Naoya looked at her incredulously. It was obvious that, rather than wanting some of his crepe, she simply wanted to get close to him like Yui had. Either way, it was going to end in him losing more of his delicious snack. Although he had no reason to deny her, he was stopped by an unusual feeling. His heart thumped loudly in his chest, he could feel his face turning red, and his mouth grew dry. Soon, he found it was difficult to speak. “S-Sure. Here,” he managed to sputter.
“Okay,” Koyuki replied. She awkwardly leaned in, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and took a modest bite from the edge of the crepe. Naoya forgot to breathe through the entire duration of the interaction.
“Thanks. It’s quite tasty,” she surmised. Her lips were glossy from the leftover cream, and Naoya found himself unable to remove his eyes from her. Koyuki noticed his gaze and asked with genuine remorse, “What? Did I take too much?”
Why didn’t I feel anything when it was Yui doing it? This is... kinda amazing. Naoya didn’t quite know what his turbulent feelings entailed. In fact, his mind had gone completely blank, and he was unable to think clearly.
Tatsumi noticed Naoya’s brain grinding to a halt and took it as an opportunity to strike. “Haha, guess you’re one of us now—the blessed few,” he goaded. “Lucky you, getting to flirt with a cute girl and shit. If Yui wasn’t here right now, I might’ve tried to get cozy with her myself.”
“Wow, Tatsumi—if we lived together and had a couch, you’d be sleeping on it tonight. She is pretty cute, though. I’m so jealous of your skin, Shirogane...” Yui remarked.
“Yeah. She’s got a great body, and she’s smart to boot. She’s the whole package—you don’t see girls like her every day,” Tatsumi added.
“I-I’m not...” Koyuki floundered. It was pretty evident that she was not used to people complimenting her, as she became embarrassed again.
Naoya noticed that another strange feeling had started to well up inside his chest. Yui’s fine and all, but I dunno how I feel about Tatsumi talking to her like that. Although he knew that they were both just giving her genuine compliments, it didn’t prevent a wave of irritation from washing over him. Even worse, he couldn’t place his finger on why he felt this anger toward his friend.
Naoya shot Tatsumi a glare, and he seemed to notice it. Instead of backing off, however, he chose to double down on the false flirtation. “You’re at the top of our year, right, Shirogane? How about we study together sometime?”
“What?” Naoya and Koyuki both blurted out at the same time. Whereas Koyuki’s voice held a great deal of confusion, Naoya’s was significantly more outraged. Koyuki appeared to be at a loss.
“Yeah,” Tatsumi continued with his friendly prodding. “I just failed our math test hard. I was thinking I’m gonna try and study harder. You crushed it, didn’t you?”
“I mean, I did okay,” she replied.
“So yeah, how about it? You should be my teacher, Shirogane. I’ll even treat you the next time we get crepes.”
“Um...”
“It can be something else, too. What d’you like, Shirogane? Tell me. I’ll get you anything you want,” he offered, leaning forward slightly. It was as though he was genuinely trying to pick her up, and Koyuki was at a complete loss on how to react. His real girlfriend, for her part, paid no attention—she simply sat next to him and took bites out of her crepe. Tatsumi reached forward, grabbed Koyuki’s hand, and said, “Say, how about tomorrow we—”
“Fuck off,” Naoya snapped, staring daggers at Tatsumi. “You don’t get to go anywhere near her.”
“Well, well, well.” Tatsumi smiled so casually that it was as if his friend hadn’t just freaked out on him.
Koyuki tilted her head to the side, entirely unsure what to make of the situation. “What’s up, Naoya? Did something make you mad?”
“Nah, not really mad or anything,” Naoya mumbled as his actions slowly dawned on him. He fell deep into thought, taking small nibbles off his crepe. “I’ve felt weird for a few minutes now...”
“Weird how?” Tatsumi asked.
“Well, I thought nothing of it when Yui had some of my crepe, but my heart felt really weird when it was Shirogane. And when you were being all creepy with her, it kinda annoyed me. What the heck’s wrong with me?”
Koyuki decided this was prime time to jump in. “Well, maybe it’s...” she suggested with an audible gulp, staring seriously into his eyes. “You might have a cold, Sasahara. That can make your stomach feel weird and give you all sorts of strange symptoms.”
“Yeah, maybe. I’ll take my temperature when I get home, I guess,” he agreed.
“What the fuck, you two?!” Tatsumi shouted. “I set him up perfectly and everything. What more could I have done?!”
“It’s okay, Tatsumi. We all know Naoya’s an idiot when it comes to himself,” Yui assured him.
“Stop talking like I’m not here, you two,” Naoya complained, turning a suspicious gaze upon his two friends.
Yui spoke up in an exasperated voice, like she was admonishing a child, “So you don’t care when it’s other girls, but when another guy gets in Shirogane’s business, it bothers you. Jeez, I wonder what that could mean.”
“Yeah, I have a cold, or... Oh,” Naoya stated, finally realizing what they’d been doing. “So that’s what’s happening, huh?”
“Looks like it, Naoya,” Yui affirmed.
“Took you long enough, numbnuts,” Tatsumi added sarcastically.
“Oh wow...” Naoya mumbled. He looked quite surprised.
Koyuki looked to be the only one among them who wasn’t on the same wavelength. She knitted her eyebrows and cocked her head.
Naoya turned to her with a serious expression and declared, “Shirogane. I don’t think a cold’s the issue.”
“Then what’s the matter?” she asked.
“I think I like you.”
“Well, that would explain everything th—WHAT?!” Koyuki had tried to play it cool, but couldn’t quell her sudden outburst.
It didn’t matter how little experience Naoya had in love—now he had an answer for the bizarre sensations. He just knew. He continued, “I’ve been worried for a while now about how I feel about you. I knew I liked you, but I wasn’t sure in what way. But now I know—I like you romantically, Shirogane! There’s no other explanation!”
“There’re people here, you moron! Shut up!” she screamed, garnering more attention from the other patrons than Naoya had.
Tatsumi gave Naoya a lopsided smile and noted, “It’s always all or nothing with you, isn’t it?”
“Love makes people crazy, Tatsumi,” Yui followed up without missing a beat.
Naoya had more important things to deal with than to respond to their jabs. He asked, “You said you’d make me fall for you, right, Shirogane?”
“Um, I-I did, but...” she trailed off hesitantly.
“You said you’d make me confess to you, yeah?”
“N-No way!”
“Yes way,” Naoya affirmed with a deep nod. “Shirogane! Do you wanna go out wi—Hey! Shirogane?!”
As Naoya had tried to confess, Koyuki had bolted up and began dashing for the door. “I can’t deal with this right now! Not here!” she cried.
She managed to make it a few meters before she tripped over a chair and collapsed in a heap.