While the members of the student society were bringing them around the school for an orientation tour, Inosuke stayed at the back of the group, casually humming a song as he rested his head on the both of his palms.
Surprisingly, the so-called 'delinquents' of Kimetsu City that were enrolled to the school were not really problematic and stubborn.
The Kamado siblings, Tanjiro and Nezuko were especially nice towards Inosuke. He was quite convinced that he would have friends.
Based on his knowledge, Aoi was the vice president, but it seemed like the president was absent. If he was there, Aoi wouldn't be tiring herself out by filling in his place. As usual.
He couldn't care less to know where the gym, main hall or lab was. During the respective periods, he could just follow the crowd and find the venue anyway, so he spent his time staring at Aoi each time his girl had to brief the others.
Inosuke had the sudden urge to tease her throughout the whole first day.
Earlier, he was despondent and a little offended to realize that Aoi pretended to not know him.
As time passed, the devil on his shoulder was gaining more dominance. If Aoi was acting hostile towards him, he could backfire her intentions.
The green-eyed boy smirked openly, not hiding his reckless plans from the crowd.
As they passed by the science lab, Yushiro, a boy with green hair which reminded Inosuke of cabbages, stopped by the door to peek inside. He was spying around, looking for Tamayo-sensei. That boy had his head up in the clouds, but Tamayo-sensei waved to him from the inside, judging by Yushiro's suddenly red cheeks.
Annoyed and overwhelmed by the amount of human interaction around him, Inosuke decided to unbutton his uniform.
He had thrown away his blazer somewhere on the road, and it was probably picked up by a random passerby.
As his hands unclasped each button, his eyes followed Aoi as her hair swayed with each step. He never liked school uniforms if he had to be honest.
It was a hassle to put on the same uniform everyday. It felt like he was following what society wanted and he, out of all people, hated society to the core of his heart.
If it wasn't for society, his mother would've never married that jerk of a father. The fact that Inosuke still had his father's surname irritated him.
The crowd stopped walking and Inosuke read the little metal sign that was pasted adjacent to the double doors.
STAFF ROOM
Aoi was about to bring them inside. She was in charge of introducing the new students to the teachers, especially the prinicipal.
Unfortunately, the secretary informed that Mr. Ubuyashiki was still absent from the school due to his sudden condition.
She sighed and stepped out of the staff room, her eyes reflexively locked with Inosuke's as she faced him. Her eyes widened in shock to see him without his shirt buttoned properly. He had such a toned body, but Aoi shook her head before her mind wandered further.
Closing her eyes to calm herself, Aoi chided, "Please button up your shirt. You look like a street gangster. This is not the way students of Kimetsu High should behave."
Her nagging voice only made it bolder for Inosuke to continue teasing her. He replied, "Well, I've always wanted to be a gangster, so I guess I can tick off one box in my checklist."
The vice president held back the urge to roll her eyes. Inosuke was trying to mess with her, but she wasn't going to let this slide. "It'll be a nightmare for me to know what is in your checklist, Hashibira-kun. Please keep your unimportant thoughts to yourself."
Hashibira-kun. Aoi had never called him with that name.
He was silent for a while, until Aoi reminded him about his uniform again. "Button up your shirt before any of the teachers see you."
"No."
"You will regret it."
"No."
"Can you not cause trouble during your first day?" Aoi scolded, her voice was beginning to rise.
She glanced at her watch and they both already spent five minutes just bickering. She needed to be within the timeframe to follow the schedule.
Inosuke departed his arms to display his exposed chest. Without thinking, Inosuke blurted out, "Why don't you do it yourself if you hate this so much?"
He didn't know where did his courage come from. Inosuke didn't plan to tease her to this point, but it seemed like his tactic worked. Although he was sure Aoi's throat was parched because of all that talking, she coughed in response.
Kanao quickly patted her back, but she was angry for Inosuke to do that to Aoi. She tilted her head to look at him and exhorted, "T-this is why Shinobu-sensei and Kanae-sensei warned us about people like you."
The others, who stayed within the sidelines, began to feel uncomfortable. Tanjiro tried to interrupt, but he was unsuccessful. "Hey, I think there's a peaceful way for us to solve this—"
Inosuke hit Tanjiro's shoulder and the boy fell towards his friends. "Shut it, Gonpachiro!"
Fortunately, Genya and Zenitsu managed to avoid him from falling. Nezuko, even though quiet, made an impatient sound. Kanao felt more offended when someone as kind as Tanjiro was a victim to his brashness.
"B-behave yourself," Kanao managed. Kanao was easily embarrassed to witness everyone's stare on her, but she tried her best to have Aoi's back.
Inosuke eased as his shoulders fell. He retorted, "I just stated that I want her to button up my shirt."
He pursed his lips and pretended to whistle as his eyes wandered on the walls.
Aoi didn't imagine that she would be affected by the same attack. Her cheeks immediately blushed in response, so she made herself cough and retch louder to hide her face. They all believed she was red because of her itchy throat. Kanao still had her hand on Aoi's back as she stole glances to her boyfriend.
Inosuke didn't know why he loved having the upper hand. Aoi liked propriety and she was an excellent actress. For some reason, he wanted her to get busted, but she was such an amazing pretender. Resorting to his killer move, Inosuke knew Aoi would become embarrassed at the slightest sign of intimacy between them.
Eyebrows furrowed, Aoi proclaimed, "I'm reporting you to the principal. Perhaps he'll decide to send you back to your old school."
Not admitting defeat, Inosuke fiddled with his shirt with a grin on his face. Much less to everyone's expectations, he slipped it off his shoulders, which caused Kanao to pale in surprise.
Aoi dashed her way to him and swiftly lifted both sides of his collar up, covering his chest. As she buttoned up his shirt as her face blushed and her breathing ragged, she lectured, "Why the heck are you acting like this? Try behaving a little at least!"
He exhaled in arrogance. "Why do you care so much about the school rules? It's not as if they school is your family's property anyway."
"I don't," she answered in staccato. From her bag, she reached out a scarf and wrapped it around Inosuke's neck. "I just don't want you to get cold."
The smell of her body wash intruded his nose like a pleasant, uninvited guest. Her froze on the spot as Aoi walked away.
She continued the briefing by warning the others about the school rules regarding uniforms and attire. She was completely contradictory to what she said to Inosuke just now, saying that uniforms resemble utmost discipline and behaviour. She left Inosuke stupefied like an idiot waiting for the sky to rain.
Inosuke stomped his foot in anger. He had arranged 27623282 comebacks that pretty much had the word 'fuck' and 'hell' in them, but only one utterance of affection by Aoi left him completely dumbfounded.
"She's too powerful for her own good," Inosuke muttered. "Or maybe I'm just weak—no, no. I'm not weak!"
Zenitsu was perplexed with Inosuke's behaviour. "You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, Monitsu," he said, which caused Tanjiro to stare at Inosuke as well. He was offended when he had gotten his name wrong, but Inosuke turned out to be bad with his memory after all.
Tanjiro sped up as he followed Kanao and Aoi. The others followed him, except for Inosuke. He was still muttering to himself, gaining his balance after Aoi's killer move.
"You need to move."
He snapped off his reverie and noticed that everyone was staring at him from a distance. The crowd was already far, but Aoi made her way to him again, probably about to scold him again.
Boldly, he exclaimed, "And if I don't?!"
"If you won't move, I'd have to leave you here and report you to the school principal."
"What if I don't care?" Inosuke said, his face smug.
"Do you think I care whether you care or not?"
Inosuke didn't want to lose. "Do you think I care whether you care that I care or not?"
"Do you think I care whether you care that I care about the fact that your care or not?"
The others watched them both in awe. Aoi seemed like the only person who could keep up to Inosuke's game. If there was someone who could tame him, it would be only her.
"Do you think I care—" Inosuke attempted, spluttered, and continued, "—fuck this!"
They were playing this one distinct game. He wasn't actually sure why they began to be competitive, but there was tension everywhere. So much tension that it made Inosuke crave for her affection and love.
A game of pretending. Inosuke decided to call it The Pretending Game.
Since they two were polar opposites, it was easier to pretend that they hate each other instead of being friends. They were enemies in public, a couple in secret.
What a controversial concept.
Aoi clicked away as he lost to the game. He couldn't supress his grin as he followed her towards the others. She would glance to him many times and he pretended not to notice, even though he would do anything to get lost in her blue eyes.
During lunch, he sat with the rest of the boys and Nezuko. He still had problems remembering their names, but apparently, he could pronounce 'Nezuko' without any difficulties, although the vermillion-haired girl didn't talk at all.
Zenitsu scolded him for that.
The students of Kimetsu High watched him. Tanjiro was the only one who ate properly. Nezuko kept on giving her food to Zenitsu, in which the blond boy happily accepted. Genya ate in silence while Inosuke, acting like his usual self, was stealing people's food.
Aoi made a mental note to prepare bento for two people starting tomorrow.
Just when Kotoha disappeared behind her bedroom and flicked the lights off, Inosuke sat on a stool in the kitchen and thought of Aoi. He wondered if he should see her and explain things.
He didn't mean to tease her today, but her blushed cheeks were such a gift.
Plus, she seemed busy earlier and would probably continue doing her homework until late at night. Inosuke would be a distraction.
He munched on the cake that his mother brought home from her office. Douma was celebrating the success of their new project and he treated everyone chocolate cake in the office. He gave Kotoha extras, knowing how much Inosuke loved food.
Inosuke was disgusted, but he still ate them.
After finishing, his eyes were getting droopy and he knew he had to get his beauty sleep, but..
But.
But he couldn't stand not seeing her.
Exiting through the back door, Inosuke jumped onto the bricked fence and hopped onto her balcony, grateful to see her curtains tied at the right. Aoi had told him years ago that he was allowed to come whenever he wanted, as long as her curtains were not draped over the whole window (she was usually not decent if she blocked people's view with the curtains).
As he crouched on the balcony's handrail, he noticed that Aoi was pacing back and forth, her fingers dancing together nervously. Her lips were moving dubiously, until Inosuke realized she was muttering something.
She was wearing a pair of checkered black-and-white shorts that hung just above her knees. Her shirt was plain white with a little pattern on her left chest. Her straight hair was loose and there was a towel on her head. With droplets of water falling as she moved, he knew she had just come back from the bathroom.
Slowly, he slid the balcony door open, only a small bit to hear her voice.
"Should I tell him?" she asked herself.
Aoi moved towards the left and muttered, "What am I going to tell him?"
Then, she sauntered to her right. "But I need to tell him!"
She began walking to the other side of the room again, murmuring, "What if he doesn't want to talk to me—"
Inosuke knocked on the glass and Aoi yelped in shock. "Ahh!" she screamed, her towel accidentally falling onto the floor as she craned her chin up to find the source of the sound. Upon seeing Inosuke's green eyes, she rolled her eyes and picked the towel back up onto her head.
Although she seemed annoyed, her heart was beating like a racing train in her chest, but she managed to hide it quite well. She was still worried and she hadn't planned how to explain the earlier circumstances to Inosuke, but she slid the balcony glass open.
"What are you doing here?" Aoi queried, trying her best to not look into his eyes.
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Are you really asking me that question?"
Aoi pretended to not understand. "Huh, what?"
"What do you mean, 'what'?" Inosuke retorted, making his way inside as Aoi stepped back. She was used to having Inosuke in the room, but she was feelings particularly nervous tonight.
"Aren't you going to explain why you acted strangely at school today? To me, Lord Inosuke, among all people?" he inquired while he stood in the middle of the room, his usual way of gaining dominance.
Although it was Aoi's place, he would still find ways to make it his own.
No matter how much she loved him, sometimes Aoi would get annoyed at his overbearing behaviour. "Firstly, don't you dare call yourself Lord Inosuke in my presence," she began, lifting a sassy finger.
"Secondly," Aoi said and took a deep breath. "What were you doing at my school?!"
"I didn't know it was your school! All I knew is that my school said I've an offer from Kimetsu High and I accepted it because I'm sick of the people at my old school," Inosuke explained as he averted his gaze to the wardrobe.
Aoi knew this move. He was nervous just as she was.
"I literally mentioned almost a thousand times that I'm studying at Kimetsu High. I know you have memory problems but can't you try remembering something as important as that?" Aoi nagged, her hands on her hips.
"Even if I know, what do you expect me to do? Turn down the offer?"
"You could've warned me," she continued, her voice turned a little softer. Although only her parents were in the house and sleeping on the ground floor, she had to make sure she wasn't creating too much noise.
"I didn't know I would become some sort of trouble to you," Inosuke finished in a low tone. His voice indicated that he didn't want to fight anymore.
After all the arguments, he finally reached his point. He was just sad that Aoi acted like she didn't know him.
It was Aoi's turn to feel guilty. "All you want is a fresh start, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"You should've told me, even if you're not coming to my school, you know. I honestly feel like a useless girlfriend. And at least I'll be prepared," she admitted. She inched closer to him, trying to wade away the tension and awkwardness between them.
"Prepared to pretend as if you don't know who I am?" Inosuke asked, his eyes flashing her a killer stare.
He was still confused about everything. Why wouldn't Aoi allow him to become his friend at school?
Wasn't it him who knew everything about her?
Aoi sighed. She couldn't run away from telling the truth anymore. She hugged her body in response and muttered, "I need to talk to you about something."
"About time!" Inosuke yelled.
Aoi tilted her head back to avoid herself from getting irked. "Geez, can you pause that sarcasm for while? This is serious! And stop screaming! My parents are downstairs if you don't know," she nagged as she tapped her forehead with one palm.
"You're screaming too," he protested, this time just to tease her.
Realizing that she was equally guilty, Aoi's face turned red with embarrassment and she fumbled for words. The sight was enough to make Inosuke laugh with joy. Aoi was eloquent in comparison to him, so her getting speechless was gold.
She pouted as Inosuke stepped around in the room. He was still trying to suppress his laugh upon seeing her red face, but she was just too cute!
Seeing her hair wet under the towel, Inosuke grabbed the hair dryer from her dresser and sauntered back to her. "Sit down on the floor, Aoi. Let me dry your hair."
"Why?"
"You look uncomfortable."
She had to admit that Inosuke could read her like an open book. "Okay. Thanks, Inosuke."
"Lord Inosuke, you mean."
Aoi sat cross-legged on the floor, just beside her bed. Inosuke plugged the hair dryer into the surge protector that was connected to a main socket. Turning the switch on as it glowed red, he adjusted the heat and began blowing on Aoi's hair.
For a while, they stood in silence. Inosuke was rambunctious, but he was really careful around Aoi. The way he moved his hand from the left to the right and up to down, Aoi felt like an expensive treasure that was meaningful to him. It wasn't hard to dry her hair because it was straight and less frizzy.
When he was done, without Aoi even saying anything, he grabbed a bottle of hair oil and began lathering her hair gently. He knew how much Aoi liked going to sleep with her hair smelling like roses. All of a sudden, she wanted to cry.
"You know..." she began.
"Yeah?"
Aoi was biting her lip in uncertainty. "In school, I'm known as the best example to the rest of students. I'm not bragging or anything, but most of the teachers tell the others to follow my example. At first, it was thrilling and validating, but after some time, I realize that I needed a lot of energy just handling the pressure."
"I know. Why do you think I check up on you each night during the exams?" he said as he put the comb between his teeth. He was trying to place her hair neatly first.
"The students will use my marks as their benchmark. They will measure their achievement by comparing their marks to mine. If I get 85% for an exam and they get 83%, they will feel like they've accomplished something. Although I'm happy for them, sometimes people will come to me and make me feel like my position is threatened. Kanao sometimes get higher marks than I do, but people always seem to pay more attention to me."
"Perhaps it's just because you attract attention from people," Inosuke commented. "But that sounds extremely stressful."
"It is. Once I realized what I have signed up for, I knew no matter how hard people work in the school, I need to do more. Just more. More studying. More disciplined. Higher marks. Higher respect. Anything to keep me in the front lines," she continued. She was silent for a while before Aoi added, "Anything that brings me closer to what my sisters have achieved."
Inosuke couldn't say it, but he absolutely hated her family. Aoi had entered the school with her own effort. Her parents didn't even care about her reputation at school, but now, the teachers and students replaced her own nosy family.
"Go on. I'm listening."
Her right hand reached out and grabbed Inosuke's left arm as he fixed the left side of Aoi's hair. He froze when their skin touched, missing the light press of her fingertips.
Inosuke stopped moving. Aoi explained, "That's why each time I come home and see you, it reminds me how human I am and again, I'm back to being myself, not the perfect princess they all see me as. I don't mind that you go to my school—our school, but I just don't want you to see how fake I am."
She was currently sitting in front of him, pouring her life out and being vulnerable around her boyfriend, who was pretty much the opposite of him.
Why on the earth would he think she was fake?
"Did I ever tell you that sometimes I feel like going to your school and burn all the buildings down just so you can take a break?" Inosuke attempted to humour her.
It worked. Aoi chuckled—the sound that he loved to death.
"I'd appreciate that a lot," she remarked, "Oh, they also believe that I'm not the type to be focused on getting in relationships. Even though the school has a reputation, teenagers will be teenagers. Lots of our students had been caught dating and they were brought to the counselor. I'm supposed to be the one who's not interested in puppy love. Or any boys at all."
"What happens when students are brought to the counselor?" Inosuke asked, just curious.
"Honestly, I don't know. Usually, Mr. Kibutsuji seems nice enough that you'll feel protected, but all the students dropped out of school a while later. He creeps me out."
Inosuke frowned. Hearing his name felt familiar. Inosuke felt curious to find out what Mr. Kibutsuji did to the students. If he was really bad of a counselor, why didn't the principal do anything about it though?
"So no one knows that you have a boyfriend?"
"Nobody knows. Some of them suspect that I'd never end up with anyone because the boys feel insecure around me. Whatever that means," Aoi explained.
Inosuke was done with her hair, so he was massaging her scalp. He learned the technique from his mother, who liked to practice her skills on Inosuke.
"Men wouldn't want to be with girls who won't give them a boost of their ego. You're much better than them, that's why," Inosuke validated her.
Turning her head to face him, even though the first thing in her vision was his knees, she asked, "Did you just praise yourself over me?"
"Yes," he answered bluntly.
She rolled her eyes and Inosuke rested his hands on her temples. He gestured for her to turn around again and continued massaging her scalp. Aoi eased her head on the mattress between his legs.
"Now back to the main topic. They also don't know you're my neighbour?" Inosuke queried.
"Yeah. The address in your file is your old address. Your father's house."
Inosuke was shocked at the mention of his father. He had forgotten that the house he was living in was simply Uncle Douma's property.
"Aha! They all don't know that the most proper girl in school is the girlfriend of a city famous delinquent? Splendid!" Inosuke beamed.
Aoi closed her eyes. It felt so good to have her scalp massaged by his gentle hands. "Now that's ironic. Kinda funny when you think about it."
"It'll be iconic once people find out."
"That's why I can't act as if I know you. If they find out I affiliate myself with—"
"People like me?" Inosuke cut off, which caused Aoi to flutter her eyes open in astonishment. In no way she tried to offend him. He judged her too early.
She rectified her intention. "People like you whom they judge on the surface. No matter how wrong they are, we are not in a position that we control society. You—out of all people know that."
Inosuke exhaled in frustration. "Society is a bitch."
She craned her head up to look at Inosuke's face as she laid against the bed. "From your outward demeanour, nobody will guess you're such a sweetheart inside, Inosuke."
"I'm not a sweetheart. I'm the one and only Lord Inosuke!"
"Says the person who is massaging my scalp with his strong hands," she retorted, which made him stop.
Instead, he cupped her cheeks, his palms on her cheekbones and his fingers near to her chin. He was locking her in place. "Then, we have to keep it a secret? About you and I? We have to act as if we just met each other today?"
"Mhmm," Aoi agreed. "I also have to avoid being too close to you just in case people start speculating something. Gossiping is a lethal weapon."
"We'll be normal when we're at home, right?"
"Pretty much so, yes. We'll only pretend when we're at school."
"So—The Pretending Game?"
"The Pretending Game?"
"Yeah, since we both have to pretend. It should be between us and the school. If any word gets out, the school wins and we lose, but if we manage to keep it a secret until graduation, we win!" Inosuke exclaimed excitedly.
"The Pretending Game. I like it," Aoi commented.
"Lord Inosuke commences the game. Let it begin!"
You have reached the end of this chapter. Thank you for reading and do not forget to vote!