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It’s supposed to be a joke.
Ichika keeps telling herself that it’ll be fine, that Nagi Seishiro won’t care just as he doesn’t care about anything else — this is just something that Ichika has to do to get her friends to back off.
For some inane reason, it was his name that she blurted out when Aoi and Hina kept pestering her. There’s no way she could actually tell them who she’s really in love with. She expected them to laugh and tell her to give up, and they could all move on.
Nope. They immediately start telling her to confess, that there’s no way he’ll turn down a pretty girl like Ichika, and then, and then, they shove her to the back of the classroom where he’s sleeping, so hard that she bumps into his desk, shaking the entire thing. His phone even falls off, but it lands safely on his foot.
So now here she is, faced with Nagi’s expectant gaze.
“What,” Nagi says flatly, clearly annoyed at being woken up. Ichika wrings her hands. With Aoi and Hina watching, she just has to run with it.
“I- I- P—p-please go out with me!” Ichika says, unable to say something like I like you to someone who isn’t her crush. Especially while her crush is watching . Even this half-baked request for a date feels like a betrayal, not that anyone but Ichika knows it.
The class goes quiet. She feels all their stares burning into her back, and waits, palms sweating.
“Oh,” Nagi says. “No, sorry. My boyfriend wouldn’t like that, and upsetting him is troublesome.”
Ichika’s first feeling is a tsunami of relief, even if there’s a slight sting of embarrassment at being rejected in front of the entire class, especially by the Thousand Year Netaro.
And then the rest of it sinks in.
Boyfriend?!
It doesn’t take long for the rest of the school to hear about it. Ichika can only be grateful that everyone’s so obsessed with Nagi’s mystery boyfriend that they mostly ignore her. Mostly. She’s still gotten some consolation headpats. Mortifying.
She feels like she should apologize to Nagi, but wouldn’t it be worse if he knew she was making an excuse out of him?
Hey, Nagi! I’m sorry that I confessed to you. I only picked you because you’re so unapproachable, and then I could escape telling my friends that I don’t actually like guys.
She’s sure that even someone like Nagi wouldn’t want to hear that.
Nagi has a boyfriend, though, and he was totally unashamed about it. He doesn’t care what anyone thinks, even though everyone’s talking about him more than ever. He still slouches through the halls, unbothered, and goes about things like usual. If it were Ichika, she would’ve moved schools immediately.
Maybe their school’s resident Netaro is cooler than she had thought. Ichika kind of wants to be his friend for real, but doesn’t know if she can ever look him in the eye again. It feels like it’s her fault that some people have gone up to Nagi, interrogating him about his “supposed boyfriend.”
But Nagi won’t say anything. Not even a name. No matter how much he’s teased or prodded, he brushes it off.
Ichika can understand that, too, wanting to protect someone you care about — but still, she feels bad. She’d never paid attention to Nagi Seishiro before, but now, she can’t stop worrying about him.
The next day, Ichika works up her courage and dawdles outside their classroom, waiting. Nagi’s always the last one to leave, so she’ll be able to talk to him alone. Aoi and Hina give her knowing, sympathetic looks, which she’ll deal with later. Hina, especially, can’t have the wrong idea.
She’s about to step back inside when Nagi’s phone starts ringing.
“Yeah, boss?” Nagi’s soft, sleepy voice says. “Mhm… Yeah… Sure.”
Ichika’s pleasantly surprised. So even Nagi can hold down a job?
“Yeah, love you too…”
Wait, what?
Ichika must’ve imagined that, right? She can hear Nagi getting up, quietly groaning from the effort. She quickly slaps her cheeks, mustering up her courage.
She pretends to walk by the door just as Nagi exits, ‘coincidentally’ bumping into him.
“Oh, Nagi-kun,” she says. “Um, I’m really sorry!”
Nagi squints at her, rubbing a hand on his neck. “For… what? You didn’t hurt me or anything.”
“For yesterday!”
“... Yesterday,” Nagi repeats slowly.
He’s definitely forgotten who she is. That’s… that’s fine actually.
But he can’t be oblivious to their class suddenly taking interest in him, right?
“Everyone’s talking about your boyfriend,” Ichika says in a small voice. Nagi’s mouth turns down, just a bit, and his brow furrows. Alright, so he does know.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if you just said who he is? Won’t people leave you alone then?” Ichika suggests, almost shrinking as Nagi stares at her. Was he always this tall?
“He’s already too popular,” Nagi says, expression growing more annoyed. “He doesn’t need anyone else coming up to him.”
Ichika nods frantically. “Of course not! That’s really kind of you, taking on the burden…”
Nagi seems to soften a little. “Not really. That guy would love it if I was yelling his name from the rooftops, but…”
“But he’s too popular?”
“Yeah,” Nagi heaves a sigh. Their conversation is clearly over, because he sidesteps her and begins to walk off, but Ichika feels slightly better.
I’m cheering for you, Nagi!
Shinichi barely remembers Nagi Seishiro from their stint together on the volleyball team; it’s the rumors about him that are more memorable, and it seems a new one has just sprung forth.
If he thinks about it, Nagi was always the last to arrive at practice, and the first to leave. He stood in one spot and hardly moved, as if he were a corpse. That’s why he was hard to remember beyond some sort of tall, quiet specter in the corner. Shinichi, with all of his power, can’t imagine Nagi dating anybody.
What kind of guy would put up with that? Unless they were both sloths…? Maybe that was it.
Or maybe Nagi doesn’t know what a boyfriend is, Shinichi realizes with horror. Oh, no . As a former teammate, is Shinichi supposed to help him out?
Wait, but Nagi had brought it up when he was confessed to, so he probably does know. Man, Shinichi hasn’t received a single confession yet! And the Thousand Year Netaro got a confession (from a super pretty girl like Ichika, too) and (possibly) has someone to date.
This world is cruel, Shinichi mourns. He decides to soothe his pain with a walk to the convenience store, get some chips, soda, whatever. He’ll watch a shitty rom-com and cry about it and nobody will ever have to know.
The world, however, continues to taunt him — five minutes into Shinichi’s shopping, Nagi Seishiro himself steps into the very same store. With someone.
Shinichi ducks behind an aisle, feeling like he’s in a spy movie. At this moment, Shinichi has the ability to confirm or deny the existence of Nagi’s boyfriend. When he peeks out, he can see a guy around Nagi’s height, dressed in a soccer uniform. Nagi, surprisingly, is in the same uniform, but he has a white hoodie over it.
Shinichi, inevitably, imagines a sloth again.
The guy’s back is turned, and he has a cap on, obscuring his face and hair, but there seems to be a ponytail poking out. Shinichi squints at the name and number stamped on his oversized jacket: 11, Nagi.
“Wait here,” the person says, and Nagi nods absently, clicking away at a game on his phone. Faintly humming, the other person wanders off.
Does Nagi have a brother? A brother he plays soccer with? That’s really sweet, actually — Shinichi’s younger brother won’t play volleyball or watch movies with him, just locks himself up in his room and games all day. Shinichi’s heart swells. If someone like Nagi can make time to bond with his family, maybe he shouldn’t give up yet!
After a few minutes, Nagi glances around like a lost puppy. “Ah, I’ve lost my wife.”
Wife? Oh, he must’ve lost his game. Shinichi can understand having a deep attachment to virtual princesses; perhaps the true reason he’s single, to this day, is because no woman can compare to Princess Zelda.
That’s what he’ll keep telling himself, anyway.
“Excuse me?”
Shinichi jumps, hoping the stranger hadn’t noticed he was watching someone. Oh, it’s Nagi’s brother. He smiles politely at Shinichi, and Shinichi’s stunned to see that Nagi’s brother has an incredibly handsome face, with dark purple eyes, peach-like skin, and a mouth that manages to look sharp and soft all at once.
The guy clearly robbed Nagi in the genetic lottery. Despite not really knowing Nagi well, Shinichi feels a growing kinship for him. Maybe they’re not so different after all… maybe they could be friends…
“Excuse me,” comes the polite request again. “You’re blocking the melonpan.”
“Oh, sorry!” Shinichi moves back again. Nagi’s brother smiles widely, and that, too, is unfairly pretty. Maybe Nagi’s doing them all a favor by hiding in the back quietly, if this is their bloodline’s full power.
“Reo,” calls Nagi pitifully.
“Coming!” Reo calls back, suddenly far more lively. He grabs a handful of melonpan and takes off, cleats thudding against the ground.
“No running,” calls out the shopkeeper.
“Sorry!” Reo apologizes. Shinichi peeks out. Nagi reaches out, latching onto Reo’s jacket, and drops his head onto his shoulder.
“You made me stand for so long, Reo,” Nagi whines. “Carry me home.”
Definitely a little brother. Reo reaches up and ruffles Nagi’s hair, before dropping a kiss on Nagi’s cheek.
“Whatever my treasure wants!” Reo chirps.
Wait, a part of Shinichi suddenly thinks. But then — nah, no way.
He can believe Nagi dating a fellow sloth, but not Nagi dating someone like this handsome, doting guy — the guy has Nagi written on his jacket, too, so…? Doesn’t that mean only one thing?
Shinichi’s third eye has opened — he’ll step it up as both an older brother, and as an acquaintance to Nagi! Crushingly single or not!
He walks home, renewed with determination, before realizing he hadn’t even bought anything.
He hurriedly turns back around, hoping his brother will be enticed enough by the snacks to hang out with him.
The day that Nagi brings a canned iced coffee back from lunch, it’s impossible not to notice.
His class has never seen Nagi drink anything but lemon tea, and blessedly, the occasional water. Coffee? Something to stay awake with? Unprecedented.
He doesn’t drink it, but puts it carefully by the air conditioner. Nagi doesn’t fall asleep like usual either, but keeps an eye on the drink instead, as if it might grow feet and run away. If anyone gets too close to it — Aoi had just wanted to adjust the temperature — Nagi’s gaze immediately pins them down, like needles to butterfly wings. This occurs until the end of the day, upon which Nagi scoops up his prize and wanders off.
Maybe he’s saving it to study for exams after school. It is that time of the year, after all. Aoi can’t actually imagine him studying, but hey, maybe his “boyfriend” is a good influence.
Aoi doesn’t believe it, even if Ichika does. It felt like a flimsy excuse to turn her friend down, and so, Aoi has no choice but to secretly despise Nagi. Ichika is the best friend anyone could ask for, so surely, she would be the best girlfriend any guy could want, especially someone like Nagi. Even if he doesn’t deserve her.
Why not be honest? Why not just say you’re not interested? Nagi isn’t a part of any clubs, and all he does is sleep. He doesn’t bother talking to anyone in their class, or anyone in any other classes, either. Even when he was on the volleyball team, he didn’t do anything. It’s obvious that someone like him just isn’t into dating.
Maybe Aoi should be more surprised that Ichika fell for him. Aoi does feel guilty that they pushed her to confess, but they had really thought it would be fine! So Aoi’s doing her best to make up for it — she’s waiting for Ichika and Hina to wrap up their club activities so they can all go out, get some treats and relax before studying for exams together. She sits on the steps of the school, scrolling through her apps mindlessly, when a long, black car pulls up.
Aoi’s eyes nearly pop out of her head. A limousine! She looks around, but there are only a few students in the distance, and none of them are paying attention. She shuffles backwards, ducking behind a pillar, just because she really wants to see who this car is here for, without being too obvious.
Nagi, of all people, goes towards it. Is he just curious? You can’t be that open about this kind of thing! Aoi watches him go in horror, before she’s distracted by something glinting on his backpack.
It’s a Kuromi keychain. Huh, so Nagi likes cute things.
Out steps an older woman, who opens the car door and bows. She’s tall, muscular, and has silver hair piled impressively on her head. Somehow, Aoi gets the sense that this is a truly formidable woman. “Young Master Seishiro.”
“Ba-ya!” Nagi calls softly, jogging — jogging?! — over with his little can of iced coffee. He presents it to her, eyes wide and mildly shiny. He’s even straightened up his back, suddenly becoming even taller. “This is the one Reo likes, right?”
The woman nods after inspecting it carefully.
“I saw it’s back in stock again,” Nagi says, cradling the can to his chest. “So I can give it to him.” He peers inside the open car door. “Where’s Reo?”
“We’re here for you first today,” Ba-ya says. “Young Master Reo is running late, but he will still be able to make it for practice.”
“Oh,” Nagi says. He looks disappointed; Aoi has never seen Nagi look so expressive before, especially in the span of mere minutes. “Then… we can put this in ice… will it still taste good? I didn’t want to be late, so I got it during lunch…”
“If it’s from Young Master Seishiro,” Ba-ya says. “It’ll be priceless.”
Young Master Seishiro, Aoi mouths to herself. Is Nagi secretly a rich heir? Is that why he can afford to slack off all the time? But then, shouldn’t he be going to their neighboring prep school, Hakuho?
Maybe he’s an illegitimate rich son?! Is his family ashamed of him? Is there really a boyfriend, and Nagi can’t be public about it? Aoi’s mind quickly spirals into drama-levels of fantasy, and she has to smack her cheeks, shake her head to knock it off.
“But will it be good ,” Nagi repeats, a stubborn set to his mouth. “Reo has to study, so it has to work.”
“It will,” Ba-ya says. “Young Master Reo’s stress will surely melt away.”
“I got stationary too,” Nagi mumbles. Aoi thinks, oh my god, he’s totally turning red . “And um… stickers, and candy…”
“He’ll be happy,” Ba-ya promises, and ushers Nagi into the car. She puts a large hand over his head so he doesn’t hit it on the roof, so preoccupied with his precious coffee can as he is. Aoi watches, speechless, as the car drives off. She’s too stunned to even take a photo for proof.
Still, she pops open the groupchat, texting Ichika and Hina as quickly as she can.
Ichika, Hina, you won’t believe what I just saw.
Nagi is RICH!
In the ten years that she’s been a teacher, Kumiko has yet to forget a single face. Each of her students is unique and precious, even if they drive her blood pressure through the roof sometimes — most of the time — nevertheless! she loves them all.
There’s a student that she wishes she could have had in her class this year: Nagi Seishiro. His scores are good, so the other teachers are content with letting him sleep through class and drift through the building alone, but Kumiko can’t imagine that kind of life is satisfying, so whenever she sees him, she pulls him in for a chat. Today is no exception.
“Sawada-sensei,” Nagi greets. He sits down at an empty desk, bandaged fingers clutching a lemon tea. Over one of the bandages is a little silver ring, embedded with a purple stone.
“Nagi-kun! What happened to your hands!” Kumiko exclaims.
“It’s my birthday,” Nagi says, like that explains anything. When Kumiko stares, waiting for him to elaborate, he stares back, just as expectant.
“Happy birthday?” Kumiko tries.
“Thanks,” Nagi says, looking a little pleased. Or maybe it's the way the sun is hitting him? No, he’s definitely happy. Kumiko feels her heart twinge a little.
“So how did you hurt your hands?” Kumiko prods. She has a spare bottle of water, so she puts that on Nagi’s desk.
“Oh,” Nagi says, looking down. “Reo wanted to make a cake, but Reo gets so overexcited about things… mm… it’s better than letting him hurt himself instead…”
Nagi seems to have drifted off into his own world again, but this time, it’s to a place that Kumiko hasn’t seen before. There’s a light shining outward from his eyes, reflecting off the ring that Nagi’s gazing at.
“Is that a birthday present from Reo?” Kumiko asks.
“Mhm.” Nagi even raises his hand slightly, the corner of his mouth lifting up. “He got himself one too, isn’t that funny? Getting his own present on my birthday.”
Kumiko has no idea who Reo is, but from the look of it, he’s someone who makes Nagi happy, someone who's brought a burst of color to his life. Matching rings — isn’t that what couples do? Is Nagi joking, or can he really not tell? Whatever the ring means, it’s clearly special to him, and that’s more than enough for her to be satisfied with.
“I like how it has that little dip, like a wave,” Kumiko offers. “That’s unique, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, Reo said it’s like a wave, too.” Nagi’s mouth lifts a little more. “Because it’s okay if I go with the flow, or something like that.”
“Reo sounds smart,” Kumiko says, amused. “Of course that’s okay. Everyone finds their path in time.”
“I’m going to play soccer,” Nagi says, completely unprompted, and Kumiko’s jaw almost drops. She distinctly remembers that Nagi’s questionnaires about the future have always been blank. Their chats, too, are usually pretty one-sided. “Reo and I are going to win the World Cup. And then after that, we never have to work again… so that’s good…”
“Oh, wow, you have it all figured out!” Kumiko has a million questions — when did Nagi start playing soccer? Are they any good? She doesn’t think she’s ever seen Nagi move any faster than syrup. This isn’t some metaphor for being in a gang, right? Some new way to talk about making money quickly? She’s had to bail out more than a fair share of students, and doesn’t mind doing the same for Nagi if she has to —
“Reo planned it out,” Nagi says. “He said I can just be myself and he’ll take care of everything. He’s the boss, after all.”
This really isn’t a metaphor, right?! Have the times changed? She’ll have to ask Shin what the kids call being in gangs these days; maybe she’s out of touch. Kumiko clears her throat, changes topics.
“That’s great! So what else are you doing for your birthday?” Kumiko asks.
“It’s a surprise,” Nagi hums.
Or is it just something you can’t say?! Nagi!!
“Reo planned it?” Kumiko hedges. “And you’ll… be there to keep him out of trouble?”
“Mhm.” Nagi stands up, stretches. “I gotta go, sensei, but thanks for asking.”
“You can talk to me about anything, Nagi-kun,” Kumiko effuses. “ Anything, okay?”
“Kay,” Nagi yawns, looking like the farthest thing from a future professional soccer player. But he waves goodbye, ring glinting in the sun, and so Kumiko can only helplessly wave back, and hope for the best.
Hina’s cousin videocalls her one night, bawling about her crush rejecting her.
“He said he’s dating someone ,” Emi wails. “But who? It isn’t someone at school!”
“Oh, something like that happened to my friend,” Hina says. She wonders if Emi’s crush is lying just to spare her feelings, or actually is dating someone. She can’t tell what would hurt Emi more. “Has he posted any photos or anything?”
“Um,” Emi says. “Not of a girlfriend, or anything. He plays soccer, so there’s photos of him at games, and like… all his travels…”
“Show me,” Hina says, and Emi pulls up his Instagram page and screenshares it.
“ Mikage?” Hina says. “Like, that Mikage?”
Emi starts crying again. “He’s got to be lying, right? I’m just not good enough for him! But when he was tutoring me, I really thought we had a connection!”
“Hold on, hold on,” Hina rushes to comfort her. “Is he tagging anyone in those scenic pictures? Look at that one with the cafe — there’s someone else’s drink there. Maybe he’s just being subtle.”
The entire theme of Mikage Reo’s page doesn’t exactly scream subtle, but maybe he wants to be private about this one thing.
“Oh, someone’s tagged, but it’s…” Emi squints. “Someone named chokithecactus?”
“A cactus ?”
“Yeah, look, this person just has, like, some photos of a cactus... weird. But Reo tags them sometimes. There’s really no photos of their face.”
“Maybe it’s a family member? Or a childhood friend?” Hina guesses, squinting at the pixels on her screen. “Or maybe it’s the girlfriend, and she likes plants.”
“I think it’s a guy,” Emi says, scrolling and checking more photos now. “There’s some, like, blurry hands in some pictures, in the background. Do you think that’s a ring, or a shadow?”
Maybe it’s a boyfriend, Hina thinks, remembering what Nagi had told Ichika (which Ichika had subsequently then told her). Hadn’t Nagi said his boyfriend is popular, and didn’t need any extra attention? The guy’s probably not on Mikage Reo’s level, but maybe that’s what’s going on.
“Ring or shadow?” Emi says frantically, zooming in. “Ugh, you totally can’t tell!”
“He’s wearing rings in some of these other pictures, maybe he just likes rings?”
The comments on all of Reo’s posts are disabled, so there isn’t even anyone sharing any innocuous yet valuable information. and Reo follows far too many people for them to comb through, mostly celebrities.
“He likely has a private account,” Hina offers. “He’s a public figure, right?”
“Yeah,” Emi mourns. “That makes sense.”
After their call ends, Hina pulls up Reo’s page out of curiosity, just to see if she can find any other clues.
There’s a few group pictures — Reo plays for an interschool soccer team called Blue Lock Eleven. There’s a really pretty redhead who has Hina cursing the heavens and their unfairness — why can’t her hair look like that — and then a guy who actually looks just like Nagi, who’s standing next to Reo in all their photos. There’s too many people for Reo to tag in these, apparently, so she can’t track them down.
There’s no way that’s Nagi, though. As if he’d be caught on a soccer field. When he played on their school’s volleyball team, he just stood there! You can’t do that unless you’re the goalkeeper, right? But you still have to move when it counts!
Hina’s too tired to think too deeply about it, but her heart goes out both for Ichika and Emi. Ichika’s been handling it really well, though. Hina’s super proud of her.
In Hina’s opinion, boys are way too complicated. Girls, though? That’s different. Especially if the girl is someone like Ichika.
Yeah, that’s different.
Ichika doesn’t expect someone to enter their class at the end of the day. They’ve all been dawdling, enjoying the warm spring sunlight beaming through the windows, in no hurry to clean or go to their clubs just yet.
So it’s really surprising when someone just strides in. Not only that, it’s a guy wearing the Hakuho uniform, so he’s got to be some rich, preppy guy. What’s he doing all the way out here?
“Oi, Nagi!” The guy says. Whoa. Someone from Hakuho is looking for Nagi, of all people? Does he owe money or something?
“Eh, Reo’s here super early…” Nagi’s head lifts up slightly. The guy, Reo, chooses to sit upon the desk, glaring at all of them, like some sort of vengeful prince on a throne. Nagi blinks once, twice, and puts his head back down, right onto Reo’s thigh, as if he can just go back to sleep like that.
A fond smile breaks across Reo’s face, and he puts a hand in Nagi’s hair, ruffling it gently, before he clearly remembers he’s supposed to be angry, head snapping back up.
“So, which of you assholes have been bothering my Nagi?”
Wait, is this the mystery boyfriend?! Ichika’s jaw almost drops; she clamps her lips together firmly, forcing neutrality.
“Who even told you about that,” Nagi groans. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Bachira and Chigiri both messaged me! Everyone in the area knows!” Reo raps the top of Nagi’s head with his knuckles. “You should’ve told me!”
“Ow,” Nagi says, finally cracking one bleary eye open. Reo hits his head again. Nagi whines, seemingly more to be cute than to indicate any pain. Reo’s face goes lovesick again.
“Uh,” one brave — or stupid — soul pipes up. It’s Yasu, their class treasurer. “We didn’t think… uh, we thought he was joking.”
Isn’t a joke too much effort for him, Ichika silently mourns, praying that nobody reveals that all of this started with her confession.
“Reo, your dad’s going to kill me,” Nagi mumbles, totally ignoring everything else.
“Why would he be joking?” Reo raises one fine eyebrow. “And Nagi, you’ll be fine.”
“He sleeps all the time!” Yasu says. “How do you date someone when you’re like that? There’s no way we would’ve thought he was telling the truth!”
Reo seems like he’s going to move off the desk; Nagi puts a hand on his waist, presses in a little closer. Reo pauses, glancing down, before turning his dark purple gaze back to Yasu.
“That’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard,” Reo says. “Do you dare think you know my Nagi? Since when does sleeping in class correlate to lying? Isn’t that a more honest way of living, to openly show who you are? None of you score as highly as he does, anyway, you look like the kind of guy who skips class to jerk off—”
Yasu sputters. Ichika considers it, and hides a snort behind her hand.
“Reo,” Nagi groans again. “You’re in your protagonist mode again.”
Nothing stops us from leaving, right? Aoi mouths desperately at Ichika. Ichika shrugs. What happens if you piss off the Mikage heir? Does he have the power to ruin their lives? It definitely feels like he does, and he definitely wants to.
Also, she wants to see how this goes.
Their class president is next to pipe up. “On behalf of our class, I’m sorry Nagi was troubled. But it wasn’t the fault of everyone here. There were others…”
“I’ll handle them next,” Reo says darkly.
“That would take a while. We’re going to be late for practice,” Nagi says.
“We have time. I’ll make time,” Reo says sweetly, tone and expression immediately shifting, but the intent behind his words is still clear.
“Wait,” Another classmate, Shinichi, says, “This isn’t your brother?”
“What? No. Reo’s my wife,” Nagi says. Reo blushes, swatting the top of his head lightly, in a way that absolutely indicates approval. Ichika has been single her entire life, but never has she felt it so deeply. The contrast between Reo-with-Nagi and Reo-vs-the-class is immense enough to give anyone whiplash. Honestly, the fact that Nagi’s dating the Mikage heir is enough to process for, like, a year.
“You’re married?!”
“Not yet,” Nagi says. “Soon, though.” In the span of minutes, Reo has been a stranger, a boyfriend, a mistaken brother, a wife, and now, he’s a human tomato, a true blushing bride. Ichika also thinks this the most she’s heard Nagi talk of his own volition. Now that the secret’s out, he seems perfectly content with blabbing about his boyfriend.
“This is exactly why we thought he was fucking with us,” Yasu points out, solidifying himself as both brave and stupid. Yes, they’re all thinking it. No, it’s not something to actually say out loud.
Reo looks like he’s about to blow up again, but Nagi stands up, silencing all of them.
“Everyone, this is my boyfriend, Reo. Reo, this is my class,” Nagi drawls. “No, I can’t believe that he’s dating me either, but he is. Now everyone knows about everyone. Problem solved. I’m tired, Reo, so let’s go already.”
Immediately, Reo’s so concerned with reassuring Nagi that Nagi’s able to skillfully maneuver him out of the classroom, arm slung around Reo’s shoulders. Ichika counts the word treasure about five times in two breaths, before Reo’s voice abruptly cuts off, and a different kind of sound echoes instead. Nagi, it seems, can work up the stamina to shamelessly suck his boyfriend’s face in the hallway.
Eventually, there’s the sound of giggling and footsteps, getting gradually fainter, signaling that the two lovebirds are departing. Once it’s finally quiet, their class erupts.
“Life isn’t fair,” Shinichi says, and Ichika has to agree with him.
Hina’s already whipped out her phone, texting furiously, but she glances up and worriedly asks, “Are you okay, Ichika?”
“What? Yeah.” Ichika blinks. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Your crush’s boyfriend… who, funnily enough, is my cousin’s crush, but I’ll tell you about that later… doesn’t that hurt to see? Though Mikage Reo seems… mm, not what I thought.” Hina purses her lips. “Though I’d probably be mad if people were talking shit about my boyfriend too.”
Oh. Right. It’s only been a little while since Ichika confessed to Nagi, so supposedly, this is the sort of thing that bothers her. “Um… thanks, but I’m okay. Really.”
“You’re so strong,” Aoi says sympathetically. “Let’s go out for ice cream. My treat.”
“Who knew telling you to confess would lead to all of this?” Hina muses. “Next time, we’ll wait until you’re ready. Promise.”
“Yeah,” Ichika says, and quietly hopes that someday, Hina will be ready too, to hear what Ichika truly wants to say.