It's All About Them

I thought everyone had left the campus, because why would anyone stay so late unless they had a very valid reason for staying? In front of my desk was standing a beautiful black-haired girl. Her presence was already illuminating the empty classroom.

My eyes fell on her hands. She was holding my diary.

A panic motion set in, though I had no idea why she was even holding it in the first place. She hadn't noticed me yet. Every part of my body was screaming at me to make a move and take back that diary. However, my anxiety was holding me back.

My hands were moving involuntarily, forcing me to go ahead and grab it.

I coughed a little to grab her attention.

"Ummm… ahhh… miss, would you please return me that notebook?"

The focus of her eyes shifted from the diary towards me. Her shadowy eyelashes outshining her sparkly eyes. As she looked up at me, my heart for once skipped a beat.

I took a deep breath before making eye contact with her.

"Ohh! Is this yours?"

Her voice was very soothing. If a crying baby had heard it, even he would've started relaxing. Her smooth, silky hair spreading all over my desk.

"Yeah, that belongs to me. Kindly give it back."

She closed my diary and then opened her mouth again.

"I would've returned it to you."

"What are you trying to implicate by saying you would have?"

"I'm saying I could have given it back to you if you hadn't lied to me."

For a moment, I was shell-shocked. I was trying to comprehend what she meant about me lying. It was as if the ground had slid away from under my feet.

"I'm sorry, but what do you mean by I'm lying?"

"That notebook definitely belongs to me. You can check the name on the first page."

Her eyes quickly scrolled down to the diary again. The sound of flipping pages echoed in the quiet classroom.

"Haruki Masato," she read out my name in a loud and clear voice.

"Nice name you got there."

"Thanks, I guess."

The second those words left my mouth, she stood up from my desk and started moving around the chairs and the tables, which were properly tucked in.

"What I meant by lying is this isn't just a notebook, is it?"

"It's a personal diary of yours, isn't it?"

My breathing became a little faster as I calmed my thumping heart. My hand involuntarily took action and tried to grab it from her hands.

Her reaction was pretty fast, as she quickly averted my hand and directed it in the other direction.

"Ah ah ah… you're quite impulsive."

She said in a very teasing manner, acting like it was all a game to her.

"That must mean I was right. It is a diary."

"That doesn't concern you in the least. So return it back."

My voice was getting louder by the second. I had little to no idea what was running through her head at that moment. Maybe she was having fun tormenting me. Maybe she knew me from middle school and had come back to haunt me again.

Whatever the case was, I had started to lose my mind.

My head was throbbing just thinking about it.

If I got any louder, I might attract attention from the staff room. That's the last thing I wanted.

"Aren't you overreacting a little too much?"

I was ignoring her words and only moving towards grabbing it.

I tried to sweep it away from her hands.

What happened next was something I had not anticipated in the least.

While I was trying to grab it, three of the toes of my left leg accidentally collided with the corner of a table, which made me lose my balance, and I fell face-first on the ground.

The one thing I hadn't noticed was that I had fallen on top of someone.

Yes, I had fallen on top of the same girl I was trying to pursue.

Our position was very awkward.

My forehead was hurting, so I was caressing it.

I finally noticed her, and the arteries in my skin dilated, turning my face extremely red like a tomato.

I tried to speak, but only broken sentences came out of my mouth.

"Uhm… ahh… wah… I didn't…"

I was still processing the entire situation. The embarrassment was making it hard to think anything at all.

If anyone from the staff room had come to check up on the noise, I would've been cooked alive, and the cycle of depression would have continued. The only person to blame would have been me and me alone.

A squeaky but high-pitched voice from the bottom called out to me.

"Ohh—myyyy! Someone is bold."

Even in this situation, she was teasing me.

She was not embarrassed for a second.

It was like she had experienced it on multiple occasions before.

Though it was faint, I could hear her heart beating, which means she was suppressing it.

"You do realize I can report you for trying to force yourself on me."

"Bullshit. It was an accident, and you know it."

I spoke in a hurried way, almost like on instinct, depicting I was nervous.

Which gave her another opening to exploit.

"Ohh—is someone feeling the heat?"

This time, though, I didn't hold back.

Since the beginning, she had been the one in control. Playing with me however she liked.

"You're one to talk. May I remind you, you're the one who is beneath me currently."

She was gobsmacked by my retaliation.

"Yeah… you're undoubtedly interesting to mess with."

She grabbed both of my wrists, which were at the sides of our heads, showcasing her strength.

"So, still don't wanna talk about that diary?"

"If I still refuse?"

I knew I was playing with fire, but I had to go on.

"I believe you must have heard my name from the rumors?"

"Rumors? What rumors?"

"Don't act so dumbfounded. You heard them, right?"

My mind at that moment went into flashback of the morning. The gossip those girls were discussing.

"The infamous delinquent Aoi Hana who fell from grace."

"Yeah. That's me."

At that moment, I realized what kind of trouble I'll be in if I kept indulging myself with someone like her. It would have untold consequences.

"Huh! What happened? Scared now?"

She was smirking while saying that.

"You're quite perceptive, aren't you?"

"Well, thank you for your compliment."

"Now don't back away like a cornered rat."

A cold weight settled in my stomach. I started sweating intensively.

"I'll let it slide if you tell me the truth about that diary."

I took a deep, unshakeable breath.

"Yes. It's a diary which contains my true feelings related to situations happening around me on a daily basis."

I only told her half the truth.

Luckily, she didn't suspect a thing.

"See? Was that so hard?"

I didn't bother to reply.

I started getting off her.

Suddenly, a clicking sound was heard, and then a flash.

With my trembling shoulders, I twisted my neck ninety degrees to look who it was at the door.

"Oooppps… looks like we got caught, Haruki."

"First of all, I never allowed you to call me by my first name."

My voice cracked midway through the sentence.

"And second of all, it's all a misunderstanding."

"Haruki? Ohhh! So that's your name."

"You left before the introductions."

I was confused who he was and did he really notice my absence.

"Sorry, but who are you?"

"Really? You forgot me already?"

His face looked like he was about to cry, but it looked funny to me.

"Your social awareness skills really need work, man."

I couldn't do anything but nod.

"I'm your seatmate who you interacted with earlier in the day. My name is Haruto Kurosawa."

"Ringing any bells?"

Before I could reply, though, a kick from beneath hit me in the stomach.

Mercifully, if she would have hit any lower than that, I could have been drooling over in pain.

That doesn't mean I wasn't currently in pain.

"I'm a delinquent, you idiot. Do you really believe I require your permission to call you by your first name?"

"I can call anyone by what I find fit."

Haruto at the door was laughing uncontrollably seeing our interaction.

"You guys look like a couple. Are you dating by any chance?"

The word dating hit me like an arrow in the chest.

Again, on instinct, I answered instantaneously.

"No way in hell will I date a troublemaker like her."

"Yeah, same here. I won't ever date a kid who still writes about his true feelings in a diary."

"Woah, you write a diary!"

"That was supposed to be something private. But people these days just start judging without even trying to understand."

I was trying to take a shot at her.

It backfired.

"Hypocrite. Aren't you doing the same thing with me right now?"

Haruto tried to calm the situation down.

"Now, now guys, let's all calm down. Why don't we go to karaoke and get to know each other better?"

This is where I had to part ways.

Getting any closer would just be damaging to me.

"I really appreciate the offer, Haruto, but sorry, I can't go."

"Ahh… don't worry. We'll go next time."

"Thanks. I'll be leaving now."

Turning my head around, I looked up at the clock. It was late evening.

"Ohh yeah, I forgot to ask. Why were you still in school?"

"Ahhh… that… teacher called me to the staff room to discuss some stuff."

"I heard some noise and came to check up here. Found nothing but two lovebirds."

He was smirking devilishly like he was enjoying our misery.

"Ohh please shut up."

I put back my diary in my bag and started walking away.

She did try to take a shot at me, but stopped midway seeing me leave.

Karaoke and all these things typical high schoolers do.

I don't think I deserve to, or have the right to, do this stuff.