Then, It’s A Date?

Chisaka Kutsuki

“Chisaka, you have to tell us what happened after you left with The Vampire King’s manager!” Gina Saito pulls up her wooden desk-chair next to mine.

We’ve been desk partners for two years, and for those two years, I never existed, until now. Unlike any ordinary day of school, all eyes are on me. Half of the class stands next to Gina, usually awaiting her intel and gossip, but today they are more interested in what I have to say.

Lowerclassmen from the hallways peek in from the glass windows. They kept their eyes on me all through this morning's first period. The teachers would shoo them back to their classes, but even the teachers whisper of the news and found reason to glance my way. I pretend to not notice, but I know they’re just as eager as all of the rest of the students.

It only took one day for my world to turn upside down. One day, for the people who would recklessly bump into me and cease to acknowledge my existence to suddenly watch my every move like an eagle to its prey. I knew I wanted to meet Ryota, but I never wanted this outcome.

“His manager told me Ryota liked the makeup look and asked if I could be his personal makeup artist.” Words spread like wildfires, but the media spreads even faster, I had to be careful. “Makeup had always been a secret passion of mine, and so I took the opportunity.”

“That’s incredibly lucky! I’m surprised he approached you to do his makeup and not Gina. I mean, she’s been featured a few times in Tokyo Magazine as a makeup influencer.” Emi Sakai comments and glances at Gina for her approval.

“Don’t worry, Emi. I helped with Nanaka’s makeup. The Vampire King was only left with Chisaka since everyone else was already busy. And it’s not his fault that the makeup artist hired for him was late.” It’s strange hearing Ryota being called by his stage name. Imagine what people would say if they knew he really was a vampire.

“Yeah, she’s right. I could never be as good at makeup as Gina. Afterall, I went to support her as a fan.”

“I think The Vampire King is overrated. Gina was much better off doing Nanaka’s makeup.” Kei folds his arms, grumpily, he was just glad to hear that Gina didn’t have a chance to flirt with Ryota.

“I think that it doesn’t matter who did Ryota’s makeup, but the fact that he liked Chisaka’s approach and offered her a position as his personal makeup artist means she has potential.” Takumi walks up to me and places a hand on top of my head, gently rubbing my messy hair. I glance up and blush.

Something about the way Takumi speaks makes my heart melt in my chest in a way that is different from Ryota. Takumi is gentle and comforting and he always found a way to make light of any situation. I liked that about him, and even though I’d only talked to him a few times, I always felt safe in his presence.

“Thank you, Takumi.” He smiles back at me and nods a ‘you’re welcome’ and then the teacher waves him back to the front of the class to talk about student council stuff. The student council was made up of a bunch of really smart students, some of the top students in every grade.

Only two of them really stood out among them: Takumi Chiba, senior and the Vice President of Student Council, and Akane Chiba, freshman and President of Student Council. Unlike her older brother, Akane who is the youngest student council member and President, is almost never seen. If you get the chance to see her walk by, you’d be lucky. Her face was only shown at important announcements and apparently she is more prone to sickness, so she attends school digitally and Takumi gives her school handouts from her teacher. Nonetheless, she still remains well known to the school and a beauty capturing any heart she desires.

“Class, Takumi will now hand out your tests that we’re postponed until after the music trip. I hope you didn’t forget to study this weekend!” Ms. Ishioka laughs. All jokes aside, I forgot about the test and after all the stuff going on with Ryota and Gina, I hadn’t studied once.

After an hour, all tests are turned in by the class. Gina’s crowd walks over to our desks. “Gina, how did you do?” Kei proudly asks.

“Not well.”

“Same, it was a bust. The test was so hard,” Emi taps her lip gloss bottle on Gina’s desk. “What about The Vampire King girl?” she peaks over at me.

“How did the test go for you, Chisaka?” Gina questions in a nicer tone than Emi. I shrug and shake my head and sigh deeply. “Looks like everyone didn’t do so hot on this one.”

“I can teach you guys, if you want.” Takumi pulls his chair next to mine, we’re so close I could feel his legs brushing against my skin covered in shiver bumps. He leans over my desk and sorts through my notes. “I can definitely show you some tricks I learned with these problems, sometimes the teacher's notes don’t help much.” I nod.

“Hell yeah, a study group with Takumi Chiba. I could use that!” Kei jumps up. The rest of the group plans a meeting spot at the Library and Takumi agrees.

“What about you, Chisaka. Would you want to join us after school today?” Takumi asks. Gina doesn’t look like she minds, but the rest of the group still glares.

“I have something important to do after school today, you guys can go without me.” The group nods and goes on chatting with each other. Takumi, however, scoots closer to me and leans in next to my ear.

“Don’t let them bother you. I’m free tomorrow, if you’d like, we can study at my house, then?”

Not a single person today had pure intentions when talking to me, they just wanted to know about Ryota. But Takumi was different, he wanted me to be included, and his eyes only showed kindness towards me.

“Yeah, I’m free tomorrow as well!”

“Then it’s a date!” Takumi winks. “Just kidding… what I meant was, a study session.”

Even though he was only joking, I suddenly felt a wave of guilt. Takumi was nicer, he was more comforting, and even seemed more genuine, but at the mention of ‘date’ my mind couldn’t help but fill with thoughts of Ryota. He plagued my mind like a virus that kept spreading, eating away until all I had left was my undeniable feelings for Ryota.  Could the string of fate be both right and wrong?