"You're unbelievable."

Aoi dropped his indoor shoes to the ground and turned to Kanzaki 5 lockers away from him, "Are you a stalker or something?"

"My shoe locker is over here, okay!?" Kanzaki slammed his locker close. "And the stalker here is not me."

"You think I'll believe you? How come I never saw you here until now?" Aoi squinted his eyes suspiciously.

"Because I never come this early! Hell, it's only 7:45 right now!" Kanzaki shoved his phone screen to Aoi.

"It's already 7:45," Aoi slapped Kanzaki's hand away. "What do you want now?"

"Not only do you come and leave with that cre–"

Aoi gripped Kanzaki's jaw with a smile that was not a smile, "He has a name."

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!!" Kanzaki freed himself and rubbed his jaw in pain. "You also spent your summer with him, didn't you? I saw you at a festival with him."

Aoi took several steps back in disgust, "Uwa…You're really a stalker, aren't you?"

"I'm not!! I was there with my friends!"

"Aoi."

The two of them turned to Yanagi, standing behind Kanzaki with a murderous gaze.

"Is he bothering you again?" Yanagi narrowed his eyes in threat.

Kanzaki froze in place.

Why did Yanagi seem slightly bigger than before?

"No need to bother with him," Aoi dragged Yanagi in. "You'll catch his stupidity."

"Stu–!?"

Kanzaki immediately shut his mouth with a glare from Yanagi.

Arriving at Yanagi's class, Aoi bid his farewell and went to his own class. Just as he got to his desk, he received a message from Yanagi.

[Will you have lunch together with me later?]

A smile crept onto Aoi's face and he replied with a sticker.

Although they had already been eating lunch together on a regular basis, he knew that Yanagi was practising asking things from him.

Yanagi saw Aoi's positive answer and smiled. He thought Aoi would make fun of him as usual, but none of that came.

Kanzaki couldn't help but scrutinize Yanagi more closely.

Why would someone like Aoi let someone like Yanagi hang around him day in and day out?

Someone like Aoi, who had trust issues and considered making friends to be a waste of time, with someone like Yanagi, who had a nasty rumour hanging above his head?

However he looked at it, it couldn't be any weirder.

At lunch, he saw Yanagi rush out with his lunch box and promptly followed him. A few minutes later, they arrived at the back of the school and he hid himself in the corner.

There, he saw that Aoi was already waiting for Yanagi.

"Sorry, I'm late," Yanagi hurriedly apologized.

"Stop apologizing for things that aren't your fault to begin with," Aoi flicked Yanagi's forehead in rebuke.

"S-sor–I mean…um…" Yanagi hesitantly nodded. "I understand…?"

"Why the questioning tone?" Aoi handed his lunch box to Yanagi. "Hold this for me. I'll be back soon."

"?" Yanagi nodded and watched Aoi leave a bit nervously.

Aoi…wasn't mad at him, right?

Kanzaki also waited for Aoi to return when his shoulder was tapped. He turned around to find it was Aoi.

"Uwahh!!" he tumbled back from the shock. "How did–??"

"Let's just say I have quite enough experience with stalkers," Aoi folded his arms. "And? What are you doing stalking Yanagi?"

"I'm curious, okay!? Can you blame me!?" Kanzaki defended himself.

"Even if you do, what do you plan to do once you find something?" Aoi looked at Kanzaki coldly. "Don't you think you've hurt Yanagi enough? You and all your classmates."

"That's because–!"

Aoi cut him off, too lazy to hear any excuses, "Believing baseless rumours is stupidity and naivety. Should I spread an equal rumour about you as well to make you taste how hurtful it is?"

"It's not like we spread it around outside our classroom…" Kanzaki hesitantly said.

Aoi scoffed, "What's that? A last act of mercy?"

Yanagi appeared by the corner, attracted by Kanzaki's loud voice. Seeing Aoi's angry face, he threw everything to the back of his head and hurried to him.

"Aoi, what's wrong? What did he do to you?"

"Nothing. He was stalking you," Aoi walked away. "Leave him. Let's just eat."

Yanagi glanced at Kanzaki briefly before choosing to do as Aoi said and left him be.

Kanzaki, "…"

He slowly stood up from the ground and went to the two of them again, "Tell me."

"Huh?" Aoi looked at Kanzaki in annoyance while Yanagi opened both of their lunch boxes.

"You said it was a baseless rumour, so you know something, right?" Kanzaki crouched down. "How can I understand anything if you won't let me pry? You want me to stop calling Suda a creep, so give me a reason not to!"

"That's not for me to decide," Aoi picked up his lunch box and started eating.

Kanzaki turned to Yanagi, "Come on, man. Are you going to let this be for three whole years? If you're innocent, that won't be good for your mental health, okay?"

"…" Yanagi looked at Aoi for a short while and looked back to Kanzaki, "…I'm gay."

"Eh…?" Kanzaki blanked out.

"So, it's impossible for me to assault a girl," Yanagi finally started eating.

"Ehh!?" Kanzaki jumped to his feet in disbelief. "That's a different kind of dangerous, alright!? How are you supposed to clear your rumour with that!?"

"Shut up. You're too noisy," Aoi frowned.

This was supposed to be his lunchtime with Yanagi. He couldn't even eat peacefully now.

Yanagi stood up, "I'll get rid of him, Aoi."

"Mn," Aoi nodded. "Dump him far away."

"Eh? Huh!?" Kanzaki flailed around as Yanagi dragged him away. "Damn you! You're still the same as ever, Kashiwagi!"

Aoi turned a deaf ear to him.

Yanagi returned not 2 minutes later. He sat next to Aoi and continued his lunch.

"Personally, I also think that we need to do something about that rumour of yours. Preferably before our school trip," Aoi looked at Yanagi. "What about you?"

"I want us to be able to be together at school comfortably," Yanagi lowered his gaze. "Is that…okay?"

Aoi tilted his head to look at Yanagi from below him with a smile, "Why not? I'm happy that you think of that."

Yanagi felt his heart clench. He gave a small nod, "I'll do my best. What should I do, Aoi?"

Aoi leaned back to the wall and resumed his meal, "First thing first, do you know where that girl who started all this went for high school?"

Yanagi shook his head, "I only remember her family name."

"Asking that classmate of yours who is her friend would be a bad idea, wouldn't it?" Aoi hummed. "Alright. When you got home today, look for her name in your yearbook."

"Okay," Yanagi glanced at Aoi. "Will you…"

"Hm?" Aoi turned to Yanagi in askance.

"…" Yanagi looked away, "…Nothing."

***

Aoi promptly took out his phone as the bell for lunch rang. He felt it vibrated in class earlier and indeed there was a message from Yanagi.

"Um…excuse me, Kashiwagi-kun."

Aoi looked up to see that it was his class president who called him. He remembered her name was Shiraishi Keiko, a straight-haired girl with black glasses.

"Yes?" he fixed his posture.

"We're making groups for the upcoming school trip," Keiko hesitantly said and handed a piece of paper to him. "We're writing it down in this form. You can choose one of the 2 groups who still only had 2 guys in their group."

To be honest, when their homeroom teacher told her to put Aoi into either of these 2 groups, she was afraid to take the blame. That was why, despite being really scared right now, she could only ask Aoi to choose himself.

Aoi was the quietest person in the class. Nobody could tell what he was thinking which was a bit scary.

Oblivious of his impression, Aoi accepted the paper and took a look at the 2 groups. He looked around the class and found that one of the groups had all its members inside.

He inwardly sighed and got up from his seat.

Keiko flinched slightly. Not only her, the whole class was actually eavesdropping on the situation.

All of them thought that Aoi was annoyed. They watched him walk up to one of the girls inside with nervous hearts.

"Would you mind if I join your group, Michiya-san?" Aoi showed the form.

"Eh?" Michiya couldn't react for a second. "G-go ahead…"

Aoi nodded in understanding and walked up to all 5 of the members, asking the same thing. After getting all their consent, he wrote his name down and gave the form back to Keiko.

"Sorry for this. I completely forgot," Aoi apologized and looked at the time. "Is there anything else, Shiraishi-san?"

"N-no…thank you, Kashiwagi-kun," Keiko answered blankly.

"I should be the one thanking you," Aoi grabbed his wallet and left, leaving a class full of dazed students.

He was surprisingly a nice person!?