NOVEL WEB Arc 2, Ch.3: Please let the sleeping dog lie!
I glanced to my right when feeling a stare.
Mizuki twitched when my gaze met his and I twitched at his twitch, probably looking rather funny. Mizuki pursed his lips and I curled a hidden fist on my lap to keep my gaze from dropping down.
“How was your weekend?”, I finally asked, desperate to escape the awkward atmosphere.
I hoped it would help at least a bit, buuuuut...
Of coooourseeee I had to ask that, stupid me! He was at the cinema! That was the scene Risa had seen!
His eyes twitched to the side, then he answered in a lazy voice that sounded a bit tense, though I might have imagined it.
“Boring. Yours?” He cocked his head at me and I took the hint.
He wasn’t the type to talk a lot so I took on the job, telling him about my very lazy, game-filled weekend at home. I didn’t mention Risa seeing him. I didn’t want the mood to worsen again.
It looked like Mizuki’s mood turned for the better as I talked and his face took on the same soft look that it had when I had greeted him. I felt slightly proud that I was having such an effect on him, something that no one else had.
We all wasted away some time and when I finally looked over to the rest of the group, Prez was leaning against the wall with a stunned but blank look on his face, like he was contemplating the meaning of life. Tarou had turned to Kaoru, who was holding his ears shut and cursing at him. I certainly knew that feeling.
There were some discussions you should never start with Tarou or you’d end up questioning your world-view. A very novel experience.
Still, his interference had given me quite some time to just talk to Mizuki and I was glad we were back at a point where we wouldn’t act weird around each other.
For the moment, anyway.
After all, according to the system, Mizuki was going to try and sound me out on my feelings and I was supposed to make them clear as soon as possible.
So, two guys with zero experience in relationships. Trying to start one. What could possibly go wrong.
I don’t think I ever wished to be eloquent that badly. I was going to botch this in the weirdest ways and was just praying that Mizuki wouldn’t notice.
[(Please choose what to do.)
- (Stay where you are.)
- (Suggest starting to work.)
- (Go buy yourself something to drink.)]
Oh, so now I'm getting choices on actions?
I thought about the sudden pop-up. Since doing nothing would have been what I would have done hadn’t the system made itself known again, I couldn’t imagine it being the right thing to do. And I didn't feel like working just yet, either.
Since the event was almost completely the students’ responsibility, we were free to leave the gymnasium once we had our group. Still, with all teachers waiting here in case of questions, staying close made the most sense, so groups rarely left. But since that was the way it was, that meant no one would care if I quickly left to buy myself something to drink.
“I’ll quickly go out. Need an energy drink”, I told everyone, who just nodded at the side while I found my purse and stood up. Mizuki watched me for a moment before jumping up, as well.
“Me too.”
I twitched at his words and looked over the group. Prez was frowning by now but still obviously caught in his thoughts (meaning he was probably frowning over something else) and my friends just gave me quick eyebrow-wiggles before returning to whatever they were doing.
The system never gave me any feedback if one of the other choices would have been better, but up until now I hadn’t said or done anything bad - maybe all choices were positive with varying effects. That Mizuki was coming along with me was certainly something I was happy about, until the moment we had to push ourselves through the gymnasium.
You don’t want to be the person that occupied a place at one of the most popular guy’s side. The glares felt heavy; some were irritated because they wanted the place for themselves, some just didn’t understand why Mr.Average-Me was so lucky, some fujoshis were unhappy because I wasn’t Prez.
There weren't half as many people staring as it felt like, I'm sure, but the feeling was uncomfortable.
Mizuki didn’t care too much about the other people - who parted for him. Good-looking people sure get some bonuses in weird places.
In the end, we were stopped near the exit.
The group that stood in our way were part of the football-team, regulars. They were close to Prez in popularity and, as I knew, their captain was an avid fan of Mizuki. He completely disregarded me.
Eyes wandering once over Mizuki in his summer uniform, he gave a smile that spewed arrogance.
“Hey, Taizou. What’s your group going to do? Shall we work together on it?”
That was a possibility.
Two groups could partially share a large project, though documentation and grades were separated. Also, each group had to do roughly 50% of the total work on their own. That this was possible wasn’t officially known, I only knew because Daichi told me that they had done it. It was, basically, tolerated.
Had the teachers told us of this possibility during the introduction, my group would have been stormed much earlier. Instead, those guys had taken the chance of Mizuki being away from his group and at a place where no one would hear the captain’s quiet voice.
You’re hearing me right. My existence was completely being ignored.
Mizuki’s just relaxed face turned into a snarl. You could feel the drop in temperature as he spoke, his voice icy.
“Not interested.”
Now, any normal person wouldn’t try to poke such an obviously irritated young man… It’s just that fans can’t be considered normal anymore. Who knows how that guy’s brain worked as he tried to press the issue.
“Why not? Wouldn’t it make things much easier? Besides, we’re all strong guys, we can help with the heavier labor. Don’t you think it makes sense to work together?”
I could hear Mizuki’s teeth crunching together and lowered my head, stepping a bit back. You wouldn’t wanna imply that Mizuki was weak just because he was good-looking. Heck, he was definitely stronger than me...
“No.”
“Come on, I’m sure it’ll be fun!” The captain took a large step quite a bit closer. Close enough to be invading Mizuki's personal space, especially with him lifting up his hand to place it around Mizuki’s shoulder.
With a low growl, Mizuki snapped at the football captain. “How is it fun to work with a guy who can’t read the fucking mood and has no decency to leave when he’s unwanted? Don’t you have any shame, to want to get into my pants that badly?!”
Yikes. The captain flushed red. Mizuki’s words weren’t just a random assumption, that guy’s eyes had wandered pretty much everywhere on his body other than Mizuki’s eyes.
The equivalent of staring at a woman’s breasts while insisting to do something together. You don’t need to be a genius to tell what was going on in his mind.
“Jesus fucking Christ, do you think I’m a whore? Buying me with some stupid group-work? Or do you want to do some shit like taking off your shirt cause it’s too hot to show off your muscles? Great idea. Do that where someone cares.”
Bullseye? Judging by the gaping captain, that was his plan. Now that’s what I call embarrassing.
Mizuki stormed past him without another word directed at him, merely cursing under his breath. “A dog in heat.”
I hurried after him.
Mizuki was frighteningly direct when cursing people and those were probably the moments he talked the most. He also had a knack for revealing people’s bad thoughts - most didn’t flee because he was being overly vulgar or because they were offended, but because Mizuki managed to dig out their dirty plans and throw it into their face.
As far as I knew, the girls in our year - even when rejecting someone - were still quite careful with their words. The guys, all just teenagers somewhat approaching adulthood, had no resistance to their face getting torn apart in front of so many people. With how loud Mizuki had been, more than enough had heard them and were chuckling behind hidden hands.
I somehow kept up with the black-haired guy by almost jogging. My stride was longer, but Mizuki was power-walking into the direction of the vending machine and had a few seconds on me.
When he finally stopped, I nervously lingered behind him, not sure if he was safe to approach.
He whipped his head around at me, his eyes still frozen over.
“I’m not that kind of person.”
I blinked, the wheels in my head turning. What… was he… Oh.
“I know”, I hurried to say, stumbling over the word. “I know, I know!”
As if I’d think of him as some man-whore, throwing himself at anyone! God, I don’t think anyone with brains would think that of him.
He thawed.
It dawned upon me that the mixture of others’ opinions plus him kissing me out of a relationship might have made him uncertain that I was misunderstanding some things.
