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"..."
Toko looked at Kasey who was asleep right beside her. She didn't say anything and just watched as he slept away the time. Not her first time, and it definitely won't be her last.
(Mou, how can he sleep on a day like this?)
She lightly frowned upon the thought as she continued having a one player staring at Kasey competition of her own.
"Toko, what's the answer for this question?"
Toko's attention was brought back to the white board in front of the classroom. The teacher lightly tapping the board with a smirk, knowing exactly what was going on.
"U-uh, the answer is-"
She had absolutely no idea, a typical thing for someone who wasn't paying attention to class. She was panicking for an answer until a light voice came from beside her.
"It's x² - 489x + 28980."
Toko gave a slight glance to the boy that told her the answer. She confidently took it and replied it to teacher.
"Oh, that's correct Toko. Even so, you should pay more attention to class instead of people beside you next time~"
Toko blushes a brilliant red from her teacher's remark. Embarrassment can be seen clearly in her behavior. She slowly looked at the boy beside her who somehow had went back to sleep and didn't hear what the teacher said. She breathed a sigh of relief as she watched him slightly moving up and down from breathing. Her staring competition once again up for business.
Another cough from the teacher knocked her out of daze. Toko decided to learn from her mistakes and focus on class. As she took one last glance of the hour at him, she had a thought.
(When should I give it to him...?)
Her eyes left him as her attention shifted to the whiteboard.
About 20 minutes had passed before the bell rang, signaling that break time had begun. Toko stretched her back with her arms up in the air. She had never really been a big fan of math and probably never will be. I mean, who ever will be a fan of math??? You've got to be crazy for that.
Toko's attention was once again brought back to the person beside her, now wide awake and waiting for the teacher to dismiss the class.
"How do you always wake up to the right bell...?"
"I have adjustable selective observation I guess."
"A what???"
Toko questioned his absurd claim. It wasn't uncommon for Kasey to say the most random stuff ever. It's just that Toko always reacts the same way, surprised and confused simultaneously.
"Yes, I came up with it on the spot."
"I could tell... stupid."
Kasey shot her a deadpan look. It was almost as if she forgot who was her saving grace just 21 minutes ago.
"...Seriously? Alright, never helping you with math again."
He smirked as he teased her, abusing his right as being the better mathematician out of the two.
"Wai-No, I was just kidding!"
"Oh really? I wasn't."
The smirk on his face just got wider. It didn't take long for Toko to catch on.
"Mou~~ You're teasing me again!"
"Not my fault, you just keep falling for it."
"Why do you keep doing it anyway!?"
"Peak entertainment."
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
"I don't know, figure it out yourself."
"Wha-?!"
"Besides, you really need to pay more attention to your surroundings."
"...Huh?"
Toko's focus shifted from Kasey as she looked around her classroom. Multiple pairs of eyes were on her as they watched on in silence. To make it worse, the teacher was watching with a smirk as well. Toko's face once again turned red from her blush.
"Ah, done with the lover's quarrel eh?"
"A-A I-"
She didn't know what to say. It was just too embarrassing after all. The whole class had been watching both of them for who knows how long. She just couldn't handle it.
"I'm not sure what's wrong with her but she seems to have had a bad day, might be the heat getting to her."
Kasey spoke up for her, once again taking on the role of her saving grace. How many times has this happened? 2?
"Oh~ is that so?"
"Yeah, I hope you'll let her off."
"Fine then, just because you asked."
(Now, what is THAT supposed to mean?)
The thought echoed in Kasey's head.
"Alright class! You can go to recess now!"
Kasey internally cheered inside his head. He had been waiting for his favourite school time and it's finally here. He was about to leave but not before awakening Toko from her stupor.
"Oi, Tokoko, it's break now."
"Hu-? Ah! She let us off?"
"Yeah, I'll be going first."
"Oh okay..."
She watched as Kasey left the classroom, yet something in her head kept trying to remind her of something.
(What did I... Oh wait!)
She quickly grabbed a box from her drawer before looking back at the classroom door, shouting:
"Wait!"
It was too late however. Kasey was long gone to the school's cafeteria.
Toko looked down at the nicely wrapped light pink box in front of her. Red ribbons tied in a beautiful orientation. Genuinely, it was a gift with a lot of effort put in. She sighed as she put the box of chocolates back into the drawer.
(I'll just give it to him later...)
Toko went to the cafeteria and looked for her friends. It wasn't easy due to the sheer amount of people there. It was only after she saw a waving hand only did Toko spotted the table of her friends.
She went over and sat down at the spot her friend patted on. They were talking about typical things like fashion, trendy places and school gossip. You know, the typical schoolgirl conversation.
Toko would've participitated in said conversation if she hadn't decided to focus on the table across the cafeteria instead. There Kasey was, sitting with his few friends and having fun talking.
Toko didn't know how long she was staring, and she certainly didn't realize that the whole table had stopped talking. Not until she felt a tiny poke at her shoulder.
"Huh? What?"
"So~~ Have you given him one?"
Toko blushes at her friend's question. The red hue on her cheeks noticeable to everyone at her table.
"W-well, I haven't yet..."
"Ehhhhh, why is that?"
Her other close friends chimed it as well
"Yeah yeah, why not yet?"
"That's surprising."
Toko slowly took a deep breath before responding to them. She told them what had transpired in the classroom just a few minutes ago.
"Isn't that kind of insensitive of him? Just leaving like that."
"Well, it's not like he knew Toko wanted to give him chocolates."
"True. True."
"Ne, Toko. I think you should just be more direct. Guys don't get it until you become Ms. Obvious."
"I agree. My boyfriend didn't even get it when I invited him to my room when it was just the two of us. I had to kiss him and only did it hit him."
"Oh really? Speaking of guys being oblivious, for my boyfriend, he didn't get it when I gave him chocolates last year. Hell, I even invited him on multiple occasions to watch movies. This literally went on for months until one day he finally called and asked me out. Took him long enough!"
"Okay enough y'all, stop flexing."
"Shut up, you're just jealous you're still single."
"I chose to be single. Now get back to main topic can we?"
"Oh yeah, Toko's situation."
"Oops, almost forgot."
A second of silence spread throughout the table. It didn't take long for someone to break it.
"So... What are you going to do?"
"I-I'll just give him it to him in class later."
"Why not now?"
"W-well..."
"She probably thinks it's too embarrassing walking up to give him chocolates in front of him and his friend because it just is."
Towa slightly nodded in agreement.
"T-that..."
"I thought you were the extrovert here."
"I know... It's just-"
"We understand. Take you time. It'll work out! Trust me."
"You're cute, kind and attractive. There's no way he won't fall for you. Don't worry."
"Yeah what she said."
"Come up with your own ideas dummy."
"You said everything! What else am I supposed to say?!"
"Just make up something! Don't be lazy!"
"Lazy?? I'll have you know I studied like hell to score first place in class."
Toko giggled at the sight in front of her. She had a light smile on her face as she watched the scene in front of her unfolded, slowly turning into a warfare. The topic shifting away from her predicament.
She silently muttered under her breath.
"Thanks, y'all."
Their conversation, which was half gossip half banter was soon ended by the bell ringing.
"I'll be heading back now."
"Remember to give him that chocolate!"
"Yeah, don't forget!"
"Good luck!"
"You can do it."
"...Thanks."
Toko was now inspired with confidence went back to her classroom.
She sat down at her place and waited for Kasey to come back in, humming a light tune as she swayed lightly in tune with the music playing in her mind.
She waited until the teacher came in and placed her books down. Said teacher got ready for the lesson and the class monitor greeted her and the second half of the school day officially begun.
"..."
(WHERE IS HE?!?)
Toko was partially mad at the current circumstances. After all that process of worrying and missing opportunities to getting encouragement and confidence, only for him to not show up?!! Absolute bullocks! What is this?
(Is he deliberately dodging me?)
She shaked her head at that thought. Her friends told her to not be negative about it.
(Where did he go then...?)
She wondered about his location. Normally, he would be in class right now, sleeping through the lessons as he always did. If he isn't here, where would he be?
An hour had passed and Kasey was still nowhere to be found. Toko had been waiting and couldn't stop thinking about when he would show up. She was in fact, somehow so distracted by waiting, she didn't even pay attention to her favourite class.
Toko was on the verge of giving up. A visible frown on her face as her high expectations slowly crumbled. That was until Kasey suddenly appeared out of nowhere, leaning on the door covered in light sweat. The teacher noticed him soon.
"Ah, Kasey. You done with the task I gave you?"
"Yeah, all done and dandy. Even added a little upgrade in."
"Fast as always, you can go back to your seat now."
He headed back to his seat and sat down right beside Toko, the girl who was clearly pouting for some odd reason. The aura emanating off her strong enough to obtain an inquiry.
"So, what's the bad mood about?"
"...Nothing."
"I don't know if you've watched movies but ANYONE who says that like you did is lying 98% of the time. So..."
"I already said its nothing!"
Her sudden declaration mildly surprised Kasey. Toko wasn't really one to raise her voice in disatisfaction. In the first place, it was quite difficult to get on her nerves unless you really tried.
Moments of silence were shared between them. Kasey could sense the bad vibe radiating from Toko, which gave him enough of a sign to not provoke her any further.
"...Uhm, if you wanna talk about it. I'm here, alright?"
"..."
Toko stayed silent to his offer.
The next few hours passed in complete silence between the two. With Kasey sleeping on his desk and Toko being distracted by the sight beside her... again.
(This idiot... can't he tell?)
She tightly gripped the box of chocolates under her table. Her legs shaking a little bit from nervousness.
(Aaaahh, I treated him so bad just now. He's going to hate me. isn't he?)
(What should I do~~)
She lightly shook her whole body in frustration, trying to let out some of the stress that was getting to her.
(Okay, calm down Toko. You can do this. Just give him the chocolates after school, it would be fine!)
She took a deep breath and exhaled, once again instilling questionable confidence into herself. She nodded her head as if in affirmation to herself.
Some hours passed as Toko impatiently waited. The last time she did that, everything went horrendously wrong. However, this time her prey had nowhere to run. She was giving him that chocolate today. No matter what.
The bell finally rang again. Toko's head immediately snapped towards the clock at the front of the class. The hands of the clock pointed at 1:30, signaling the end of the school day.
Toko gleefully cheered a little. The moment she had been waiting for was finally here. Her gaze returned towards her target of today, slowly waking up.
Toko took the box of chocolates out of her drawer and held it tightly. Her heart was beating so fast and she was so nervous thay she felt like she might accidentally break the box by accident.
She tried calming herself down using a breathing technique she had learned. It worked to a certain degree. Well, at least enough to ensure she didn't break the box by accident.
Toko watched as Kasey slowly rised from his slumber, yawning in the process. She always thought this part was somewhat cute, but never in a million years would she admit it.
"So, what have you been all excited about this whole time?"
Toko was shocked. She thought he had been sleeping the whole time. How did he know?
"...H-huh?! What d-do you mean?"
"You've literally been acting all jittery and hyperactive for quite some time. Anyone could tell you were impatient."
His sassy tone activated Toko's natural argumentative instinct.
"Oi, weren't you sleeping?"
"Like I said, adjustable selective observation."
"That thing you made up."
"Who knows? I might start using it from now."
Toko gave him a judgemental look. She wonders how she was friends with this guy in the first place.
"You're weird."
"Yeah... I know."
(How did I fall in love with this dummy...)
Toko mentally slapped herself. She had heard of many romance stories before, just never thought she would be wrapped up in one of then herself.
"So, what are you excited about?"
"O-oh... that."
"..."
Silence.
"...Uh, whatever it is, have fun. I'll go first."
Toko watched as he stood up and slowly left, but this time she wasn't going to repeat her mistake.
"Kasey!"
"?"
Kasey turned around to look at Toko running after him. A pink box wrapped with ribbons in her hand.
"Here."
She handed the chocolates to him while bowing. She didn't dare look him in the eye lest he reject her gift. That didn't happen though as Kasey took it from her hands.
"...Thanks."
Toko slowly looked up at Kasey with a smile on his face, a somewhat rare occasion actually. She almost found herself lost within it.
"...Your face is red."
"W-what?"
"Your face is really really red."
"I-uhm."
"It's fine."
Kasey patted Toko's head as if to comfort her. It had the opposite effect though. His hand lightly going through her hair only embarrassed her even more.
"You wanna hang out after school today?"
Toko's eyes gleamed at the prospect. Her heart was beating so fast now she couldn't even feel it. She wondered if her face was redder than red itself now.
(He's asking me out on a date?? Right?? A date?!)
"Y-yeah sure!"
"Then, Arcade at 4?"
"Sure!"
Toko gave him the brightest smile of that year. Kasey found it cute, but he wouldn't say that to her, at least not today. He had his own embarrassment as well. It was just lucky he was good at hiding it.
[END]
[BONUS?]
"Toko, what's with that bad mood? Did he reject you?"
"No, it's nothing like that."
"Heeeeh, then what is it?"
"He-"
Toko sighed before explaining her whole 'date' with Kasey she had the other day. She recounted her experiences in oddly good detail.
"That's great! You got close to him. So what's the problem??"
"He- He thought I gave him those chocolates as a token of friendship."
"...Huh?"
"From his knowledge, Valentine's Day is when girls give chocolate to guys to reaffirm their friendship..."
"So..."
"Yes, that means he doesn't know I'm interested in him romantically. Even after I put A L L that effort he couldn't tell?! The NERVE!"
"Hey Toko, calm do-"
"I'LL NEVER FORGIVE HIM!"
She watched on as Toko rambled on how she was going to take revenge and all the sorts. A bead of sweat trickled her side as she shot Toko a deadpan look.
(Good luck handling her, Kasey.)