paper balls, shidou ryusei ✓

𖥻 04 - paper balls.

ever since he saw the jar with the paper balls, ryusei - for whatever reason - acted even more strangely toward you than he already did.

you sat in class and thought again about his reaction.

because when he saw the vessel, he immediately turned bright red and widened his eyes in panic. "w-what the-why are you collecting that shit, y/n? throw it away!," he immediately hissed at you and was about to throw the jar off the shelf, but you were just able to stop him by pulling on his arm.

you couldn't understand with the best will in the world why he was completely freaked out and so intent on throwing the jar out of the window and also wanting to burn every single paper ball.

since that incident, ryusei treated you like air. what irritated you the most was that he didn't even throw paper balls at you anymore - you didn't understand yourself, but you were just waiting every time to be thrown with them again at any moment.

but nothing; no paper balls, no insults, no harassment - nothing at all.

a week later, the same thing: ryusei still didn't speak a word to you and still avoided any eye contact, which was slowly but surely getting on your nerves. it wasn't as if you were attached to the jar of paper balls. you would've thrown them away at some point anyway, but something about his behavior made you skeptical.

so far, you asked him about it a few times during the week, but the only thing he would say in response was, "did you throw it away?" and every time you shook your head, he would curse softly to himself and disappear from your sight again.

you just couldn't figure him out, what bothered him so much about collecting those damn things?

aside from the fact that you had to admit it was a little weird, it was still no reason to completely freak out, right?

plus, you kept thinking about how close you had gotten in your room on friday and how ryusei had acted completely different towards you. he was sweet, almost caring, which pretty much turned your head.

god, you were about to kiss!

your heart was pounding a lot harder in your chest at that thought alone. you never imagined this tension between the two of you - what was it between you? there wasn't nothing, right?

right on time for the break, you went to the cafeteria while you counted out your small change with a frown.

hoping that it would at least be enough for some coffee, since you haven't been able to close your eyes during the night, you groaned.

however, you realized bitterly that the money wasn't even enough for the cheapest candy bar.

sighing, you turned away from the vending machine and instead wanted to find ryusei to confront him, however, something else caught your attention. seeing sae, ryusei's best friend, kissing his girlfriend, formed a small smile on your lips.

how many times had you seen yourself with ryusei in sae and his girlfriend?

it would be all too nice to be able to go to school holding hands with him, to be able to kiss him all the time, and just to be near him all the time.

hopelessly, you lowered your head. it was silly to think such a thing, and yet you couldn't help but imagine lots of cute little scenarios in your head that would never happen anyway.

you gave a short sigh and blinked a few times to block out the images of ryusei and you and just as you were about to sit up again, you bumped into none other than these. "why don't you watch where you're going-" ryusei interrupted himself when he saw who was just standing in front of him, and you would have expected anyone but him, too.

immediately, he wanted to turn away, but just in time, you grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the dining hall. "bro, what are you doing? let go of me!"

but you didn't listen to him, instead pulled him toward the hallways, where there were hardly any students over the break.

"ryu, please! i just want to-"

"what do you want from me, y/n?"

audibly you had to swallow because you haven't really exchanged a word with him over the last few days, which somehow totally bothered you.

you tried to be more or less prepared for this conversation here, had a few sentences in mind, which you've gone over several times in your mind, but right now there was nothing but yawning emptiness in your head. "why are you actually ignoring me instead of throwing paper balls at me?"