The blazing sun shone relentlessly upon Inaba who stood timidly in front of the boy, she liked. A trickle of sweat dripped down her cheek and fell into the hot concrete ground.

She clenched her fists and stole obvious glances at him, avoiding eye contact as much as possible.

In front of her was a life sized cardboard cutout of Ujisato Takeda clad in the usual school uniform and had a sharp gaze looking at her.

The black haired girl exhaled a deep and long sigh before slapping both of her cheeks to gain courage. She then looked at him with dark gold eyes full of determination.

“Takeda-kun.”

“Yes, Motoyama-san” a voice spoke from behind the cutout and a faint yet suppressed laughter was also heard coming out of it. “Is there something you would like to tell me?”

“The thing is I like you, Takeda-kun.” Inaba uttered, her voice was cracked but full of emotion. “Ever since, I saw you at the first year orientation. I couldn’t help but fall in love with you. You have this mysterious and distant aura about you and I cant take my eyes off you.” She then bowed her head down and continued. “Please go out with me!”

“I understand what you feel, Motoyama-san but I have to tell you something as well.”

“What is it that you want to tell me?”

“I’m” there was a pause and it took a few seconds to continue. “Gay.”

Inaba’s eyes widen in shock and her jaw dropped. 

How could this happen?

She couldn’t believe what she heard from him and was taken aback with his revelation.

“You’re gay? But how?”

“Actually, I’m in love with the Maeda-san’s boyfriend, Toshiro. Whenever I’m with him, I feel so light and free. My heart races every time that I’m with him and my mind goes fuzzy. I like him so much.”

“No” Inaba took a step back, her expression went from shocked to devastated in an instant and fell on her butt. “Tell me this cant true! Tell me your lying!”

“Nay, it is true.” The voice cleared its throat and continued in a sullen mood. “I like you as well, Motoyama-san but only as a friend.”

“Hey, wait a minute!” Inaba stood up, dusting herself up and had an irritated look on her face. “Takeda-san is Gay?!”

Shigure came out from behind the cutout and giggled to herself, unzipping her sweater, revealing the black t-shirt with a design of Ov*rlord in front.

“You didn’t know? He’s always hung out with Itou-san and they sometimes have lunch together too.”

“That isn’t enough basis to call him gay, you vampire. I do the same thing with you and Eiko. So, does that make me gay too?”

The brunette placed a finger on top of her lip while her other hand took a hold of her hip. She appeared to be in deep thought as she gazed onto the ground.

“I guess.” Shigure said, looking at Inaba as if her answer was enough to persuade the black haired girl. She then switched her gaze to the blonde sitting on one of the benches. “What do you think?”

“Hmmm.” Eiko closed the book, she was reading and placed it aside. “That could be true but how about we ask Takeda-san, instead?”

“We could do that too.” Shigure remarked, crossing her arms below her chest. “In that way, we will know if he is gay or not.”

Inaba shook her head and cupped her whole face with an open palm.

“Do we really have to do this? Isn’t it obvious that he’s not?”

Eiko stood up and approached her childhood friend with a worrying expression, gazing at Inaba like she was feeling sorry for her. “I know its hard for you to digest all of this but remember the saying, the truth shall set you free and we’re trying to do that now.”

“We’re doing this to help you, Inaba.” Shigure interrupted. “We don’t want you to be heartbroken.”

“I cant believe you two are saying that to me.” Inaba commented as she was bewildered at what was happening in front of her. “Look, he’s not gay alright.”

“If you’re so adamant on your belief then why don’t you kiss him?” The blonde suggested. “You can do it on the cheek or at the lips which is much better.”

“Wha-?” Inaba gasped. She couldn’t believe that Eiko would suggest something daring as that. She couldn’t even bring herself talk to him let alone approach him. If she asked that of him, he would totally be either creeped or cool with it depending on how she explains the whole situation to him.

Shigure had a smug grin on her face and walked towards the black haired girl knowing that she wouldn’t be able to do what Eiko asked. “See? You cant even do that to prove it. If you can kiss him, I’ll take back what I said.”

“Alright, I’ll do it.” Inaba caved in to both of their demands and added. “This is a deal, alright?”

“Of course.” The brunette looked at her blonde friend. “Right?”

“Certainly.” Assured the blonde, nodding in agreement with Shigure.

_

The three of them arrived in front of Ujisato Takeda’s house and Inaba rang the doorbell to alert him of their presence. A few minutes later, the door slowly swung open and creaked loudly as it moved.

Ujisato stood before them, clad in a white shirt and plain black shorts. His wet hair continuously dripped onto the floor and a short towel was wrapped around his neck.

“It’s you three. What are you doing here?”

“We came to here because Inaba wants to ask you something.” Shigure said, gently pushing her friend forward. “Go on.”

The black haired girl looked at her friend with eyes that said, I cant do this!

To which Shigure and Eiko replied with, you can do this! We believe in you!

Inaba sighed as she scratched the back of her head and gazed at Ujisato with a look on her face that said, here goes nothing.

“Takeda-kun.” She cleared her throat and paused for a moment. “There’s a rumor going on about that you were gay.”

“Huh?” Ujisato scratched the top of his head and raised his eyebrow. “You heard that I was gay?”

“Yeah, I was browsing pitter earlier and saw one of our schoolmates posted a picture of you and Itou-san holding hands.”

“That’s impossible you know, Motoyama-san.” He said. “Toshiro has a girlfriend.”

“I know right.” Inaba nodded in agreement and looked at him with doe eyes. “So, I was wondering if I could kiss you to prove that you aren’t gay.”

“You serious?” Ujisato asked as he was getting more and more confused at what was going on.

“O-of course! Its okay, if you don’t want to but I just don’t want those rumors to spread even further.”

“It’s fine.” He said. “If that will somehow silence it.”

Ujisato somehow sensed that Inaba was doing this on a dare or she was being tricked by two of her friends who looked inconspicuous but with the way that they behaved earlier showed otherwise. 

“Really?” Exclaimed the black haired girl, feeling energized with his response. “I’ll kiss you on the cheek then.”

She walked towards him and leaned her face close to his, her lips coming in contact with his soft cheek, planting a soft kiss on it.

A sharp thought flashed inside his head and took a hold of the black haired girl’s shoulders, pulling her close to him and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, placing her in an embrace.

This sudden movement shocked Inaba as well as Eiko and Shigure. They didn’t expect him to go along this far but was curious to see what his next move is going to be.

“Why stop there?” He had a playful grin on his face and what he did next made Eiko and Shigure’s jaw drop.

He responded to the kiss on his cheek with one to her lips. Inaba still shocked from his sudden embrace was unable to register what he did, tried to push him back but his grip on her is just too tight.

Amid the sudden turn of events, Shigure and Eiko watched as the couple kissed in front of them. However, they were still stunned from what Ujisato did but the moment, he glanced at them with eyes that said, I got you and back to Inaba.

They understood that he might’ve caught on their plan and decided to one up them on their game.

“I didn’t expect this to happen but isn’t this a little too intense?” Shigure wiped the sweat off her forehead with the sleeve of her sweater.

“We just reaped what we sowed, Shigure.” Eiko commented. “And this is the result of it.”

Ujisato broke his kiss with Inaba and a thin trail of saliva hung between their mouths. He released her from his embrace and looked at the two girls behind her.

“I hope this result will do for your games, Urabe-san, Mochizuki-san.

“Eh?!” Inaba exclaimed, surprised that he figured it all out. “How did you know?”

“I noticed that they were acting strange when you looked at them earlier, Motoyama-san. So, they must’ve had their way in this.”

“Well… You caught us.” Shigure said as she had a ashamed look on her face along with Eiko who equally felt embarrassed at what they did. “We didn’t expect that you would kiss her like that.”

“I just wanted to surprise you girls and see your reactions to that.” Ujisato chortled.

Inaba nodded her in agreement and planted a sheepish look on her face. “I apologize about this.”

“Why are you the one saying sorry? You’re a victim just like me.”

The three girls bade their goodbye to Ujisato Takeda as they left his house and walked along the path.

Inaba placed her hands on her hips, gazing at the ground. She felt that something was lacking earlier and a sudden realization made her sigh deeply.

“What’s the matter, Inaba?” Eiko asked, catching onto her friend’s  sigh of disapproving tone.

“I forgot to confess to him and even though I was this close. It suddenly disappeared on my mind.” The black haired girl replied. “That was my chance and I blew it all.”

“Don’t worry, you still have a lot of time. Besides, we can still spend this break together with just the three of us.” Shigure said, assuring her friend. “Anyway, I didn’t know that Takeda-san is such a good kisser.”

“Yeah, I was shocked as well.” Inaba nodded. “I cant believe it. Where do you think he learned all that?”

“Maybe he plays a lot of dating sims. I heard you can gain experience from all of that.” Eiko interjected.

“Seriously?” Shigure asked.

“Of course. Didn’t you know that I’m an expert when it comes to these things?” The blonde brushed her long golden hair aside. “You can call me the matchmaker princess.”

“Ugh.” Shigure shook her head at Eiko’s remark. “If you’re the princess then I’m the queen.”

“Yeah you’re the queen alright. The queen of eye bags and laziness.” Inaba chimed in.

The black haired girl’s sudden addition to the conversation made Eiko laugh heartily. To which, soured Shigure’s mood and looked at daggers onto Inaba who in turn was laughing at her as well.