After finishing breakfast, Yuta and Marie left the house and started their walk to school. Since they both woke up relatively early, school wouldn't start for at least another half an hour so they could take their time leisurely strolling through the neighborhood.

Although this was the first time they walked to school together, the distance between them was puzzling Yuta. There was typically a distance of two feet between the two, but it had shrunken down significantly overnight. Now, Marie's arms were close enough to touch Yuta's arms every once in a while.

"Hey, did something happen last night?" Yuta asked, perplexed at the current situation.

Marie tilted her head quizzically as if she didn't know what he was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"You've been acting awfully clingy since last night so I wondered if I did something wrong?" Yuta anxiously looked at Marie.

Since Marie wanted to get closer to Yuta, she decided to follow her mother's teachings on how to get closer to someone, but Yuta didn't know this. To him, it just felt like Marie was trying to compensate for something.

"Nooooope! Wrong answer. Do you want to hear the real answer?" Marie asked with a slight pep in her step.

"Yes, please."

Marie quickly walked ahead of Yuta and turned around to face him with a smile sweeter than honey. "It's a secret~"

Yuta was stunned to see Marie hiding something from him. Normally, she was very open about whatever she was thinking or doing, so her hiding something from Yuta was a very surprising event. Nonetheless, he wanted to respect her privacy.

"Haaaah.... Nothing I can do then," Yuta shrugged.

Marie giggled. "Ehehe, thanks for understanding."

The rest of the walk to school was spent idly talking about random things that came to mind. As a result of this conversation, Yuta learned a little bit more about Marie, while Marie learned a little bit more about Yuta. It was a comfortable time for the both of them to unwind and relax before classes start for the day.

Not too long after, they reached the school and entered their classroom. The two split at the door to Marie's dismay, but Yuta didn't notice it. Without any clue that Marie was pouting, Yuta went to his seat and sat down next to the guy who was smiling creepily at his phone screen.

"Dude, to be fully honest with you, you're looking really creepy right now," Yuta said as he moved his desk slightly in the opposite direction.

Hideo Koji, Yuta's best friend of many years, realized that his facial expression was distorted in an odd way and fixed his face. "Sorry, man. Ayaka sent me a cute selfie of her and I couldn't resist admiring it."

"You have no idea how jealous I am right now," Yuta glared at Hideo.

Ayaka Hiiragi was Hideo's girlfriend and a close friend of Yuta's. Although the two lovebirds weren't in the same class together, they still managed to stay in touch and be all lovey-dovey throughout the day. Yuta had never had a girlfriend before, so he gritted his teeth in sheer jealousy.

"Well, you're not going to be too far off from me soon. You've been talking and hanging out with Marie Tanaka, haven't you?" Hideo smiled mischievously at him.

"Haha, yeah..." Yuta nervously laughed in embarrassment as he remembered telling Hideo what he had been doing. "...But, we're just friends. It's not what you think."

For some reason, Hideo's face froze in shock as he looked to Yuta's left. As his head creakily turned to the side, Yuta saw someone's figure who shouldn't have been here.

"M-Marie?!" Yuta yelled in shock. "Did you hear?"

Marie was supposed to be chatting with a group of girls right now, but for some reason, she was next to Yuta.

"Hear what? I just got here," Marie looked confused. "I was going to ask if you wanted to eat lunch together today?"

"A-Ah, okay... that's fine with me."

"See you later~"

***

Moments after having that conversation with Yuta, Marie excused herself from the group of girls to go to the ladies' room. Once she got there, Marie locked herself in one of the stalls and sighed.

"So, he thinks of us as just friends. That's... not entirely wrong, but I don't like it. Calling us "just friends" makes my heart feel uneasy," Marie pouted.

Although she didn't know the name for this emotion she was feeling, Marie knew that deep down she wanted to be more than just friends with Yuta. As for what relationship she specifically wanted, Marie didn't know yet.

"We could become best friends... or something more than that. I don't know, I just don't know. Yuta... I've been thinking about him all the time."

Ever since they started hanging out and chatting, Yuta had been stuck in Marie's head constantly. All the nice things he would do and say lingered in her mind even after she fell asleep. Sometimes, the man himself would show up in her dreams and bless her with his presence.

"Then, this means I must try harder. To elevate our relationship from the current level, I'll make the two of us become the most important person to each other!" Marie declared with a fiery resolution.

Yuta was already an important person to her, but Marie wanted him to feel the same way. In order for that to happen, she had to find a way to make Yuta unable to live without her.

Remembering something her mom had told her, Marie felt like this was the perfect first step to conquering Yuta's impregnable wall. "Should I ask him out on a date?

Now that she knew what to do, all there was left was for the plan to be put into action. Akari had given Marie two tickets to an aquarium last weekend, so Marie knew exactly where they had to go.

"Let's have some fun at the aquarium with Yuta!"

—

Will Yuta's defenses finally fall? Or, will Marie be stopped by his impenetrable fortress?!

Takei: Ooh, time for the first date to start!

Akari: They're just like us when we were younger~

Serious-san: We've been overthrown!

A/N: I've been extremely busy with midterms and school right now, so I apologize for the lack of uploads.