Hayate's POV
"Please t-tell me why I'm walking with you." Koizumi asked as we both walked to school.
After we went home yesterday, I found out that Koizumi's house was really near to mine. It really didn't matter that I left him and Masaru alone before since with the distance from my house to his, there really wasn't that much time to be alone. Now, I was on my way to school and we somehow ended up catching each other. I unconsciously started to walk with him and now we're in this awkward silent state. I'm so used to walking with Masaru as soon as I see him, so I unconsciously did it to Koizumi too, and I can't just leave him alone now. It'd look rude.
"Sorry." I replied as I buried my face into my hands, ashamed of this embarassing situation. I collected myself and took a deep breath. "So, how are you and Masaru recently?"
His face suddenly lit up with excitement. "Last night, he texted me just to say good night! Not only that, but he asked to share a parfait yesterday! I was so happy!" He kept gushing about Masaru, smiling and blushing like an idiot.
"Pffft"." I started to laugh. Even if he's smiling like an idiot, this is better than him being so emotionless and gloomy. "You really like him, don't you?"
His smile faded and he immediately looked away. "I-Is that bad?"
"Idiot, I didn't say anything about it being bad."
"Oh, that's an odd combination." A female voice from behind us suddenly said as we were almost to the school gate. I turned around and saw Minami-san.
"Jealous that we get along?" I taunted her and put my arm around Koizumi.
Koizumi moved my arm away. "We d-don't get along." He said as he walked away.
Minami-san laughed. "Looks like you got rejected."
"What? I don't care."
"You say that, but you looked so dejected when he walked away."
I squished her cheeks and forced a smile on my face. "Shut your face, princess. I wasn't rejected."
"Can the lovebirds please flirt somewhere else?" I could hear Aoi's voice from behind us. I let go of Minami-san and turned around, seeing Aoi and Masahiko.
"That's disgusting." Minami-san commented as she walked away in a hurry.
"Huh?" Aoi asked as he and Masahiko walked towards me. "Did I say something wrong?"
"You should really learn to watch what you say." Masahiko commented as he patted Aoi on the head. "Let's head to class before the bell rings." He patted me on the shoulder and whispered something in my ear. "Sorry for interrupting earlier." He said as he smiled lightly.
"You didn't interrupt anything." I whispered back and passed him. "Let's hurry up."
After our first subject, we had self-study, but I headed to the student council room to finish some new paperwork that we had today. Since the sports festival was only 2 weeks away, there were a few proposals about the activities that I needed to check. It's such a drag now that I think about it.
I opened the door to the student council room. As expected, it was empty, but that's good. It just means I can concentrate more. If I can finish this now, then I don't have to stay here after school later.
I set my bag down and started reading through the proposals. Some time passed, and somebody else entered the room, which I didn't expect since I was pretty sure we were the only class with self study right now.
The door opened, and Koizumi entered the room. "Hey." I greeted him as he sat down. "What are you doing here?"
"Our t-teacher dismissed us early, and I w-wanted somewhere quiet to s-sleep."
"You didn't get enough sleep last night?"
"Y-Yeah. I had t-to study for a test."
"Alright. Don't let me stop you then. Good night."
I was too focused on my work that I didn't notice the bell for lunch was already ringing. Miraculously, I was almost done. I can probably finish this if I don't eat lunch.
I took a little break and stretched my body. The room was freezing, and the cool weather definitely wasn't helping. It's a good thing I was wearing a thick jacket, but it would be better if I had a hoodie. Unfortunately, hoodies aren't really allowed to be worn since if we wear it, our uniforms can't be seen. It can't be worn inside our coats too for God knows why. Despite this rule, a lot of students don't follow them, including Aoi. I probably wouldn't follow it too if I weren't the student council president.
I was about to go out of the room to get some fresh air, but then I noticed Koizumi wasn't wearing a jacket. He was shivering, and I can't believe he could manage to fall asleep if he's this cold. He could've told me to turn the air conditioner off if he was freezing.
Before exiting the room, I turned the air conditioner down to at least make Koizumi more comfortable while sleeping.
Outside, the sky was filled with dark clouds. I think I forgot my umbrella. I hope it doesn't rain. The wind is bad enough as it is.
"Ah, Yanagi-san." A female voice said near me. I turned to my left and saw Ueno-san holding a stack of books. "Sorry, but can you open the door for me?"
I opened the door and took the books from her. "What are these for?" I asked as we went inside the student council room.
"Kazu-sen told me to store those here." She replied. "He's gonna swing by to get them later."
I placed the books down where nobody could bump into them. "I see. Don't turn the air conditioner up, okay? Koizumi's feeling cold."
"Are you going somewhere?"
"Just gonna get some fresh air."
I exited the room and looked out from the window. It was drizzling, and I was just hoping that the rain wouldn't be any stronger than this later.
After a few minutes, I went back into the room, Ueno-san was about to leave for lunch. I guess she really just came here to drop off the books.
I noticed that Koizumi was already awake. He looked like he was writing something.
"What's that?" I asked as I peeked over his shoulder. I noticed that what he was writing was the remaining work that I had from earlier.
"B-Before you react, I'm d-doing this to make up for what you d-did." He replied.
"Huh? What did I do for you to do my shit again?? I swear, Minami's gonna get up in my face later. I told you to leave my work alone, didn't I?!"
"Listen to me!" He suddenly raised his voice. It was the first time I've heard his voice neing that loud. He looked at me directly in the eyes, and his expression told me that he was about to cry. He shoved the papers he was writing onto my chest. "I j-just wanted t-to help." He said as I could hear him sniffle. "Ueno-san t-told me you t-turned the air c-conditioner down for me. I j-just wanted t-to thank you."
I could feel a heavy feeling in my chest. Knowing that I made him cry directly didn't sit right with me.
He dropped the papers, and he was about to run out, but I grabbed his arm. "Koizumi, I'm sorry." I apologized to him. "There's no excuse for raising my voice like that, but please understand that I'm just tired of Minami scolding me all the time. I didn't want it to happen again. I'm really, really sorry."
He didn't look back, but I noticed him wiping his eyes. "I d-don't do your work t-to get you in trouble." He said. "Y-You always h-have so much work, so I t-thought that you m-might want it t-to be lessened."
I let go of his arm and he held onto it. "Then why didn't you tell Minami that?" I asked.
"You told me you could see secrets, right? Then you should tell me why."
At the same time he said that, a new secret appeared above his head.
"I'm scared of girls."
I looked back at him. "Why are you scared of girls?"
There was a shocked expression on his face. He sat back down and rested his head on the table in between his arms. "It's true?" He asked. "Your powers are real?"
"I knew you wouldn't believe me in the first place. I told you because I knew you would just take it as some kind of joke, but do you believe me now?"
He turned to my direction. "Is there a chance that you could've just guessed it?"
"There's a chance, but I didn't guess it." I sat down next to him. "I don't really care about why you're scared of girls, but if you hated me, then why would you do that to help me?"
"I don't hate you."
"Of course you do. I saw it."
He flinched and turned away again. "Because I'm the vice president. I should help you with your work."
"Then let me change the question. Why do you hate me?"
"...Why should I answer that?"
"I guess you don't really have to. I'm not gonna force you to tell me anyway." I said as I stood up. "I'm gonna be going to my next class. What about you?"
"I'll come too." He replied as he grabbed his bag and stood up.
Because of what happened earlier, my theory about my powers is totally trash now. I thought I could just see random secrets, but Koizumi's secret wasn't random. Is it possible that the secrets I see are the ones that people think about at the moment? Is it like that?
"...You know, you and Mochizuki-kun don"t look weird together." Koizumi suddenly said as we were walking back to our classrooms. "The reason I hate you... It isn't because of anything stupid like you beating me in the student council elections. It's because if you stand by Mochizuki-kun, you don't look weird. If I were to take your position next to him, then people would laugh at us. When Minami-san saw us earlier, she said what normal people would say. If I were to stick with any of you, we'd just look like an odd combination."
I stopped and flicked his forehead. He backed away a little and looked at me with a confused expression on his face.
"You don't have to listen to dumb things people say about you. If we want to hang out with you, then that's our choice. If people say anything about you, then we'll beat them up for you. If you want to be somebody who's worthy of standing by Masaru's side, then change yourself into someone you think is worthy." I walked closer to him and slowly lifted his bangs up, revealing his eyes. This time, he didn't move away. Instead, he stared at me with his light green eyes.
"What?" He asked.
"I told you before, right? I'll help you get together with Masaru. We can start with your hair first. How can Masaru look at your face properly if you keep hiding behind your bangs? Are you free later? We can go to a salon I go to a lot so they can cut your hair."
"Please, slow down, Yanagi-kun. You don't have to do this for me."
"I told you that I wasn't gonna do this for free. I still want you to leave my shit alone. As long as you do that, I'm willing to help you with whatever to get you together with Masaru."
"But... Is it really okay? I don't even know if Mochizuki-kun is into guys."
"Then we just have to find out. So, what do you say?" I asked as I put my hand out for a handshake. "Do we finally have an official deal?"
He hesitantly grabbed onto my hand and nodded his head. "Yes..."
I smiled. "Nice to know we're on the same team, Akimitsu."
"Akimitsu?"
"You can call me Hayate too. Just drop the formalities completely. Well, it's not like you used formal speech on me in the first place. Plus, you already seem comfortable with me, unlike with Aoi."
"How so?"
I patted his head. "You aren't stuttering anymore, idiot." I said as I continued to walk to our classroom.
"H-Hey!" He exclaimed as he ran to catch up to me.
That was the start of our unusual truce. Koizumi Akimitsu, who was the person I hated all this time, turned out to be not so bad. He said he was doing it to help me, but it still doesn't erase the bullshit that I had to put up with Minami-san.
I'm glad that he was already starting to feel comfortable with me. Since it happened really fast, I'm sure he'll get along with Masaru just as fast too. They already exchanged numbers, so it's only a matter of time before something starts between them.