Price of admission

Price of admission Part 5

Some time had passed and Nishikata was sitting at his desk, finishing off what was left of his homework. "Good things there's not much, I need to try and find a way to win against Hamaguchi and Takao, and that means I have to find a way to hold Takagi's hand for long enough to reach Amakawa. Also I need to somehow ask Takagi out, though we never specified how, so I could probably just ask her if she wants to go to the concert with me." He sighed and rolled his head. "But then there's still holding her hand ... why does this have to be such a pain?"

He got out of his chair and threw himself onto his bed. "I managed to hold her hand during the summer festival, why is it still so hard?" He looked at his hand and began imagining Takagi's hand in his. "It's Takagi ... we've known each other long enough ... I should be fine with this."

Once more, the all too familiar feeling came back, only this time, it was accompanied by a sort of emptiness. "What is this?" He clenched his hand. "And why has it only gotten worse? The last time it was this intense was when Takagi and I went to the water park with Nakai and Mano." Immediately, a terrifying thought occurred to him. "I'm not ... in love with her, am I?" He shot up and began to panic. "No, that would definitely not be good, she'd be able to tease me to the point where I would no longer be able to show my face at school!" His panic subsided for a moment. "Unless ... she also-" He shook the thought from his head before he could even finish his sentence. "No, that's not possible, she practically told me so herself." He thought about that statement for a moment. "Well, she said that she liked me, then said that liking me was a lie so ... yeah."

He lied back down and resumed thinking. "Now, am I in love with Takagi? I mean that would be bad, she'd never stop poking fun at me for it ... actually, it kinda feels like she already does." He rolled over and pulled out his phone. "But she also acts nice sometimes ... and I do have fun hanging out with her ... even if she does tease me." He let out a sigh as he remembered her words from earlier. "She wanted to hang out with me more outside of school ... I mean how bad could it be?" He shot back up and shook his head. "No, I have to stay on track, and I can't jump to conclusions like I'm in love with her. All I have to do is stay focused and I should be able to overcome this."

He stood up, and walked into the middle of the room. "Okay, so Takagi teased me thirty five times today, that times three in one hundread and five pushups, now let's do this!"

After some time, he finished roughly half his quota and collapsed as he began gasping for air. "Okay, I need a break."

He pushed his way to his feet and made his way out of his room and down the stairs. 'What was I thinking?' He thought to himself as he reached the bottom of the stairs. 'I can't be in love with Takagi, no way no how!' He made his way into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. "What was I even worried about?!"

He began drinking in big gulps, but before long, he stopped and just stared into his cup. 'Who am I kidding? It's a distinct possibility that I'm head over heels for her.' He began slowly sipping away as his mind continued to wander. 'She is cute, that's something I have to admit. And what would really change if we did end up getting together.' He froze then shook his head. 'Not that it would happen.' He emptied his glass and placed it into the sink before walking back upstairs. 'I doubt anything would change, she'd still tease me, I'd try to tease her and ... maybe fail. I guess we would probably hang out a lot more though.' He stopped as his face began to heat up. 'And ... probably hold hands more often, and once in a while we might ki-' His heart rate spiked and he turned around and marched back downstairs "I need more water!"

He walked right back into the kitchen and poured himself another large glass of water which he promptly drank in one go before gasping for air again. "That's better." He looked down into his empty glass and began to think. 'Like I said, I can't jump to conclusions just because I get a little embarrassed around her. I would probably be that embarrassed with any girl ... not that I've had experience hanging around with any girls, just Takagi. And this feeling is probably part of that as well, I'm just ... nervous around girls is all.' He placed his glass in the sink once again and punched his fist into his palm. "In any event, I still have more pushups to do!"