[The King's Avatar] The Misconstrued Situation With An Overdue Explanation

Chapter 11: Intense Confusion

1094 words, 5 minutes

"You know, I'm surprised you didn't seem shocked by my eyes," Josaku told her on the way inside. "Most people tell me I look like a demon."

Well, Akane supposed that was an understandable reaction for a normal person to have... but ever since she laid eyes on him, she hasn't felt normal. "I've seen more... bizarre eyes before," she lied, sneaking a few glances at his overall posture while he walked with a comfortable air around him.

"Yours somehow look natural," she added softly.

By her soft tone, Josaku could tell that phrase was a compliment. "Thanks," he replied, brushing his hair back once more since his "bangs" were falling down his face and past his jawline again. "It costed an arm and a leg to get them to look like this."

Akane's mouth twisted up into a very small smile and her blue eyes seemed a bit lifeless when she heard that. Josaku took note of her silence and looked down at her since she seemed to be about 7 cm shorter than him.

Before he could ask her what's up, Akane beat him to it. "You have money to spend on changing your eyes and your tuition?"

If he didn't know any better, Akane's reaction was a mixture of condescending and surprised. He snickered amusingly at the condescending part. "Yeah, I guess, when you put it that way," he replied. Soon after, though, he rolled up his leather jacket's sleeve and checked the time on a sleek watch with Roman numerals. He picked up the speed.

"Class is gonna start soon, so I'll see you later," he told her, walking straight when Akane needed to turn right to find the music department.

She stopped and stood where she was. "Is that a promise?" asked Akane, wondering herself where this confidence was coming from.

Josaku clutched his duffel bag with one hand while stuffing the other into his pocket. He turned back to her when she talked. "If you want it to be," he replied smoothly.

Akane gave him a big smile that radiated brighter than 50 neon sticks. "You're on," she said. "I wanna know how you got those demonic eyes some time."

Josaku's lips formed a straight smile as he thought about it, contorting his eyes slightly in the process. "Oh, alright, I guess I'll carve time out of my day to tell you sometime. Even though I have to catch up on a lot of stuff from my classes."

Akane's smile nearly disappeared. "Oh," she said quietly. She forgot about that. "Then tell me whenever you feel like it."

"Will do, darling," he answered surely, flashing her a smile before turning around and walking away.

This time, though, Akane had half a mind to take out her phone and snap a photo of him, extra relieved that she didn't have the sound on.

~

Tang Rou sat in the 2nd row of her music class and glanced at the door, noticing Akane come through with what seemed to be a lovestruck smile on her face. She seemed light when she walked, and Tang Rou watched as she casually took a seat next to her. "You seem quite happy today," she noted.

Akane was beaming and dawdled on taking out her notebooks. "You're not gonna believe who I saw just now," she told her, still stuck in a daydreaming state. Then she instantly felt a little nervous when a thought struck her.

When was the last time she had a crush? She could only remember a handsome guy at her high school in Nagoya who was very intelligent. Akane was very attracted to that, and his looks were secondary. Average height for a boy, lean build and shaggy, shiny black hair that was trimmed at the bottom only.

But an even scarier thought hit her.

She got over that crush.

Did that mean she was gonna get over Josaku?

Akane didn't know how to sort through her feelings for a moment. Ever since she saw Josaku, she felt hooked. Something about the little bike waves they gave each other and the way he talked made her feel warm and content. They were such small things, but they already held a lot of meaning to her.

Akane didn't want these feelings to disappear now that they manifested themselves within her. Josaku seemed quite interesting, and something about him was pulling her in and sparking a desire to get to know him more. Like if she didn't seize this chance, he was gonna vanish.

Akane can't remember the last time she's felt the need to pursue a guy before.

It's too early to think about whether I'll still like him or not,  she thought, desperate for some common sense to ground her.

It was funny, though. Her parents never taught her how to talk to boys before. And now, well... Josaku didn't count as a boy since he was obviously an adult. But there was something about his charm that was perfect to her. Whether it was authentic or not, she couldn't tell as of right now.

All she knew was that she wanted him.

Jiàoshòu Yue entered the room holding a bunch of photocopied papers and placed them on her desk, so Tang Rou didn't get the chance to respond because they had to pay attention now. "Good morning," she greeted tersely. "Today we're going to resume practicing the musical pieces you will be evaluated on."

While Jiàoshòu Yue further went over details they already heard, like when they would be evaluated and to come to her for tips on perfecting their piece, Akane snuck her phone from her backpack and opened the camera roll. Glancing at her professor momentarily, Akane tapped the photo she took of Josaku walking away and lightly elbowed Tang Rou so she would turn and see.

Tang Rou also glanced back at their professor to make sure they wouldn't get caught, and she widened her eyes. "So he does have white hair," she whispered over the sound of their professor talking.

"Yeah," Akane whispered back, holding back a smile. "I couldn't get a photo of his eyes, though..."

Tang Rou gave her a dismissive wave. "Don't worry about it. Wouldn't want him thinking you're a stalker or something, would you?"

That was a big touché.  Akane didn't want that. "Of course not," she agreed wholeheartedly, turning off her phone and stuffing it into her backpack, zipping it up and resting her forearms on her desk. She was elated.

"Guo Guo's gonna owe me lunch soon."

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A/N:

Just planned the rest of this fic before my second class, including the ending. All I'm saying is... if you're not strapped in right, get ready for a rollercoaster [that I still have to do loads of research for].

Hope you're still enjoying the fic! It means so much to me that people are actually reading this.

—Kaio