Junjou Yume No Koi: A Naive Dream of Love

Rumor Part 2: Parfait

The next few days went about the same way. Every day during class, the two communicated with their eyes, then every day during lunch they went together to the roof or the library where they talked and shared kisses. Chitose would tell Koki stories from their elementary and middle school days, and every story he told brought back a memory. It wasn't long before Koki would remember more and more until they told the story together.

It wasn't all going well, though. More and more people started speculating about their relationship. If the rumors had just been about them kissing and being gay, it wouldn't have been a big deal, but they had escalated far beyond that. Now people were saying vulgar things like that Chitose was selling his body, or that he was blackmailing Koki into a relationship. Every time Koki overheard one of these rumors, he pinned the person who was spreading them with a death glare, but he didn't want to step in and cause a scene. If possible, he wanted to keep Chitose from finding out.

"Everyone, it's time to do the room arrangments for our class trip next week to Kyoto and Osaka." The class representative said. "Please divide yourselves into groups of four or five for the trip, and then we'll pass out room keys."

The class stood and began chatting among themselves, dividing into smaller groups.

"Nee, Yamato! Come join our group!" Shigi said. He was in a group of four, including Aki, Kitamura, and Akira.

Koki smiled at them, the grin only wavering the slightest bit as his eyes landed on Akira, who was doing everything he could not to look at Koki. "Sorry, guys. I have another group in mind."

"Eeeeh!" Shigi cried in confusion. He'd always been a little bit dense. The others had noticed that Koki was spending less time with them lately, but Shigi hadn't really put the pieces together yet. It wasn't that he didn't want to hang out with them, just that he wanted to be around Chitose more.

Koki grabbed Shouta's arm and walked over to Chitose's desk, where he was talking to Yuki Sawada.

Koki turned a chair around to face them and sat down. "Do you guys want to be in a group together?"

Chitose blushed and murmered a, "Whatever."

Koki smiled and nudged Chitose's knee with his own.

Shouta laughed at them and put his arm over their shoulders. "It's nice to have things going back to normal around here."

Sawada-chan seemed to be excited to be in the same group as Shouta. Koki grinned. Class trips were a great opportunity to ask out the person you liked. Maybe the trip would turn into a double date.

"Everyone, we're going to start passing out room assignments. Please don't forget your room number. You'll be divided into rooms by fours." The class rep said. "We'll be meeting at the school gate Sunday morning at six, so don't be late. We're also handing out tenative itineraries now."

"A whole week in Kansai." Koki mused, leaning back in his chair. "Plus, it's nice and hot there. We should go to the beach while we're in Osaka. How much free time do we have?"

"A few hours every afternoon and two after dinner." Sawada-chan said.

Koki grinned and lay his head back.

"See? They're even in a group together. Something is definitely going on."

Koki opened his eyes, ignoring Shouta and Chitose's excited chatter. A group of girls were huddled around a desk with their itineraries, trying to look like they weren't watching Chitose out of the corners of their eyes.

"I bet he's blackmailing Taku with something," said one. She flipped a bleached curl over her shoulder.

"That sounds right to me. No way would Taku be that kind of person. He's no homo."