Conflict!

“Why the hell is Ayane-chan with you?” Satou asked.

Both our hearts stopped, freezing our bodies to the core, as we scrambled to find a way to explain the situation away.

“Let’s… discuss it on our way there,” I told him.

***

Realizing how bad of a choice it was to delay the inevitable, I covered my face with embarrassment as we strolled outside. Needing to say something, I resorted to being as blunt as possible.

“She slept over at my place.”

Satou, too stupid to understand what I actually said, flipped out once again, rapidly scratching his head in a bout of insanity before grabbing my shoulders and bashing them side to side.

“You slept with Ayane-chan!? It really only took one date!?”

I pushed him back.

“I didn’t sleep with her!”

This was only half the truth, though, and when thinking about telling the rest of the story, my face melted red. Despite this, it only made Satou, and even Ayane, more curious.

“What else happened?

Knowing I couldn’t back myself out of this corner, I came clean.

“I also touched Ayane’s…”

Yep, I couldn’t finish my sentence. Granted, I should’ve clarified myself when I saw the expression on Ayane’s face.

At first, she couldn’t wrap her head around her thoughts. Her face looked completely blank. Slowly though, it would go red, but instead of trying to hide her face, she showed it with full force, warts and wall. Her clenched teeth and razor-sharp eyes showed a fury I’d rarely seen from anyone in my life.

Meanwhile, Satou just laughed throughout. It was the kind of laugh where you could tell they put extra effort into making it as loud as possible. Basically, he tried to make my blood boil too.

It must have worked too given how Ayane ran away when I put my attention away from her. Given how easily I could’ve easily explained myself to her, I found her response baffling. Maybe I could’ve apologized instead, but I doubt that would do anything given the reaction she gave. I didn’t know what to do, really. Never before had I actually had to put effort into a relationship. Granted, Satou didn’t seem to see it this way at all.

“A long date followed by an argument. How the hell do you do it Yuuki-kun?”

“By not being a loud and obnoxious asshole.”

“Are you trying to get at something, bitch?”

“Constant swearing like that is why your success rate is lower than… god dammit. Why can’t I think of a good insult right now?”

“Because you’re an idiot.”

“That’s avoiding the point. We were talking about your horrid love life.”

“Fuck those bitches anyway. They’d only want me because I’m the star of every play.”

“Try telling that to Mio-san.”

Satou took this personally, grabbing my shirt.

“I’ll pinch your damn eyes out.”

“Try me, bitch,” I said, raising my fist.

Realizing how stupid it would be to start a fight, Satou pushed me away.

“None of this matters anyway. I’ll find a girlfriend eventually. It’s nothing I have to sweat over. Only the smartest bitches could date someone like me, anyway.”

Lacking any and all self-awareness as always, I at least got to laugh thinking about how it would come back to bite him later when. Despite this thought being somewhat amusing, though, it wasn’t like I could stick by it.

***

All of those thoughts stuck with me for next week. Ayane and I never resolved our conflict. I felt too bad to apologize. I didn’t want to risk damaging the relationship further, so I couldn’t bring myself to do anything.

Those thoughts only persisted when I entered my classroom, and I saw Satoshi sitting where he always did, turning to the opposite side of where his desk was just to talk to me.

“You’re finally here Yuuki-kun. You haven’t talked to her for a while now, right?”

“Yeah. We had an argument last week.”

The room went silent for a few seconds. Satoshi tapped the back of the seat he rested his arms on, desperately trying to find something to say, with something eventually coming to mind after he sighed.

“That sounds like a pain.”

“You got that right.”

“Is there anything you can do to fix it?”

“I can’t think of anything. I want to say I’m sorry, but I don’t think that would be enough.”

“It’s rare for you to think this way.”

I perked up.

“It is?”

“Yeah. Normally you'd just apologize without considering her emotions.”

I didn’t have anything to say. I just hated how right he was.

Satoshi patted my shoulder, putting my focus back on him before he kept on speaking.

“C’mon, dude. Just do something about it. She’s right next to you, anyway.”

“She is?”

“Yeah. She just got here.”

I took a quick glance at her. She looked the same way she did before the incident even started. No malice to be seen. However, all of this just confused me.

Regardless, I had to do something, so I got off my seat and gave Satoshi a light smile.

“If this doesn’t work out, I’ll uppercut your ass.”

Approaching Ayane, I told her quietly, yet genuinely, “I’m sorry.”

Hearing this, she lost her composure, fidgeting around trying to find something to say, until she finally could.

“Oh… it’s- it’s okay.”

“Wait. It is?”

Instead of looking at the verge of tears like before, she instead puffed up her cheeks and looked away from me.

“I wish it wasn’t.”

“So… I’m still not in the clear?”

Ayane grabbed onto my blazer, the part below the tie, and rested her head against it.

“Y- you are. I missed you, y’know? You didn’t need to drag this out for so long, idiot.”

When I finally saw her face, I saw someone who wanted to stay strong. She gave a smile, but it was light, and her tears couldn’t help but drop onto her uniform. Seeing how I hurt her, only one sentence could come out of my mouth as I hugged her to give her comfort.

“Ayane-chan. I’ll make sure you never cry again.”

***

“You seem more chipper, Yuuki-kun,” I was told by Satoshi once classes ended.

“I do?”

Satoshi stood up with his bag before making eye contact with me again.

“I guess you’ve really grown on Ayane-chan.”

I couldn’t respond to him. Again, this was because I knew he was right. It’s because of this, though, that Satoshi walked away from me, and now, it was only Ayane next to me.

“Want to go to the drama club together?”

I couldn’t ask it as clearly as I wanted to. I couldn’t even look at her as my arms clenched from not only the embarrassment but also the anger that I could even feel this way. After having avoided her, my mindset only made sense. I may have been selfish, but I just had to talk to her again.

“Sure,” she said with a smile.

I didn’t know what to make of that. How could she be so willing to say yes? I don’t know why, though, but those melancholic thoughts didn’t stick for all that long. In fact, when I stood up, I looked at Ayane and smiled.

“I’m glad.”

The smile was bright and large. I was just so happy to finally be with her again.