Price of admission

Price of admission Part 10

Nishikata had managed to get home and had been collapsed on his bed for a good hour. "Why is this all so complicated?" He pulled a pillow into his face and moaned. "All of this ... just for a chance to get back at Takagi, and I still need to think of a way to make her embarrassed at the concert." He threw his pillow to the side and looked at the ceiling. "And now people will think I'm dating someone else, this isn't going to make things easier."

He rolled to his side and began thinking. "Takagi probably knows the truth ... though Takagawa said not to tell her. Maybe they have the same crush." He shot up as an idea popped into his head. "Maybe her crush is going to the concert, if that's the case, all I have to do is pretend like we're actually on a date and if he sees us, then Takagi will be so embarrassed." He stopped for a minute before slapping himself across the face. "Not only am I unable to do that, but I could never do something like that to Takagi." He paused as another idea popped into his head. 'What if ... I approach this from another angle. If Takagi gets together with her crush, then she might stop teasing me." A cold sensation began to form within him. "I could win those tickets and ... give them to Takagi so she can ... go with the boy she likes." There was a squeeze inside his chest as the cold sensation grew. "I wouldn't even need to find out who her crush is, it ... could work."

He pulled out his phone and began flipping through the pictures until he got to the only one he had of Takagi. "But ... I don't want to ... why don't I want to?" As he stared at the picture, his phone began to ring causing him to almost drop it and fall on his face. "OW!" He said as he picked it up. "Whos-" He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Takagi.

"Huh? What does she want?" He answered it and put the phone to his ear. "Takagi?"

"Hey Nishikata." She replied. "Working on homework?"

"No, not at the moment." He said as he lay back down on his bed.

"So then are you free to talk?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

She was silent for a moment before finally speaking. "So, Mano showed me a picture earlier, of you and some other girl."

'Of course.' Nishikata thought to himself. "Yeah, I heard a lot of people saw that."

"Yeah, well ... who is she?"

Nishikata felt his heart stop. "She's ... she's no one important."

There was silence on the other end of the line for a bit until Takagi spoke again. "You're lying."

"I'm ... not lying."

"Is she your new girlfriend?" Takagi asked playfully.

"Definitely not!"

"You're right, you're too embarrassed around girls for something like that."

"That only happens when you tease me!" Nishikata froze as a realization hit him. 'That's right, I wasn't at all nervous when talking with Takagawa about her crush. Come to think of it, I wasn't nervous when talking Yukari either ... so it's only Takagi ... not ... just any girl like I thought.'

"Nishikata?" Takagi said, interrupting his thought process. "Be honest, you would tell me if you got a girlfriend, right?"

Nishikata scoffed. "Yeah right, so you could tease me more?"

"... You really think I would do something like that?"

Nishikata rolled his eyes. "Of course, you always tease me about everything, especially when the subject of romance comes up. Not to mention I would have no reason to tell you anyway."

There was a long silence on the other end of the line that made Nishikata think that they may have accidentally gotten disconnected. "Uh, Takagi?"

"You're right, sorry for butting in."

"It's fine."

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." With that farwell, Nishikata hung up the phone and placed it down next to him, all while he began to feel a pit form in his stomach. "Why ... do I feel bad?"

Meanwhile, Takagi was staring at her phone while biting her lower lip. "I knew I shouldn't have called." She said softly. "It kinda feels like I'm the one you think is unimportant."