Closely. [Kawanishi Taichi]

zero.

You stood by your group of friends as they chattered away; with you only voicing out your thoughts when you thought it was necessary. You aren't much of a talker, to be frank; not that anyone ever minded, you're still capable of making friends without being talkative.

In the middle of recess, whilst everyone was either messing around or having their lunch, you heard giggling and thundering footsteps from outside your classroom.

"That's her; (Y/F/N)!"

They giggled more, pointing directly at you. Your friends stopped with their chattering, turning their heads to what was going on. You were starting to grow uncomfortable with their constants acts, truth be told; moreover, they were nowhere in your lines of memories.

"(Y/N)-chan! XY-kun said that he likes you!"

You stayed silent, registering the short announcement the girls gave for quite a long while. Even after they left your class, you were pondering about it- that was what you thought, at least, since your friends had caught the tips of your ears turning red and your whole face flushed as well.

"We told him that we'd tell you!"

Those girls said with pride before leaving. You could already feel the warmth of your cheeks; and you had to admit, that it was quite painful. You had never thought that blushing as ripe as a tomato would hurt-

That wasn't the case, though.

A friend of yours poked your cheek consistently while you blinked your eyes open, adjusting your sight to the lights; noticing that your friend was grinning at you. You stared back at her; only noticing then that she was staring at your ears.

You quickly covered them with both of your hands, restraining yourself from kicking this one friend of yours. You heard her giggling at your antics; frantically trying to cover your red-tinted ears from her sight at all cost despite knowing that it she had already seen such a sight on regular basis.

Even so, it is embarrassing-

"What got your ears so red in the morning, hm?"

She asked while you still had both of your hands cupping your ears. You stayed silent for a while, memorizing the dream you just had- not a dream, really; it was a flashback. Some time in middle school, you pinpoint to yourself.

"Flashbacks from middle school.."

Akari smiled upon hearing your answer; which did not really helped much to solving her curiosity. But, oh well- she is used to how you are. She helped you fold your blankets, ushering you to get ready for breakfast before the cafeteria gets crowded.

As you went off to ready yourself, Akari silently wondered on how were you before the both of you met at Shiratorizawa.

"Bye-bye, (Y/N)! See ya'!"

You gave a light wave and a slight nod before entering your class. There were only a couple of students in class 2-4, and you were assuming that they had club activities. As usual. Walking to your assigned seat in the middle of the class, you heard a cheerful voice from outside, calling out your name.

"Good morning, (Y/N)-chan!~"

It was Tendou. He greeted you with a bright grin on his face while he kept on pestering with his underclassmen from the volleyball club. You smiled at him in reply, managing to greet him back with a simple 'good morning', as well. It seemed like the volleyball club had ended their activities early.

Shirabu walked up to his seat in front of you with a scowl on his face, probably from Tendou's pestering or even a bowl-cut underclassman; they have the potential of getting on Shirabu's nerves more than anybody else, as far as you can tell.

Still with a scowl on his face, he greeted you a good morning; soon enough you heard him giving a long sigh.

"Oi, (Y/N)-san, have you done all of the maths questions?" The copper-head asked, turning his seat around to face you all in the same time. His sudden actions made you flinched a bit, but you were able to calm down quickly. You nodded your in response, taking out the said assignment he asked.

"All of them?"

"Yes. Is there something that you want to ask about?"

Shirabu nodded, flipping through the pages to find the question that troubled him. After finding it, he pointed it out to you and asked you to explain it to him.

You were not sure if it was just your imagination or Shirabu really was staring holes at you, nonetheless, you could already feel the heat coming to the tip of your ears. You peaked at him from under your bangs after explaining the solution to the question; and it was not just simply an imagination.

He really was staring at you.

He blinked a couple of times and nodded, writing down what you had explained to him with ease.

"You really aren't much of a talker, huh.." He mumbled, just for you to hear. You hummed in response, still aware of the condition of your ears. You really just hoped that your strands of hair were able to cover them up. After having written down everything, Shirabu glanced at you.

There and then, you were able to tell that your hair was not enough to cover them at all.

Upon hearing his soft giggles, you were quick to cover up your ears once again. You had never heard Shirabu Kenjirou giggled before, nor have you ever let him see this trait of yours.

To be frank, you were embarrassed for those two reasons.

"I never knew ears could blush so red!"

He said, while turning his seat back to its original state. This time, you could feel your cheeks flushed as well. Shirabu smiled at you; a rare sight indeed-

"Thanks for helping, and sorry-"

"It's fine.."

You said. Although he apologized, you could still see the slight vibrations of his shoulders. Shirabu really did try his best to not giggle anymore, but to no avail.

You may have been a girl of few words, but your expressions had made you easy to be read by people once they've grown attached to you. Truthfully, that particular trait of yours is the thing that your friends had grown fond of; it is enjoyable to see your expressions from time to time.

You sigh to yourself, silently hoping that no one else would see this in the future.

As Shirabu went on with his own task and you pondered about your future, more and more students had been dismissed from their club activities and the atmosphere in class 2-4 became more merrier.

You failed to notice the rumors that they spread in class that time.