𝚈/𝚗'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

A red, orange and yellow ball of rage roared upward eating its way through the wooden pyramid at its base.

Plumes of grey were buffeted into the night sky, carried aimlessly by a chill December wind.

Ashen debris glided silently away from the smoke onto the throng of excited and talkative students that all stood in awe of the great beast, their eyes transformed into orbs of light, each flickering orange flame playing a light show on their pupils.

We are roasted from the front, frozen from behind, the bonfire cooking us gently and the December wind reminding us that Christmas isn't far away.

There is something about the flame that renders us without smiles, yet content, the echoes of the hearth perhaps.

Something covered the moonlight that shined upon us to guide us in abyss of darkness. This caught the attention of all of the students.

We all looked up to see some kind of weather balloon and in an instant, it popped. I flinched and shield myself on instinct.

No impact came, so I hesitantly fluttered my eyes open to see heart balloons scattered in the sky.

Those were the heart balloons that went missing this morning, this must the work of the phantom thief that name themselves, 'Arsene', and possibly his partner in crime.

Arsene is the Greek term for 'Like a man'. I wonder who is underneath the mask of that phantom thief.

What am I even saying? I already know who the phantom thief is...I wonder how it's working out for you, President.

"Hey, ya think the thief might be on top of the clock tower?"

"What makes you say that?"

"I mean, what if they calculated everything out? Like the location of the fire and direction of the breeze, all in order to make balloons float like that?"

"But why would they do something like that?"

"Maybe to like, set up a confession?"

"That'd he really romantic, but there's no way. Even at this school, you'd practically have to be at the top of your class to do those kinds of calculations. And how many people have the power to change the location of the fire?"

"Plus, only student council members would have a key to the clock tower."

I'm so proud of you, President. I hope your answer is what your heart says, Kaguya-san.

"Y/n-chan! Let's go find that phantom thief!" Chika-san suddenly yanked me and dragged me along with her friends.

"This should be the place..." Chika-san mumbled, still holding onto my hand as if I was going to disappear if I left her side for one second.

"There's nothing here. What a waste of time..." Kino-san remarked as she tugged on a book which caused a loud noise.

Some kind of thing opened up after she had pulled on the spine of the book. It looked like a secret room.

"No way!!" the four of us exclaimed, suprised to actually see some kind of hidden area.

I already knew about the President's plan, which was to confess to the one and only Kaguya-san.

This simple riddle he made up to distract Chika-san turns out to be pretty interesting.

"Is this a lookout tower or something?" Kose-san said out loud as we entered the area.

"It's probably a relic of war. I wonder what you can see from here..." I mumbled, using some binoculars to look out a window.

What I saw next made me faint as my ship, that I have been trying to sail for a year now, has finally sailed.

"My ship!" I squealed, as my cheeks heated up in joy.

"Omg, it's Y/n fainting, in the flesh!"

"She still looks so beautiful as she faints while I look like an upside-down cockroach!"

"Guys..."

Thus, the chaotic culture festival drew to a close, and in this moment, the seeds of the next conflict were sown.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Those two have already confessed. I wonder if the President and Kaguya-san are dating already.

I mean, I'm sure they haven't updated their relationship status and just confessed right off the bat.

I'm sure he conveyed his feelings pretty well, but that's not the same as actually asking Kaguya-san to be his girlfriend.

What will their relationship be like starting tomorrow? Gahhh, thinking about it makes me worry even more.

Those two stubborn lovebirds have finally confessed to each other...how about me?

I did all that I could to help with his confession. I'm the person who helped the President gather all of the heart balloons around school.

Despite this, I've come to realize that my relationship with Ishigami-kun is the same as before.

Nothing has changed at all. Kaguya-san and the President, who are stubborn people, just confessed their love for each other.

Ishigami-kun and I are comfortable with each other and can vent to one another if we have a problem or something.

But, where is this relationship going? I want to confess, but I'm scared. I'm so scared and nervous as heck.

I then recalled what Atenbo-senpai had stated when we visited her booth to get our fortune checked for fun.

"And one more interesting thing...your fated day is December 21st. Which coincidentally is today, specifically tonight." Atenbo-senpai mentioned.

"You'll have to make an important decision that will affect your future. I wonder what sort of decision it will be." she mumbled.

That day is today, specifically tonight. There's only 3 more hours until this night has ended.

The festival is finished and we are all heading home at the moment to take a rest from the festival.

Being a habit, Ishigami-kun and I were already walking next to each other as we made our way to my house.

My house is not so far away from where we are right now. It's only 15 minutes away.

If I calculate this correctly, that's not enough time and I probably won't confess by then.

In order to be loved, humans will act as an idealized version of themselves, hiding their discontent.

They are fundamentally deceitful creatures, which makes falling in love way more difficult than it should be.

You probably have no idea...how much you've changed me...how much I have recovered from my past...

In this world, humans were supposed to use things and love humans. But things have changed as we developed more.

People began to use people and love things. That's the reason why this world is so freaking messed up.

I used to think that life was nothing but suffering. I hated life, people used each other for their own benefits.

But our days in the Student Council have changed my worldview more than you will ever know.

Say it!

And the more I realized just how kind Ishigami-kun was, the more I came to hate myself.

Say it!

When I looked at other people all I would think was, 'these people are nothing but disgusting creatures who plan on using each other'.

Say it!

I saw them as nothing but deceitful creatures bound to break relationships for their own greediness.

Say it!

The idea that someone like you could like someone like me makes me uneasy and nervous.

Say it!

You're kind to everyone. What if you're just being nice to me as well and I'm just misinterpreting things?

Say it!

Perhaps, I'm getting excited over nothing after all.

Say it!

If I were to confess, it would surely destroy the relationship we've spent all this time building.

Say it!

You have no idea, don't you? I never need to put on a fake persona when I'm around you. I feel safe.

Say it!

"L/n?! Why are you crying? Sorry, did I upset you? Please say something." Ishigami-kun worried.

My hands are shaking. My throat is dry. I'm so scared I can't even utter a single word. I can't...even though there's so much I want to say.

I like you.

Please go out with me.

I love you.

I want to stay by your side until the very end.

This is the reason I can't confess...if I do it'll just make things awkward and I'd probably let my shyness get the best of me.

That's why I want to be confessed to. Because if I were to confess, I might fail. However, if you were to confess to me, your chance of success is 100%.

"It's nothing. I'm just kind of sad the day ended so quickly before I even realized it." I giggled, wiping away my tears using my sleeve.

"Are you sure? You can tell me if you want. I won't judge you." he assured me as he stopped walking, making me stop as well.

"No, I'm really fine. It's just, something about me...makes me so disappointed." I sat down on a bench.

"This place...this is the place we went to last year. The cherry blossom trees." I mumbled, staring at the area.

I had no idea we were taking a different route. I was so deep in thought that I didn't even realize that.

𝟹𝚛𝚍 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙿𝙾𝚅

Snow rests upon the park bench as if it were a feather cushion, soft and warm. It covers the rich, deep wood in perfect white.

"You can always talk to me if you want. No matter what it is, I won't judge you and I will never tell anyone about it." he swore.

Breath pale against the numbing air, she blinked thoughtfully as the frost patiently kissed her face, captivated by the soft, dusty illusions of light that sat heavy on her eyelashes.

She adored the snow, moreso when it was falling. Not only was the snow falling, the cherry blossom petals were gracefully falling as well.

"Talking to you already washed away all of my worries. You're amazing, Ishigami-kun." Y/n praised, leaning against the bench.

"Ishigami-kun, you really are a good...friend." she mumbled, loud enough for him to hear.

She didn't want to refer to him as a friend anymore despite what she said, and so did Ishigami.

"They say people's greed knows no bound." Ishigami mentioned, stepping on an old leaf that made a 'crunching' noise.

"What?" Y/n tilted her head to the side, confused by what he meant by that.

"I was so grateful before...just to be called your friend. But why is it now, I don't like that word at all?" he turned around to face her.

His face was filled with hurt, disappointment, regret, and confusion. He didn't like their relationship status.

"Huh?" Y/n's face heated up as countless thoughts flashed in her head by what he meant.

"I'll give you three seconds to slap my face." Ishigami announced, making his way over to her.

"Ishigami-kun? Why in the world would I slap you? I wouldn't even dare to hurt you in any way." Y/n sweatdropped.

"Ishigami-kun?" Y/n called out when Ishigami was not responding to any of her attempts to grab his attention.

He stared at her face and bent his knees to get to her level since she was sitting down on a bench.

They both knew it was coming. A shy look before he pulled her face closer and their lips met.

But it was not like in films or stories. No fireworks for them. The kiss was like two strangers meeting, shy and awkward.

The kiss was shy and awkward, just like the two of them...

He kissed her and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be.

His hand rested below her ear, his thumb caressing her cheek as their breaths mingled.

L/n Y/n could hear the beating of his heart. Ishigami Yu could hear the beating of her heart.

After a couple of seconds passed by, which felt like an hour for the two of them, Ishigami pulled away.

"One..." he counted, raising one finger to indicate the number that he was currently on at the moment.

"Hey, you...you, you!" she suddenly became flustered and didn't know how to react.

"Two..." he counted, raising another finger with a smirk as the girl didn't know what to do anymore.

"Wh-What? Hey, you..." It was as if her braincells decided to abandon her at that moment, leaving her in a confused state.

"Three, time's up." he raised the third and final finger, meaning her time, to slap him, was up.

(A/N: This is a Webtoon reference that I saw from FB and I just had to use it!!)

"Huh?! What?" Y/n was still in her confused state and had absolutely no idea on what to do in that situation.

I mean, you just got kissed by your crush, who would know what to do in that kind of situation?

"You didn't slap me." he chuckled, sitting on the empty spot next to her on the bench.

"Then..." he caressed her cheek one more time with his hand and pulled her in for another kiss.

She was completely unprepared. You would think that after all the months she'd spent with Ishigami, watching him talk, laugh, and frown, that she would know all there was to know about his lips.

But she hadn't imagined how warm they would feel pressed up against her own.

Cherry blossoms fell from the tree branches as snowflakes fall from the clouded, night sky.

The combination of cherry blossoms and snow surrounded the two shy, and awkward lovebirds, as they shared a sweet kiss under the moonlight.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

【 A/N: Finally!! The moment you've been waiting for has arrived! My classes got suspended so I can work on the new chapter soon 😊 】