It's another beautiful morning outside, the sun rising over the horizon, bathing the world in a warm beautiful glow. Aki slowly opens his curtain to let the sunlight into his room. He slowly gets out of bed, rubs his eyes, yawns, and then stretches his arms up in the air before scratching his stomach.
Aki looks in the mirror to his right for a few seconds. He rubs the sleep from his eyes once again before grabbing his toothbrush and starting to brush his teeth. Aki stops brushing his teeth for a moment and then looks at his facial features in the mirror.
Aki washes his face, and then takes a good look at his reflection in the mirror once more. After a second of self-examination, he leaves the bathroom and heads to the kitchen for some breakfast.
Aki smiles like a child on Christmas as he sees the rows of various treats placed inside the pantries. Aki scans through each shelf, trying to decide which of the many treats he should eat for breakfast that morning.
Aki, unable to decide between the peppermint bark or the pop tarts, eventually decides to take a pack of each. And with one pack of sweets in each hand, Aki starts to dig in.
Aki continues to eat the peppermint bark as he walks back to his room. Once he enters his room Aki realizes that he's still wearing nothing but his boxers and decides to go and pick out some clothes. Aki places the half-eaten packs of sweets on a nearby table while he heads over to his closet. He opens the closet and begins sifting through the hung clothes trying to pick out an appropriate outfit.
Aki starts to look through the various shirts and pants he owns. He eventually decides on a white, collard shirt and some black sweatpants. He grabs the shirt first and then the sweats, and then heads over to the counter near the mirror to get dressed.
Aki begins putting on his shirt in front of the mirror. Once the shirt is on, he grabs the pants from the counter and starts to put them on as well.
With his shirt and pants on, Aki looks into the mirror once more and gives himself an approving nod. He then walks over to the counter and grabs the pack of peppermint bark, putting some in his mouth.
Knock-knock-knock
Aki hears the sound of knocking on the door and realizes that it's probably Rin. Aki quickly finishes the rest of the peppermint bark that he was eating and heads to the front door. Aki reaches the front door and opens it, revealing Rin standing right behind it.
When Aki sees that it's Rin at the door he gives her a warm smile and says. "Hey Rin."
Rin returns Aki's smile with a warm one of her own. She responds to Aki's greeting with a small wave and says.
"Hey Aki, you awake yet?"
"Yeah, I'm awake. Why do you ask?"
Aki says this with a smirk as he leans his shoulder against the door frame. He crosses his arms and gives Rin a cheeky look.
Rin rolls her eyes a bit at Aki's cheekiness and then returns the smirk with one of her own. She says this in a casual, yet sarcastic tone.
"Just making sure you were awake enough for school today, that's all."
Aki chuckles a bit at Rin's sarcastic response and replies with the same cheekiness and sarcasm.
"Aww, how considerate of you. You really care about my attendance record huh?"
Rin rolls her eyes again at Aki's response. She then lets out a small huff through her nose before returning her gaze to Aki.
"Well, it's hard not to when you're always skipping classes."
Aki shrugs his shoulders in an innocent, uncaring way and responds with an unapologetic tone.
"What can I say? Class is boring, sleep is comfy."
Rin lets out a small huff, rolling her eyes once more at Aki's dismissive response. She then says with a small hint of irritation.
"I didn't come here to bicker with you about school. I have something that I actually wanted to talk to you about."
Aki lifts his eyebrows in surprise at Rin's statement as it piqued his interest.
"Oh?"
Aki says this with a curious tone of voice.
"What did you want to talk about?"
Rin suddenly falls silent for a second, as she looks at the ground, avoiding Aki's gaze. Her cheeks seem to turn slightly red before she replies with a bit of hesitation.
"Well, promise you won't laugh."
Aki notices the sudden change in Rin's demeanor and how she's avoiding eye contact all of a sudden. He becomes curious (and slightly suspicious) of her behavior and decides to tease her.
"Why would I laugh? What did you do this time?"
Rin's cheeks begin to turn even redder at Aki's question. She hesitates again before she finally replies in a quiet, embarrassed tone.
"I didn't do anything, okay?"
She says this while still refusing to meet Aki's eyes. Her head is now tilted slightly down and she fidgets her fingers a bit nervously.
Aki notices how embarrassed Rin is all of a sudden and becomes even more curious. He tries to guess the reason behind Rin's embarrassing behavior.
To tease Rin even more, Aki pokes fun at her and asks with a cheeky tone.
"Then what's with the sudden change in attitude? You're acting all nervous."
"I-um…uh…"
Rin stutters a bit as she tries to explain her behavior, but she can't find the words. Her cheeks now have a noticeable pink hue to them and her fingers are still fidgeting with each other.
A few seconds pass before she finally says in a shaky voice.
"Just promise you won't laugh, okay?"
Aki is now thoroughly intrigued by how nervous and anxious Rin is acting all of a sudden. Judging by her behavior, Aki figures that it's got to be something really important or embarrassing for her to behave this way.
He raises his eyebrows and nods, with an innocent, yet cheeky smile.
"Okay, I promise."
Rin lets out a small sigh of relief when Aki promises not to laugh. But for a few more seconds, she still hesitates to speak.
After a few more moments, she finally lifts her head and looks directly into Aki's eyes, her face pink from embarrassment.
"Okay…don't freak out or anything, alright?"
Aki's curiosity is at an all time high now. He becomes even more interested in what Rin has to say when she tells him not to freak out.
He gives her a reassuring smile before he responds in a calm tone.
"Alright, I won't freak out. I promise."
Rin nods at Aki's reassurance, taking a deep breath to calm her still-beating heart. After she regains her composure, her face becomes set with determination and she says in a serious tone.
"Aki, there's something I need to tell you. And it's important, so you need to listen."
Aki can tell from Rin's serious expression that whatever she's about to say is something important, and it's not a joke. He drops his cheeky attitude for a second and nods, giving her his undivided attention.
"Okay, I'm listening. What is it?"
*A blush appears on Rin's cheeks once more as she takes a deep breath for a final time before finally saying it.*
"Aki...I...I..."
*She stutters a bit, trying to get the words out. Her heart is beating so fast that she can hear it in her ears. She squeezes her eyes shut as she says it.*
"I-I...I like you!"
Aki is completely stunned by Rin's confession. He had not been expecting such an admission from her, and the weight of her words hit him like a truck. He stares at her, frozen in place, shock and disbelief plastered on his face.
A few moments of silence pass before Aki's mind begins to register what Rin just confessed. He stands there in silence, trying to process what he just heard. He finally breaks through his silent paralysis with one question.
"You...you like me?"
Rin lets out a shaky sigh as she lowers her head in embarrassment.
"Y-yeah...I do..."
She looks up to meet Aki's gaze once again, her cheeks still a deep shade of pink. She nervously waits for his response.
Aki continues to stare at Rin, still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that his best friend has just admitted having romantic feelings for him. He never expected to be confessed to by Rin and the thought of her liking him is something completely out of the blue for him.
Aki stands there, stunned and speechless, for several more moments. Finally, he clears his throat and says in a soft tone.
"R-Rin...I had no idea you felt that way..."
Rin fidgets with her fingers nervously, her heart still racing in her chest. She can feel sweat beginning to form in her palms as she waits for Aki's response.
She says this shyly.
"I-I know you didn't, and that's why I was so nervous to tell you...I was afraid you would reject me..."
"Yeah, and I am. so..."
Rin's expression turns from nervous to shocked as Aki slams the door in her face. She had expected things with Aki to be awkward after her confession, but she never expected him to slam the door in her face or outright reject her as coldly as he did.
She stands outside the door for a second, stunned and hurt.
"W-what? I...I can't believe he just did that."
As Rin stands outside the door, letting her tears flow, a loud commotion from the outside starts to grab her attention. She can hear people shouting, people screaming, and the sounds of people running frantically.
Rin stops crying for a second, confusion and worry replacing the heart break on her face.
"What's going on? What's all that noise?"
She lifts her head up and looks around for the cause of the chaos.
Rin sees a few people running frantically down the street, panic and fear etched on their faces. She can also see a huge crowd of people gathered farther down the street, pointing at something in the sky.
Rin pushes through the crowd of people, trying to get a view of what everyone is looking at, her eyes widen in shock and horror.
She can see a massive object falling from the sky, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. As it gets closer, Rin can hear a low, ominous rumble growing louder and louder as the object hurtles towards the ground.
The rumbling gets louder and louder until it's so loud that Rin can barely hear anything else. She can see the object clearly now, and her heart sinks in her chest. It's a huge meteor, falling with incredible speed towards the town.