From Me To You, My Beloved

Nine (Amanene)

Truth be told, Yashiro Nene didn't have a single speck of interest in astronomy.

To her, it was a difficult topic that her fantasy-filled mind had trouble understanding. Astronomy required facts and hours of studying, whereas her imagination doesn't cost her anything at all. No numbers or difficult terminologies to memorize, she was just happy with her daydreams.

But then, Yugi Amane happened.

Amane who sits behind her in class. Amane who plays with her hair and calls her ankles fat. Amane who walks her home because he lives just three houses over. Amane who gushes about the moon and the stars and Antares like a child seeing their favorite character on tv. Amane who instantly becomes all nerdy and constantly blurts out space-related facts like it's the most general of knowledge.

And also the Yugi Amane she has been crushing on for months.

At first, she is bewildered by the idea, absolutely mortified. Because why would she even like a guy that shares none of her interests? A guy who teases her constantly and somehow always manages to get on her nerves every minute of the day? Ugh, just imagining that condescending smirk on his face is enough to annoy her.

Oh but when he runs up to her all excited and just gushes about how the moon is so pretty and how it's earth's only natural satellite and how it controls the tides and how it may-or-may-not-be a part of earth in the past, his face just lights up in the most mesmerizing of ways; eyes glittering like golden-honey, barely-noticeable freckles scattered like stardust across his cheeks, lips curled into an infectious, toothy grin.

Then he will breathe slowly, an attempt to calm himself down as he says to her, a wistful, fond look swimming in those amber eyes, "Isn't the moon amazing?"

(You're amazing, she'd always think silently.)

She'd nod at him profusely then, speechless and blushing and so smitten, she'd always forget why she was annoyed with him in the first place. Nene hated to admit it, but she always did have a soft-spot for that moon-loving boy.

Even now.

"How'd you even get permission to use the school rooftop? They never let anyone up here!"

"I pestered Tsuchigomori until he gave up. Also, climb up faster, geez. Are your ankles really that heavy?"

Holding onto the steel ladder, Nene looked up to glare at the grinning boy before her. She grunted softly as she climbed up another step towards the school rooftop's elevated platform.

"Say another word about my ankles again, and I'll push you off this rooftop."

Yugi Amane stood above her, face lit with boyish mischief that suited him perfectly (even if she'll never admit it out loud), eyes shining with mirth, a familiar shit-eating grin on his lips.

"Sure, if you can even get up here." He says, chock-full of mockery. But even then, he held out his hand for her to grab on to as he carefully tugs her upwards. And once she is fully standing in front of him, his smirk falters a bit at the look of annoyance in her eyes.

"So it looks like I was able to get up here after all." She starts, taking a step towards him, slow and tentative. Amane dramatically holds his hand to his forehead as he begins to fake-cry in a terrible, terrible accent she couldn't quite place, "Oh my goodness! Whatever shall I do? Tell my family that I love them and that I will always be in their hearts! I leave my possessions to Tsukasa, my darling little brother who I will tearfully leave behind! Farewell, cruel world!" He finishes with a sudden spasm of his body and a loud gasp, as if he has just been shot as he slowly (and very dramatically) falls down to the ground.