Confession

She didn’t say anything else after that. She just continued taking sips of her miso soup. I was confused. I just sat there quietly, eating my lunch while taking a few glance of her from time to time. Our eyes would sometimes meet and I immediately try to shift my gaze elsewhere every time that happens.

That awkward atmosphere lasted for 10 more minutes.

I finish eating my lunch and now I am deciding on whether I should just bail without saying anything or try to chat with her a little before leaving.

“Ehhemmm”

“Shinzo Kazushi”

“Yes?”

“Please go out with me…”

Her facial expressions were the same as before, serious and fierce. No trace of any embarrassment at all.

‘Pfffttt! What!’

“Wait, go out? As in, on a date?”, I asked, keeping my volume low (almost nearing that of a whisper).

I am trying to keep my voice down as to avoid garnering attention from the students nearby.

She nodded…

‘Ahhh!!! How should I reply?!’

“Ehhhem”, I let out a short cough to clear my throat.

“Excuse me miss, but, I don’t even know who you are.”

‘Alright, that should put her off and maybe the topic will change’

She stands up from her seat, “Hina Takanashi…You can call me Hina!”

She then takes a deep breath, “Now that you know who I am, will you go out with me?!!”

This time, she added more force and volume to her question. So guess what, the other students in the cafeteria heard her.

*Students whispering to one another*

“Heh?! What’s going on over there, a confession?!”

“Whoaaa! How bold of her!”

“Kyaaa!!!”

‘Great, this is exactly the kind of attention that I was trying to avoid.’

The gears in my head are all spinning. I honestly wanted to pursue either Kido-san or maybe even Usami-senpai. And well, it’s not that Hina isn’t attractive, she’s actually really cute and I know she’s got her own unique charms, but…

‘Gahhh, I wish polygamy was legal and is accepted by the community’

“So uhhm… I- “, just when I was about to give my answer…

*School bell rings*

Hina looks at the clock that was hanging by the cafeteria wall.

“I’m gonna be late! See ya Shinzo!”, she picks up her bag and hurriedly left the cafeteria.

I just remained frozen in my seat.

“Ehh?”

‘What was that?! She just left as if nothing happened’

‘Was she even serious about her confession?!’

While picking up my stuff and getting ready to leave, in my head, I am still trying to comprehend what just happened. Why would she confess to me? Are there any ulterior motives behind her actions? Also, is she mad at me now because I didn’t give her an answer?

As I pass by the stall of the cafeteria staffs, “Hey mister, would you like to buy out this last serving of spicy tuna sandwich that we have?”

‘Ohh that’s right, Remei-sensei told me about this sandwich earlier when I met her’

“Yes, please!”

“Here you go…Thank you, enjoy!”

I give the cafeteria lady the payment, grabbed the sandwich, and slid it in my right pocket.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*School’s principal’s office*

A student enters the room, escorted by a woman wearing a mask.

“Anything new to report?”, said the man seated on the desk

“I’ve managed to make contact with the target, sir”

“And? Did you befriend him already? Establish a relationship wherein you can keep an eye on him without any suspicions”

“Yes sir!”

“Okay, dismissed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While walking through the main corridor, I meet Kido-san’s older sister. I wave at her, her eyes widened, she looked a little bit confused. She must’ve thought I was waving at someone else because she even took a look if someone was walking behind her before she waved back at me.

‘Heh, what’s with that reaction? I guess I acted too friendly to someone that I only met once before’

I proceeded to walk to my classroom’s direction and she also continued walking in a different direction.

After about two more minutes of walking I finally see the sign near my classroom’s door. I paused as I saw students from my room are leaving one by one. Remi-sensei went out the door shouting something.

“Alright, keep it moving! I’ll lead the way to the gym so fall in line and just follow me!”, Remi-sensei shouted as she was ushering the students outside to fix their line.

“Ohh Mr. Kazushi, hurry up and get in line.”

I look around to see if Kido-san has already lined up somewhere among the crowd. But she doesn’t seem to be in this crowd. So I went inside the room, and there she was, quietly sitting there. She was just staring blankly at the open window.

“Kido-san! Are you okay? What are you still doing here? Everyone is being ordered to go to the gym.”, I ask her with concern as I walk up to her.

“I’m okay… I was just, waiting for you.”

“Ohh is that so, that’s real nice of you. Let’s go, Remi-sensei might leave us behind hehehe.”

‘Wow, Kido-san is such an angel! Just patiently waiting for me like that.’

We make our way to line up with the other students outside. Remi-sensei was counting the students lined up to check if there were any missing. After that she gestured the guy in the front end of the line to follow her. And then we began to make our way to the gym. As we were walking, we passed by several rooms which currently had ongoing lessons.

While walking passed a certain room, I saw Hina. She also saw me. She then stood from her seat and started to make a dash towards me (take note, her teacher is currently discussing something in her class). And I just stopped walking and waited for her (I don’t know why, I just felt like doing so. Plus, I was in the back end of the line so it’s probably okay if I make a short stop).

“Shinzo, take this”, she tossed me a piece of paper before dashing back to her seat.

‘What’s this, a letter?’