ADMIRE ME |Brothers Conflict

18

Ema didn't interfere when I started doodling paw prints on the form.

"I think a play would be too much work," she said.

"We have a week to prepare everything," I added, "a play would be impossible."

"I'm just curious here, [Y/N]," she said, changing the subject abruptly. "Did Fuuto go over to your house to sing for you?"

Hesitantly, I shrugged. "Yes."

Ema hummed pensively, lost in thought. "Are you a couple?"

The casual question made me choke on air, tears forming in my eyes.

"Excuse me?" I exclaimed, drawing the teacher's attention.

"What do you think about a café?" Ema asked, loud enough to be overheard.

"Sure, sure," I muttered, jotting the idea down on the form. "No, we're not a couple," I denied. If Ema thought that we were a couple, Fuuto would have a far harder time convincing Ema to go to the ball with him.

I was decidedly not sorry for giving off the wrong impression.

"For a second, I thought that you had already become an item," she mused.

"Did you know that your brothers had a bet on who could discover your favourite colour first?"

"Stepbrothers," she corrected absentmindedly. "And yes, I did. I believe that the one who lost had to do something stupid. Tell the girl they liked an embarrassing secret, I believe."

"Oh? So, what embarrassing secret are we talking about?"

Surprised, Ema leaned over the table before smacking me on the head.

"Silly," she scolded, "how would I know?"

Clutching my head, I leaned back in my wheelchair. "No violence!"

"Hinata, [L/N]," the teacher warned us.

Suppressing a bout of laughter, Ema and I focused on the form again.

"We could organise an art exhibition," I proposed, and Ema nodded earnestly.

"How are you doing?" I asked.

"You know, the strangest thing happened yesterday," Ema confided. "Fuuto's and Grumpy's managers visited us. Usually, Fuuto gets into fights with everyone else, but for some reason, Yuusuke and Hirofumi had a big fight. No one wanted to tell me what was going on."

"Hirofumi?" I echoed in confusion.

"Grumpy," Ema clarified.

They had fought over Ema, I knew.

Before I could ask her whether she liked one of these boys, Mahoko Imai plopped down in the empty seat beside me.

"Hey, let me take a look at your ideas," she said, pulling the sheet away.

With a shrug, I placed the pencil down on the table.

"Let me see," she muttered, going over our form with an eraser first before she picked up the pencil.

"Ema, do you want to go to the mall with me after class?" I asked her, recalling that I still had to set things up for her next date with Fuuto. She considered the idea for a while.

Although we had deviated from the plan more often than we stuck to it, I hadn't heard of any changes regarding today's date. Thus, it was my task to bring Ema along to the mall – as his partner in crime.

"Fuuto will be there too," I offered, although I wasn't sure whether that would work as an incentive or deterrent.

"Sure, why not," she agreed with a shrug. "Maybe, we'll have to buy supplies for the culture fair anyway."