"I'm leaving," Aoi prompted nobody in particular.

"Take care, Aoi," his mother replied from the dining room.

Aoi stretched his body and yawned after closing the door. When he stepped out of the gate, his heart almost jumped out of his chest when he was greeted by a tall figure outside.

Realizing he just scared Aoi, Yanagi hurriedly apologized.

"You...how long have you been here?" Aoi rubbed his chest and checked his watch.

It was currently still 7 AM.

"Eh? U-um…" Yanagi stuttered. In the end, he hung his head, "I'm sorry…"

"Why are you apologizing? I was just asking," Aoi sighed helplessly. "Next time, just ring the bell and wait inside. If you're not wearing your uniform people will misunderstand."

"C-c-can I!?" Yanagi's eyes widened.

"I'm telling you to," Aoi walked away. "Let's go."

Yanagi hurriedly followed behind him.

Aoi really was very kind. He knew that Aoi must be pitying him. He knew that he must quickly fix himself and stop bothering Aoi.

But what if he couldn't?

What if his disgusting self only craved for more?

Even now thinking this, he didn't want to let Aoi go regardless.

"Say you hate me...Aoi…" he mumbled.

"What?" Aoi turned around and beckoned Yanagi. "Why are you so far away? I can't hear you."

Yanagi clutched his bag and came closer.

Seeing that Yanagi was determined to keep a distance from him, Aoi straightforwardly grabbed his arm and pulled him to walk beside him.

"I don't like having someone walking behind me. I can't measure how fast or slow I should walk like that," he let Yanagi go and continued walking. "Rather, it feels as if you don't like being close to me."

"!" Yanagi immediately refuted, "Of course not! I…I want to be close to you, Aoi. More than...more than anything."

Aoi felt his heart skip a beat.

He was only teasing Yanagi, so he didn't expect him to answer so seriously. There was even a hint of desperateness on his face.

It was pretty cute.

"But...if I get too close, I...I can't help but want to touch you," Yanagi touched his arm that Aoi grabbed earlier. "...I don't want to t-trouble you."

He waited for Aoi's reply nervously only to hear a light laughter. He looked at Aoi blankly.

"You're surprisingly decent, aren't you?" Aoi teased. 

Yanagi blushed and shook his head, "I-I...I don't want you to hate me after all."

"You keep saying you don't want this, you don't want that," Aoi looked at Yanagi. "On the contrary, what did you want that made you take the risk to stalk me?"

"I wanted to...t-talk to you but I didn't know how…" Yanagi looked away in shame. "A-at some point, I just...wanted to s-see you every second."

Aoi faintly reddened and looked away from Yanagi as well. He couldn't stop himself from grinning and quickly covered it.

What was that!?

That was too cute!

After reaching the platform, the train soon arrived. Unsurprisingly, it was jam-packed since it was currently rush hour.

Aoi was used to it and picked his usual spot at the corner right next to the door. Yanagi was also familiar with Aoi's routine and stood in front of him, a bit diagonally to block other people from him.

He always wanted to do this every time he saw Aoi get squished by others. Aoi didn't exactly have a large body after all. Even his usual unbothered face would scrunch slightly in discomfort.

Aoi of course knew what Yanagi was doing and his chest fluttered.

If Yanagi kept doing things like this or said things like earlier, sooner or later, he would mistaken himself as a shoujo manga protagonist.

The door finally closed and the train started moving. There were many people who didn't have anything to hold on to and inevitably swayed back from the movement.

Yanagi's back got bumped by a particularly large person behind him. Seeing that he was about to hit Aoi, he hurriedly propped his arm to the door to stop himself. The person apologized briskly and grabbed onto the pole.

Aoi was slightly startled by the event and looked up at Yanagi, "You okay?"

Yanagi's body stiffened.

Too close!!

He was lightly pressing on Aoi's body and Aoi's hair was exactly in front of his eyes. He could clearly smell Aoi's freshly shampooed hair like this.

They were so close that Aoi's nose almost touched his chin when he looked up.

"A-A-Aoi!" Yanagi felt his eyes spinning.

Aoi flinched in surprise, "Wh-what?"

"Look down! Hurry!"

"Eh…??" Aoi didn't understand but he still lowered his head just as Yanagi asked. "What is it?"

Yanagi looked up and closed his eyes, "Just...don't raise your head right now…" 

"??"

It was then Aoi heard a faint thumping noise amidst the muffled sound of the train moving. He soon found the source without any difficulties.

Yanagi's heart was beating so strongly that he could feel its rapid tremble through their uniform.

Reflected on the door's window was Yanagi's struggling face, trying to keep his face as far away from his hair.

Aoi lowered his head and hid his amused smile.

Really too cute.

Fortunately for Yanagi, Aoi's place was only 2 stations away from their school. Any longer than that he believed he would die from a heart attack.

The walk to school felt like it happened in a blink. He now knew what it meant to wish for time to stop.

Entering the gate, he soon felt the gazes of his classmates around them. Not only him, but they also looked at Aoi in doubt and suspicion.

Aoi also felt it but he feigned ignorance. After changing his shoes, he noticed that Yanagi had unknowingly disappeared.

"..."

When he entered his classroom, he didn't feel anything out of the ordinary and guessed that the matter about Yanagi was only exclusive to his class.

From the looks of it, it didn't seem like it had anything to do about Yanagi stalking him.

Speaking of people his age, he wouldn't be surprised if it was something trivial though. Previously, in his middle school, a classmate of his was bullied just because he was seen playing crane games of a certain magical girl mascot character.

With that, he was immediately labelled as a creep.

Aoi inwardly sighed and prepared himself for class.

Would Yanagi come to him at lunch?

He wouldn't be surprised if Yanagi stalked him to his usual lunch spot but he wanted Yanagi to interact with him normally. If Yanagi didn't come to his class 5 minutes after the bell later, he should go check his classroom.

Unsurprisingly, Yanagi really didn't come.

Aoi grabbed his wallet and headed to Yanagi's classroom first.

His favourite soba bread would probably get sold out when he went to the canteen later, but that was nothing new. 

He could still get it later on Thursday when he got P.E before lunch.

Arriving at 1-B, Aoi peered inside to find that Yanagi's desk was empty.

"You," one of the students inside suddenly called out.

Aoi turned to look at him in askance.

"You're the one who went home with that creep yesterday, aren't you?" The student scrutinized him.

"I'm not sure," Aoi calmly replied. "Unfortunately, I can only identify people with their real names. Who are you talking about exactly?"

The student frowned, "I don't know if you're playing hero or pitying that creep, but I advise you to stop associating yourself with him before it's too late."

Aoi was intrigued, "Before it's too late?"

"He…"

Aoi saw a tall figure in the hallway and inadvertently shifted his gaze to it. His eyes met with Yanagi, halting the other in his steps. At the same time, the student finished his words.

"...had once sexually assaulted his classmate in middle school."

Aoi's eyebrows faintly rose in a mix of surprise and doubt.

Sexual assault?

To be honest, if he had never talked to Yanagi, he would probably believe those words right away. But after interacting with the person himself, he doubted that Yanagi was capable of doing anything that would hurt the person he liked.

Aoi only gave a nod to the student and walked away.

When he got close to Yanagi, he noticed that there were 2 soba breads and milk in Yanagi's hands.

"Your class finished early?" Aoi asked curiously.

"I sneaked out…" Yanagi answered in a low voice. "I looked for you in your classroom but you weren't there…"

Aoi nodded, "You can go to the courtyard first. I haven't bought my lunch."

"U-um…" Yanagi handed the things in his hands. "This...I got them for you."

Hearing Aoi's laughter, Yanagi felt slightly restless.

Did he do something unnecessary?

Was he embarrassing himself again?

"I know," Aoi took one soba bread and one drink from Yanagi's hands. "I was just giving you the opportunity to offer them to me."

Yanagi trembled as Aoi's fingers brushed his hands. His eyes couldn't extricate themselves from Aoi's amused smile.

How could someone be so devilish and angelic at the same time?