Security Protocol: Initiate.

◆ Yukiteru

“So, you saw the kouhais we’ve got this year?”

Enomoto asks me this as he mindlessly takes a bite off his sandwich.

“Yes,” I reply, swallowing a bit of my curry. “Why?”

“Well, just to see if you think they’re hot or not,” he says, swatting a bit of hair out of his face. “I call dibs on the blonde over there, Tae I heard her friends call her. Man, the others I saw around were cute, but that one was a real looker.” He grins. “And you? Found a cute one?”

“Not exactly,” I sigh, downing a mouthful of rice. When Enomoto eyes me suspiciously, I say, trying to sound exasperated, “Okay, I’ve found one.”

“Really?” I can almost see cat ears perking up on the top of his head. “Who?”

I take my time to answer, keeping check on his expression every now and then. “The girl who returned the pen to me a few minutes ago. Aishi-san.”

Enomoto’s eyes widen. “That girl with the weird eyes? I saw her at the welcoming ceremony, I think. Man, she’s cute, but her blonde friend’s the hottest one.”

I barely register the last part as suddenly I get tunnel vision. Inside my head, the phrase keeps ringing: “Man, she’s cute…”

Who does he think he is to comment on her? She is mine. He shouldn’t be saying things like this…

”…ki! Yukki!” Enomoto’s voice snaps me back to reality. “Holy cow, what’s with you these days? You keep zoning out on me at lunch to look at a flower or something else!” He suddenly grins devilishly. “Thinking about her, huh?”

I pause for a moment. Am I really thinking that much? About Aishi? I let my brain wander for a while and it immediately digs up what just happened, her grinning at me while practically waving the key on my face.

How did she even get it? I don’t remember dropping it. Maybe… no. She couldn’t have nabbed it from my blazer while we were talking back that day. She wouldn’t do that. Not to me.

“Maybe,” I say, at last. “I wonder how she even got that key. I don’t think I dropped it.”

His eyes widen again. “So she had the courage to dig in your blazer and nab your key, huh?” He says, with a grin. “A sassy one, I guess.”

“No, she’s not like that. She’s actually quite passive and isn’t as bold as her friends,” I find myself saying, suddenly. “They even tease her for that. Say that she’s got to grow up and take more action for what she wants.”

When I look up from my half-eaten curry I find Enomoto grinning at me. “What?”

“Bro, you just literally enumerated her whole personality, plus added what her friends say to her almost ipsis literis,” he says. “You’ve been watching her. C’mon, say it.”

I bite my lip. “Okay, I’ve been watching her,” I say slowly, bringing out the right words one by one. “Why’s it important?”

He heaves a long sigh. “Well then, looks like I’ll have to draw you a picture. She’s the newbie, the kouhai who gets around as easily as your average six-year-old on crutches. You’re the experienced senpai, smart, kind, and cute enough for nearly all the girls in the school want to bang you.”

I tilt my head to the side. “Bang?”

“Uh, never mind.” Enomoto sighs again. “Anyhow, the point is that, with this show you two’ve played there, will be a pack of girls on her tail every minute now. You’ll have to be the strong, brave senpai and save her from them,” he finishes with a smarty grin.

I stare at the ceiling, remembering Aishi and her smile. Remembering how her eyes turned pink on the day we met, and my vow to myself that I would study her and find out what made her feel.

It’s only now that I realize the existence of one that might hinder my goals.

Outside influence.

Since Aishi’s pretty and has the kind of personality every boy in the planet will adore wholeheartedly, she will have a pack of wolves trying to get to her. And those, most likely, will interfere with my objective if they steal my position as the only guy she can confide in.

So I decide that—shall they ever threaten, even slightly, to ruin my project—I will remove them. Quietly.

So that Aishi’s smile remains only for me.

So that her eyes turn pink solely for me.

“I’ve decided,” I say, standing up from the table, having already finished my curry. “I will try to get closer to Aishi-san, and hopefully protect her from these admirers of me you speak of.”

“That’s the spirit, Yukki!” Enomoto cheers. “Go for it, man! Be her guardian spirit!”

Oh, you have no idea what you are supporting, Koushi Enomoto.

I will protect her, but…

…I never said how.