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

Chapter 12: Owed Lunch

882 words, 4 minutes

"No fair, why're you bothering me with this when I'm hungry?!" protested Chen Guo. "The picture doesn't even show his eyes!"

"I don't wanna seem like a creep, Guo Guo!" Akane fired back, leaning over the table they chose at the canteen and shoving her phone in the brunette's face. "Look! White hair. That's halfway through the deal. Just wait till you see his eyes."

Chen Guo bit the inside of her cheek and pouted before crossing her arms and looking away. "Why're you so serious about this? He's just another guy that goes here."

Akane backed off and sat back down slowly, pondering on her friend's words. Why was she putting so much importance to Josaku? He's a university student for goodness sake. She's never heard of or seen any romance in Chongqing University, other than Chen Guo mentioning Ye Qiu dating Su Mucheng, but everyone came to study for the most part.

She could only imagine the amount of attention she and Josaku would attract if they were hypothetically together.

Akane sighed and stared at her lunch. If only Tang Rou were here to vouch for her, but she stayed behind to do extra practice on her music piece. Besides, she wouldn't be much help since she didn't see his eyes either. Not feeling like forcing her salad into her mouth, Akane drank her water instead.

And nearly choked on it when she spotted Josaku entering the canteen. Of all the 6 canteens, he chose to come to this one.

Chen Guo paused in slurping her noodles, staring wide-eyed at her alter ego. "Akane, are you alright?" she muffled, concerned and letting her noodles drop back into her lunch container.

Akane only slammed her bottle against the table, earning the attention of a few nerds nearby that were trying to study. The canteen was loud anyway, so Akane wasn't sure why they looked at her as if she were a nuisance. She didn't care, though. Standing up again, she reached over and roughly shook Chen Guo's left shoulder while pointing with her other one.

"Guo Guo, look! It's him!" she whisper-shouted urgently.

Chen Guo only stared in her direction for a moment, not spotting him at first. "Where, I don't see him—" She immediately shut her mouth when she saw a spiky mess of white hair.

"Holy..." She didn't even get the phrase out. Akane wasn't lying.

For the next minute, they watched him purchase his lunch and walk further into the canteen with his tray, neither one caring about the food he ordered. Both their eyes were on his.

He didn't come close enough to their table, but he was still close enough for them both to see how black his scleroses were. Only when he finally sat down did Akane and Chen Guo slowly face one another.

Akane felt smug as hell now. "Still think I'm lying?"

Chen Guo didn't know what to say, but she didn't appreciate Akane's attitude. Sighing in defeat, she lowered her eyelids in boredom.

She closed them in frustration when Akane held her hand out, making a beckoning motion. "Pay up," she said, still feeling super merry now that Chen Guo saw his eyes for herself.

The long-haired brunette reached into her pocket, grabbed a couple yuan and dropped it onto Akane's hand. "You sure feel good about yourself, don't you," she stated glumly, holding her container once more and about to finish her noodles.

"Come on, you make it sound like I ruined someone's pride for my own gain," she replied sweetly.

Chen Guo stared at her as if she were dumb. "That's because you did."

"Did I? I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't know being right was wrong."

"Just be quiet," muttered Chen Guo, managing a laugh because Akane was young and just going on and on about how she was right and Chen Guo was wrong. "At least I graduate sooner than you and won't have to deal with this drama."

Akane stopped short. "It's not drama..." she insisted. "I just... never really talked to anyone about this before, I was always busy studying." Getting comfortable, Akane leaned forward and rested her forearms on the table, thinking about the last time she overheard girls at her high school talk about boys.

About how she wished she could be a part of their conversation, but knew her parents wouldn't be pleased if she had her eyes on a guy instead of her studies.

She turned around and looked behind her to see Josaku better. He sat with a few friends and chatted, but it was when he was quiet that had the most potent effect on her smitten state. He looked so calm, like he was thinking... she supposed she liked guys that used their brain. That's what her last crush in high school did, even if it were mainly for school.

Akane didn't care if Chen Guo stared at her strangely because she was quietly looking at Josaku from afar.

She made her reaction change into an astonished one when she stood up. "I'm gonna try to talk to him," she declared, getting up and forgetting about her lunch.

Chen Guo stared, rigid. "Don't cause any drama," she murmured flatly, even though she knew Akane couldn't possibly hear her.

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A/N:

Is now a good time to mention I don't actually go to university and am not legally an adult yet?

Thanks for still reading! I hope you guys stick around until the end.

—Kaio