Price of admission

Price of admission Part 11

It was Wednesday morning and once again, and Nishikata was nervously making his way to school. 'Okay, so I know this feeling only happens when I'm near Takagi, am I annoyed that I constantly lose? Do I have some form of inferiority complex? Damn, I wish this was easier!' He shook his head and continued onwards to where he and Takagi usually met up. When he got there though, she was, once again, nowhere to be found. "Well that's strange." He said as he looked around. "I thought she would have wanted to walk to school."

He quickly remembered the conversation that he had with her last night, which gave him an uncomfortable feeling. "Then again, I may have upset her." He begrudgingly continued onwards as he continued thinking. "Wait a second, why do I care if I upset her? ... no, no, I do care, I'm not heartless ... but should it really feel this bad?"

Elsewhere, Yukari. Mina, and Sanae were also on their way to school while Yukari had a number of things on her mind. 'I would have thought that someone would have won the contest by now, I mean how hard is it to ask out a girl that you're close to?' She looked over at Sanae. 'Well I shouldn't expect Takao to win, even if he does work up the courage to ask Sanae out, she'll probably say no. But why hasn't Nishikata won yet?'

"Yukari!" Mina exclaimed. "You're spacing out."

"Huh? Oh, sorry, what were you saying?"

"I was asking if you wanted to stop by the candy shop before school."

"It's not even open yet."

"Oh, right."

"You seem more distracted than usual." Sanae began. "Knowing you, you're probably thinking of some drama you heard about."

"Drama?" Mina asked. "You mean like Nishikata's new girlfriend drama? I've heard a few people talking about it yesterday."

"What are you talking about Mina?" Yukari asked. "Nishikata doesn't have a new girlfriend."

Mina pulled out her phone and pulled up a picture of Nishikata leaning next to the roof fence, along with a girl in a pink hoodie. "See? He's in a romantic spot with a girl."

Yukari took a close look at the photo and shook her head. "No, that doesn't prove anything."

"How about ..." She looked at her phone then pulled up another picture. "This?"

Yukari took a look at the new photo and her eyes went wide. "What the f-"

Meanwhile, Nishikata had just arrived to school and was making his way to class. 'Her bike is here again, but I don't think she had day duty today'

As he walked through the halls of the school, he was greeted by a guy who suddenly slapped him on the back. "Hey! Nishikata, nice going man." He said before continuing on.

"Uh ... thanks?"

As he stared in confusion, another boy came up and slapped his shoulder. "Man, aren't you lucky."

"I am?" The second boy continued walking as well, leaving Nishikata more confused than before.

He continued walking again, keeping an eye out for more people slapping him on the back. Before he knew it, he was pulled into a side hallway where he found himself face to face with Takagawa. "You said you weren't followed." She hissed as she glared at him.

"What are you talking about?"

She pulled out her phone and pulled up a picture. "How did this get out?"

Nishikata took a look at the picture for a moment, but wasn't sure what he was seeing; it wasn't the same one he found out about yesterday, but from a little earlier, just before he walked upstairs. "I don't-" it was at that moment that he saw it, somehow, the picture managed to capture him holding the envelope from yesterday with the text very visible, right down to the little hearts above the I's.

"Seriously, now everyone will think that I'm your girlfriend or something."

"Well pulling me into a dark corner isn't going to help with that rumor, now will it?"

"Well it's the only way I could talk to you!" She exclaimed. "And we need to talk."

"Well how about we exchange emails, that way we can talk about this when there aren't too many people around."

She begrudgingly pulled out her phone and the two of them exchanged contact info. "Good, now we need to get to class before anyone sees ... us."

"You go on ahead, I'll catch up later."

"Okay." Nishikata was about to leave the side hall when he suddenly remembered something. "Wait, how did get that letter into my bag? The only opportunity was when it was in the guys locker room and you can't go in there."

"I asked one of your friends to deliver it."

The world seemed to stop as suspicions began to flood his mind. "It wouldn't have by chance been Hamaguchi or Takao, would it?"

"Uh ... the one that's trying to date Houjou."

Nishikata's head sank as he reluctantly nodded. "That would be Hamaguchi, of course." He let out a sigh. "When you get a chance, send me that picture, I'm going to need it."

"Okay but ... what's going on exactly?"

"Nothing I can really talk about." He said before waving her farewell and walking out of the side hall.

'I should have known.' Nishikata thought to himself as he walked down the hall. 'Hamaguchi is trying to sabotage my chances with Takagi.' His mind froze for a moment. 'Wait, that sounds like I'm trying to date her ... that doesn't matter. Cause of these pictures and me not being able to talk about any of the situations I'm in, it could cause Takagi to distance herself from me, which is very not good if I want to get back at her.' He let out a sigh as he approached the classroom. 'That's probably why she didn't want to walk to school with me today. I'm going to need to confront Hamaguchi later and somehow make up with Takagi.'

As he rounded the corner into the classroom, he became paralized, almost instantly. Appearance wise, nothing was different, but as soon as he laid eyes on Takagi, Nishikata felt like he was being flooded with a vast array of different emotions. 'Takagi ... why do I feel guilty? I mean I didn't do anything wrong exactly ... right?' He did his best to push the feelings aside and walk into class to take his seat. 'What ... what do I want to do?'

After taking his seat, he placed his bag next to him and turned to Takagi. "Hey ... morning Takagi."

"Good morning." She replied while facing away from him.

"Hey so ... you weren't at the place we usually meet up at."

She turned to him a little surprised. "I ..." She turned back to face the front. "I forgot, sorry."

"You ...oh." Nishikata turned away as well and ran his fingers through his hair. 'Damn it, what do I say? What is even wrong?' He sighed and dropped his head. 'I don't even know where to start.'