with his classmates. Everyone had a great time and it restored most of her popularity. Akari tried to look on the bright side, true friends or not, she understood it was better to be popular than the butt of a joke, but there was no denying her plan to touch his heart had failed once again.
The next Valentine's Day came and she couldn’t resist trying one more time. “If this fails then I’ll put him behind me”, she told her friends. Akari spent a good chunk of her New Year’s money buying every guy in their class full size special edition Kit Kats. Jirou watched her suspiciously from the last row as she handed out the cellophane bags of strawberry maple flavored candy, but when it was his turn he took one and gave her a mumbled thank you anyway. Unnoticed by Akari, the red haired class clownTerafune was standing behind her with a piece of paper that said “she cries, we end you” next to a skull.
The last day of school was also the de facto White/Return Day because they would be on break March 14th. By the time Jirou got there Akari’s desk and two extra bags were piled high and stuffed with return gifts. It was all little stuff, but some of the guys who had been thrilled not to get skunked again had given her merch with the cute long eared pig she loved so much instead of traditional white gifts.
Jirou held out a gift lazily wrapped in tissue paper. “My mom made me get this for you.”
Mustering all of her self control she stood up to take it and gave him the little bow of thanks she had given everyone else.
She managed to say, “Thank you very much, Yakuin-kun,” before he could retreat.
Akari rushed home so she could open it alone in her room. The package contained a cheap pen and notepad decorated with Sakura blossoms. He had left the price tag, so she also knew it cost exactly three times as much as the Kit Kat. That didn’t stop it from becoming her new favorite possession. It was the first thing he had ever given her. It might be the first thing he had given anyone in years. To her it was more valuable than a diamond tennis bracelet, it was a warm feeling of hope.
The first day of their third year.
Her new apartment contained a surprise, moving boxes marked Yakuin. Some God must have been listening at the temple this morning, because this was a miracle. First the thaw at Valentine’s Day, then sharing a row with him, Shiori, and Mei, and now this. Everything was falling into place.
The next day before class Akari grabbed her besties begging for an emergency meeting after school. Last class over the three gals gathered on the roof.
“So why are you here with us and not at home with your husband?” asked the direct Takamiya Sachi.
“Yeah, you’re both in the go home club. Maybe, her lips need a rest, or she wants some advice on losing the old v-card,” teased the always flirty Natsumi.
Akari looked away and turned a bright shade of pink.
“She’s our pure flower baby, not some wanna be nympho like you Nats-chan,” said Sachi, trying to put Akari at ease.
“We’ll see who’s a wannabe Monday. Yesterday, I sent Ryo-kun a tame little selfie of me and my new husband. He got soooo jealous. I reminded him that we hadn’t done nothin that would make us like exclusive, exclusive. Well, well, well this morning he booked an overnight trip for Saturday.”
“Good for you, don't forget to bring condoms. Guys like to “forget” that little detail sometimes. But we're here because Akari is having a problem.”
“Sorry, Kari-chan, I just had to let you my gals know that after 5 months it looks like “motion” is approachin.” She thrust her hips back and forth. “Don't worry about me Sachi-chan.” She smugly pointed at herself. “I've been on the pill since December in case he wanted to give me a creampie instead of a Christmas Cake. So like, what’s the latest drama with you and Yakuin?”
“Guys, he thinks I “played him”.”
“You playing him? How the fuck?”
“It started bad and got worse. When he walked through the door and saw I was going to be his partner he got really upset. We had a fight and the scoreboard kept beeping and driving the score into negative numbers. I think he would have gone on for hours except Kamo rang the doorbell. I didn't want him to leave with things like that, so I followed him out to the entryway and asked him to kiss me goodbye like a married couple.”
“Then what happened?”
She took a big breath and went on.
“I pointed at my cheek and closed my eyes.”
“So… did he kiss you?”
“On the lips.” She whispered.
“ON THE LIPS!”
Sachi slapped her shoulder. “Oh yeah!! You've been waiting what, five years?”
“Wait! How is that “playin” a guy? Doesn’t that make him the player? He’s the one who decided where to kiss you.” said Natsumi.
“I was so shocked I couldn't have stopped him if I wanted to.”
“Which you didn't.”
“Gawd of course not.”
“What happened afterwards?”
“He left with Kamo and was super shy and quiet this morning. I thought maybe he felt he had done something wrong. So like right before he left. I told him I wasn’t upset and told him he’s a good kisser and we could like make a kiss goodbye our thing like if he wanted to. That's when he dragged me into the bath by the wrist.”
“Did he hurt you!?”
“It was a little scary, but he didn’t hurt me. But he kept hold of my arm while going on about how I had tricked him and stolen his first kiss that he had been saving for Shiori-chan.”
“Yakuin likes Sakurazaka-san?!”
“What, I thought he didn't like anything cept his stupid games.”
“He’s way too shy to do anything, but he says he’s been crushing on her for years and years, like since kindergarten.”
“But he kissed you?”
“Only because he was angry at me.”
“Unbelievable.”
“He thought I was bullying him and he was trying to show me how dangerous it was to mess with him.”
“Gawd, what a jerk, we need to get you outta there.”
“He thinks so too. He wants to transfer and be with Shiori, but like you need an A rank to trade.”
“Good luck with that attitude of his.”
“Maybe I should help him get what he wants?”
“What! After all these years you're going giftwrap him and hand him over to Sakurazaka?”
“Is she? It's going to be hard to get in the top ten. Akari is going to have to spend a lot of time with him to get all those points. Time she can use to get closer to him. Is that what you're thinking?”
“Unless you guys think I shouldn't.”
“Does he realize there's no guarantee Sakurazaka-san will even be in the top ten at the same time he is, or that she might not want to live with him? And who is she paired with anyway?”
“No, it didn't sound like he had thought of any of that. I asked Shiori-chan this morning and she is living with Tenjin.”
“Why would she trade out of that? Half the class would drop their panties just to cook him breakfast the next morning.”
“Well I wouldn't. How bout you, Nats-chan?”
“Not me, I like them rougher round the edges.”
“I don't think they want to sleep with him, Nats-chan,” said Akari. “He’s more like an idol and they’re his fans.”
“Do you think that’s the deal with all your “fans” too?”
“Fufufu, that’s funny Nats-chan. I think they understand that just because a girl is nice to them that it doesn’t mean anything romantic.”
Natsumi and Sachi shared a look once again wondering how Akari could be so level headed and aware of some things and totally naive about others.
“Back to why we’re here. Akari, have you given Yakuin an answer yet?”
“No, I wanted to talk to my gals first.”
“Little sis, you “ fall seven times, get up eight” better than anyone I know, but you need to decide when enough is enough and hold yourself to that decision.
Sachi grabbed her friend’s hands and held them together.
“Real talk, he lays hands on you like that again, we go to the teachers. This is the Reiwa era, we aren’t letting guys get away with that shit anymore.”
“Or give me the word and Ryo-kun and his friends can rearrange his face.”
“I promise I’ll set him right, and let's keep that option between us, kay? So that's my trainwreck of a marriage practical so far, how’d my gals do?”
“Mines awwright. He's not a hunk like Ryo, but he doesn't seem like a perv who's rushed back to the dorm to fap one out with my dirty panties.”
“Damn, Nats-chan, are you sure that’s not your kink?”
“As if!”
“What about you Sachi?
“Yeah, spill some tea, big sister.”
“I think me and him are going to get along fine. He’s emotionally mature and already has his own lover so no drama there. His hot take on this is, “we won't learn anything if we don't take it seriously”.”
“Whatevs, It’s all just too cringe.”
“Don’t sleep on this Nats-chan.”
“Or what?”
“Or you’ll miss your chance to practice living with a guy.”
“So like the first useful thing about this school?”
All three of them laughed.
“Akari, are you feeling better?”
“Yea, thanks for being my besties.”
She hugged Akari. “We love you Akari. Remember you don’t have to live in this situationship forever. The world is full of men.”
“Toates is Kari, but good friends are harder to find.” said Natsumi, grabbing Akari from Sachi and pressing her into her oversized chest.
Sachi started for the door.
“Sorry fam. Gotta go.”
“So soon?”
“Meeting hubs at the grocery store.”
Natsumi stage whispered to Akari. “Two days and she’s already domesticated.”
“Sorry, I'm going to bounce on you too. I’m going to try and find Jirou. We need stuff from the store too.”
“Just hook up on Line.”
“He’s never given me his ID.”
“Whah? Tell Mr. Red Flag that’s one more thing he needs to do after he pulls his head out of ass and starts treating my gal right.”
As Akari disappeared she reached for her own phone.
End Chapter 1 As always thanks for reading ^_^ .
I shouldn’t be letting the plot bunnies pull me away from other projects, but here we all are ^_^. Please let me know what you think. Is this something anyone is interested in seeing play out?
Shameless begging, I don’t think a writer has to be the ghost of Tolstoy to earn a kudos. It takes a split second for you and the email report in the morning is a super fun way to start the day for all the authors here, not just me. It really motivates us to keep on writing.
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