Ongoing Cycle

42

The bell that signaled the end of the school day rang. As a team, [Y/N] and Shou cleaned up their lab by washing off their equipment and putting them back into their original places. Once they completed their task within two minutes, they turned to each other and did a high five. Grinning from one ear to the other, [Y/N] walked out the classroom with Shou. Thank goodness she had last period with him; it lifted her spirits and for a moment, she was able to forget about the crap that happened today.

     "We're a good team, aren't we?" she asked him, bragging a little.

     "Yeah!" he agreed, shooting a quick look at the students who were frantically finishing up their labs. "We went so fast, no one could catch up to us."

     "Exactly," she agreed as they stepped out of the classroom entirely. Entering the hallway, she paused when she saw Kuro waiting for her. She slightly frowned. What was he doing here? Last week, they never waited for one another... well, since their relationship was a secret. Sure, it was no longer a secret now, but that didn't mean she wanted to be seen together — just yet.

     Forgetting Shou for a second there, she noticed that he also stopped along with her. "Why are we stopping?" he mumbled in confusion.

     [e/c] eyes darting between the two boys, [Y/N] wasn't sure what to do. Seeing that Kuro was still on the other side of the hallway, she hoped that he wouldn't approach her. Perhaps he was just checking up on her? In that case, she should be fine to go on without him. "O-oh, no reason," she brushed it off. But before they could start walking again, her boyfriend had already started making his way over to them. Dammit; she had a feeling she wasn't going to like this.

     Her grimace deepened when she saw his stony gaze. The blue in his eyes wasn't as bright as before and she could see the clench in his jaw. It made her feel as if she had wronged him somehow, despite not knowing why.

      Now standing in front of them, a small smile that seemed too robotic to be true graced his lips. "Hey [Y/N]."

     "Hi... Kuro," the nervous girl responded, not knowing what else to say.

     His attention quickly diverted to the brown haired boy beside her. His eyes swept over Shou and he smirked. "And who is this?"

     Shou's confusion was replaced with enthusiasm as he introduced himself cheerfully. "Hi! My name's Shou! Nice to meet you, Kuro! You must be [Y/N]'s friend," he said with a carefree grin.

     Kuro slightly flinched at Shou's words, his unfriendly eyes unwavering from the other boy's face. "Well, unfortunately, we don't have time to be wasting out time chit chatting, so I'll take [Y/N] from here. Alright?"

     Without waiting for a reply, he grabbed her hand and pulled her along roughly. As they walked away from Shou, she could hear him calling out to them. "Oh... okay!" he called out. Looking over her shoulder sadly, she was then relieved to find him unaffected by it; quite the contrary, he was even waving at them. [Y/N] shot him a quick smile. For once, she was incredibly glad he was such an airhead.

     Now moving onto bigger problems: She was walking through the hallways with Kuro while there were still students loitering around. She could already feel pairs of curious eyes on them as they walked past everyone. [Y/N] hated it. Rumors were one thing, but confirming the rumor was an entirely different thing. They were going to be the talk of the school for at least weeks. At this moment, the gossiping students were probably thinking that this relationship was going to end soon and that she was nothing more than one of Kuro's playtoys. They saw her as the victim — and they pitied her.

     Lowering her eyes and making sure her hair covered parts of her face, she continued the walk of shame. Never had a walk through the hallways felt so long.

     When they got out of the building and arrived at the side of the school — where there were no other students — [Y/N] finally lifted her head. Yanking her hand out of Kuro's, she glared at him furiously. "What the hell was that?!"

     "What?" he calmly inquired, as if he didn't realize how terrible of an experience that was for her.

     "What do you mean, what!? We were seen together! It added fuel to the fire," [Y/N] snarled.

     Kuro simply shook his head. "If they already know we're together, we might as well give them what they want," he argued before he sighed, exasperated. "Look, if we don't show them now, then when will we? If we do it later — when the rumors have already died down, then another round of talk will come for us. Truth be told, this helps us get it over with."

     She understood where he was coming from — she really did. But as she imagined how people were talking about her behind her back, it couldn't help but feel incredibly hurt. "I know that," she murmured softly. "It's just... your reputation is going to hurt mine. They'll say that I'm another one of your desperate girls that will get her heart broken."

     His eyes softened and he closed the gap between them. Placing his hands on each of her shoulders, he now stood directly in front of her. "I'm sorry, [Y/N]... I know this is unfair, but we can prove them wrong, okay? They'll realize that I won't leave you anytime soon... and that this is long term."

     She nodded and gave him a small smile. "Okay."

     Lovingly, his hands moved upward. Holding her head, he kissed her forehead. "Will you go on a date with me this weekend?"

     Flabbergasted, [Y/N] pulled away and looked him in awe. "A-A date?!" she stuttered out.

     "Yeah, you know, that's where someone takes you out and it's a one-on-one type of deal?" he explained, teasing her as if she didn't know what the word meant.

     She rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you'd shut up for once I'd say yes," she shot back playfully.

     With eyes wide, Kuro snapped his mouth shut and pretended to zip his lips close. He proceeded to lock it with a key and put it in a box. [Y/N] laughed as she watched him — before saying yes to the date.