My Answer

The chorus of the song plays in the headphones I’m wearing.

♪ Tell me,

Aki’s head tilts slightly to the side as she beams, and she maintains the most affectionate gaze into my wide eyes.

Aki’s lips part, like she’s going to say something, and she lip-syncs the next few lyrics:

♪ Do you want to be my lover? Are you ready to be mine?

The song is now blocked out and all I can hear is my heart thumping in my ears, I feel like I’m going to explode at any time.

Is she serious?? The unbreakable and adoring stars in her eyes– she’s not joking.

Somehow, I manage to squeeze out a few quiet noises. “Uh- I- I–” I timidly raise my head to nod yes to her.

I had finally arrived at the answer to all the questions I’d been asking myself this whole day: Yeah, I like Aki-chan.

“HEYY! WHATCHA DOIN’??” Tsukasa and Chisako come running towards us from behind, hauling bags and bags of snacks and drinks. They interrupt me halfway through my nod, and I look over my back, startled by their untimely appearance, with my cheeks still red. Aki yelps in surprise, leaps and tackles on top of me with wide eyes to snatch the headphones off of me– leaving my ponytail a bit messy– and puts them back on her. She scrambles to stand up, and crosses her arms.

“What took you guys so long??” Aki scolds Tsukasa, and bonks his head. She looks down at me and giggles soundlessly at my crazy ponytail.

Chisako and Tsukasa look at each other and across their faces, a pink hue. They both clumsily scratch their heads and look to the floor. “N- nothing, a long line is all.” Chisako answers bashfully.

All I do is sit there, my heart not slowing one bit, and my body still on fire. “You ok, Aoi-kun??” Tsukasa pats my shoulder. I turn my head up to him, and speechlessly nod yes. Both him and Aki snicker at my crazy ponytail.

I notice Chisako’s now in a swimsuit– she must have joined them in the water while I was sleeping.

As Aki, Tsukasa, and Chisako all standing, helps organize the plenty of food, I watch Aki admiringly from where I’m sitting and remove the hair tie from my hair. She made the move, and helped me realize how I feel too.

We enjoy our snacks on the towel as we watch the sun set. Everyone’s attention is on the vermillion horizon, while I’m still dazed and mindlessly chomping my curry chips. Aki throws me pleasant glances every so often, and I can’t help but blush a bit.

Finally, the teachers call us all together and we head back to the inn to wash up and pack our bags for departure tomorrow.

Aki, Tsukasa, Chisako, and I all walk together back to the inn. Tsukasa and Chisako hold hands. Not that it matters to me anymore, I’ve abandoned my ShiraHiira ship, so they’re fine together~

Aki nudges me with her shoulder and uses her thumb to point behind her, so me and Aki walk slower so we’re going at a more laid-back pace allowing for conversation. Behind the group of people now, the plenty of conversations and voices in the crowd have left, and the only noises surrounding Aki and I are the rustling tree leaves in the wind.

“You weren’t joking earlier, right?” I nervously ask. She punches my arm comically.

“Are you stupid? Of course I wasn’t joking. I meant it. You have no idea how much courage I built up for that.” Aki scoffs quietly and I can’t help but chuckle.

After a few seconds of walking silently, Aki says, “I added Love Countdown to my love playlist after the night we saw each other at Boba Fans.” Aki flushes slightly and smiles.

My eyes widen modestly. “So… you’ve felt that way since our first Boba Fans meeting?”

“Actually, even before that.” She stops walking, so I stop too. She turns her body towards me, and I do the same. She grabs and squishes my cheeks, and brings my face down to her. Both of our cheeks illuminated.

Her smile grows as she stares at my squished face. “It was your eyes. That night on the rooftop, your eyes pulled me in. You have no idea how glad I was to see you at the boba shop and find out you were friends with someone in my class.” At her words, I turn my eyes away from her.

My words come out as a strained muffle as she holds my cheeks. “So I’ve bween wrowg about you liking Twukasa this whowe twime??”

She scoffs, looking offended. “How could I have a crush on someone as annoying as him??”

After pulling my head away in embarrassment, we start walking again, and I glance at her headphones on her head. “When you put your headphones on me– you looked really pretty without your headphones.” I awkwardly remark and put my hair in a bun, as I’m heating up in my hoodie from all of this.

“You look really pretty with your hair up, Katsuki-kun.” Aki comments back. She notices the blush on my face growing even more, and laughs out loud. “You’re really easily teased, you know that?”

“S- stop that…” I pout and cross my arms like a little bullied baby. Aki pats my head, still giggling a bit.

“I’ve been keeping these feelings in since then, so now that I’ve confessed, I’m pouring everything out, hehe…” She mutters, embarrassed by the fact. I let out a short chuckle.

By now, we’re almost to the inn. Since Aki and I were at the back of the class, we’re the last ones to enter the inn.

Before we enter though, Aki takes my wrist and pulls me toward her so we’re facing each other. “You haven’t answered my question yet, y’ know, Katsuki-kun. I mean, the question I lip-sung from the lyrics of Love Countdown.” Aki fidgets a bit with her hands behind her back. “... Answer me properly tomorrow, ok? My question, I mean. So basically, just don’t leave my confession hanging, ok?” She rants and laughs shyly avoiding eye contact by looking down, and it’s kinda cute.

My stomach turns as my next actions are out of impulse. As I step closer to her, one hand goes into my hoodie pocket while the other goes to Aki’s chin and tilts it up so she looks at me. “Can’t I answer now?” I smirk wholesomely, and my head arches down to her face.

Aki’s face immediately takes on a shocked expression, her cheeks lit with a rosy red. I feel her stiffen up from my touch.

I slowly and smoothly move my lips to peck the tip of her nose delicately, and I feel her body jolt in surprise.

Afterwards, I back away and smile widely. “See you tomorrow, Aki-chan.”

Stammering, Aki’s blush grew with every word she made. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Wake up early ok? Get a lot of sleep. Our flight is early in the morning, so if you don’t make it onto the bus to the airport we’re gonna leave you behind ok? And don’t forget to pack tonight. And–” Aki goes on frivolously, and I can’t contain a little titter.

I do what she usually does to me, and I pat her on her short little head. “Yeah, yeah, you too. Good night.” I start towards the inn and up to the baths and bedrooms to pack.

Hey, just now, I called her “Aki-chan” and she didn’t say anything about it~

Aki doesn’t seem to defrost from her position until about a few minutes after I go inside, lol.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It wasn’t until that night when I realized how cringey I was. Kissing her nose!? “cAn’T i aNsWeR nOw?”, what was with that?! That’s such a Tsukasa move!! And guess what? I can’t sleep at all again tonight thanks to it.

Well, it seems Aki couldn’t sleep either. 4:30 in the morning, and every student looked “half-asleep”. But according to Tsukasa and Chisako, Aki and I didn’t just look “half-asleep”, we looked “asleep”... Aki’s bed hair is hilarious, and it’s the second time seeing her without headphones.

Upon seeing each other for the first time since I kissed her on the nose, we both stuff our pink tinted faces into the tons of blankets and sweaters insulating every inch of our bodies.

All the students slug like a mob to the bus and onto the plane. By the time we all board the plane, all the students are fully awake and out of our pajamas. Our group’s arrangement is once again: Aki and I sitting next to each other on one pair of seats, and Chisako and Tsukasa sitting together on the other pair of seats. Once we take off, Chisako and Tsukasa interlock arms next to each other.

We’ve just been talking like normal, and none of us have mentioned the happenings from the walk to the inn from last evening. I’m too embarrassed by myself to bring it up, and Aki hasn’t said anything either.

I whisper to Aki, who had brushed her hair during the bus ride and got her headphones back on, “Chisako-chan and Tsukasa. Clearly, there’s something going on.” I narrow my eyes as I squint, watching the way the 2 act.

“I know right?? Are they doing anything right now??” Aki’s short height plus her seat being farthest from ChisaKasa– a ship name Aki-chan made on the plane ride to Okinawa as a joke, but clearly it’s not a joke anymore– forbids her from being able to see them clearly. So Aki leans over me to try to stalk them, but she quickly realizes the marginal distance between us when she leans and she immediately pulls back.

Instead of spying on them, we decide to just ask Tsukasa directly. Of course, our plane seats are too far to talk normally, so I pull out my phone. Using my phone, I text Tsukasa.

After some time of whispering and scheming what to say, Aki and I send a message to Tsukasa: What happened between you and chisako-chan during the trip??

After only a few seconds, the alert appears that Tsukasa read the message, and it says: Whatever could you mean~?, followed by a smirking emoji.

The smirking emoji confirms it, and Aki squeals out loud while I gasp audibly.

“It’s all thanks to my wonderful beetle scheme.” I brag proudly as I put my phone back in my pocket.

Aki sticks out her tongue and fake-vomits. “That thing was so cheesy, I don’t understand how that worked.”

We joked together about the beetle moment for some while, and by now, about an hour has passed since we boarded.

Aki and I are now bored, and we decide to scan the airplane.

Spotting a kid reading a popular manga, Aki whispers to me, “That manga’s really hyped, but I read it and it sucks.”

Seeing another kid who’s studying, I chortle, “Couldn’t be me.” Aki elbows me in the stomach, and scolds me.

“As your tutor, I think you should be studying right now, Katsuki-kun.” She pouts. We continue to look around the airplane, and there’s a particular thing that was impossible for both of us not to notice.

All the pairs of students who were sitting together, they were all boy-girl, and it was apparent that they were all couples.

In the air, the presence of newfound love and amorous feelings overfilled the plane. I was even starting to see hearts fall from the ceiling... It wasn’t like this on the plane to Okinawa!! I guess the Okinawa trip really reformed and opened up every students’ hearts…

Under the romantic tension in the atmosphere, it forces my mind to go to–

Do you want to be my lover? Are you ready to be mine? You look really pretty without your headphones~ S- stop teasing me!~ Can I answer now? *kisses nose*

(Obviously my mind is overexaggerating everything, but I can’t help it)

I look down at Aki, and she’s listening to her headphones while staring out the window. I can’t see her face because she’s faced towards the window, but she’s tapping her foot restlessly, indicating she’s clearly thinking about something. We’re probably thinking about the same thing–

Do you want to be my lover? Are you ready to be mine? You look really pretty witho–

Oh my gosh, ok I get it! I’ll do something. My hand goes to hold her hand that’s holding the armrest, but before I can, Aki herself turns to face me.

Her cheeks are painted a slight pink, and she mutters without making eye contact. “About yesterday…” She places the tip of her finger to her nose gently. At her action, my face floods with embarrassment.

“I can consider that a ‘yes’, right?” She asks, her lips petulant.

I awkwardly scratch my head, for my next answer could really change things. As I glance away, then look back at her, butterflies in my chest, I nod my head up and down.

Aki’s face instantly lights up and her cheeks resemble a deep peony shade. Spread across her face is a sunlit smile and a delighted flush, and she grabs my arm and pulls my head down to her height.

Startled by her sudden tug, I yelp, “H- hey–”

Her delicate hand tucks my loose bangs behind my ear. She leans close for her lips to brush lightly against my ear. “So that makes us lovers then?” She whispers excitedly and affectionately.

I had no idea I could blush as much as I was blushing right now. But no matter how flustered I am right now, it can’t hide the giddiness I feel.

Since my head is already by her own head, all I need to do is maneuver my head just a bit and my lips touch her cheek like a feather.

“Mhm.” I reply softly.

It seems both me and her can’t help but feel a bit stunned by my kiss, and we pull away and look in opposite directions. But then, our heads steadily turn back, and without meeting each other's gazes, we scooch closer to each other and she removes her headphones and places them on her lap. Our fingers intertwine, and she rests her head on my shoulder. I stack my head on top of hers as we both nod to sleep, most likely dreaming about each other and what will come now.