The long and agonising week of the midterm examination passed, and the students barely scraped by as they experienced difficulties, busting their brains to get some random numbers in the math exam, while gambling with in multiple choices on others. However, the feeling of solace quickly emerged after they were no longer bound by any type of academic responsibility.
It seemed a group of girls had been waiting for the last member to arrive by the hallway on the second floor.
"Let's go, guys. Momo-chan is here." The girls urged excitedly as a petite glassed girl approached them with humility in each of her step.
"What's wrong, Tomako-chan?" A tall girl asked as she stared at Momo's anxious eyes.
"Umm... ah... I..." A girl with bop-style hair with a dark brown hue, Tomako Momo, fumbled her words.
"Don't tell me that you gotta go somewhere again?" An irritated friend cut her off. "Come on, we have a deal." She added, putting her hands on her hips.
"N~no, it's not like that." Momo burst, shaking her head anxiously.
Suddenly, a male voice was heard from the rear. "May I come with you guys?"
"Eh?" The girls gasped in awe as they were stunned by a sudden appearance of a silver-haired boy. His lavender-purple eyes were beautiful, captivating them under the afternoon's light.
"T~That's what I'm trying to say. May Aoyama-san tag along with us?" Momo eventually broke out of her shell, "He's been nagging me all week about the karaoke."
"Oh! That's what you meant, why didn't you say so?" The tall girl's gaze gawked at Shinji dearly while he was twirling the strand of his silver fluffy hair.
"Of course! Please join us." Another short girl agreed, nodding several times.
Everything was settled in a heartbeat and the group of four girls and one handsome guy casually walked out of the school entrance.
***
The entire trip took roughly 15 minutes. The karaoke shop was nestled in the left wing of Hoshimashi Mall, occupying the top floor of a bustling building. The lively atmosphere was palpable as a cheerful crowd filled the expansive hall, chatting and browsing storefronts. It was the final day of the midterm exams, and students were out in droves, celebrating the end of their academic grind.
"Aoyama-san, what kind of hair treatment do you use?" The tall girl tried to strike up a conversation with the dazzling boy.
"Hm? Oh?" Shinji took a few seconds to ponder. "It's my mom's. I think it's called Art of Hair or something on the black bottle." He answered, his fingers drawing a square shape in the air.
"Wow, it must be one of those expensive brands." The tall girl commented.
"Haha, I wouldn't know." Shinji giggled dismissively, in truth, he couldn't care less about it.
Suddenly, Shinji could feel a light nudge on his side, it was his timid friend, Momo.
"What?" He whispered, puzzled, as he bent down to match Momo's height. Momo slowly pointed toward a couple walking down the opposite lane. They were his best friends from Class 2-1—the pretty boy with graphite-dark hair and the foxy girl with expressive purple eyes, who stood slightly taller than him. Completely absorbed in their conversation, they hadn't noticed Shinji's group yet.
Shinji sneaked behind their backs and wrapped his hands on each side of their shoulders. "Hey, guys!" He exclaimed, surprising them.
"Eh? Shinji?" "Shinji-kun?" The couple yelped as they jolted away.
"What are you two doing?" Shinji asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Before they could utter a word, Momo greeted them, waving her delicate arm, "Morimura-san, Shouichi-kun, nice seeing you."
"Hi, Momo-chan." "Good afternoon, Tomako-san." They responded in perfect sync. Momo just blinked at them with astonishment.
"What about you, Shinji? Why are you with Momo-chan?" Shouichi countered, crossing his arms in defence.
"Well, we are going to karaoke with Momo's group," Shinji answered with his usual smug. "...Because you two ditched me!" He playfully accused his friends.
"Because you were sleeping during the exam! We actually waited but you sure took forever." Ayane retorted brutally with a cold hard fact, as she lifted her index finger.
"Gold explaination!" Shouichi commented with a thump-up.
"So… Wanna come with us?" Shinji asked the two out of a sudden, the couple exchanged a puzzled look.
"S~Shinji, we should go now." Momo urged her tall, handsome friend to leave them alone.
"We're checking out the new bookstore~," Ayane explained, but Momo interrupted mid-sentence. "~I didn't know you guys were on a date. We won't bother you now. Hehehe," Momo giggled, pulling Shinji's arm back.
"Ay! We are not dating." Shouichi tried to defend but failed miserably as they were already out of his reach.
Shouichi watched as they quickly rejoined the all-girls group, with Shinji as the only exception. "When does this guy get his own harem?" He wondered to himself.
When his cinnamon-brown eyes turned to Ayane, she was already staring intensely at him.
Without context, she pinched his upper arm, "Ouch!" Shouichi cried out in pain as he winched and asked, frowning, "What's that for?"
"Nothing!" Ayane snapped, clearly upset, though Shouichi had no idea why.
She shifted her school bag to her other shoulder, revealing the unique Kitsune keychain that Shouichi had given her on the night of the Fire Festival.
"Hey, that's the charm I got you, ain't it?" Shouichi pointed out the obvious, the girl wanted him to notice it for a while now.
"Shuddup!" Ayane pouted and rammed her shoulder into him, knocking back slightly. Shouichi could only smile wearily, "Man… she smells nice." A sudden thought crossed his mind.
"We are here."
Shouichi and Ayane arrived at the new bookstore, their faces lighting up with excitement and enthusiasm. The store gleamed with towering shelves and a wide variety of genres. Shouichi already had his mind set on where to go first. "Tragedy, Psychology, or Drama-Romance," He muttered to himself.
His sparkling eyes followed the sign and stumbled into the large collection of his favourites. Shouichi's eyes glittered in awe like a pirate discovering a hidden treasure.
"Hehehe." His reaction caused the girl to chuckle, as she followed him closely on his heels.
"What?" Shouichi asked, glancing at her briefly before resuming to browse the shelves.
"I just remember something funny," Ayane clarified, amused in her tone.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ayane stepped up to stand right behind him. Her slender body pressed gently against his back, leaving barely any space between them.
"First, I have to make sure." She spoke quietly almost like a whisper.
"Eh?" Shouichi turned to face her in a swift motion.
"...that I'm still taller than you. Short king* (in her broken English pronunciation)." Ayane teased, visually measuring his height against hers with her hand.
"Ay! I'm growing!" Shouichi irritatedly retorted, blowing air out of his nose.
"Look at this book cover." Ayane's arm outstretched to grasp a book off a shelf. She showed him the cover of a book featuring a tall male protagonist and a petite female partner.
"Ideally, girls would prefer boys who are at least taller than them." She reasoned, lightly tapping on the book.
"Sigh... Yeah, that's a conventional trope that ladies need to stop fantasising about!" Shouichi responded, bitterness in his voice.
"Height is something we, boys, cannot control. It's in the genetics!" He further explained, putting his fist on his chest as a salute to all short brothers around the world.
"Fufufu," Ayane let out a soft giggle. "By the way, did you get a little taller, Shouichi-kun?" She teased, stabbing his pride, before playfully pretending to pat his back.
"I dunno... I'm not that insecure to constantly check!" Shouichi said in his defence, raising his voice instinctively, "The day will come that I'll be taller than you, Ayane!" He grumbled loudly in exasperation.
"Hooo? Do you think I'll see that day coming? Fufufu" She continued, seemingly revelling in the endless teasing at his expense. However, her words eventually captured his attention and prompted him to more accurately gauge his height.
"Wait, it's been 2 months already since I've lived here..." He pondered, waving his hand over his head and Ayane's. "The first time I met Ayane at the old bookstore, somehow I felt like she's way taller."
"What are you doing?" Ayane asked him and frowned at his erratic action.
"I think I've actually gotten taller!" Shouichi smiled cheerfully from his revelation.
"Duh, thanks for pointing out the obvious," Ayane replied indifferently.
"That's odd, two months hadn't been that long, but I think I might have grown like 5 centimetres," Shouichi murmured to himself, unable to contain his smirk.
"What did you say?" Ayane questioned him again while her eyes casually were browsing the bookshelves.
"Don't you think I grow strangely fast?"
"Huh? And someone said he didn't get insecure about his height…" Her mischievous stare was returned again.
"Seriously, Ayane!" He urged.
The girl paused momentarily before replying. "Yeah, perhaps it's one of those late puberty, you know."
"Yeah! Can be!" The boy agreed with her and put his hands on both her shoulders, rocking her with joy. "My time has come!" He said, jumping up and down as if he was a lottery winner.
"I have never seen someone this happy about their puberty," Ayane commented coldly, rolling her eyes.
"Ay! It's part of your fault. You always made fun of me!" Shouichi accused her with a pointer.
"Sorry but not sorry. Hehehe," She beamed at him, showing her pristine perfect teeth, "To be honest, I actually don't dislike short people, I think they're kinda cute," Ayane added while avoiding his glance.
"Wasn't it you who said "I'm not into shorties like you" back then?" Shouichi imitated her voice from their first encounter back in the day.
"Alright, alright! Pffft!" Ayane leaned forward, stifling her laughter. But the moment she caught sight of Shouichi's idiotic expression, they both couldn't hold back and burst into brief laughter.
"Shhhhh!" Ayane quickly hushed, pressing a finger to her lips, suddenly aware they were still in the bookstore.