The others listened to him and gave the pair their much needed alone time. It didn’t need to be said, but it was plainly obvious something big was going down which would change everything for their friend group.

“Looks like he’s finally going to accept, or maybe reject her.” Said Rouko, who was the one who encouraged him in the first place. “I hope he does, but if it’s not meant to be, then I’m ready to go console her. What do you think, Shiuka?”

“I’m not sure.” Shiuka answered. She also wasn’t certain one what result she preferred either. The same would go for Iruka, but she didn’t speak up as the three returned to the festivities while waiting for what was set to occur.

Now Hakuta and Ninka were alone by the school’s lockers. It was unexpected to be here, but because of the Halloween celebrations being done with all the classrooms. They were also alone with no worry about someone else walking in on them.

“You know, it doesn’t sound like you’re very happy to hear I’m living with her.” He spoke up first after a little bit of time passed to allow their friends to leave. “I can’t really blame you either.”

“Duh.” She replied, still showing her concern despite learning the truth. “How else am I supposed to react? It’s not like every girls is in love with a guy living with one of their best friends.”

“On the bright side, at least nothing happened?” He was uncertain how to assure her things would be fine. Admittedly even Hakuta was not accustomed with situations such as this.

“Yet.” She responded, shooting down his defense. “I really was mad at you, but it’s not like I stopped liking you or anything…” Ninka murmured the last bit of her sentence. “If it was true, I don’t know what I would do with myself.”

“You know, you’re a lot more dependent than I thought you’d be.” He turned around a prior conversation of theirs to explain his confusion. “It’s like you really need someone.”

“All the guys I’ve dated were the same.” She leaned back against the lockers, a gentle clunk sound was made when she made contact. “They’re always so doting, asking me what I want to do or like or whatever. They were all too busy with me that I never got anything from them.”

“Reminds me of some people I know…” He thought about his own friends, mostly when it came to the attention they tried to give the girls. “But what’s wrong with that? It sounds like they really care about you.”

“They just want to say the right things all the time.” She explained. “You know, so I don’t get mad or anything. I guess I kind of took that too, so I don’t really talk about myself that much.”

“I can see how that’s one way I’m different.” He had heard it plenty of times from her that it sounded so cliché, but Hakuta did know he mostly didn’t care about saying the so-called right things. While he was against the idea of upsetting his friends, he also wasn’t afraid to speak his mind to them in most circumstances.

And he realized that’s how it was with Ninka. He had a suspicion on her liking him because he reminded her of her father. But he had to wonder if it was less because of his own similarities and more how much she was like her mother. That woman was not someone he knew for long, but admittedly based on appearances, he was surprised to see her married to a man like Ninka’s dad.

“You have things you want to do for yourself.” She responded to his short statement. “When you just went and told us you wanted us to go to some gaming tournament, I thought you were a cool guy because you wanted something for yourself.” He never considered her to take his selfishness as a positive. Perhaps it wasn’t that selfish, but he knew that pretty much everyone else wasn’t into it as he was. “I love singing karaoke and shopping and hanging with my gals, but I want to see new things too, you know.”

“You want someone who’s already figured themselves out.” He understood an inkling of what she wanted in another boy. “But I’m far from that.” Yet Hakuta still had enough self awareness to realize he was just another teenage boy. Even with his own desires, he wasn’t fully grown yet either. “Because I keep pushing you away, but never really cutting you off either.”

It was a thin line he walked, albeit not very subtly. If she wasn’t as accommodating as she was, then Ninka would’ve likely already given up on him by now.

“I don’t like where this is going.” Her heart sank when she heard him say this. To her, this was the moment where he made things final and told her she had no chance with him.

“Ninka, I keep you off because I never thought it was time for me to date someone.” He started. “But the truth is, I never truly pushed you away because I never wanted to look back and regret it because I just wasn’t ready yet.”

“So, what are you trying to say?” She asked when he had paused for an uncomfortably long time.

“That I’m ready now.” He answered after taking the time to mull over his thoughts and realize what the right answer for him was. “That I’d like you to be my first girlfriend.”

“Huh?” She was in disbelief in his words. “Are you being serious? You really want to date me?”

“Yes.” He said again to confirm it. “When you say it like that, it’s like you’re the one not ready for it.”

“It’s just that…” She exhaled deeply as her body still couldn’t process the reality. “You just keep saying no, that I can’t believe you’re finally saying yes.” Despite her constant attempts trying to lead to this conclusion, now it was seemed too much of a dream for her to think she actually succeeded.

“There is one way I can prove it to you.” He got close to and took Ninka’s hands. His face moved towards her as his voice turned into a whisper. “You kissed me before, so now it’s my turn to kiss you.” Hakuta then made his move as his lips touched hers in a gentle kiss. They were hidden off in a world of their own away from the others for this short moment of romance.

Just as soon as it began their small, but passionate kiss ended. Hakuta took one step back as his own body temperature raised to feverish heights from his move. It was the first time the boy had ever done something so smoothly and intimate before. He hoped he could at least be as good at social interactions as the boys she had dated prior.

“You’re just so sweet.” Ninka couldn’t hide away her growing smile after taking in their kiss. She described him and his lips at the same time with her sentence and already she was desperate for another one. Which she took without asking for any semblance of permission as the girl tightly embraced him.

“Whoa.” He spoke in the breaks when they weren’t kissing each other. “I don’t know if she need to go that hard so soon.” Hakuta was more concerned with being spotted by the others as he didn’t dislike kissing this beautiful girl. “I’m a take it slow kind of guy, if I’m being honest.”

“I don’t mind the change of pace.” She gave him a caress on the cheek after her final kiss on his lips. Ninka had kissed a lot of boys before, but she knew she wouldn’t be forgetting his embrace for a long time to come. “Come on, we should go back to the others. I don’t want them to worry about us.”

“Agreed.” He said, mostly glad he had managed to resolve this situation, though it was far from how he originally thought it’d end. This reality was also much better than he expect it’d be.

The pair walked back to their classroom, which fortunately was where the rest of their friends were at by now. Most of the day had finally past and soon everyone would be cleaning up the school and taking care of all the set pieces built for this single day.

“We’re back!” Ninka announced their arrival with the energy he was used to getting for her. Hakuta was more than happy to be getting this girl back after seeing her face filled with tears because of him.

“Great, it’s be real boring without you.” Rouko warmly greeted her back. “Looks like things are going to be getting a bit interesting from now on, isn’t it?” She also took note of the couple holding each other’s hands as they walked in. A silent confirmation of what had transpired without her.

“Yeah, I’m sure a lot of stuff’s about to happen.” Said Hakuta, knowing he’d need to clean up his life even more than all the cleaning they were about to do for their classroom.