As the teacher continued his lecture, I ended up zoning her out and without really thinking about it, my eyes focused on a girl that for a while now I've considered incredibly cute: Yuu Takasaki. In all honesty I do have feelings for Yuu, but in the end I've ended up trying to push them away, without any luck.
In middle school, I got the chance to become friends with Yuu and Ayumu. I loved being beside her, but in my final year of middle school, I had to leave Tokyo since my father had gotten an offer for a better position at the company he worked for. About three months ago, my family got the chance to return to Tokyo and I transferred to Nijigasaki. On my first day, when I saw Yuu in the class, I was surprised, excited, and so very happy to have the chance to meet her again. In the time after that, we got the chance to talk for a while and while I wanted to be by her side again, after I saw how much she enjoyed her activities with Ayumu and the others in the Nijigasaki idol club and how hard she worked for them, I felt like maybe I'd just be in her way. After having been away for two years, there was undoubtedly some distance that had come between us, that was natural, but I ended up thinking that maybe it'd be better if I had no place by her side. And so, I started to try and drown out the feelings I had for her and to forget about them. Still, as much as I've tried, I have never been able to forget about them.
I sighed when I heard the teacher say "We'll be starting a group project today on the previously discussed topic. You'll all be working in randomly assigned groups of two and the project will be due next week on Friday. Now I'm going to assign you with your partner, then I'll pass out the rubric for you to go over with your partner."
I started to pay more attention to what the teacher was saying so I could know who I was working with, when I heard her say "L/n, you'll be working alongside Takasaki."
I nodded in acknowledgement and she continued to assign partners. Still, to think I'd end up paired with Yuu.
Eventually we were sent to go read over the rubric for the project together with our partners and I headed over to Yuu's seat.
"Hey Yuu." I said
"Hey Y/n. We haven't worked on a project together since middle school." Yuu commented
"True enough," I said, pulling a nearby empty seat over. "So what do you think we should do for the project?"
"I was thinking that..."
After that, for the next week we would meet up after club activities to work on the project. I was happy to have the chance to spend time with her again and after seeing how hard she had been working for the idol club, I tried to do as much work as I could without making Yuu feel like I was the one doing most of the project so that I could try and give Yuu some slack.
Our progress on the project was stead and on Thursday the week after the project was assigned, me and Yuu sat next to each other in the library, putting our finishing touches on our project and double checking for any mistakes when Yuu stopped writing and faced me before she said "Hey Y/n, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, go ahead." I confirmed, a little curious as to what she wanted to ask
"Y/n, why have you been distancing yourself from me and Ayumu?" Yuu asked "After you finally came back you spent a while with us catching up, but after that it feels like you started to drift away."
Hearing her question, I was unsure of how to respond. How the heck am I supposed to say that I feel like I'd just be in the way? As I tried to figure it out in my head, Yuu was looking at me with a perplexed expression. I could just lie, but I hate lying to people I care about but her especially.
I sighed "Can I at least ask why it's such a big deal first?"
Yuu nodded, "Since we're friends, I was worried that something might be wrong and that's why you've been doing this. Was I wrong?"
It hurt my heart to hear her say that. I thought that maybe I'd be a person who'd just end up in the way, but she cares about me as a friend. I still want to be beside her, and in the end, I won't know if I would be in the way unless I try. Try to stay beside her.
After taking a deep breath, I decided to bare my heart and the thoughts I hadn't really fully accepted myself "Yuu, the truth is that after I came back to Tokyo, I had been completely prepared to know nobody at my school, and that I would have to come to know and connect to new people. So when I got the chance to see you, to be beside you again, I was happy. I thought maybe I could just return to some semblance of the life I had before I left. But then I saw how things had changed, how you had found the idol clubs, and how you worked so hard for the people and club you loved. Seeing that made me realize just how much I had focused on the past, and how I hadn't changed since then. And so I thought to myself that maybe somebody like me would just be in the way of the happy life you're living."
"Y/n..."
"But the truth is that even if I do end up a person who is in the way of your happy life, I want to be beside you." I said
Yuu leaned over to me and hugged me and said "Y/n, there's no way you could be in the way of me enjoying the life I have now. If anything, my life would be even better with you there." she then said into my ear, "Y/n, the truth is that I love you."
I smiled and said "Yuu, I love you too and I have been in love with you for a long time."
We embraced for a minute longer before separating. After about ten minutes, we both decided that the project was good enough and decided to call it a day. After I offered to walk her home, she smiled and accepted.
As we reached the base of the apartment building she lived in, I said "I'll see you tomorrow. And Yuu, I'm glad to have met you. I hope I can be by your side for a long time to come."
Yuu smiled and gave me a peck on the cheek before she said "I'm glad to have you with me. I love you Y/n."
"I love you too." I said. I turned to begin the walk home, when I realized it felt like somebody was watching me. I shrugged it off and began my walk home. As I finally plopped onto my bed I got a text from Yuu that apparently Ayumu had seen our farewells and was happy for us in telling each other how we feel.
The next day, as lunch began, I got up and began to go look for Yuu, to be beside the woman I love now and forever.
-------------------------------------
A/n: Like I promised I would, my Yuu oneshot is now out after five months since the last oneshot in this book. I do plan to write oneshots for Mia, Lanzhu, and all of Leilla, but not quite yet. If my release schedule goes the way I hope it will, I plan to release a oneshot for hopefully every member of Leilla. As for Mia and Lanzhu, I'm not sure when. I kind of want to see how they develop in the story before I try writing for them. Still, it will happen, that I promise!