Price of admission

Price of admission Part 19

School was coming to a close and Nishikata had begun packing up the remainder of his things. 'Should I ask her?' He thought as he glanced over at Takagi. 'I mean, I still don't know what to say exactly ... and I still need to think about what Kimura said.' He threw his bag over his shoulder and glanced over at her again. 'Because of all this, she hasn't teased me much this week, I need to think of a new rule for push-ups for when things like this happen.'

She glanced up, and for a moment, they locked eyes. "Huh?" She mumbled.

Nishikata quickly looked away, pretending that he wasn't just staring at her.

"Nishikata?" Takagi asked. "Did you ... want to talk to me about something?"

'And there she goes, knowing my every thought. I might as well say something though.' "I ... kinda."

"Well, what is it?"

"I ... don't exactly know how to put it into words ... and I don't really understand it myself yet."

"Oh, so ... you need some time alone then?"

"Yeah, I'll call you later." He began walking away before turning around to address her once more. "I promise."

"I'll hold you to that." She said with a smile.

Nishikata resumed walking as he began thinking of his predicament. 'How do I see Takagi now? Well, what are we?' He groaned and threw his head back. 'Maybe I should just wait till I get home to think on this.'

As he began walking out of the school, he noticed Nakai and Mano walking in his direction. "Oh, hey guys."

"Hey! Nishikata!" Nakai greeted enthusiastically. "So uh, we wanted to ask you something."

"Oh, really?" He paused and put his hand out. "Wait, if this is about the rumor-"

"It's not." Nakai interrupted. "It's actually ... are you going to be okay?"

"Huh? Why do you ask that?"

"Because we're worried about you." Mano replied.

Nishikata sighed. "Thanks guys, but I need to do some thinking."

"Well then, best of luck man." Nakai said as he gave him a thumbs up. "And if you ever need anything, don't be afraid to ask."

"Thanks."

They parted ways and Nishikata began the long walk home by himself.

It didn't take him too long to get home, but he was hoping that it would take longer so he wouldn't have to face thinking about this whole thing so soon. "Well, here goes nothing."

He walked inside and went up to his room where he threw himself onto his bed. "Man, now where do I start? I guess with what Takagi and I actually are." He pulled out his phone and pulled up the picture he had of her. "Well I don't hate her, that's a start. But what else?" He looked deeply into the photo and felt at ease. "Are we rivals? I guess that doesn't really narrow it down. We're not dating, that definitely needs some form declaration." He put his phone away and looked at the ceiling. "Well are we friends? We do ... sometimes hang out." He stayed there for a few minutes before rolling over. "She teases me almost every day though, and it's just because she likes seeing my reactions. Maybe I don't-"

He froze as a memory popped into his head.

Flashback

Takagi and Nishikata were on their way home from school together and Nishikata was falling with his two choice questions.