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Nakamura found himself walking alongside Hirose. They were on their way home, but it was obvious that Hirose just needed someone to talk through his frustrations and thoughts with, since it was pretty hard to do that with his other friends.
Nakamura didn’t know why Hirose trusted him so much or why he felt so comfortable doing this, but it made him a little happy.
Right now, though, he didn’t know how to feel. His heart had felt a little empty ever since Hirose started dating that girl. He knew this was going to happen eventually, but he didn’t want it to be this soon.
Saying he was heartbroken was an understatement.
He truly didn’t know what to do with himself. He felt an emptiness that no one else would be able to understand.
He walked beside Hirose as he went on and on about some of his issues.
“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. I broke up with my girlfriend!”
“Huh?!”
Nakamura turned his head in shock.
Hirose had been rambling like crazy about that girl, and he had finally gotten her. So it was really confusing why he broke up with her.
“Heheh… yeahhh…”
Hirose made an awkward expression as he scratched the back of his head.
“I’m so confused. What happened?”
Hirose looked down before speaking. When he finally looked back up, he met Nakamura’s eyes.
“Well, I guess it just didn’t really work out. She’s a really sweet girl, and she’s really beautiful, but I guess something was off. She just wasn’t the one, and that’s okay. Hopefully I’ll find the one very soon.”
He looked at Nakamura with those mysterious eyes of his.
Nakamura could never tell what he was thinking.
Hirose was what’s truly confusing.
Nakamura stopped in his tracks and stared at the ground.
Hirose noticed after a second.
“Oh, hey. Why’d you stop?”
Hirose looked at him.
It was then that Nakamura’s eyes glossed over.
“Hey, is everything alright, Nakamura?”
After the deadly silence, Nakamura finally lifted his head.
There was only one thing he could do to finally settle this.
To prove to his empty, broken heart that this was all just some stupid childish fantasy that was never possible.
“I like you, Hirose…” he whispered.
“Huh?”
Hirose stood there, confused.
“Please, Hirose, if you must, just ignore what I’m about to say. I’d like it if you pretended that what is about to happen never happened at all.”
A tear rolled down Nakamura’s face.
“I’ve liked you… I’ve always liked you! And I don’t think you’ll ever understand how I feel…”
He spoke almost as if he were shouting at the ground, his hands gripping the ends of his uniform.
“It almost feels like I have to fight the whole world for you, even though I don’t deserve you. You have so many people who have crushes on you and are so close to you, and all I can do is be jealous.”
Nakamura choked on his words as they came out.
“And I really need to prove to myself that the stupid idea in my head will never come true. You will never like me the way I like you. Because you’re incredible, and you’re just way too cool for someone like me. You have so many people lining up for you, and it makes me realize I’m at the end of the line.”
Nakamura took a deep breath and finally lifted his head, letting go of his uniform.
His eyes met Hirose’s.
And he looked almost mad.
Or annoyed.
“Sorry for holding you up. I’ll just get going.”
Nakamura started speed-walking past Hirose until he felt something hold him back.
His belt suddenly felt much tighter than usual.
“Now where do you think you’re going after dropping something like that?!”
Nakamura looked back and found Hirose glaring at him, his hand tightly gripping his belt.
“You’re too cool and awesome for someone pathetic like me? Who do you think you’re talking about?!”
Hirose shouted with eyes that could kill.
“Nakamura, for as long as I’ve known you, I’ve always wanted to be friends with you! You were always this quiet, cool person behind walls I could never reach! And when you finally started talking to me, I don’t think you understand how happy I was!”
He slowly loosened his grip on Nakamura’s belt before finally letting go.
“That time when you asked me to be your friend had to be one of the happiest days of my life! It meant we were officially friends.”
Hirose smiled to himself, almost as if he were looking back on something truly precious.
“Man, you talk about how hard it was for you. What about me?! You truly don’t understand how incredible you are, do you?!”
The soft, tender smile disappeared and was replaced by a raging one.
“For God’s sake, Hifumi clearly has a huge crush on you! And let’s not forget those two who chase after you like there’s no tomorrow because of how talented you are!”
Hirose pointed dramatically.
“And let’s not forget this!”
Hirose kept rambling on and on, and all Nakamura could do was stare with wide eyes.
“My point is that you’re incredible, and you have so many people who see that too! God, I have so much competition. It’s kind of irritating!”
He balled up his fist and shouted.
“I don’t know why you can’t see this, but you’re truly an incredible Nakamura, and I won’t sit here while you slander someone I like very dearly!”
Hirose’s expression softened.
A light blush stained his cheeks.
He gently wiped Nakamura’s tears away with his sleeve.
“Hehe… I guess let’s keep going now.”
Hirose grabbed Nakamura’s hand and started pulling him toward his house.
But Nakamura found his feet planted firmly on the ground.
“Um… Hirose…”
He shyly looked away.
“What does this mean for us?”
Hirose looked back.
A smile slowly spread across his face as he took both of Nakamura’s hands in his own.
“It’s whatever you want it to be!”
He smiled and tilted his head, trying to catch a glimpse of the boy staring at the ground.
“Um-I-aisjshasjdnjd-”
“Honestly, if we’re going to start dating, then we should keep it a secret for now. Even though I only dated that girl for less than a week, it still feels a little disrespectful to move on so quickly. So it’s probably better if nobody knows, hehehehe. I just hope I can stop myself from showing off my cool, cute boyfriend!”
“C-cute?!”
Nakamura was completely caught off guard.
I guess the fantasy he’d had of being some cool, brave, nonchalant boyfriend wasn’t going to play out the way he’d imagined.
But he was somewhat okay with that.
He found himself being pulled along.
As they walked, Hirose went right back to talking like there was no tomorrow.
Nakamura’s arm was entangled with his.
And before long, they had made it to Nakamura’s house.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye, huh? See you at school tomorrow, I guess.”
Even though Hirose had already said goodbye, his hand was still tightly intertwined with Nakamura’s.
“Is everything alright, Hirose…?”
Hirose looked up with those big eyes of his.
It was almost unreal how close Nakamura got to see them.
“Sorry. It’s just… I love you so much, Nakamura-kun! I don’t know if I want to let go…”
Hirose looked away for a second before suddenly leaning forward and planting a kiss on Nakamura’s cheek.
When he pulled away, Nakamura immediately put a hand over the spot that had been kissed.
The shocked expression on his face only made Hirose giggle more.
“I guess I’ll just have to pick you up in the morning! Please sleep well, my love!”
He finally let go and started jogging toward his house.
All Nakamura could do was stand there and stare as the boy slowly disappeared into the distance.
Nakamura found himself waking up.
His goofy pet octopus had escaped again and was slowly petting him with one of its tentacles.
With a sigh, he returned it to its tank.
It must have all been a dream.
He got dressed as his sister yelled for him to come downstairs for breakfast.
With a piece of bread hanging out of his mouth, a knock sounded at the door.
Nakamura continued eating as his sister answered it.
“Hey, Nakamura! Your friend’s here to pick you up!”
The sweet, curly-haired, sun-kissed boy stood there with the biggest grin on his face, waiting for him and him alone.
Nakamura quickly got up and rushed out the door.
As they walked down the street, something felt different.
His hand was intertwined with Hirose’s.
“So it wasn’t a dream…”
“Hey!”
“Ahh!!”
Hirose looked at him with an angry expression, but it slowly turned into a grin before he burst into laughter.
“Hahahaha! I get you completely, though. I thought it was all a dream too.”
He smiled and pulled his boyfriend a little closer.
Nakamura felt like his formerly broken heart was about to have a heart attack.
Well, it wasn’t broken anymore.
Nakamura couldn’t help but smile.
Then he remembered something.
“Didn’t you say we were keeping this a secret? Isn’t us doing this a little too obvious?”
Hirose waved his hand dismissively.
“Pssssht! It’s okay. No one will see! We’ll let go when we get closer to where Oomori usually waits for me.”
All Nakamura could do was smile at the goofy boy happily swinging their arms.
He never thought he would see the day when he would be the closest person to his beloved Hirose.