『 4 』

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Original Artist 問, Pixiv ID 2385584

When I got to school Monday morning, our class rankings were posted. Students were gathered around the board. Some students cheered at their rank ups, some sulked due to falling down in ranks. But for the most part, most students were content with their scores.

Sakurai Ayase

I smiled. I was able to maintain my spot!

Kuroo Tetsurou

What? How did he manage to get second place?

I stared at the board. I was too shocked to process this news.

"What was that about me scoring fifth place?" a voice whispered into my ear.

"K-Kuroo-kun?!" I jumped.

My heart started to race.

That startled me!

I turned to look up at him. He stood there smugly smirking at me.

"C-congratulations," I muttered.

"Huh? What was that?" he cupped a hand to his ear and shoving it in my face.

My face flushed. I bit my lip and walked away.

My heart was still beating fast and my face was still red. Last week I mistook this as possibly being infatuated with Kuroo or my fever, but now I know what this feeling is. Envy.

Kuroo maintained good grades, a healthy social life, and he was great at athletics yet he always looked so carefree.

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

applepi: I won't force you

applepi: but are you sure you don't want to meet up?

Not applepi too!

I groaned. I do what to meet up with him though. It's 96kami that I don't want to meet.

aYaPi☆: Did 96kami have you ask me? ꒰╬ •᷅д•᷄ ╬꒱

applepi: Like I said, I won't force you...

I do want to see applepi in real life. It won't hurt if I see 96kami too right? If he's not the type of person I imagined him to be, I'll just end my crush at that. But what if he ends up being really hot and I fall in love with him and then he sees me and he's disgusted by how ugly I am? Ahhh, what do I do?!

I got flustered at the thought of that.

Wait, why am I even entertaining the thought of meeting them? I need to study!

applepi: Hello? Are you there?

aYaPi☆: Y-yeah...

applepi: So?

I want to be carefree...

That thought passed my mind.

No! I can't! Mom and Dad are expecting me to follow Arata's footsteps! I need to focus on my studies! I have to...

I gripped my phone.

aYaPi☆: I'll go under one condition!

applepi: What is it?

aYaPi☆: 96kami can't come!

applepi: WHAT?!

applepi: WHY NOT???

applepi: WHAT DO YOU HAVE AGAINST ME?? ٩(ↀДↀ)۶

aYaPi☆: Punishment for forcing applepi to ask me to meet! ꒰。•'ェ'•。꒱۶

I laughed at the exchange. 96kami most likely took applepi's phone to message me.

I wonder what applepi is like in real life? I wonder what he thinks of me? I have a huge online presence but I'm actually shy and quiet in real life.

Applepi agreed to my condition and we planned a date and location for our meetup. Next Saturday at 1:30pm in front of Meiji Shrine in Harajuku.

Harajuku is about half an hour away from me, but hopefully that'll throw him off from figuring out where in Tokyo I live. I am meeting a stranger I met online, I need to take precautions when meeting him.

The bell rang and I quickly put away my cell phone and lunch. I started getting jittery. Am I excited to meet him? Or am I excited to take a break from studying this Saturday? No matter what it is, I'm excited!

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

Saturday came by fairly quickly. I couldn't sleep all night but I was able to wake up before my alarm today. I got ready and left for archery practice, a skip in my step.

"What?! Aya-pi is here 30 minutes early?! Is it the end of the world?" Hayashi grabbed her head with both hands and pretended to panic.

"I woke up early today," I muttered softly under my breath.

"It really is the end of the world!" she exclaimed, handing me a broom. "Come one, help me set up!"

I helped Hayashi clean and set up the dojo before practice as our club members slowly poured in.

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

"Hey Ayase-san! Grab lunch with us today!" One of the club members invited me.

"S-sorry, I'm busy today," I rejected her.

"Studying again?" another club mate inquired.

"A-actually...I-I'm meeting up with a friend in Harajuku today," I murmed, twiddling my thumbs.

"Did I hear that correctly?"

"Whaaat, Harajuku?"

"AYA-PI HAS A DATE?!" Hayashi shouted as she ran up to me and clasped my hands in between hers.

"I-it's not what you t-think!" I retorted, blushing at all the attention I was getting.

"Ayase-san is blushing! It's true." someone pointed out.

"Aya-pi," Hayashi growled, she seemed to be angry.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner! What are you wearing?" she cried, grabbing my hand and dragging me back to the clubroom.

I changed back to my normal clothes. A black tank top with an oversized rose pink sweater on top that exposed my shoulders. The sweater was tucked into a turquoise circle skirt that hung slightly above my knees. I grabbed my glasses from my bag before Hayashi immediately grabbed my hand.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"I...don't think you should wear your glasses," she shyly muttered, scratching her cheek with her free hand.

I gave her a questioning look.

"Look, Aya-pi, you're actually really pretty but you don't know how to present yourself."

I wasn't sure if I should be shocked or offended.

Hayashi thinks I'm pretty?

I've never had anyone call me that before.

"Here."

Hayashi untucked my sweater from my skirt, then pulled up my skirt up high.

"H-Hayashi-san! My skirt is really short now. What if I...What if I," I whispered into her ear, "flash someone?"

She giggled, "Don't worry Aya-pi, it's not that short! And you need to show off your legs!"

She then pulled my hair out the high ponytail it was in and re-tied my hair into a low side ponytail. She pulled out a tube of light pink lipgloss and applied some on my lips.

"Look! You're so cute!" she ushered me to the hanging mirror.

My eyes widened. I never really looked at my reflection, especially with my contacts in. I always put on my contacts then quickly headed to practice. Even with my hair tied in a low ponytail made me look different.

"Is this me?" I touched the mirror.

What is this witchcraft?

"Thank you, Hayashi-san!" I turned around and gave her a deep bow.

"W-what! I didn't really do much...Besides, we've known each other for 3 years! Call me Mizuki!"

"Thank you...Mizuki-san." we both blushed.

She patted my head, "Now go on your date!"

"It's not a date!"

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

I arrived at Meiji Shrine 5 minutes early.

I wonder if he's already here?

My eyes darted around. There wasn't anyone that was alone.

It was a lively Saturday. There were buskers along the gates in front of the shrine and crowds of people watching them.

We never got each other's contact information so hopefully he was online so I can message him. I pulled out my phone and logged into D&D.

Oh! He's on!

aYaPi☆: Hello! ꒰'꒳'∗꒱

applepi: Hey. Are you there already?

aYaPi☆: Yup!

applepi: Sorry, I'm running late.

aYaPi☆: No worries! I just got here! ꒰๑˃͈꒳˂͈๑꒱ノ*゙̥

aYaPi☆: BTW, what are you wearing? There's a lot of people here, I'd like to identify you. ꒰๑・◡・꒱

applepi: I'm wearing a red sports jacket.

applepi: I'm about to get off the train. See you soon.

A red dot appeared next to his name, indicating that he logged off.

He's already here!

My palms started getting sweaty. Reality started to sink in.

I can't believe I'm meeting up with a stranger from the internet! What if he's not a high schooler like he said he was?

I started to panic. This was a terrible idea.

Stupid Kuroo! He always seemed to be the source of my problems.

If I didn't want to be like him so much, I wouldn't have been so careless!

A flash of red weaved through the crowd.

Is that applepi?

I sifted through the horde of people trying to find him. In the middle of the crowd was a young highschooler, a few centimeters taller than me. He had blonde hair with overgrown roots. He was wearing a white hoodie with a red sports jacket over it and red shorts. On the front of his jacket, in small black letters, read "Metropolitan Nekoma High".

Nekoma?! He goes to my school?!

"U-umm, excuse me," I called out to him. "Applepi?"

"Aya-pi?" He looked at me in surprise.

"It's nice to meet you," I greeted him

"Likewise," he stared down at me with his big cat-like eyes.

"Let's go see the shrine?" I suggested.

"Sure."

We walked through the park entrance in silence.

"Have you been here before?" I nervously asked him, breaking the silence.

"Nope."

He's a boy with very few words, as expected from his online personality.

"Ah, me neither." I confessed.

"Don't you live around here?"

"A-actually, I go to Nekoma High too," I told him the truth.

"What?" his eyes stared down at me, giving me a sense of uneasiness.

We walked down the large stone path, large trees surrounding us. I didn't think there would be a forest in the middle of the city.

"Why'd we meet up all the way in Harajuku if you live in Nerima?" he questioned.

I gulped.

"I didn't want you to know where I lived. What if you were a 40 year old man?" I explained myself. "You are a stranger I met online."

He smiled, "that's true. If you were a 40 year old man, I wouldn't want you to know where I live either."

We both laughed. The tension in the air lightened up.

"So why are we visiting a shrine?"

"I didn't tell you?"

He shook his head.

"I want to pray to the gods to help me get a 5 star character for the next D&D event!" I pumped my fist in the air. "I'll get Nobunaga on my next pull!"

"D&D is a free to play game and you're spending money at the shrine to possibly get Nobunaga?" Applepi wittily remarked.

"You wouldn't understand because you already have Nobunaga!" I pouted. "By the way, Applepi..."

I turned my head to look at him. In the corner of my eye, I saw a tall man with sunglasses, a mask, and a hood on. It was strange seeing him alone when everyone around us was in groups.

"Kenma," he interrupted my thoughts.

"Huh?"

"My name. It's Kozume Kenma, but you can just call me Kenma."

"Oh, okay, Kenma-kun. My name is Sakurai Ayase, but Aya is fine."

We finally formally introduced ourselves.

"By the way Apple- I mean Kenma-kun," I returned to my initial query. "Did you bring your PSP?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Let's play Yokai Hunter? For old times sake?"

"Sure."

I smiled. The rest of our shrine trip went by smoothly. We got to the shrine, I prayed for my 5 star character, then we went to get lunch at a nearby WcDonald's.

"By the way, Kurokami wanted me to give you this," Kenma handed me a small gift.

"Kurokami? Who's that?" I asked.

Then it clicked in my head.

"Wait, that's how you pronounce his name?!"

"Huh? You just realized it now?"

"I thought his name meant 96 gods."

"It's Kurokami because his hair is black."

"Oh, that's clever," I curiously opened the gift.

I unfolded the gift wrap to reveal a small ceramic black cat attached to a red woven keychain. My eyes widened in delight.

"This is so cute!" I exclaimed, holding it out in front of me. "I'll be sure to thank him later!"

My eyes then focused behind the keychain to a man a few seats in front of me. It was the same suspicious looking man from the shrine. He had food in front of him but he wasn't eating, his face mask was still on.

I frowned then hurriedly attached the keychain to my phone.

"Hey, Kenma-kun, let's get out of here," I whispered in his ear.

"Sure," he took one last sip of his soda and we left.

We were in a WcDonald's near the shrine so it was possible that it was a coincidence that the man went there to eat. But my gut was telling me otherwise.

We walked off of the main road into a smaller and quieter neighborhood. Every time I turned to look at Kenma, I could see the man off in the distance.

I knew it! He is following us! What should I do? What should I do?

I nervously clenched my teeth. I've never been in this situation before. My body grew colder as I broke into a cold sweat. I tightly grabbed onto Kenma's jacket sleeve.

"Hm?" he hummed, his face turned to me.

"D-don't be alarmed," my voice trembled, "b-but I think that man is following us."

His eyes looked to the right, sneakily stealing a glimpse of the stranger. He clicked his tongue and turned around.

"What do you think you're doing?" he called out to the man.

I hid behind Kenma, tightly holding onto the back of his jacket.

"I don't think you should provoke him," I whispered to him.

"You weren't supposed to come, Kuro," Kenma sternly spoke out.

Kuro? As in Kurokami?

"Ah, I've been caught," the mysterious man sighed, his voice sounded familiar.

I curiously peaked over to him from Kenma's back. The man removed his disguise to reveal none other than....

Kuro...o...Tetsurou?!

⟣ ⟡ ⟢

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