Super Heart-Throbbing Chocolate Confession!

Ryota

  "Aw, you guys started already?" Chisa asked as she opened a box of chalk.

  "I only got confessed to by Teruteru and Sonia," Hajime explained, "Souda said he needs to prepare his heart."

  "I said I needed to prepare my lines!" Souda huffed, "We only have this class today, so I'll confess to you after."

  "Not right after class though, I have to meet someone."

  "I keep missing my chances," Souda groaned, "So, who is it?"

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       After struggling to push the door open, Hajime found himself battling the fierce winds as he walked across the school roof over to where a boy with light brown hair stood.

  "Ryota!" Hajime yelled against the howling winds.

  "Hold on, the wind will die down in a second."

  Hajime shivered as the winds calmed down, "Did we really have to meet up on the rooftop like this?"

  Ryota adjusted his red scarf, "It's necessary for my animation and confession."

  "I think I'll freeze to death before you're done confessing."

  "That's exactly it!" Ryota looked at Hajime with determination, "I need to freeze every frame of this moment."

  Hajime rubbed his arms, "You're sure we can't move this to someplace warmer?"

  "I need this confession picture perfect, so could we stay here please?"

  Hajime complied, "I guess a rooftop confession isn't too bad."

  "From the warm lighting to the subtlety of the trees in the background, this spot would look great in an anime!"

  "That's true but Ryota..."

  "Uh, yes?"

  "You do remember it's winter, right?"

  "I didn't know exactly where to confess so I asked Akane for location ideas, but the only ones she had were this rooftop and the pathway where the cherry blossoms are."

  "Then you chose the roof because the cherry blossoms aren't in season yet," Hajime concluded.

  "Akane said the wind up here is perfect for getting your heart thumping this time of year," Ryota mentioned before rummaging through his bag, "I started studying more romantic anime after the class decided to do this event for you and it turns out a lot of these confessions take place in spring and summer."

  "I didn't know you could study anime," he muttered.

  "Of course, you can!" Ryota protested, "I'll have you know anime saved my life!"

  Hajime raised his hands in self-defense, "If you say so..."

  "And I want to use anime to help other people too, so I produced a few animated shorts but there's always been something missing."

  "Is it a soundtrack?"

  He sighed, "It's my faces."

  Hajime stared at Ryota incredulously, "You're the Ultimate Animator but don't know how to draw faces?"

  "Of course I do! It's just that I'm not good at drawing their expressions and it drags my entire animation down," Ryota sighed, "Even when I get voice actors, it looks like they're giving a voice to a drawing rather than a character. I wanted to have my own animation studio by the time I graduate Hope's Peak but I don't think I can with how the judges looked at my work during the practical exam."

  "I think I get it now," Hajime said, "You want to put emotions into their faces, right?"

  Ryota enthusiastically nodded, "Although I didn't think she could help, Ms. Yukizome said I should try to have more experiences at school and use how everyone is feeling in my animations. So rather than watching slice-of-life anime, I should be more engaged in my school life."

  Ryota held out a box out of chocolates, "Hajime, I'm going to try my best to improve myself and I hope that one day I can be proud of all the thing I create. This may be selfish of me, but I hope I can see you fall in love with someone."

  Hajime smiled, "Thanks and you know, Ms. Yukizome was talking about you when she said that."

  "Huh?"

  "She always wants all of us to be included so when she said 'how everyone is feeling', she also meant how you're feeling at school."

  "Oh," Ryota grew quiet as the pair headed down the stairs, "A-anyways, I'm the real Ryota."

  "I know," Hajime smiled.