On the chairs of the dining table in Amane Kei's house sat himself and his extremely beautiful neighbour, classmate, and friend. As they had their rare breakfast together, Kei was feeling uneasy about what to expect in the upcoming moments when he will have to walk to school. He had earlier agreed to walk together with Mai to school after some extreme persuasion by the latter. However, him walking to school together would only pose many problems that he would rather not face.
He is aware that he is somewhat popular, and that Mai is extremely popular to the extent that almost the entire school knows about her. This pairing walking to school together would only draw heaps of attention towards them and he is unsure as to why she was asking him to do so despite knowing the possible consequences that will probably arise.
"Are you done?" Kei asked from the counter in his kitchen.
"Mmm!" Mai said as she picked up her empty plate and walked towards Kei.
"Put it here, I'll wash it."
"It'll be faster if we wash it together. You have two sinks after all."
Mai proceeded to stand closely beside Kei at the sink as they washed the dishes together. Kei, being the oblivious airhead that he is, thought nothing of this gesture. Mai, whose shoulder was now so close to his that it was touching, pouted in frustration at Kei who was not getting the meaning of it.
"… Et tu… Mai-san? Is something wrong?"
"No-th-ing!" Mai said as she looked away while pouting.
"… W-well… Shall we… head to school now?"
"Yes!" Mai's face lit up once again.
"Well, give me 5 minutes. You can just sit in the living room."
Kei went back to his room to take a bath before dressing up in his school attire. True to his words, he actually finished readying himself up in just 5 minutes. When he came out of his room, he found Mai holding his blazer and they were now awkwardly looking at each other.
"…"
"…"
"P—"
"P?"
"Let me… p-put it on for you!"
"… Eh?!"
As Kei reluctantly agreed, Mai also awkwardly helped him put on his blazer. He grabbed his bag, and proceeded to head towards the door with Mai closely behind him.
"Heheh… we looked like a married couple…" Mai whispered softly.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing!"
When they exited the apartment, they walked straight towards the lift that was already opened when they got there. As the lift slowly closed with the two of them inside it, a woman's figure could be seen at the other end of the hallway. When Mai saw the figure, her body slightly tensed up.
"Ara?"
***
On the walk to school, Kei's prediction came true as there were many people staring at the two of them. Kei felt awkward whilst Mai was uncharacteristically which puzzled Kei when he looked at her. This wasn't helped by the fact that he had a habit of taking Mai's bag from her shoulder and putting it over his own which actually made it seem like they were an actual couple.
'Eh? Amane-san and Chihiro-san?! The rumours were true?!'
'No way! That dude turns away girls faster than Keigo getting rejected by girls!'
'But… maybe they were together from the start?'
'I want to be in Chihiro-san's position!!!"
Such were the whispers and thoughts going on around them as they walked past people on the way to school.
"Kei-kun…" Mai whispered slowly.
"Hmm?"
"Since I have to try really hard, from now on, I won't care about anything else. Even if I have to stop being afraid of others, I will do it."
"…Okay?"
"And from here on out…" Mai said as she slowly leaned into his ear.
"…"
"I will be a bit more aggressive…"
As Mai pulled away from him, she flashed a cute but devilish smile at him. At the moment, he didn't know how to respond to that statement. As they continued walking to school together, two girls finally walked up to them. Looking at them, Kei noticed that they were from the neighbouring class in the first year.
"Umm… Amane-san…"
"Yes?"
"Are you and Chihiro-san…"
"Are we what?"
"…Are you and Chihiro-san dating?!"
When the girl spoke up loudly, all eyes were fixed on the two of them. Of course, the answer he will give next will definitely affect the atmosphere around them from here on out. As Kei was thinking on what to answer, Mai stepped up and spoke up.
"Amane-san and I bumped into each other on the way to school today. Since we had an interesting conversation during lunch that was cut short, we thought we should continue on it."
"…A-ah… I see… I'm sorry to bother you!"
"It's okay."
"Umm… Chihiro-san?"
"Yes?"
"Is it okay if we… talk again?!"
"E-eh?! Umm… I…O-okay…" Mai said as she reverted back to her usual shy self.
As the two girls left, Kei didn't know how to feel or react to what had just happened. He was shocked at how fast Mai's personality changes and actually wondered if she really has another side to her that she doesn't know about. A few minutes later, they reached the school gate where Yanagi-sensei stood every morning.
"Ah Amane-kun! How are you today? I haven't said congratulations to you yet, right? Congratulations on making it out of the group stages!"
"It's just the group stages… and weren't you celebrating with the others the other last night?"
"Ah, well… It ain't the same without the captain there, you know? Next time we celebrate, you have to be there for the celebrations!"
"The only time I will even think about celebrating would be if we win the championship itself."
When he said those things, Mai stood beside him pouting at him. Trying to avoid her gaze upon him, but at the same time giving in to her overwhelming aura, he continued looking at Yanagi-sensei.
"Well, even if we win the championship, someone already reserved me for celebrations."
"Is it… the person staring at you with killing intent right now?"
"…. No comment…"