"Josh! Guess what! I made huge progress!" I spotted Joseph in the hallway early that morning and immediately rushed toward him. I'd been waiting near the boys dorm entrance for him because this bastard had ignored every single one of my messages and refused to answer my calls.
Joseph yawned as he approached, looking like he'd only been awake for five minutes. "Yeah? What is it?"
"First of all, why the hell were you ignoring my texts and calls, bastard?"
He rubbed his eyes. "Because you were calling me at two in the morning. I chose my beauty sleep."
I stared at him. "You don't have enough beauty to justify ignoring me."
"Good morning to you too."
I clicked my tongue before leaning closer and lowering my voice dramatically. "Anyway, that's not important."
Joseph raised an eyebrow.
I looked around to make sure nobody was listening, then whispered the greatest news of my life. "Kazuha said she's interested in me."
For a second, Joseph simply stared at me. "Really?"
I nodded proudly.
"Seriously?"
"With my own ears."
Joseph's eyes widened, then his entire expression changed. "NO WAY!" He suddenly grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. "CONGRATULATIONS, DUMMY!"
"Whoa! Get off me!"
"Operation Shadow worked! I was a genius!"
"You were barely involved!"
"I was the mastermind!"
We started celebrating like two idiots who had just won a championship. Joseph raised both fists while I jumped around beside him, and several students walking through the hallway started staring at us.
"I'm so happy for you, Kaoru! Finally! After all these years!"
I grinned so hard my cheeks hurt.
Joseph eventually calmed down and looked at me. "So..."
"Hm?"
"You two are a couple now?"
I froze. "Huh?"
Joseph froze too.
We stared at each other.
His expression slowly changed from excitement to disbelief. "Wait."
"What?"
"You said she told you she was interested in you."
"Yeah."
"And you're still not dating?"
"No?"
Joseph rubbed his forehead. "You really are an idiot."
"Why?!"
"Because if someone tells you they're interested in you, don't you think you're supposed to respond?"
I blinked. "Respond?"
"Yes!"
I thought about it.
Oh. Oh no. He was right. If Kazuha had basically confessed her interest in me and I'd just sat there like an idiot, then from her perspective... I'd rejected her.
My eyes widened. "OH MY GOD!" I grabbed my hair. "You're right!"
Joseph sighed.
"I didn't even think about it like that!"
"You didn't think about it at all!"
"She must think I turned her down!" I grabbed Joseph by the shoulders. "She probably spent the whole night crying!"
"That's a bit dramatic."
"She probably stared at the ceiling while wondering why the girl she loved rejected her!"
"You're making things up now."
"Maybe she even hugged her pillow while whispering my name!"
"Kaoru."
"I'M THE WORST!"
Joseph smacked the top of my head.
"Ow!"
"Go talk to her!"
"Right!" I immediately turned around. "I'll fix it!"
I started running. "See you later, Josh!"
"Good luck, idiot!"
I sprinted toward our dorm as fast as my legs could carry me. It was still early. There was a chance Kazuha was still there.
Please... Please let her still be in the room. I couldn't let my first romantic opportunity die because I didn't understand what the word interested meant!
I reached the dorm, threw open the door, and practically burst into our room. "Kazuha!"
She was standing near the bathroom, calmly drying her hair.
She turned around. Her eyes immediately went to my face, then my sweaty clothes, then my exhausted breathing. "What happened?"
I bent forward with my hands on my knees.
"Give me... a second..." I desperately tried to recover my breath. Running across campus while wearing a backpack had been a terrible idea.
After several seconds, I straightened myself and cleared my throat.
"I..." My confidence suddenly disappeared. Why was this harder than confessing?
I took a deep breath.
"So... yesterday, you said you were interested in me, right?" My face became hot.
Kazuha looked slightly confused by the question, but she nodded. "Yes."
Relief washed over me. Good. I hadn't imagined it. She really had said it.
"So..." I started fiddling with my fingers. "I'm sorry I didn't reply yet."
Kazuha tilted her head. "Reply?"
"Y-Yeah." I swallowed. "You said you were interested in me, so I thought... maybe that was basically a confession."
My voice became increasingly embarrassed. "And I didn't give you an answer, so you might've thought I rejected you, and I didn't mean to do that, because..."
I stopped. My face was burning. "I..."
Kazuha stared at me.
For one brief moment, I thought she'd finally say something romantic. Instead, she calmly replied. "Oh. It's not like that."
My heart stopped. "What?"
"I'm sorry, Kaoru. But I think you misunderstood me. It wasn't a confession."
I stared at her. My brain refused to process the sentence.
Kazuha calmly continued drying her hair. "I meant that I was interested in Puberty Syndrome."
Silence. The room suddenly felt enormous.
"Oh..." That was the only sound my mouth could produce. Interested... In Puberty Syndrome. Not me. Not my personality. Not my beautiful face. Not my heroic chest. Not my incredible romantic potential. My stupid heart slowly sank into the floor.
Kazuha looked at me. "I was just curious. There's a possibility something like that could happen to me too."
"I see." I laughed weakly. "Ahahaha..." That was probably the saddest laugh ever produced by a human being.
I slowly took a step backward. "W-Well, feel free to ask me anything about it."
Another step. "I'll answer whatever I can."
Another step. "As long as it's not too weird."
I reached the door. "Anyway..." I gave her a thumbs-up.
"See you." I escaped.
The moment the door closed behind me, I leaned my back against it and stared at the ceiling.
"Idiot, Kaoru." I covered my face. "You still have a long way to go." Then I sighed and headed toward class.
By the time I reached the classroom, I'd managed to recover most of my dignity.
I walked toward the seat and noticed a petite girl standing beside it. She had short brown hair in a neat bob and was clutching a small bag against her chest.
"Um..."She glanced at me nervously. "Is this seat taken?"
I smiled. "No."
"Thank you." She quickly pulled the chair out. Unfortunately, she seemed to misjudge the distance. Her foot caught the chair leg.
"Ah!" She nearly fell backward.
I reacted without thinking, reaching out and catching her by the arm. "Careful."
She froze. Her face immediately turned bright red. "I-I..." She bowed quickly."Thank you!"
I chuckled. "No problem."
She sat down properly this time, still looking embarrassed. Cute. She reminded me of one of those shy characters who barely spoke above a whisper in anime.
I sat down beside her. Then I noticed someone entering the classroom.
Long black hair, calm expression, perfect posture. My entire body stiffened. Oh no. I immediately grabbed my textbook and raised it in front of my face.
The girl beside me looked confused. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." I whispered from behind the book. "I'm completely fine."
"You don't look fine."
"I'm fine."
Kazuha walked closer. My heartbeat started pounding.
Please don't talk to me. Please don't mention what happened this morning. Please don't look at me.
She walked past my desk. "Morning, Kaoru." Her voice was calm.
"M-Morning." I slowly lowered the textbook after she passed.
The professor eventually entered and started the lecture.
Today's topic was tax law. Normally, I would've found it painfully boring. Today, however, I was exhausted. I'd barely slept because I'd spent half the night thinking about Kazuha's words.
I put my head against my hand. Maybe I really had gotten ahead of myself. Then something suddenly appeared beside my notebook.
A candy.
I looked toward the girl beside me.
She quickly looked away.
I whispered, "For me?"
She nodded.
I smiled. "Thanks."
She gave me a tiny smile in return.
I ate it quietly. Maybe this morning wasn't completely terrible.
When class finally ended, I packed my things while the girl beside me stood up. I turned toward the cute girl beside me and thanked her again. "Thanks for the candy."
She waved her hands awkwardly. "Ah... it was nothing."
I chuckled. "Still, you almost gave me your entire supply."
She laughed softly. "You helped me too, so... thank you."
"Oh, right." I extended my hand. "My name's Kaoru. Nice to meet you."
She looked surprised before smiling brightly and taking my hand. "I'm Kana. Nice to meet—"
Someone suddenly passed behind her. "Sorry!" The person accidentally bumped into Kana.
Her eyes widened. "Ah!" She stumbled forward.
I instinctively tried to catch her.
My chair shifted backward and my foot caught the leg. "Whoa!"
Kana fell forward.
I lost my balance.
The chair tipped.
Everything happened at once. Then... Something soft pressed against my lips.
I froze.
Kana froze.
The entire classroom froze.
My eyes slowly opened wider. Kana's eyes were just as wide as mine. Her face was directly in front of mine. My brain completely shut down.
Somewhere behind us, someone gasped. Another student whispered, "Did they just...?" Then I heard another gasp. A very familiar one.
I slowly turned my eyes toward the side.
Kazuha stood several desks away. She was staring directly at us. Her expression was impossible to read.
My soul left my body.
Of all the possible moments...
Of all the possible people...
Of all the possible locations...
My first kiss had happened accidentally in front of Kazuha.
And somewhere deep inside my brain, one completely useless thought appeared.
Well... at least Kana is cute.