Hakuta woke up and dreaded the day to come. Because after a long summer break spent enjoying all the usual things he liked, such as video games. School had finally returned and it was time for him to redo his normal routine all over again.
The worst part of losing out on all the free time he had been enjoying would have to do with his seatmate in Iruka. Despite working out their differences at the festival, he hadn’t actually seen her since that night. Which meant he also hadn’t seen her after that moment where they shared a kiss under the night sky with the fireworks to illuminate it all.
Not that either of them had been purposefully avoiding the other because of it. It had simply just been because her family went on a trip the following week so they couldn’t see each other even if they wanted to. Her dad being able to get this vacation thanks to his and Shiuka’s fathers returning from their own adventures to give that man some time off.
On the bright side, it was nice to be with his father again. Ever since Toukou took the job, they didn’t see each other as often as they used to, which was everyday in that small house where it was nearly impossible to get any privacy. Back then it annoyed Hakuta to have to see the man all the time without any respite, but now he missed those days.
Days he didn’t miss included the time spent in class, but it was still necessary as he put on his uniform and headed out for school. He went along the way he normally went before the break. That being to take an unnecessarily long path just to avoid being seen with Shiuka. The latter part of going to his desk was a small uptick when he saw Iruka already at her own desk behind his.
“Good morning, Hakuta.” She greeted him with a smile. It was a bit unnerving to him to see her act so normal to him. Not that she was a scary person, but rather he was more surprised to see her be so casual to him like it was nothing despite what she had done during the fireworks show.
He already had a good idea that she was good with secrets. Considering she had done a good job keeping his safe from the rest of the world. This more was a concern for is own feelings as a boy already dealing with a lot in his life.
“Morning.” He returned her greeting with one of his own. Her being so casual made what happened before feel like a dream. As if it never even happened. But the feeling of her lips on his still was burned into his memory like the sensation of it making itself known to his body once more. “Hope you’re not too disappointed being trapped in class again.”
“True, but at least the view’s not too bad.” She joked as he sat down. He couldn’t tell if it was his confused mind if that was her flirting with him or if there was some punchline he missed. Either way the boy didn’t want to say anything to avoid making things awkward between them. At least for his sake.
Still, he would’ve preferred she not do that to him. Not because he hated getting kissed or anything, but because a girl shouldn’t just kiss a boy and then expect him to forget about it so easily.
What was she even thinking with such a stunt, he thought as classes began. Was Iruka really so willing to simply make mention of her feelings, but proceed to never act on them and live on life as just friends with him? Doing that all the way through high school sounded more like torture, having to spend 3 years being with someone she couldn’t actually be with.
And worst yet, what if he really did accept Ninka’s confessions? It was unlikely, but from her point of view, it wasn’t impossible either. Did Iruka really think she could live with watching one of closest friends date a crush of hers? If anything, this fact only served to make Hakuta feel worse, but knew he couldn’t just put a pause on his life just because one person might get hurt.
So he truly wanted to clear the air, not brush it off like she had done that night at the festival. An opportunity arose at a time he knew he would be guaranteed to receive at school, lunchtime.
“Finally.” Iruka commented out loud when the teacher dismissed them. He stretched out her body to loosen up after being confined to her desk. The way she did put an obvious strain on the bust region to her blouse. Where when Hakuta glanced over, he couldn’t help but wonder how she hadn’t suffered a wardrobe malfunction from the look of the buttons clearly struggling to hang on.
Though it wasn’t like he wanted that to happen or anything. The boy wasn’t interested in being taken out by a button fired off from the pressure. That would lead to a quick trip to the infirmary. “I’m starving.”
“Say, Iruka.” He quickly hatched his plan by talking. “I was wondering, you want to just head off and eat lunch together?”
“Just us?” She was caught off guard by his sudden forwardness. Usually he preferred staying at his own desk and encouraging her to eat with the rest of the gyarus.
“Yeah, I just wanted to-”
“Hakuta?” He was interrupted by Ino appearing before the pair. “Sorry for cutting in, but I was wondering if you could help me out. The school’s got a bunch of stuff since it’s the beginning of a new trimester.”
“Oh.” He hesitated. This proved to be a wrench in his plans and the boy considered turning her down. However this was Ino and this was the first time she had approached him in asking for aid in a long time. Sure a part of that had to do with their being a long break recently, but it was also due to her choosing to avoid him for the last couple weeks before the summer break.
Hakuta really wanted to say no, but right now he couldn’t resist the temptation, nor did he want to seen a bad message to the girl either. “Yeah, I can.” He accepted. “Sorry Iruka, I guess we can hang out some other time.”
“That’s fine with me.” She didn’t seem to mind losing out on the opportunity. Though she hadn’t accepted his suggestion yet, so a part of him also wondered if she had actually planned on rejecting him. That would certainly come as a surprise to him. “See you in class later.”
“Right, see you.” He got up from his seat and followed Ino towards grabbing some extra paperwork.
“It’s rare of you to be asking someone else to hang out.” Ino commented as they walked the hallway. She had overheard their conversation while walking over to ask him for the favor. “Normally it take a lot of prodding to get you to do things considered fun.”
“She’s my friend, so I don’t think it’s that weird.” He replied, but this was Hakuta they were talking about. Even when it came to his best friends in Yuusen and Itsuki, he was like a rock unwilling to move to their whims. “Besides, I’m always up for helping you when you want it.” Hakuta laughed, but also noted something else important as he carried a bunch of paperwork. “I swear, they really have a lot of papers in our class.”
“It’s just because I offer to take care of all of it.” She answered. “It seemed proper that I take the full task, since the teachers are usually busy with handling their curriculum. Of course, it’s a lot more than I expected… But at least it lets me ask you to be with me.” She murmured her last sentence under her breath.
“What was that?” He only got odd mutterings, wondering what could be important.
“That was nothing.” She quickly and firmly ensure he wouldn’t ask for any followup questions. “I’m just thankful that you’re around to lend me aid.”
“No problem, though I guess it’s a shame that you don’t hang around the other girls.” Hakuta realized that doing this would cut into any time he had with his other friends. In a sense, she kind of isolated him, even if it wasn’t for that much time. “I’m sure they’d like you more than you think. I get it’s not what you consider your style, but I used to think that way too.”
“You shouldn’t be concerned about that.” She responded negatively. “As long as Ichida doesn’t spill my secret, then I have no issues with them.” Ino still worried about Ninka’s knowledge of her secret.
“Yeah…” He replied, disappointed in her response. “That’s still safe, don’t worry.”
Hmm... kinda disappointed he didn't reject Ino's request but I guess it makes sense. He doesn't have many opportunities to talk/hang out with her otherwise.
It's going to be very
awkward if he ends with anyone else either than Shiuka if he continues to live at her home. I don't know about others, but that's the more interesting scenario if it ended that way. Since Shiuka is the main heroine, I expect her to win Hakuta.
It can also be a wild end if Ninka goes all out dramatic if he ends up with anyone else since she's been gunning for him so hard. I think she can deal with Ino winning since he's never mentioned being interested in gyarus, but I don't know if she can handle Shiuka winning (she took the time to ask her and lean on her for some help to woo Hakuta) because she can interpret this as a very cruel joke/prank. I can see her even accepting Iruka winning over her because Hakuta might be a breast man.
Rouko is the only one I see eliminated due to the lack on interaction with Hakuta.
I think if Hakuta ends with a girl, Ino would be the best fit due to sharing the same main hobby and her being a high level gamer. I play a few board/tactical games at extremely high levels, it's not the same playing lower ranked/level people and I feel she's more like him than any of the other girls.
What I would like though is that he goes his own way, concentrate on school, work towards a goal, and put his fate in his own hands instead of living off of someone else (whether it's Shiuka's home, his father's home, etc). I always disliked the cliche that a guy goes to high school, meets a girl there, they date, they marry, have kids... etc a happy ending trope. I've always more the more realistic even if he dates, she's just his first love/girlfriend, he moves on, and discovers himself through his own ambitions and goals.
Fair enough if you don't like the high school sweethearts trope, but personally I like it and technically it goes with most of the stories I've written so far. Except I guess for getting that far since they end while they're still in school for the most part.
But yeah, thanks for bringing up the living situation and Ninka. They do throw in a bit of a wrench when considering what should happen for the endings where they aren't the winners. To be honest, I did ignore half the girls when I did the idol story to keep things from balloon too much for the separate endings, and I feel I might end up doing the same here.
In the future I really need to learn to stick to solo romance, but it seems I suck at avoiding anything but multiple romantic interests. So I can't even promise to myself not to.
@bigbear51 Just because the cliche is overly used (imho) doesn't mean it's wrong or shouldn't be used, it's just my personal preference I guess based on my personal life experiences and only seeing one example of it actually happening.
The easiest answer I see with the living situation is actually something your story mentioned earlier in this work, Hakuta's father is well paid and now has enough money to get both him and Hakuta their own place. While this means moving out, I can't see how any girl in the know would be comfortable that their boyfriend is living with another girl her age and attractive (common trope of gyarus is that they are above average in appearance, in fact top of the caste so to speak). Shiuka might not enjoy it but she most likely will understand it, but it still may cause some animosity for the entire group or select members. Money doesn't appear to be an object so to me it's now more along the relationship damages and survival.
Don't stick to solo romance if it affects the quality of your work, I actually highly enjoy reading this as well as your other works. Just because I'm a prick and picky about some issues doesn't mean I'm right, you do this as a combo of hobby, enjoyment, etc so keep it that way. I'm one of those "glass half empty" kind of guys and look at the bad vs the good, it's why I see the "doom's day" situation in most works so easily, but at the same time I also enjoy how the author will create an "escape" so to speak, in fact the more novel the better.
The hardest part for me to see in many of these scenarios is if the opposite s*x person is considered very cute and not toxic, they come on to the shy person, I just find it strange when the shy person pushes back (especially teens... I know my hormone levels of the time I'd maybe even have a certain level of "tolerance" to someone that's toxic). The only thing that holds many guys back is the "bro's before ho's" honor ideology if the guys practice it as a group, it seems Hakuta does practice it since his friend likes Ninka, but even then if his friend doesn't make a move after a while or seem to relinquish his pursuit of her, depending on their level of "bro code" matters how it's handled (we considered our friendship more important).