" Bocchi has a boyfriend!" Kita announces.
" What?!" Nijika says in shock, stumbling a bit and almost dropping the energy cans for storage supply.
" Pppphhttt–!!" A follow up reaction from Ryou-san, spitting her drink.
It didn't take a while for her to recover though, as she went back to drinking her Starbucks coffee.
Meanwhile, I cried tears as I tugged Kita-chan's arms to fix this sudden misunderstanding. I thought my explanation cleared the fact that him and I were just acquaintances?! Why must she betray me like this!
" I-I t-told you! It's not like that!" I stammered, sounding totally unconvincing.
" I'm glad Bocchi-chan has a boyfriend. She's grown up so fast. It was as if it was still yesterday, where she'd hide herself in a cardboard box for ripe mangos." Ryou-san said in her usual monotone tone, wiping away an invisible tear for effect.
I cringed at that memory of myself....
—---------------------------------------------
The memory:
—-----------------------------------------------
" W-Wait hold the phone!" Nijika-chan snaps out of her trance, she quickly places the energy cans down and runs to me, grabbing me by my shoulders.
" I-Is this for real?! You have a boyfriend, Bocchi-chan?!" She interrogates me with stars in her eyes.
" M-M-MURI DESU ZETTAI!" I vehemently denied such blasphemous claims.
" Oh come on, Gotou-san, anyone with two pairs of eyes can obviously tell that there's something more between you two–" Kita tries to insist but I continued shaking my head, absolutely denying her baseless accusations.
" Mumumumumumumumumumumumumuri–!!" I shake my head repeatedly.
" But–"
( Okay, I want you guys to see the true beauty of her murimurimuri so imma just drop the link real quick:
All right, resume! )
" A-All right, calm down, Bocchi!" Nijika gently grabs my hand and stops me from shaking it, keeping me still. She began to soothe the situation like she always does, " If Bocchi is denying it this much, then it can't be true." She says.
Thank you, Nijika-chan. Forever my saviour
Kita remained with her usual smirk, beaming with absolute certainty that something is there when really there isn't. I didn't even know how to exactly define my connection to Akihiko-kun just yet....
" Okay, but who exactly is this ' boyfriend' you keep insisting about?" Ryou asks after having emptied her drink.
Before Kita-chan could open her false accusing mouth, I spoke up first.
" H-He's a new transfer student from my class....he was originally from Oreha High–"
" Wait, Oreha high?! He must be loaded!" Nijika says, I can clearly imagine her jaw dropping.
" Exactly what I said!" Kita nodded along.
" B-But he's not rich at all!" I said, waving my hands.
Kita raises a brow, " Did he tell you that?" She probed.
" W...Well, yes but–"
" It's possible he may be lying, Gotou-san. Don't worry though, we won't do anything weird just cause' he has money. We're not beggars–" Kita was about to say until Ryou-san grabbed me close and shot me a deadpan look.
" Bocchi, it is your mission to court him this instant."
" Huh?" I turned red in embarrassment.
" R-Ryou-senpai?!" Kita was taken aback by that sudden statement too, " What are you suggesting!"
Ryou-san backs away, using a hand to cover her mouth as she eyes me with unreadable eyes.
" If Bocchi can reel in a rich guy like that, then we wouldn't have to take part-time jobs anymore. Our band will have tons of funds for promotional purposes and instruments too. I also won't have to continue living broke and eating reeds three times a day in order to survive." She says, continuously nodding as if this was a great idea. " Indeed, this sounds like the salvation we need."
" O-Oh......you may be onto something there..." Kita says with a look of consideration.
A....Am I being sold off ?!
" You two! Stop that now!" My blonde in shining armour yells out as she places a hand on each of their shoulders.
" Both of you are being so insensitive right now. Look, saying that Bocchi has a boyfriend even when she already said she doesn't is one thing, but thinking of forcing her to get hitched to a random rich transfer student is just plain wrong. Where's your moral compass, huh?" She reprimands.
" Ah...." Both Kita and Ryou pause as if hitting an epiphany. They both slowly turn to me with guilty looks on their faces ( for Ryou, it was barely there ).
They both hugged me tightly soon after, to the point I could hardly breathe.
" Wah! I'm sorry, Bocchi! I didn't mean to escalate it that far!!!" Kita says with sincere guilt, I think I even felt some tears smearing themselves on my shoulder.
" Bocchi, I was only joking. Please don't take it seriously." A rare hint of guilt was found in Ryou's tone as she began to hug me tighter.
" C-Can't breathe–!"
" L-Let goo–"
" Uhh, girls. I think you should let Bocchi go before she passes away again." Nijika points out.
" Oh. Sorry." They both said at the same time before letting me go.
I immediately fell on my knees as I clutched my chest, trying to regain all the air I've lost for 10 seconds. I was there on the ground, gasping like a fish out of water.
Note to self: Hugs are nice, but they can be lethal with the right intent!
Second note to self: Refrain from making the girls sad and guilty, or else they'll be the cause of my death.
" Kita-chan, please drop your baseless assumption. You know how Bocchi is, she must've felt uncomfortable. If she says there's nothing there, then that's the end of it." Nijika says, lightly hitting Kita's head.
She flinches in pain and nods quickly. " Right right! That was really my bad...."
" And you, " She turns to the indifferent exterior that is Ryou-san. " Even if we are in need of money, that's no excuse to sell our friend off to some rich guy." She lectures.
" I know, I know..." Ryou says.
" Are you okay?" Kita says with worry on her face, placing her gentle hand on my back.
I nervously smiled, " Yeah...I'm fine." I assured her.
" Hey!"
Everyone was quickly on alert after hearing that familiar commanding tone of our manager. We all turned to her.
" Get to work, customers should be here soon."
( Woof-- wait shi I shouldn't be downbad here. Ignore this. )
We quickly scurried off to our positions before we accidentally made her mad.
Oh, and that woman is also Ijichi Nijika's older sister, Ijichi Seika.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
( The next day~ )
" Morning, Gotou-san." Akihiko-kun greets me, flashing a smile.
Wait a minute...
Someone else in this school is actually greeting me in the morning?!
All this time, my only friend in this school was Kita-chan, but we didn't often get to meet in the morning. So our greetings were few in number. But this one is different...because Akihiko-kun is my classmate AND my seatmate.
For a moment, I didn't just forget how to speak.
I also forgot to breathe, and I could've died had I not realized my vision was starting to get blurry.
I quickly gasped for air, clutching my chest again as I inhaled and exhaled. I almost died yesterday and now I almost died today? I don't want this to be a frequent thing....
Wait, I didn't respond to him yet!
I glanced at him in crippling panic and despair. I found him surrounded by our classmates, they greeted him one-by-one and began asking questions about him, to which he didn't mind at all in responding back.
Ah....no use in greeting him back then, I guess...
I returned back to scribbling down some lyrics on my notebook thinking that was it. But eventually, as the minutes passed, I began nervously sweating as I anxiously wondered to myself how rude I must've looked when I didn't respond to his greeting, even a nod of acknowledgement would have sufficed!
Hitori, calm down...you're worrying over something so trivial. Just...ignore it, I'm sure he'll understand.
I began scribbling harder, writing down whatever lyrics I thought of for our next song.
~~ Guilt seep in, frozen response~~
~~ Eyebrows creased, heart nuanced~~
~~ Mind in panic, sinking titanic~~
~~ Will you live in guilt or die in regret? Will you shed a tear for those so-called 'dear'?~~
~~ The day is gloomy and not so bright, where is the light that helps you fight–
" T....This doesn't feel right at all..." I murmured to myself in horror.
My band is no stranger to my gloomy lyrics ever since Ryou-san encouraged me into writing lyrics with the utmost sincerity that is my current emotions. Overtime, things turned cheery and bright with my lyric generating mind but there are some days where it turns gloomy but it's acceptable either way.
But what I've written right now....
It's not something I'm satisfied with at all....
I released a sigh and leaned forwards on my tabletop, using my arms as a rest of sorts. I felt sleepy. We worked hard yesterday and I spent all night trying to figure out the lyrics for the next song.
My eyes, without any reason whatsoever, began searching for my seatmate's figure. He was currently reading his textbook with that glimmer of boredom in his emerald eyes, it seems the crowd dispersed during my inner turmoil. I silently, shamelessly, began analyzing his facial features.
His face showed no pimples,marks, or scars whatsoever. A perfectly clean soft-looking skin texture was all there is. I wonder if he uses any facial products to keep that beautiful skin?
His nose looked somewhat adorable, it looked smaller compared to all the boys I've noticed ( aka my Papa ).
His lips were stuck in a neutral position, just a thin line that showed nothing. I began backtracking to what transpired a few minutes ago when he had greeted me with that smile...
It really suited him, that smile of his exuded warmth and comfort. Oh, and didn't he have a dimple or two? That was cute too...
His soft brown hair....for some reason it looks so tempting for me to comb through with my bare fingers....I hypothesize that it might feel nice. But that would be weird to ask, wouldn't it?
" Gotou-san, are you all right?"
Hm? His neutral mouth began to speak. Did another student engage in a conversation with him?
" Uh...Gotou-san?"
His emerald eyes were deterred from his book and staring elsewhere. They seemed to be staring towards my direction, maybe he was staring at a student around my space?
" Gotou-san."
He seems to be calling someone, but I'm so distracted that his words are left incoherent to me–
" Hitori."
" Huh?" I blinked as I looked at him in confusion. Did he just call me by my given name?
" Ah, there we go. Welcome back to earth, Gotou-san." He chuckles.
" D...Did you just...?" I trail off as I feel warmth enveloping my face.
" Oh, right. I did. Sorry about that. I was trying to grab your attention since you were staring at me for god knows what reason....." He bows his head slightly in apology. " I thought calling you by your first name would snap you out of your trance, and it did. Still, if it was rude of me to do then I completely understand. I could buy you lunch as payment for my crimes." He slips in a little joke.
" No need..." I averted my eyes as I palmed my face in disappointment. He caught me staring, that's incredibly embarrassing!
" If you don't mind me asking–"
I completely mind.
" –Why exactly got you so captivated by my face? Hm?" His teasing tone implied that he was gonna milk my embarrassment for all its worth. He's a devil.
I debated whether to just keep silent or bury myself 6 feet under. What? You expect me to answer him? No, I don't think so. My thoughts should all be taken straight to the grave with me and nowhere else!
" Hmmm? " He wasn't relenting at all! He was insistent in teasing me until I break....what did I do to deserve such punishment?
Fine! If that's what he wants then...I-I'll attack back!
" I..." I gulped.
" Hmm? You what~?" his smugness was radiating.
" I just....thought you looked....so pretty..." I mumbled.
" Huh?" He sounded surprised, but I continued.
" Your...eyes....I like their color. They're like beautiful emeralds....so pretty...so nice to look at.....and your smile.....it's so warm and comforting..." I turned redder by the second.
( But if I were to have travelled back in time to look back at his face and see that he was turning quite red too, I would've celebrated that fact to his face every single day...)
"...I.....I see..." He responds after a while of silence. I think he's stunned now.
Ha! Take that!
Oh, who am I kidding. What's there to be smug for?! I'm the one at loss here! Why did I say all of that? I want to die now....
But there's one thing I've gotta get out of my chest first before I resolve to suicide.
" G.....Good morning to you too, Akihiko-kun." I finally greeted, it was rather late and probably out of place but I needed to say it.
I heard a chuckle leave his breath at my greeting. " Seriously....was that it? You just wanted to greet me back? You're so weird, Gotou-san."
" Anyhow, good morning to you again."
I hummed, nodding as a small smile of contentment strayed on my lips.
" By the way, wanna eat lunch together again?" He asks.
I turn to him, his face turned to me as well. His smile that I find myself quite fond of, was there in all its glory. So he did have two dimples.
I smiled back softly.
" Sure." I answered him softly.
~~End~~
Oh! Forgot about one thing.
This is Akihiko's PoV from when Bocchi smiled at him in this chapter:
*gets a heart attack*