Price of admission

Price of admission Part 6

Wednesday morning had begun much the same as any other, only Nishikata was more nervous about today than usual. "Okay, this is no big deal, it's just Takagi, you've walked to school with her before hundreds of times, this time is no different." He said as he walked down the road.

He continued walking for a time, and then some more, and eventually, he noticed that he had long since passed the point where he would have bumped into Takagi. "Huh ... that's strange." He looked around again before continuing on. "I mean it's not like this hasn't happened before, but the one day I need it to not happen." He stopped and carefully looked around again. 'I'd better watch what I say, if she finds out about the competition between me, Takao, and Hamaguchi, I'll lose, and she can be right around the corner for all I know.'

He continued walking and managed to get to the school with no sign of Takagi. "Well ... at least I didn't get teased yet, but still." He took a look around and found Takagi's bike parked by the bike rack. "Well, at least I know she's here."

He continued into the school, changing his shoes, and walked to his class. Sure enough, there she was, sitting at her desk, right next to his. "Morning Takagi." He said as he walked up and took his seat.

"Huh?" She looked up at him a little surprised. "Oh, good morning Nishikata."

"Yeah, um ... you got here quick."

"Well yeah, I had day duty today."

"Oh, right." He turned away as the strange feeling came back. 'Damn it, why can't I just be more confident? That would solve all my problems.'

"Nishikata." She began catching his attention. "Is everything okay? You seemed to be very out of it yesterday."

"Yes, everything's fine." He grunted as he continued to look away from her.

"Well that's good." She looked him up and down as a smile formed on her face. "Say, Nishikata, you're still working out, right?"

"Huh? Yeah." He said as he turned back to face her. "Sometimes it's well over one hundred pushups, sometimes it's more."

"Well it's definitely starting to show." Nishikata's face began to go red as Takagi smiled at him. "It's really becoming apparent that you keep on skipping leg day."

Nishitaka's face went beet red as he was taken aback. "Hey, it doesn't look that bad, does it?"

"You keep this up and you'll like a mass of muscle mounted on two tinny legs." Takagi burst into laughter as Nishikata tried to cover his face in shame.

Elsewhere, Hamaguchi was on his way to class, wondering how to get the upper hand in their competition. "Man, I can't wait till Friday, it'll be so much easier to just ask Houjou out if it sounds last minute ... though I guess I kinda have to depend on her not having plans ... and Nishikata and Takao failing."

He let out a sigh and continued on his way to class, just as he was about to round the final corner though, he felt a tug on the back of his shirt. "Huh?" He turned around and saw a girl that he recognized from class. "Hey, aren't you-"

"I need a favor." She interrupted. "And please, don't tell anyone."