Potions Lovers | Yandere!Male x Reader

Chapter 14 - Picture Perfect

Up until this moment, it hadn't occurred to Yumi that she felt threatened by your presence.

Her dark eyes narrowed at the sight of you walking into the cafeteria with Ren. As the days went by, it had become apparent that you and Ren just gelled together the best. Naturally, Yumi felt jealous—it was hard not to when her crush was always glued to your side, and now that she observed the two of you more closely, she realized that he was paying less attention to her and a lot more attention to you. Part of her wondered if Kenji was right to always be wary of you, but the rational part of her told her that Kenji was never right, so she was likely getting worked up over nothing. Plus, you were better friends with Ren since you shared more common interests with him and spent the most time with him outside of school. It was all normal, even if she didn't like it.

As she watched you and Ren attempting to trade snacks, Yumi considered introducing you to the girls on her volleyball team. Maybe if you befriended her other friends, you'd go sit at their lunch table instead? She shook her head, inwardly scolding herself. If her sport had taught her anything, it was that girls should work together and never against each other because the world was always against girls anyway. What Yumi felt for you now was similar to the envy she'd felt for her perfect older sister in that it was harmless, just like you. You were no threat to her friendship with Ren.

"Here," she said, grabbing your attention with the apple in her hand. Currently, Ren was not budging and refused to trade you his favorite mushrooms for the "meager" things you or Nao offered up, so Yumi slid the apple that her mom forced her to take into your trading pile. "Ren, this better be enough!" she said, staring down at your vegetable spring rolls, carrots, and the apple with a frown on her face. She knew you were obsessed with Ren's father's cooking—probably more so than Nao was—but this didn't seem worth it. She and Kenji were the only ones who thought so, though.

"H-Hold on, I have more to offer," Nao cut in, the barest hint of panic in his voice. He was frantically digging through his backpack for the half-eaten granola bar he had squirreled away from earlier this morning. Nao needed those mushrooms, but more than anything, he refused to lose another precious trade to you. While Nao appreciated that you were around to tutor his friends so he wouldn't have to as often, part of him also resented the fact that Ren was more likely to trade with you rather than him—his own flesh and blood.

Nao slammed down the granola bar onto the table like it was his trump card before glaring at you with a serious expression on his face, though you didn't quite notice since you were too busy brushing away all the granola crumbs he'd just scattered everywhere.

"Hrmm," Ren rubbed his chin in thought, pretending to debate it until his eyes caught Yumi's threatening glare from the corner of his eye. He immediately traded his food to you as Nao watched in utter shock.

You sighed in relief at the back-and-forth bartering finally coming to an end, and Ren cowered slightly when he noticed Yumi's disapproving stare lingering on him even after he swapped snacks with you. She was going to yell at him later, he was sure of it. Nao probably would too, seeing how he was furiously munching on his granola bar whilst glaring at both Ren and you.

While Ren tried to enjoy his carrots (unsuccessfully with Nao and Yumi's gaze still on him), you were placing some of your mushrooms onto Yumi's rice because you knew she favored the combination. When she noticed what you were doing, she ceased her glaring at Ren.

"Wha—those are all yours! Keep 'em!" she insisted, but you'd simply laughed and made sure she wouldn't return them.

"It's okay, just take a few. It was a team effort, after all." Your smile was so warm that the guilt from her earlier thoughts made her feel rotten inside. How could she have wanted to send away the friend who'd been nothing but kind to her? As Yumi stared down at the mushrooms sitting on her fluffy white rice, she wondered how she could be a better friend to you, but her brain couldn't come up with an answer. Maybe she didn't deserve these mushrooms.