𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐧𝐢𝐜 | 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐍𝐞𝐧𝐞 (𝐓𝐁𝐇𝐊/𝐉𝐒𝐇𝐊)

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫

  The wind picked up, nipping at Nene's legs and face as she sat under the trunk of a Sakura tree. It shouldn't have been like that. How was it so easy to prove her clumsiness to Amane? He already knew about it... But to spill tea on her legs in the middle of a double date? That was far from the graceful being she aspired to be. 

  The cream-haired girl wasn't crying yet, but a salty liquid was welling up in her eyes. Maybe if she didn't blink, it would all sink back and Nene would be able to pretend that she wasn't tearing up. That it only took her by surprise.

  "Nene, are you okay?"

  Hearing the words forced tears out of her eyes and they fell down onto her cheeks, tracing a path down to her chin. No! Not in front of Aoi! The indigo-haired girl already saw her crying enough... Please... Not when everything was supposed to go perfectly smooth and happy..!

  Nene shook her head slightly but nodded soon after. What kind of answer was that..?

  Aoi's presence moved to the other side of the tree. She heard the grass rustle as the girl sat down. 

  "Aoi... I'm just so jealous of you..." Nene whispered. "You look perfect, your manners are perfect, everything about you is so perfect..."

  She began to shake slightly, not enough fight to wipe away her tears. It wasn't about ruining the date now. It was more than that.

  There were too many feelings being added to her glass of emotions; it was overfilling and cracking at the same time. How long was it going to hold up? With drops of guilt, shame, shock, insecurity, and envy, how was she just supposed to keep it all in the glass? She could feel more trickles pouring in at every turn.

  "I'm jealous of you, too..."

  Nene was stunned by what her friend had said. Jealous..? Why?

  "Your face is so expressive around everyone. I can tell what you're feeling all the time without even asking. Especially around Amane... Your eyes were filled with so much joy and affection for him. It was beautiful to see you so happy."

  Her face flushed in embarrassment. So it really was easy to read her.

  "Me on the other hand... My face always stays the same. I've been worried about Akane losing interest in me after I do go on a date with him, so I always try to project the same image of myself."

  Aoi's been... Worried..? But she had nothing to worry about. Akane really cared about her. How was it possible for her to doubt such a thing?

  "I did want to say yes to some of the times he asked me out, honestly. More lately than anything. Every time I told him that I had a crush on other people, he changed to fit whatever he thought I wanted in a person. I wish he'd just stop... I like him the way he is."

  There was a pause in the air, but Nene didn't know what to say. Instead, she chose something really dumb to ask.

  "Have you had a crush on anyone else?"

  "Yeah, a few people. When I was younger it used to be on the popular guys, but that faded. I even had a crush on you for a week or two sometime after we met."

  Nene was surprised but didn't question anything.

  Aoi let out a soft chuckle.

  "But the rest of the time, it's been him."

  "Yeah... I know what you mean. It was only after I had a crush on those popular guys that I realized I liked Amane. I was an idiot, really. Which one of those guys would've actually been there for me? Probably none of them... But Amane's always stood right there by my side. I should've noticed sooner..."

  There was another pause as Nene got up and wiped away her tears. There was some regained confidence as some of her darker emotions evaporated.

  "I don't think either of them would care if we ran off as long as we came back, so how about it?"

  The cream-haired girl peeked around the tree, watching Aoi stand up too.

  "Yeah, let's go back together."

------(.*)------

  After Akane (female) had gone after Yashiro, Amane was getting quite nervous. Did he do something wrong? Did he ask her to go to the movie with him too soon? Was she getting so uncomfortable that she spilled her tea?

  He took another bite of his sandwich, wondering if Aoi (male) was going to speak to him. Probably not, but he didn't want to be surprised if he did.

  Above all, he was envious of the red-haired boy. Why? Because he put in so much work for Akane (female), something he wished he could do for Yashiro. But Amane was always so nervous and tongue-tied around her, unlike Aoi (male) with the indigo-haired girl. He was always so bold and upfront. The amber-eyed male could never...

  "How do you do it?"

  Amane's eyes flicked over to the boy next to him after hearing his voice.

  "What do you mean?" Amane questioned.

  "You asked her here and she said yes without fail. You did it again while we were here and she still said yes yet again... How did you do it?"

  "I'm... Not sure. I guess I just did and it worked?"

  Amane was growing anxious, wondering if Aoi was about to strangle him or something. There was an intensity around him that the brown-haired boy couldn't place. It made him uneasy.

  "That's not enough... There must be something you do."

  Amane shook his head, saying, "I don't know... I wish I could tell you, but there's nothing to say."

  There was a silence between them both. He wondered if it was possible for Aoi to be jealous of him, but tried to push that to the side.

  "I try and try to let Ao-Chan know how special she is. I want her to know that I really do love her... But she never believes me. Ever. But then you come in and easily get Yashiro to be your date. I want to give the world to Ao-Chan, but it's not working. She likes other people... Even if she never looks my way, I'd love her for eternity, but I still want to be right there. I want to be more than just her childhood friend."

  "You know... I wish I could do more for Yashiro like you do for Akane. You're always putting in your all for her and it's easy to tell how much you love her. For me... Well... I was probably just seen as a male best friend up until today. Yashiro has a lot of crushes people. Maybe the only reason she said yes was so she would finally be able to go on a date. I don't hate her for that, though. Even if we're only here now for that reason, I just hope I can make it a good first date."

  "You're the densest person I know."

  Amane didn't say anything after that and neither did Aoi. The two of them just waited there until they saw Akane and Yashiro walking closer to them, engrossed in avid discourse. 

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Author's Note: Hello, I'm sorry that this chapter was sort of over the top. Also, I'm not great at writing Amane's point of view (and I'm not good with Hanako either), so I apologize for that as well. I still hope you liked it, have a nice day!