Chapter Text
The bell for lunch break has just begun. And the girls in class 2-A would spend the lunch break eating and talking together like they always do.
“So~ since valentines day’s ‘round the corner, does anyone wanna share their plans?” An Shiraishi starts off the group's conversation.
After a few seconds of silence, An continues. “Okay, I'll start since no one else wants to. Me and Kohane are gonna go and have a cafe date! Afterwards we’d go and walk around a decorated park to take cute pics together. It’ll be soo romantic, I just can’t wait!”
“Good for you An.” Kusanagi Nene spoke up. “Hehe thanks Nene! But have you and Kamishiro-senpai decided to do anything yet?~” An teases her friend.
“Uh… Well, I do have plans to binge watch some movies together…”
“Awwh, that’s pretty cute.” A third voice from the group, Emi Kishinuma, responds to Nene.
“And what ‘bout you Emi? Gonna do some dark magic with your boyfriend?” The last friend in the group, Shinonome Akiko spoke up referencing their friend’s strange interests.
“Hey, I may like the occult, but that doesn’t mean that I'd always want to do it 24/7.” Emi retorts, paying little mind to her friend’s teasing.
“But what’re you actually gonna do then?” Nene asks.
“We’re planning to go to a mall and enjoy the day. Probably to buy some cute accessories and eat in a cafe.”
“Not bad.”
“What ‘bout you? Just because you haven't talked much doesn't mean that you can escape this interrogation Akiko!” An stood up from her seat and pointed at her ‘victim’.
“Hah, jokes on you I don't even have anyone to celebrate valentine's day with.” Akiko smirks at her friend.
“Bro, Aoyagi-kun literally has the hots for you. Just go with him!” Upon hearing her friend’s words, Akiko’s eyes immediately widened. Her brain is trying to register whatever An just said to her.
Seeing her expression, An couldn't help but snicker at Akiko's expression. "What?" Grinning ear to ear, An questions her oblivious friend further. "You didn't know?"
After recovering from the initial shock, Akiko finally responds to all the teasing. "Of course not! There's no way that Aoyagi-kun has the hots for me!" She said the last part while making air quotations.
The other two friends at the table glanced at each other. While he's quiet and mostly spends time by himself, he's actually pretty observant towards their orange-haired friend. And whenever they're in a group together, he would always have problems looking her at the eye. It's actually pretty obvious to anyone who looked closely at their interaction that the quiet nerd has more than friendly feelings towards Akiko
Seeing Akiko’s unconvinced face, An speaks up again. “Okay, who here believes that Aoyagi-kun likes Akiko?” An asks towards their friend group with a smirk. Unsurprisingly, everyone other than Akiko in the friend group raises their hand.
“S-seriously?” The girl muttered, not expecting this outcome.
Beside her, Nene knew that Aoyagi should have the first say regarding his feelings towards their friend. However, she doesn’t really feel like lying to her now, so she answered in a roundabout way. “I mean… There are some hints…” She spoke in a soft voice.
Emi nodded at Nene’s response, much to Akiko’s dismay.
Honestly, if Akiko knew that claiming no guys were interested in her would result in this, she’d definitely done something she had never done before and shut up. After becoming aware of the feelings the quiet boy has, Akiko can say for certain that she wouldn’t be as relaxed as usual.
Still wanting to deny it, Akiko asks again. “Are you guys reaalllyyy sure?”
“Yep!”
“I can see Aoyagi-kun liking you.”
“He definitely does.”
Well, at least she tried. Denying when it’s a three against one will not be a smart move, but then again, she rarely thinks about the perfect move to handle a situation anyway.
“C’mon guys, it’s not funny… Oh right, have you guys heard about what Kizami did yesterday?”
“You are not changing the subject on us girl, why are you denying it anyway? Unless… You secretly have feelings for him too huh?”
Akiko has never thought about her ideal romantic partner. Well, knowing her rough nature, she never thought she’d have one anyway. And regarding Aoyagi… she never really paid much attention to him. The only times she can remember talking to him are doing school projects. And it's not really just them talking, there's others as well. And honestly, Aoyagi doesn’t look handsome. Maybe it’s because of his thick rimmed glasses and bangs that cover a side of his face. And his personality of being quiet definitely clashes with hers. But, it's not that important.
So, if Aoyagi ever shows up with a princely face, then maybe it’s possible for them to be together…
Beside Akiko who’s in thought, An grinned to herself seeing her friend’s reddening cheeks. While she did feel bad for exposing Aoyagi’s hidden feelings towards Akiko, maybe this could help them get closer. She knew that her friend hadn't thought about her love life much, making Aoyagi’s love one-sided only, but now she can see that her friend is considering it. If they end up together, it’ll surely be the best outcome. But, making her friend realize Aoyagi’s deep affection towards her is the main goal here.
“Soo… what’cu gonna do ‘bout it?”
Akiko, who's thankfully interrupted from her thoughts, replies.
“I-i don't know?? I wasn't prepared for this!” Fair enough. She probably doesn't know what to do with an info of someone's feelings.
“Like, Aoyagi-kun never told me. It'll be too awkward for me to just ask him about it then.” With the way Akiko speaks, she's pretty relieved to be eating lunch on the empty rooftop. (Save from them of course-)
“Well, are you against the idea of dating him?”
That isn't good. An had just spared her from spiraling in that train of thought, yet she's the one who brought her back in it anyway.
“Woah, I've never seen Akiko’s face this red before…”
“Yeah, An’s teasing is something else after all.”
“Hey! Is that supposed to be something bad?”
The three of them chatted a little more until they realized that Akiko still hasn't really stopped thinking about their previous topic.
“Hey, Akiko. Are you okay?” Surprisingly, Nene spoke up first.
“Eh? Oh sorry, I was spacing out, yeah?”
“Yep. Don't let this get into your head, Akiko. If you want, you can just give him hints that you don't mind dating him.”
“Heyy, that's actually pretty good advice, Emi!”
“What should the hints be though? She can't just go up to him and say, “just confess to me, I won't reject you!” That'll be too awkward for both of them…”
“Yeah, but it sounds funny if she did though.”
“Ugh, cut it An. I won't do that.”
“Maybe you can try giving him something during valentines?”
“Heyy, that's not a bad idea!”
“Yeah! How did you think about it Nene?”
“Um…”
“Oh? Does it involve Kamishiro-senpai?”
“F-fine. I was thinking of making some soda candies for him…”
“Aww that's cutee.”
“Yeah! You should do that Akiko!”
“No! Absolutely not! That's so embarrassing!”
“C’mon, you were clearly daydreaming about dating him and yet you won't even give him something for Valentine's?”
“I-it's different!”
“Just imagine, Aoyagi-kun will be so happy to receive a homemade chocolate during valentines day from his crush! I won't be surprised if he started crying anyway.”
“Ugh… what made you guys think that you'll be there when I give it to him!?”
“Oh! So you are going to do it huh?”
“No- that's not what I meant!!”
Unfortunately, after much more persuasion, Akiko did eventually agree to give Aoyagi homemade chocolates for Valentine's day.
While she agreed to get her friends off her back, what Emi said about Aoyagi’s reaction intrigued her. It'll be funny to see the usually cold-faced Aoyagi blush after she gave the chocolates to him.
To make sure the chocolates are in great quality, she’d have to make them a day before valentines. But it doesn't hurt to find a recipe ahead of time.
It definitely isn't his first time giving homemade sweets to people, but she never really thought that Aoyagi would be the first to receive it under romantic terms. If you can even call it that.