Not My Type

四

 "I'll walk you home. Just once."

Nobody would have guessed that Akane would walk another girl home. Even the boy himself wasn't ready to accept that the girl with him right now wasn't Aoi. Fortunately for him, [Name] was kind enough to remain silent while he muttered to himself. They were inside the train when [Name] put him out of his trance.

 "Do you want something to eat?"

Akane blinked twice. He then shook his head. "I'm fine."

The girl pushed a loose strand of her behind her ear. "You like Aoi, huh?"

Aoi. The name was enough to bring Akane back to life. He let out a chuckle, eyes glinting through the rectangular frames of his glasses. "Naturally! Who wouldn't like Ao-chan? She's a goddess!"

 "Right. But she doesn't seem to like you back."

[Name] really had to spoil the mood when Akane was trying his best to be kind to her. Akane sent her a glare before he deflated, much to the girl's amusement.

 "I hold on to the strings of hope that Ao-chan will like me back. I can't even bear to imagine her in the arms of some boy!" He huffed. "No matter what her type is, I'm confident that I can be the epitome of that. From a genius to a member of the student council, as long as it's what Ao-chan wishes, I will accomplish it!"

[Name]'s eyes narrowed in a mixture of surprise and disgust; however, that didn't faze Akane one bit. Since she wasn't bothering to stop him, Akane was left to blabber about Aoi for the rest of the trip.

By the time they were walking to [Name]'s home, Akane had finally found it in himself to stop talking. [Name], who was walking a few steps ahead of him, didn't seem to be listening anymore. He didn't mind.

Only the sound of their footsteps, along with the occasional chirping of birds, could be heard. Their walking figures were bathed in the light of the afterglow of the sunset.

 "Quit staring at me." Her tone was as harsh as it had been in the art room.

Akane could only furrow his eyebrows. Something had been bothering him, but he wasn't sure if he should talk about it. "Hey, why do you always wear a mask? Do you have allergies?"

It was difficult looking at her eating cake with a mask on.

[Name]'s steps came to a halt. She turned to Akane, her gaze emitting both annoyance and surprise.

 "Didn't Teru tell you anything?"

 "No. Why do you ask?"

Seeing as [Name] didn't answer, Akane took it as a cue to stop pestering her. The serene atmosphere vanished, and the rest of the walk back to [Name]'s home was spent in an awkward silence. The two of them stopped in front of a modern two-storey house beside an even bigger traditional house.

 "You can leave now. Thanks for walking me home. I'll tell Aoi not to do it next time, so there's no need for you to worry." As she said these words, [Name] still had her back turned to Akane.

The boy hummed in response. "No problem."

A few moments of silence passed before Akane decided to leave. He turned on his heel and was about to make his way back to the station when was pulled back by the wrist. His eyes widened at the sight of [Name] [Surname] without her mask.

 "I'm sick. Have been for a few years, now. Sometimes, I can't breathe. Other times, I can't move my hand. A true defect for an artist." [Name] heaved a sigh, letting go of Akane's wrist. "Whether or not you tell others about this is your choice. Bye then."

Akane didn't have the chance to reply. [Name] already went inside her home. It wasn't like he could shout for her to stop entering. Even if he did, what exactly would he tell her? I'm sorry? That's so unfortunate?

His apathetic nature had nothing to do with it, yet he didn't want to show even a hint of pity for the girl.

Perhaps a part of him believed that she was strong enough to handle it?

 "With a mouth like that, why not?"

❀❀❀

The next day, Akane was not-so-surprised to see a certain girl having lunch with Yashiro and Aoi. It seemed that [Name] had given up in trapping herself in the art room. A sigh escaped his lips as Akane eyed the crowd that started to form around their table.

Truly the consequence of being famous. Life was troublesome already with the amount of boys that came after Aoi. Now, with the attention [Name] was attracting, his schedule seemed much more packed.

 "[Nickname]-nee! Teru-nii called for you!" Minamoto Kou stood by the doorway, his signature weapon—disguised as an umbrella—in hand.

[Name] stood up from her chair, waved at Yashiro and Aoi, and left the room with Kou. She didn't spare Akane a glance, not that the bespectacled boy expected anything from her. The crowd in the classroom soon dissipated, going back to their respective tables. There were even some students from the neighboring classroom.

 "Ao-chan! I feel like I can finally die happily!" Yashiro's outburst made Akane's lips form a thin line.

He had almost forgotten the fact that his classmate's life was hanging by a thread. The incident from the former week never failed to make shivers go down his spine.

 "Geez, Nene-chan, [Name]-chan even promised me that the three of us would go out next time!"

Even so, Akane felt like he wasn't in the place to tell her about it.

Eventually, Akane found himself in the student council room. Teru was sitting across [Name], his chin resting on the back of his hands. He didn't like the atmosphere one bit. Just when he was about to leave, Teru had called his name.

 "Aoi, would you mind doing something for me?" The president's voice was enough to make his blood boil. As much as he wanted to face him and say no, he couldn't.

His silence was enough of an answer for him. Teru let out a chuckle before returning his attention to [Name].

 "[Name], I want you and Aoi to work on a project for this year's cultural festival."