LIGHTNOVELONLINE Arc 2, Ch.16: Let’s go home together
Mizuki tilted his head.
“You’re gay?”
“Eh? Uh, yes…”
That was weirdly awkward. Just admitting it out loud, I guess.
Mizuki blinked.
“Oh.”
A non-committal response. Just a sound to acknowledge my answer, nothing else. I was rather confused.
“Hm, ...aren’t you?”
I pointed at myself, the message clear. Aren’t you going out with me? Or, well, bisexual at least.
Mizuki stared at the ground for seconds while thinking, then shrugged his shoulders.
“Nah, just you.”
We all paused. Tarou suddenly fanned towards his face.
“Welp, that’s some high-level flirting. Like a sentence out of a movie. Sure is getting hot here.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt so wrong overhearing something.” Kaoru hid his face by placing his hands on his cheeks. “I didn’t know being a third wheel feels so awkward.”
Yuji shook his head and patted my shoulder. I was frozen, my face stuck between embarrassment, feeling honoured and joyful.
“Good choice.”
Confusion was written all over Mizuki’s beautiful face. Yep, he has no idea what he just said.
That’s fine, he doesn’t need to know.
I hid my face alongside Kaoru and was shoved forward by Yuji.
“Let’s go.”
Us five attracted a lot of attention, since it was four perfectly average and unknown students together with the number one bea- uh, famous guy.
The quieter faction, consisting of myself, Mizuki and Yuji, walked a step behind the loud faction of Kaoru and Tarou. As usual, they talked about games, reminding me of something.
“Right, I found a game that you might enjoy. Do you want to try it? It doesn’t take long to install, either. I could show you the basics when you have time.”
My boyfriend - heh - considered the suggestion and nodded.
The great thing was, that game allowed male characters to get married! That meant I could marry him! And it even had a lot of advantages~
Just that I wasn’t sure if I could ask him to do that. It wasn’t a problem with my friends, cause marrying ingame was done almost purely for the advantages and we didn’t really care, but asking your boyfriend of one day, who has never played games before, to do it was a bit… well.
I changed from being a participant of the conversations to not several times, often getting caught in my own thoughts. Mizuki observed me behaving this way with rapt attention, which was rather embarrassing. My friends were used to me zoning off, even more so after I had gotten my system.
When our surroundings grew too loud as we stepped onto the school’s courtyard, our conversation slowed considerably. Mizuki needed to go to his own class anyway.
Those that knew we had been in one group, meaning all of the third-years, were pretty tolerant and not as irritated as the lower years that weren’t aware of it. ‘Dont’t try to steal him’ was the obvious message they were sending to us. I wished our uniform had a hood you could pull over your face.
We parted from Mizuki and lowered our conversation to whispers, walking to our class.
“I mean, I’m not into guys, but he really is a looker. Good for you”, Tarou whispered happily, patting my back. I had a shaky smile on my face, walking close to the wall.
“To tell the truth, him looking so good is making me nervous… I’d feel more secure if he looked average.”
“The rivalry is larger”, Kaoru agreed, stepping in between me and Tarou. “But the most important thing is how he acts towards you. That should be the best security he can give you.”
We entered the classroom and walked to Kaoru’s seat, the one out of all four that had no one around. Kaoru explained his previous statement that had had me skeptical.
“For one, he doesn’t interact with people other than you freely. Have you not noticed that he talks to you way more than with anyone else?”
Recently, yes, I guess he has been talking more to me…
“Also, his whole air changes when he’s next to you. When he’s alone, he always looks ready to bite. Even when we were in a group and you just left for a moment, he went right back to being that way,” Kaoru stuck up his finger, wagging it at me. “but as soon as he sees you, he softens up completely. It’s just that obvious that he is at ease with you.”
“And he isn’t with anyone else we’ve seen around him”, Yuji added.
I curled up on the chair, sucking in my lower lip and chewing on it.
Ah, it really isn’t any good! I’ve got no confidence in this!
“Yeah, he looks quite cute when he’s talking to you.”
Even Tarou was agreeing. I groaned and let my head fall on the table.
“You know, I could totally see you hugging him like a plushie all day because you don’t want to let him go anywhere”, Kaoru muttered while shaking his head.
“Hm. Very possible.”
“Yep.”
“Even I think I’d do that if I dared…”
Very likely, really. He’d fit nicely under my head, just that I didn’t think I could do that. He’d probably get annoyed if I caged him into a hug like that and struggle…
A soft sigh - the very image of rolling eyes - sounded in my ears.
[The target is not likely to refuse such an advance if done in a situation where no one else could intrude.]
...So I can actually do that as long as no one can see it??
“He’s your boyfriend now, just try it. If you can tell he’s uncomfortable with it, you can still stop, right? Relationships are kinda based on trial-and-error, you gotta try and see what your partner is fine with.”
Hm, Yuji had a point. I rubbed my face, unwilling to force myself through the slow day.
I didn’t dare use my phone too much with the teachers we had today and I didn’t even get to see Mizuki during the break.
Depressed and downcast, I trudged out of the building.
“Now, now. Have you checked whether he’s written you a message yet?”
I hadn’t. My face lit up a bit when I saw that there actually was one.
“So?”
“He’s asking me to come over on the weekend to show him the game I talked about”, I exclaimed in surprise. Mizuki’s home, huh?
“Nice! Hurry up and agree, you won’t want to miss that chance!”
“Eh, yes!”
My scrambled message was full of writing errors but I sent it anyway.
In truth, I couldn’t wait to stick to him again.
Mizuki’s reply was the time for the train he was going to take.
At first, I was confused, then asked me if I wanted to go home together. I squeaked.
Tarou messed up my hair. More than it was, anyway.
“Let’s waste some time, then you can meet him at the station.”
Nodding like a chicken, I let them drag me off to keep my mind of the meeting later.
I was wagging my imaginary tail when I saw him lean against one of the walls in the train station, looking like out of a movie or an anime with how he leisurely typed around on his phone.
His head tilted up when I approached him and he pocketed his phone. I might have imagined it, but I thought his eyes lit up a bit at seeing me.
“How was your day?”, he greeted after an awkward second.
Alright, I know you’re not used to small-talk, I’m not either.
“Long”, I complained, placing myself at his side and leaning against the wall as well.
I would have added something like ‘Because I couldn’t see you’ if I had confidence in saying that without stuttering.
His dark eyes blinked and he opened his mouth, then awkwardly shut it again. I chuckled awkwardly in turn.
“Should I just… talk away?”
“...Yeah.”
He really wasn’t good at it.
I lead the conversation and he interjected to give comments, which I found was an amazingly comfortable way of conversing. It didn’t feel strained.
We boarded the train, sitting in the most closed-off corner again.
I would have happily spent forever just like this, but-
“Oh, hello, Taizou”, a female voice called out. It was somewhat serious and familiar, so I looked up.
It was the vice-president of the student council. I knew her, or rather, the stories about her.
Serious but not stuck-up, a girl that didn’t really mingle that much with guys and was generally more focused on her education than romance.
