Stroll!

With that step taken then, I told Aya and Aka goodbye, and was now outside, walking to school with Ayane. With Ayane’s hand touching mine, the cold winds no longer meant a thing to me. As long as she was next to me, I’d feel invincible.

Goddammit.

“Yuuki-kun, that’s where you were!”

It was Satou, running toward my direction in such a tryhard way that you’d think he’d be in the track team. When he caught up to us, too, he appeared to have caught onto the situation rather fast.

“It seems like you got frisky with Ayane-chan there.”

Or not. I guess I shouldn’t have expected any better given the expression on his face, leaning down toward me with his hand on his chin.

“Just because I live with Ayane-chan now, it doesn’t mean that we’re…”

I almost couldn’t finish my sentence, as both Ayane and I were red in the face.

“I really don’t get why you wouldn’t want to have sex with your girlfriend. Isn’t that like, the best part of a relationship?”

Not wanting to deal with his crap, I didn’t respond, only for him to come to a realization.

“Wait a second… you live together!?”

I saw an explosion physically come out of his head when he said this.

“I thought you were slow, but now I’m convinced you’re retarded,” I told him.

“Nah man, I’m just tired,” he responded as he yawned.

“Alright. I’ll believe you on that front.”

Satou turned toward me.

“Wait, you’re apologizing?”

But I cut him off.

“Anyway, what do you think caused this sudden brain damage?”

Instead of him taking offense to this, he instead laughed.

“I was up all night practicing my lines!” he yelled in true theatre kid fashion, with his hands resting comfortably at the back of his neck like always.

“You’re certainly confident, at least.”

“Are you trying to diss me?”

“You can be weirdly perceptive at times.”

We were cut off by Ayane’s laughter by this point, which was probably a good thing given how little I actually had to say. It was good to know that she enjoyed our banter, though.

“You seem to be enjoying yourself, Ayane-chan,” Satou told her.

Ayane smiled, although her face stayed rosy.

“I am.”

“Well, that’s nice to know. I’ve never seen you smile like this beforehand. Make sure to bring that spirit to the drama club.”

While saying that, Satou brought out a thumbs-up so cheesy that I just had to comment on it.

“I swear, it’s like acting is all you care about.”

“Why wouldn’t it be? Acting rocks!” he said with his hands in the air.

I swear, this dude overacts in person too.

“Are you sure about that?” I asked.

“Yes,” Satou and Ayane told me in unison, facing their attention toward me.

“You see, Ayane-chan knows what’s up.”

“Rich coming from the dude who speaks so loudly that not even the best technicians could bass boost it.”

Satou plugged his ears.

“Sorry about that. I couldn’t hear you through my impeccable monologue.”

“Why would you be monologuing? You’re not even in the drama club right now.”

“Doesn’t mean we still can’t talk about it.”

“Oh my god. Can I shut you up?”

“Who’d you think will be the co-stars of the play?”

“Yep. It’s the most predictable small talk question you could’ve asked.”

Satou covered his hand in his face, desperately trying to hide either his disappointment or anger toward me.

“Don’t be an asshole. Just answer the question.”

I groaned in defiance.

“Fine. Mio-san seems like the most likely candidate. Her acting is great, although I don’t think we could get her to pretend to love you.”

“Oh shut the hell up.”

Satou cleared his throat and put his hands in his pockets before giving his own response to the question, one which he easily could’ve just started the conversation with.

“You’re right about her turning me down. I couldn’t even get a date with her.”

“So you like girls who play hard to get?”

He raised his fist.

“Hell yeah!”

“That seems to contradict when you get angry at girls who dump you.”

“I still think they’re bitches. What separates them from her is how they clearly like me, but just want me to find a better way of asking her out.”

Satou returned to his relaxed pose when he said this, lounging backward as usual. Of course, this symbolized that he was back to his normal self. I felt the need to mention that because I feared you’d be as stupid as him, and not understand symbolism.

“I seriously think you’re delusional sometimes,” I told him.

“And I can punch your brains out,” he said while flexing his muscles like a wannabe bodybuilder.

Of course, I laughed at this.

“No way in hell can you do that.”

The fact that I kept on laughing as I said that only further triggered him.

“I could prove you wrong, asshole!”

His stomps got louder, but I still wanted to stoke the flames.

“Nah nah. You’re far too much effort for me.”

Instead of an outburst though, Satou instead sighed.

“Your confidence is scary. You don’t even play a sport.”

“Neither do you.”

“But I hit the gym,” he said, as he once again showed off his muscles.

Thankfully though, I didn’t need to respond, as we had finally arrived at the school gate. I thought this would give me a good breather, but Satou wouldn’t allow it.

“I know you asked me this, but now I wanna ask you. Why did you join the drama club?”

“Ooh, I wanna know too!” Ayane said on her tiptoes.

I almost forgot that she was there. Wait a second…

How did I forget that the most precious being on earth was right next me to this whole time!? Damn you, Satou!

Oh well, I guess I’d respond. I couldn’t say no to Ayane, after all.

“I didn’t want you to be lonely, Satou-kun.”

“Asshole! I would’ve found a friend in an instant!”

Satou’s veins exploded going into that response. I suppose my genuine answer got misinterpreted, but I decided to keep messing with him for my own amusement.

“You would’ve gotten dumped by all the girls before that could happen.”

“You know I can go for bros over hoes sometimes, right?”

“I thought you were straight.”

“Remember when I pondered punching you?” he said with his fist right next to my face.

He didn’t commit to it though. He instead put his right hand in his pocket while he had his left hand at the front of his next.

“I’ll give you time to talk to Ayane-chan. I’m sure you’d much rather have that.”

He then ran away. He still did it quickly, but it looked nowhere near as fast as before. It felt… oddly sluggish.

It sucked too. I was about to apologize to him for being such a dick. We only ever talked through insulting each other before, though, so I didn’t know how he’d react. I needed to keep my friendship with him, after all. It wasn’t like anyone else would want to be with me.

That’s what I thought, until I felt the warmth of my hand, the only warm part of my body. I forgot. Ayane held onto my hand this entire time. She stayed there for me. I still had her.

That’s how I felt comfortable talking again once we made it inside the school building.

“It’s not like I need him, anyway. You’re all I need.”

“Liar.”

With her stuffed-up cheeks, it was obvious how upset she was. It made sense too given how she read me like a book. Looking at the floor with my right hand covering the back of my head, I spilled the beans.

“I… can’t deny that.”

“At least you’re finally being honest.”

“I’m so sorry about being such a lousy boyfriend.”

At this rate, I tried to cover my face with my right arm, but the attempt was unsuccessful when Ayane moved my arm and forced me to look at her.

“Yuuki-kun, it’s okay. I chose to be with you.”

“Thanks. I just don’t know how I could repair my friendships at this point. I’m not exactly the pinnacle of social skills, after all.”

“Neither am I.”

“Wow. You sure are helpful.”

Ayane chuckled.

“I like it when you’re honest like that. I’m sure Satou-kun would appreciate that too.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”