The pair locked lips for what felt like an eternity as Chiana made her feelings very clear to him without saying a single word. Slowly, she backed off from him, a big smile on her face.
"Did you like your present?" She asked with glee. Ishi was still in shock that Chinae would do something like this. While she did give him a peck on the cheek at the end of the festival, the girl never appeared to be one to make such bold moves. But then again, this wasn't Chinae that he was talking to. The girl standing before him, the one that just kissed him was known to the outside world as Chiana Kamagata.
"What's this all the about?" He responded, wiping his lips from the saliva she left behind. "Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?"
"Heheh, I do have quite the sense of humor." She giggled. "But my feelings are no joke." This was really happening. Right in this very moment, Chinae was confessing her feelings for Ishi as Chiana. "Ishi, I'm in love with you."
"Chi…" He was at a near loss for words. Never once in his life had the boy ever been confessed to. The closest being the time when he was stood up by a person who sent him that love letter. But, there was something else that made him unable to answer right away.
Chiana, she was still Chiana. Why hadn't she made the switch back to Chinae yet? They were alone and she chose this spot specifically so they'd be alone. So why was this girl still playing up her act to someone who already knew her secret?
This girl… There was no way he could ever say that he could return the feelings that Chiana had for him. "I'm sorry…" After thinking it over, he knew how to reply to her declaration of love. "I can't accept your confession."
"Tsk." A hint of Chinae came out upon hearing his rejection. "I… See." Tears began to form in her eyes as the line between Chinae and Chiana blurred due to her unstable emotional state. All that practice had come in handy where she could continue to fool people with her act, but he could sense the real her leaking out. "Then…" Chiana's tone returned to her voice. "I'll accept how you feel."
It was futile for her to try and convince him otherwise. She knew better than anyone else that he wouldn't be moved so easily to just take in any girl that said they loved him.
"But, why?" He asked, still a little shaken that he had to hurt her like this, especially on a day like this. "Why now?"
"Heh, because..." Her words struggled to be formed out of her mouth. "I just had a feeling that this was going to be my only shot." What did she mean by this, he wondered. While Ishi reflected on her words, there was something else going on with the people he called friends.
More specifically, what Ryugi was doing. Unbeknownst to the pair, people were able to see, but not hear them. The private room that the birthday students had chosen had a window with a good view of them as they talked. The gyaru didn't plan on spying on them, but she couldn't resist when she noticed where the two had stopped to check on what gift Chiana had in store for the boy.
What she was shocked to see was the idol planting a kiss right onto his lips. When she saw that, her suspicions were confirmed. There was a real bona-fide confession going on right in front of her. The worst part of it was, that it was a confession to Ishi of all people.
Her blood boiled inside of her as she came to the bitter realization that it might have been too late for her. She grinded her teeth as undesirable thoughts flooded her head. How could she possibly compete with an idol, even if Ishi said he didn't care about those things. There was no telling how he'd react when someone actually confessed to him.
"Ooh, this idol's more crazy than I thought." Her rage wasn't unknown to the people around her. "In fact, aren't they not allowed to even have boyfriends?" Asked Ritusko.
"Maybe she's really just throwing him for a loop." Non came up with a possible explanation for what they just witnessed. "But it's Ishi, so he's really not the type to fall for something like that."
"I agree, I doubt a girl like her is looking for a boy like him anyway." Nayaka continued on. "Always such a downer."
"Yeah, he's just so gross-" Ritsuko was going to continue their bashing, when the one person in this group who had remained silent to this point finally spoke up.
"Just shut it!" Ryugi had enough of their trash talk. Her outburst was more than enough to garner the attention over everyone else in the room, which was pretty much the rest of their classmates. She had gotten angry about this whole ordeal, and now wasn't the time for her to bite her tongue and accept this charade of hating on Ishi.
"What's wrong?" Nayaka asked, slightly surprised about her being upset. "We're just ribbing him like we always do."
"Have you guys ever considered that he's… All right?" She defended his case, though if Ishi was here, then he probably would say that he didn't need to be defended.
"Are you actually saying that you like that loser?" Ritusko asked with a glare.
"So what if I do?" She finally stood up to her friends about this situation. "I like him, there are you happy? I want…" it was a lot harder to say the next words out loud to everyone she knew. However, it had to be done if she wanted to show how serious she was. "I want him to be my boyfriend!"
"I… We never realized that you were actually serious with him." Non had a bewildered look on her face. In fact, everyone in the room was in utter shock to hear her declaration for the boy. The only ones that weren't surprised, but still caught-off guard about the revelation were Rinse and Youna.
"That's because you guys never gave him a chance. Almost no one does… Even I didn't." Were it not for some chance circumstances, she might not be where she is now with him. But still, perhaps that meant this was fate. Though even if destiny was leading her to this very moment, the girl knew it was up to her to make it into a reality. "I don't care what you all think about him." Ryugi stomped her way for the door. It was now or never, regardless of what Ishi's answer was going to be.
"Wh-where are you going?" Nayaka asked before she was out the door. "You're really going to confess to him now? But what about-"
"I have to do something else first." She responded. There indeed was one more things she felt was more important before gushing out her feelings to him. She was going to have to prove it to his hard heart that she wasn't just playing around or pulling a joke over his head.
So Ryugi took the first steps towards that plan as she left the room. Of course, despite leaving everyone else in the dust, their classmates went and followed her. As much as Rinse and Youna didn't like the idea of her confessing to him, what else could they do in this situation? There was no way they could get to him first, and even then, that meant that everyone else was going to see it. The former was still concerned about it, considering her occupation. The latter had what was known as… Being too shy to confess to a boy she liked, especially in front of other people.
As they walked down, it was nearly time for Ishi to head back upstairs to their private room.
"Again, I'm really sorry." He apologized again. It was rare to see him do that multiple times, but he really felt bad about hurting the girl's feelings. He may have a different opinion on doing so with anything else, but love wasn't something to be taken lightly. Someone like him had to learn the hard way.
"It's okay." Chiana replied, wiping the tears from her face. She needed a moment to collect herself, which waited for her as he understood the position she was in. "I'll be fine, I promise." Still there she was, solid in her performance as the idol girl.
"That's good." He said. "Then, let's return to the others and try to have some fun." Normally, he wasn't excited about returning to his own birthday party, but this was for the best as the pair made their way to the staircase. That was when they ran into the now large crowd of their classmates. Ishi was concerned, did they see what had just transpired?
Leading the pack was Ryugi, who had a determined look on her face that he had never seen before. "Hey, what's going on…" He tried to ask her what the problem was, but she simply walked past him as if he didn't exist. To the others, this was weird since she literally had just said she was in love with him. So what was with this cold shoulder.
However, what shocked everyone the most, including strangers who were just enjoying their time at the mall for the festivities, was what she did next. Ryugi walked right up to the giant Christmas tree at the center of this mall, and began to climb onto its branches.