Chapter Text
There he was.
Your (e/c) orbs have spotted a certain strawberry blond from across the schoolyard. The boy whose eyes you caught was someone from your high school. Someone well known, in fact. It was easy for him to get your attention, as well as the other students who were flocking around him. Mainly girls, of course.
Gakushu Asano.
He had the looks, the intelligence, the charisma, and on top of that, you heard that his family is pretty wealthy. With all those aspects, it's hard to not find him interesting. Even you couldn't help yourself. He had the whole school wrapped around his finger and acted as a ruler despite him only being a second-year high school student.
You shook your head, bringing you out of your daze.
Your eyes and mind no longer lingering on Asano, you proceed to walk towards the inside of your high school. Your eyes went back to the piece of paper you were holding.
The corner of your lips quirked downwards. Your expression has shifted into a more disapproving stare than the first time from looking at your paper.
It was an essay you had to write for English class. It's not the worst essay you've ever written, but you still felt the need to feel shame over it. Moments before, you didn't feel as rotten nor cared that much... maybe it's because you saw Asano and remembered how perfect he is and his grades, which made you feel like your grades are garbage in comparison.
... Well, truth be told, your grades aren't garbage per se, according to the overall grades of the entire school. But at the same time, you don't have the best grades... the best words one would describe your grade is...
...average.
One could say you're just an average student. Which it's true. You blend in with the rest of the students quite well. You go to all of your classes, you never give your teachers any trouble, nor your classmates, and you do all of your homework.
"I heard that Yuri-san is going to confess to Asano-kun later today."
"Huh? But I thought Asano-kun was already seeing a girl from another school?"
"Oh, that's just a rumour."
You walked off too far to hear the rest of the conversation. It wasn't any of your concern about what Asano does, and you're not the type to get into gossip.
"Your grades are doing better.... well, only a bit. I know you can do better than this." Your teacher said, eyes glazing over your previous works.
"I can, but I don't plan on getting the most perfect grades. I think my grades are fine the way they are now."
When it comes to grades or school itself, you never really give it your all. It wasn't because you were lazy-- okay, maybe you were a little lazy, but you never really saw the point in obtaining such good scores or perfect scores. If your grades are fine, then you have nothing to be worried about.
Your teacher wasn't completely satisfied with your words, and it clearly showed on his face, but unless you were passing and having fairly good scores, then there wasn't much he could say to help motivate you.
"I see... Um," he cleared his throat. "Come see me again if you ever want extra credits. Remember now, there are a lot of universities that require better grades than this."
It's not like you plan on going to a tough college or anything like that. Heck, you weren't even sure if you wanted to go to college.
"Thank you, sensei." You did a light bow before exiting the staff room.
You went on with your usual routine. Surely you don't want to hear what you do in school. All you do is go to your classes, eat lunch and go to more classes.
Pretty boring, right?
Well, that is the life of a student. You were pretty accustomed to the boredom. It was... normal for you. However, your so-called normal days seem to change when you find an item belonging to a certain boy.
"Ehh, we have a quiz first thing tomorrow morning."
"The quiz is tomorrow, Naoki." You told him as you put the sports equipment away in its proper location. "Stop focusing on tomorrow. Instead, you should be helping me right at this moment so we can get the job done faster."
The boy named Naoki curled his lips into a pout but agreed. You playfully rolled your eyes.
Naoki is a friend and classmate of yours you met in your first year of high school. He is a fairly tall boy with dark blue hues and short, shaggy brown hair that seems to stay that way no matter how many times you brush it. Yes, you've tried it before.
"I'll go see if there's more equipment in the gym," you announced, dusting off your hands.
"Alright, leave the rest to me," Naoki waved you off.
Leaving the storage room, you stumble into the gym and scan the large room for anything out of place. Everything seemed to be okay, that is, until your eyes caught a lone object just sitting on a side bench.
Someone left their wallet. You sighed as you walked over to the object and picked up the wallet, trying to find out to see if there was an ID to help you discover who this belonged to.
"Some people need to be more careful-"
You stopped when you saw the name etched on the ID card. It was Asano's. Your eyes darted around the gym, seeing as if you could spot the boy.
He wasn't around. Thinking about it, you believe that Asano's class did have P.E before your class did.
"Hey, (y/n), are you done?" Naoki came out of the storage room, wondering what was taking you so long. "Oh, whatcha got there?" He peeked over your shoulder when he noticed you holding something.
"Asano-kun's wallet." You showed him the leathery object. "I'll be right back, I'm gonna put it in the lost and found."
"Oh, no need to go that far. Why don't you just give it to him personally? I think he's normally in the library around this time since he doesn't have a class."
"Uh..." The thought of that idea gave you a bit of anxiety.
Does he actually mean go up and talk to the prettiest boy in school? You were starting to come up with scenarios in your head, and one of them involved tossing the wallet at him and running away. Oof, you already felt the cringe.
"I-I think I'll just put it in the lost and found," you said.
"Oh, well, suit yourself." He shrugged and went to close the storage room.
After that exchange, you walked out of the gym. You wanted to head to the lost and found... but...
Your eyes glazed over at the brown wallet. For some reason, you felt the need to give it to Asano in person. Maybe you wanted a reason to talk to the boy? This might be your only chance to come close to the star student named Asano.
A small tingle came to your stomach. It was the same feeling anyone gets when they meet someone who is considered to be an idol... or maybe this has something to do with your past crush on him? In your junior days, you did have your typical junior high crush, which was Asano.
Like many of the girls, you did fall for his appearance alone, but your crush grew when you learned what an incredible student he was. He was the definition of a perfect student.
That's it, you decided to go and see the boy in person. Once you come to that conclusion, you stop heading towards the direction of the lost and found.
You stepped into the library of your high school. No one seemed to mind you as you casually walked in and glanced around to see if Asano was around.
You spotted the strawberry blond, sitting on the desk that was used for studying. You were going to approach, but in your view, you caught that he was talking to a girl. Your first instinct was to hide behind the closest bookshelves. Poking your head out to see, you understood what was going on.
"Now, now, don't cry. Please don't take this as if I don't find you attractive or anything, alright?" Asano took out a tissue from his bag and gave it to the girl sitting across from him.
The girl crying confessed her feelings towards the strawberry blond.
It wasn't the first time you saw a girl crying over Asano. With those good looks, of course, he is bound to get love confessions. Though, he seems to reject every girl who confesses to him. Why is that? Does he already have another girlfriend that no one knows about?
All the girl did was nod and accept the tissue.
You felt a little sympathy towards the girl. You don't know what it's like confessing to your crush, but you know rejection hurts. You, on the other hand, can never have the courage to confess your feelings to anyone.
You kept on watching the scene in front of you. You saw how Asano was trying to comfort the girl with that smile of his. It was a fake smile.
It's no secret to anyone that Asano did have this... unpleasant side to him. To put it simply, Asano hides his ruthless side behind a charming and cute facade. If you want to be specific on how he can be ruthless, well, back in junior high he did treat a certain lower-class very poorly.
You assume many of the people who admire him tend to overlook that side of him due to his charisma. Although for you, it was one of the reasons why your crush on him came to an end.
Sure, that still didn't stop you from finding him attractive.
The girl who was rejected meekly stood up, with a tissue in hand. You saw that she was coming your way, so you had to quickly disappear behind the bookshelf. You saw the girl almost walking past you, but stopped when she noticed you with the corner of her eye.
Your body twitched when she spotted you. You kept a tight lip and darted your eyes in another direction as if a pathetic attempt to pretend that you saw nothing.
You felt the girl's second-hand embarrassment when you caught the look on her teary face. Holding back more tears, the girl left. You exhaled deeply once you saw her leave.
'Talk about tension.' You thought, sighing in relief. Whatever, you have no time or business to deal with a girl you didn't know. You just hope she'll get over it eventually.
Remembering what you came here to do, you pushed yourself off the bookshelf and stepped out of hiding. Once again, you saw Asano, who was simply studying away, looking like he was not fazed by rejecting the girl.
You forced yourself to take a step forward, but only to find yourself taking another step back and once again hiding behind the bookshelf.
Geez, it wasn't like you to be shy. Though you couldn't help yourself when it comes to someone who has that intimidating aura.
'Why didn't I just tell Naoki to give him the wallet? Arg.'
You shook it off. You're here now, so you might as well grow up, and just talk to him. Asano is simply a boy. Like any other boy in your school. Expect he is rich... and he is a star student... and that he is incredibly attractive.
Oh, stop it!
Mustering up the courage, you pushed yourself off from the bookshelf and walked up to the boy.
"Um, Asano-kun." You said meekly, with your frame hovering near the table, Asano was sitting.
The strawberry blonde shifted his face towards where you were, hiding his annoyance, thinking he would receive another love confession and would have to deal with yet another crying girl. He just wanted to continue doing his work.
This was the first time you had approached him and had ever gotten a closer look at him.
Violet. His eyes were violet. Yes, you can tell from afar what colour his irises are, but at a closer look, you can admire them even better. They appeared to be very unique.
"Sorry to bother you, but um, I found this at the gym." You extended your hand to show him his wallet.
Asano blinked a few times before quickly searching his front pockets as if not believing that he had lost something so important.
"Ah," Asano smiled. "Thank you, (l/n)-san." He took his wallet back.
"Oh, it's no biggie...." You paused when you realized he said your last name. "Wait," you blinked. "You know my name?"
"Hm? We went to the same junior high together."
Yes, he's right, the two of you did go to the same junior high together. Were you guys in the same class? No, but the two of you did cross paths once or twice in school and on field trips.
"Well, yeah, but I just thought you wouldn't have bothered to remember my name or anything."
"Once I remember a name, I don't forget it."
"Huh. Wow." You were impressed, but not surprised. Sometimes you forget someone's name right after they introduce themselves.
"... Is there anything else you want from me?" Asano raised an eyebrow.
"Ah?" You realize that you were standing there a lot longer than you should have. "No, sorry, I'll leave now."
"Alright, bye," Asano said casually.
You let out an awkward wave before spinning around and walking away. 'I'm so stupid.' You blushed in embarrassment.
Asano glanced at you walking away before going back to his studies.