Silently in Love

Chapter 7

Every head in the classroom turned their heads in the direction of Mao and Chiyo's shrieks. Akari immediately slapped her hands over their mouths to shush them.

"S-sorry! We saw a cockroach by the windowsill." Mao lied. Her response earned a few shrieks from other girls in the class, but everyone resumed eating their lunches. Mao and Chiyo stared at Akari with dropped jaws.

"You were at his house?" Chiyo asked in a harsh whisper. "...in his bed??" Mao added. Akari could only just shrug her shoulders and give them a 'well...yeah' kind of nod.

"Were you really sick or did you just-" Mao began to ask but Chiyo slapped her arm.

"What else happened?" Mao urged her to continue. Akari shrugged again.

"He fed me food and in the morning he walked me home." She wrote. Mao and Chiyo were already freaking out halfway through her sentence.

"What did he say to you?" Mao asked. Akari had to think about Mao's question and finally wrote her answer in her notebook. Mao and Chiyo looked upon her words eagerly but were disappointed to see 'we didn't talk much.'

"You spent a whole night at his house and you didn't talk?" Mao was astonished. "I know he doesn't like to talk but...nothing?" Mao asked. Akari just nodded.

"He doesn't like me much. I don't think he wanted to talk to me." Akari said. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit. The time they spent together was always because of some unfortunate reason.

"Did you meet Hiro?" Chiyo asked her. Akari shook her head.

"He wasn't there. Maybe I'll meet him next time." She wrote.

"Next time!?" Mao and Chiyo cried in unison. Akari looked unmoved by their expressions.

"His mother invited me to come over again." She said. They both squealed and clapped their hands.

"Was Kuro alright with that? " Chiyo asked her. Mao tapped her notebook impatiently urging Akari to write quickly.

"He told me I could do whatever I wish." Akari wrote. Mao and Chiyo squealed again.

"Are you going to go over to his house today?" Chiyo suddenly asked, but Akari shook her head. No way! There was no way she would bother him and go to his house again so soon.

"No way! And Kiyoshi is helping me study today."

Akari brought her attention to Kiyoshi, who sat across the room. Kiyoshi seemed to feel her eyes on him and he turned to smile at her. She blushed and looked away. This did not go unnoticed by Mao and Chiyo. Mao let out an envious sigh.

"This isn't fair! Akari gets the attention of two princes!" She exclaimed. Akari sheepishly looked down.

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"It looks like you still have difficulty." Akari dropped her pencil in misery. She dropped her forehead onto the desk and sighed. Kiyoshi lowered his face and gave her a handsome smile.

When school ended, Kiyoshi and Akari stayed behind and studied together in the classroom. Kiyoshi was so patient with Akari and he explained the problem so clearly, yet somehow she just couldn't focus.

"I'm sorry, Kiyoshi." She wrote. "It's not you. I am just not getting it." She said, miserably. Kiyoshi just broadened his smile and like a true prince, he decided it was a good time to stop.

"I didn't realize we were here for so long." He said, glancing at the time. "Let me walk with you to the train station." Before they packed their things, Kiyoshi circled some problems that he thought would be good for her to work on. "Whichever ones you don't understand, I will help you with... next time." He said, tilting his head to get a better look at her. Akari looked at him through her lashes and blushed.