Love as rich as chocolate ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 10: ring around the rosie

Akio Todoroki

Goddamnit.

When our ancestors invented Wednesdays, why did they make them so fucking boring! It's only 11am and my brain just wants me to jump out the nearest window, just to make today interesting. I wanna see the bitch who sits in front of me fall off her chair, or accidentally trip up the prof while he's handing out paper, or swap someone's lipstick with glue! Today just needed something exciting, a catalyst for a chain of fun events.

Naturally, I didn't do anything. My brain thinks it's tough, but turns tail at the thought of trouble. Sure, there are times when I just say "fuck the consequences, let's go!", but this wasn't one of them. The consequences outweighed the benefits in all of these scenarios, except perhaps jumping out of the window. But then I'd have to pay for it if I lived...

At lunch though, it seemed as if luck was finally on my side. Yui had rushed over to talk to me, claiming to have some "tea" to talk about. It both excited me and terrified me simultaneously. Yui's "tea" was either something mundane and irrelevant, or literally earth-shattering, and never anything in between.

This time...well...

"-but have you SEEN his abs?!"

"No. And to be honest, I'm not sure I want to. He's an asshole, and always has been. Seriously, I need to give you a lesson in who to crush on"

"Excuse me, I used to crush on you"

"...fuck off. Anyway, you should NOT be crushing on Haruki, no matter how good his abs look. I don't care if he's got 26 fucking abs, he's still an asshole"

"I'm not taking dating advice from someone in your position, ok?!"

"That's low. I'm working on it!"

"How exactly are you doing that?"

"...slowly. And with little progress"

"Jeez. Aki, have you considered tossing a coin?"

"Wh-NO!"

"Why not? It's fair that way!"

"Because my future shouldn't be decided by a coin flip!"

"Once again...why not? I flipped a coin on whether to confess to you or not, ended up not doing so, and now you're my bestie!"

"Best friend and boyfriend are different tiers, Yui!"

"That hurts, but I get your point. You should probably keep biding your time, eventually something will happen and you'll know then. For now there's not much point talking about those two. Where are they, anyway?"

"No idea. I haven't seen them since leaving class"

"Huh...anyway, told your dads yet?"

"About what?"

"About the fact that you believe you should've been born as a tree frog. What the hell do you think I'm talking about?!"

"...yes, I've told them. They didn't make a big deal at all. Guess it figures though. I had a little chat with Dad - ugh, the blond one - about what to do with Kei and Ryo. He basically said the same shit as you, so..."

"So I'm amazing and on equal footing as your father?"

Well, here goes nothing

"Yes Daddy"

"Ew! EW EW EW! Don't EVER do that again or I swear I will castrate you!"

"Alright alright, I'm joking!"

"Jesus Aki that's not funny! I think I might be sick!"

It was funny seeing her caught off guard. She was usually pretty composed, and seeing her so flustered was rare. She managed to get a grip of herself and sarcastically scowled at me, before shifting the conversation on as if nothing happened at all.

"So, when you next seeing either one of your boys~?"

"Hush. I'm seeing both of them tonight. Ryo invited us over for game night, but it's a little late since his dad is visiting him. We're meeting up at...5:30 I think?"

"Sounds fun! Let me know if anything interesting happens. And by interesting, I don't mean "I made eye contact with them", I mean "we played spin the bottle, and Ryo looked really jealous when I kissed Kei!""

"Thing is...we definitely won't play spin the bottle. It's a bit pointless with just three of us"

"Omg...invite his dad!"

"WHAT?!"

...she says the craziest shit sometimes. But in a way, that's why she's cool. The rest of lunch was filled with her crazy antics trying to get under my skin about my dilemma, and the rest of the day was over in a flash. Time had begun flying by when I started thinking about this evening, and it'd be a lie to say I wasn't a little anxious about it. I'm not sure why; I've spent so much time with both of them, it shouldn't feel this uncomfortable!

By the time I got home, I was properly stressing. I don't know what it was, but something felt off. I couldn't quite place it, but it wasn't natural. I sat on my bed, staring at my open wardrobe as if my clothes would choose themselves. I wanted to change out of my current clothes, wanting something a little warmer for the walk home in the cold of the night. It was drizzling slightly as well, so I opted for a black long sleeve t-shirt instead of my current short sleeve one, and swapped out my blue jeans for black ones. For some reason, what I was wearing was suddenly important to me, so I picked up something I never usually wear, a pendant I'd gotten from my parents when I was 14. It was a pretty ordinary thing, save for the sapphire encased in it's body. No matter how valuable it may actually be, it was always double for me. For reasons I couldn't know, this little neck chain felt important to me like nothing else did, and I usually saved it for special occasions.

...guess this is one?

I grabbed a hoodie from by the door and stepped out into the light rain, feeling it a little heavier than before. It was picking up, so I made sure to hotfoot it over to Ryo's place. It was...5:21. Eh, close enough to the meeting time. His dad is surely gone by now, right? Upon approaching the door, I stopped, feeling a little weird. I'd usually charge right in, but decided to slowly open the door, perhaps hatching a plan to scare whoever was in there.

To think, that was the day I broke...
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No "👀" has ever been more appropriate than now

Fact of the Day: maybe Akio should've done a coin toss. Worked for Two-Face, right?