Shellac Boys

So, I had a job now. Since I didn’t know anything about making coffee, I decided to start by watching how-to videos. By the end of two hours lying like a slug on Ryoya’s bed, I felt like I could now at least tell a macchiato from a mocha and had a better concept of steamed milk.

Yasutoki dragged me off to get free bento again at lunch the next day. Well, free in a sense.

It didn’t feel fair. What I was doing to Yuu, what I was doing to these girls in my fanclub. Manipulating Yuu, leading on the others.

They’re just NPCs. They’re just NPCs. “They’re just NPCs—”

“Miyazato-senpai?” Mae blinked long-lashed eyes up at me.

“Wha-what?”

“You said something kind of weird…”

“Oh! Um, it’s nothing. I’ve been playing a lot of video games lately?”

“Really? That’s so cool! You’re like a handsome e-sports player from a manhwa! Ah, I like video games too. I’ve been really into Smash lately—” She cut herself off, looked down. “Sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

She giggled nervously. “No reason. T-Thank you for the bento the other day.”

So Yasutoki hadn’t credited it to himself. That was a little surprising; or maybe my opinion of him had just become too low.

“You give me bento all the time,” I said. I looked down and saw that I was holding one. “Like right now.”

“That was meeee.” Sae flashed a peace sign. “But hey, what’s wrong, Miyazato-senpai? You seem kind of out of it.”

“It’s nothing, don’t worry. I’m going to go eat this with Yasuto—Asa.”

Yasutoki put an arm around my shoulders and dragged me off. “C’mon, Miya, let’s go get some coffee in you or something.” We stopped at a vending machine and he started going through his pockets for money. “Hey, think you could spot me some change?”

I was a little less discombobulated now, and did my best to put on my Ryoya persona.“What? You’re as bad as Takayama-kun, bro.”

Yasutoki laughed. “Taka asked you to spot him for change? The nerve of that guy! Wait—was that beat-up a shakedown?”

“Nah, it was more that he didn’t like seeing my face, I guess. Also, I kinda followed him somewhere he told me not to go.”

“Sticking your face into some god-forsaken dark alley or some shit without backup?” Yasutoki found his coin and got a latte canned coffee down with a rattle. He handed it up to me. “At least call me.”

“It wasn’t a dark alley, it was the community center,” I said primly.

“The way that literally does not matter.” He watched me intently as I took my first sip of the coffee. I shivered slightly as it went down my throat. Unlike Ryoya, I preferred my drinks hot.

He was silent for a long period after that.

“What is it?” I said, uncomfortable. “You aren’t usually quiet for this long, Asa.”

“Yeah, aren’t usually. What’re you doing after school today?”

“I got a job at Koi Coffee.”

“Can’t you just ask your parents for money?”

“Well, Chihara-chan works there.”

“Right. Get that girl.”

“What’s with that flat tone?” I asked, laughing a little—an awkward, strained laugh. “Yeah, I will get that girl, I’ll have you know. I’ve got girls all over me!”

“Yeah, yeah.” The lunch bell rang.

Next class, he passed me a note reading this class is so boring, and we got into a conversation on that slip of paper. It made me feel a bit better, but didn’t really shake the awkwardness. Nor the feeling that he suspected me. My anxiety was eerily familiar, even though I’d never been in this situation before.

Play the role. That was an old rule I’d had, an implicit feeling after standing out a bit too much got me bullied, after seeing queer rights go backwards and forward and backwards again.

Nah, come on, Rin. Your situation is more exciting than that. You’re like the protagonist of your own light novel!

Whatever. Some light novel this is.

The bell chimes startled me; my heart hiccuped and I instinctively grabbed my chest like an old lady who was going to say something like Oh God-a-mercy.

“He’s tripping,” Yasutoki said to Shunto.

“Yeah, yeah. Leave me alone. I’m going to go get rich.”

Except someone was waiting by the gate. White and pink hair, weird little ponytails, weird little smile, weird little freak. Like a fucking oni waiting at the kimon to cook and eat me.

“What are you doing?” I said, stopping about ten meters from him though it felt more like ten inches with how he was looking at me.

“Waiting for you, the fun Ryo-chan.” He pressed his lips tight around a cigarette, blew air out in my direction.

I took a step back. “Nothing about me’s fun.”

“The way you’re reacting already is.”

I was raising my voice a little to get to him over the distance, but he was talking in almost a low murmur, making me strain my ears. It pissed me off. I resolved to walk quickly past him.

The cigarette was almost finished. He stubbed it off on his jeans, then tossed the rest in his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. What was he, a goat with an addiction problem?

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“None of your business.”

“Everything about you’s my business.” What was with that smile? Looked like it was breaking his face, a weird twitching not-smirk. “So, where’re you going?”

“Fuck off.”

“A pretty boy like you should use prettier words,” Kanai started walking, following me. “But you’re always saying ugly words and doing ugly, violent things, aren’t you?”

I spedwalked as fast as I can, glancing behind me to see where he was, heart racing—and walked directly into a tree. “Aah! What! Why?!” I pushed myself back from it. Kanai was right behind me. I could feel his breath. I was on the verge of a panic attack, gripped the tree bark. “I’m against global warming, you know! I love trees, why would you do this to me!”

Kanai laughed. But it wasn’t the same cold, clear laugh as usual. It was…enthusiastic. Genuine. He almost doubled over with it; the top of his head brushed against my lower back. Finally, he straightened up and wiped his eyes. “Ryo-chan…”

“Leave me alone.” I turned, tried to slip out under his arm in a quick movement. He grabbed me by the collar and pushed me up against a tree.

This looked like something else.

“We’re in public,” I hissed, face hot. “What are you doing?”

“I’ve always known you as the hard, shellac type. You’ve got a shiny shell, the type that no one can get past.” He leaned in, looking over every little detail of my face. “Boring, boring, stuff. I’d rather have my fun with someone emotional like Yasu-chan or Shu-chan. But of course, they’re boring too; they’re not as pretty as you, and they think about such petty, uninteresting things. For you, there was something at least if I could punch through your underbelly.”

I struggled, trying to kick out his knees. “Let me go.”

“The other day, I think I got through. But it was easier than I thought, and underneath, there wasn’t the person I thought.” He pulled me even closer to him and pressed his cheek against mine—his sharp cheekbone pushed against my own. My heart caught in my chest. His lips brushed my ear. “When I got this close, you blushed.”

I elbowed him hard in the stomach.

It didn’t seem to hurt him much, but he took a few steps back, an infuriating smirk playing on his face. “Did that hit home?”

“Are you…um, bisexual?”

Kanai looked startled, then he laughed. “That’s what you’re asking? Who are you?”

“Miyazato Ryoya.”

“Of course, of course, but who’s that?”

I shrugged, watching him warily. He was between me and the gate still.

“I am bisexual, I suppose.” He cocked his head at me. “How’d you know I liked girls?”

Because you end up with the heroine, obviously? But I couldn’t say that. Shouldn’t he be more surprised that I’d figured out he liked boys?

“So you’re a sadist. You want to get a reaction out of me?”

“You’re cute when you’re agitated, so I wanted to get more of that, yeah. I’m into you—” he looked me up and down “—and you’re into me.”

“What aspect of this makes you think I’m into you?”

“It’s tough with shellac boys,” Kanai said, inspecting his nails. They were painted dark, sparkling purple. My gaze was drawn to a crack in the polish on one of them, that revealed a sliver of finger. His fingers were thin, pale, and long, with skin fraying up at the edges of his cuticles. A little blood dripped where he seemed to have bit one of those frayed pieces off. “They don’t admit anything.”

I took a few steps to the left, trying to get around him. “Let me go. I have somewhere I have to be.”

“That’s best. Seeing you suffer is really the best~”

“You’re such a psycho,” I said.

“Come with me.”

“No, I totally won’t,” I said. My heart was pounding in the wrong way. There were goosebumps on my skin and butterflies in my stomach. It was terror, but not…it was the kind of terror like if I was alone with him in a dark room, even though the sun was out. He grabbed my wrist and his hand sent electricity through me.

“Let me go,” I said. “Please.”

“Don’t worry. I’d like to get a chance to hurt you with your consent, so I won’t do much without it.” He let me go then.

“That’s a freaky thing to say, and you have hurt me!” I pointed to the bruise where he’d hit me.

“Looks like it’s healed,” Kanai said.

“No, it hasn’t.” I licked my fingers and pulled them across my cheek, wiping off the concealer. Kanai’s gaze followed my tongue, then fixed on my face, staring at the bruise. “Look somewhere else, perv,” I said, feeling hot all over.

“You’re cute,” Kanai said.

“You’re not,” I replied. “When I say I don’t like you, get this. I don’t like you.” I had a moment of inspiration. “In fact—I’m straight!” No one could take Ryoya as gay, after all.

“See, I could’ve believed that, up until yesterday.”

“What, your gaydar just suddenly pinged? Listen to the words coming out of my mouth, not your crazy theories.” I kept trying to back up, but he kept following after me, closing the gap, backing me into the wall of the school.

“Miyazato!”

It was Shunto who spotted us. He hurried over, eyes wide and spooked. “What’s going on?”

“Just getting to know each other,” Kanai said.

“You’re not a student; you shouldn’t even be on campus.”

“What are you going to do about it, Discipline Committee-sama? Gonna go run crying to tell a teacher?”

“Stay away from him.” Shunto put himself between me and Kanai, taking my hand. “He obviously doesn’t want to be talking to you.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it. He was totally right. Why did I feel like I wanted to argue? “My savior,” I said instead, all the breath I’d been holding coming out in those words.

Shunto blushed. Taking me along, he pushed past Kanai, who regarded us with an irritated frown. I tensed my hands into fists, expecting him to jump at us, but he didn’t. Physically, Shunto would be a hard fight for him. Shunto was even taller than Ryoya, by a small fraction, while Kanai was actually a few centimeters shorter than Ryoya and pretty skinny as well. Still, I didn’t get the feeling that he was intimidated. He took a step back…a step back that felt much more like, “I’ll bide my time.”

“See you, sweetheart.”

Oh, fuck. My face flared redder than Shunto’s. I pulled my hand free and hid my face in my hands like I was that besotted Kobayashi Mae.

When I say I don’t like you, get this… I had no idea why my taste had gone to shit, but… I’m lying!