The Half-assed Prince

Who is she?

Kei kissed me. Yes! He freaking kissed me! That breathtaking moment remained fresh on my mind even after everything was over: sometimes I caught myself touching my forehead, feeling the heat of Kei's lips against it. He even said he liked me, which was so unusual of him. Kei wasn't vocal of his feelings. Maybe our little "misunderstanding" helped to strengthen the bond between us. It made us realize how important we were to each other. A week had already passed since the cultural festival but my mind kept going back to that night. That was probably the best night of my life.

After all the festivities Kei warped back to his usual self. His sweetness and his warmth during the festival faded away into the coldness I had grown used to. Lately the volleyball team was staying in school later and with him being so busy with his club activities, we couldn’t really spend much time together. In contrast, my schedule was much lighter after the mayhem brought by the cultural festival and I finally had time to watch and visit the volleyball team's practice. It also meant that our usual routine was back: Kei was walking me regularly to the station.

There was rumor going around that we would be having a transfer student. I heard it was a girl and that she came from Tokyo. I was so excited to meet this new student because, like her, I also came from Tokyo. I hoped we could get along and, hopefully, we could be friends.

So naturally, during homeroom, it was plain to see that everyone was looking forward to meet the new student. The whole class was buzzing with energy: some girls murmured among themselves, trying to guess what kind of person the transfer student would be; other guys fantasized about how the girl would look and called dibs on her if she was hot. Heads kept turning towards the door in anticipation of her arrival. Kei was busy staring out the window. When Nakamura-sensei finally entered the room, we all just stared at the space right behind him, waiting for the girl to come in. We waited for, like, five seconds, but no one followed Sensei. Nakamura-sensei must've noticed how distracted we were so he slammed his textbooks on the table to catch our attention. Then he cleared his throat and finally called out the new student to come inside. Everyone's mouths dropped open when a tall, super cute girl with curly black hair stood up on the platform. She smiled at us, showing off her pearly white teeth. Her fair skin seemed to glow in contrast to the jet-black hair that flowed in ringlets up to her shoulders. Somehow I felt insecure. My eyes followed her every move from the delicate tilt of her head as she regarded the classroom to how she absentmindedly twirled her hair in finger. This girl was perfect! No wonder the boys around me couldn't get their eyes off of her.

"Hajimemashita. I'm Mei Kotori. I came from Hassaku Koukou in Tokyo and I'm 16 years old. Minna, yoroshiku onegaishimasu." She said, and even her voice was cute.

After she introduced herself, Sensei pointed her to her seat, which was three seats away from my right. She was about to make her way there when she suddenly stopped to look in my direction. I thought she knew who I was and suddenly remembered me, but I was wrong.

"Kei-chan?!" She squawked as her big brown eyes widened and her lips cracked into a wide smile.

Kei-chan?

Instead of going to her seat, she rushed to Kei's side and threw her arms around him. I couldn’t believe my eyes as I stared at the scene unfolding right in front of me; it was as if my world had turned upside down. What the hell was going on? The transfer student was hugging my boyfriend!!

To say Kei was surprised would have been an understatement: he was frozen in his seat like a statue, apparently unable to process what was going on. He completely lost his usual stoical composure. His eyes were wide as they stared blankly at me. Kotori-san was hugging him so tight that she was practically choking him. I imagined myself pulling her arms off of Kei and pushing her away from him. I wanted to yell at her and tell her that he was my boyfriend and that she didn't have the right to casually touch him like this, but of course I couldn't do that. I couldn't lose my coolness here, not in front of a teacher and not in front of the class. Kei's innocent golden eyes also helped me to calm down. I hoped he really was innocent, because if not, I didn't know what I could do.