Desire - H. Umemiya

Chapter 27. Pretty man

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"Girlfriend, you say?! No! I've already told you for so many times how single I am."

Umemiya spoke too fast and loud. His hands were up in the air, looking like he was trying so hard to explain. As if, he was clearing his name from a case he had no involvement of. 

What a very wrong allegation. Oh, what a desperate cry for recognition.

He panted from what it seems like a rap and sighed. It downed on him that he had really fallen into a lovetrap that holds no certainty on a chance for reciprocation. 

"I-is that so?" She asked bewildered by his sudden shout.

'He didn't have to shout? Why is he so defensive?' she thought as she rubbed her temple in confusion. 

"Yes!!" Oh, how one sided. He could cry. 

She was blunt and she was numb. He can't do anything about it, though, but to try hard to get through her stone-like heart.

Tsubaki who was watching the whole scene felt cold. Ah... a sudden realization got through him.

'Is this what happened while I was gone?'  he thought as he stared at Umemiya who was desperate to be believed on.

He closed his eyes as he felt the piercing shards on his heart. 'That hurts, Ume-chan. You can like a guy romantically, afterall, and a pretty man at that.' He thought but as his eyes watch the two whom had contradicting actions, the more his thoughts broke into that of skepticism.

'A pretty... man...?'  he blinked in surprise when Yuki looked at him and smiled. He scrunched his eyes trying to get a clearer view. Umemiya who saw that scene immediately blocked his gaze and laughed awkwardly.

Tsubaki's eyes lingered on his face.

"C'mon Ume-chan? Why are you denying me?" He tightened his embrace on Umemiya's arm as he tried to play along when he overcame the ache and surprise.

He realized that he was still happy, even if the affection he was desiring for so long wasn't directed at him, because for him Umemiya's happiness also matter.

Moreover, he developed quite the liking for Yuki, after the latter thought he was a girl.

It just aches a little haha... just a little. 

So, this was just him doing a little revenge for the grams of pain Umemiya had burdened his heart with. 

Tsubaki, closes a bit of their distance.

"W-what?" Umemiya's eyes widened by him fueling the topic and from the sudden movement. He leans his head back, dodging Tsubaki's face. He laughed awkwardly, his lips twitching.

"Which is it?" Yuki whispered, when she felt a little pang in her chest which she ignored after a few seconds before stepping between the two, wherein Umemiya seems a bit struggling. 

She chuckled, and took a hold of Umemiya's arm dragging him a few inches away from Tsubaki.

"Anyways, it seems like you haven't meet each other in a while. Why don't you take this time to hang out and have a conversation... while I'll go back to my classroom. It seems like the others are looking for me." she spoke as she reads the message that popped out on her screen. Her phone's been vibrating on her pocket for a while now so she took it out.

Umemiya sighed and nodded. "Alright, go back for now." he let her go and looked back at the grinning Tsubaki who bid her his goodbye before pulling him towards the east room. 

Yuki who stood there for a moment, raised an eyebrow at him touching Tsubaki's wrist before snapping out of it. She shook her head and walked towards her own destination. Putting the pack of seed on her pocket while she's at it.

'What's this?' she thought as the earlier scenario kept intruding her mind. She didn't like the feeling.

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Umemiya and Tsubaki sat down under a dome in the east room. They were sat opposite from each other with the table in their middle.

"Tsubaki... Hey, Tsubaki." Umemiya was calling out his name for a few times now but Tsubaki seems a little out of it. 

He was so excited to have a one on one talk with him just a while ago, but now he was completely zoning out in his presence.

Tsubaki snapped out of his reverie and stared at Umemiya. He was hesitant to speak but in the end he spoke out his thoughts.

"Yuki... you know... the more I looked at him... the more he doesn't look like a man." He started as he stared at Umemiya right in the eyes.

"...Tell me, Ume-chan... are you hiding a girl in our Furin?"

Umemiya was about to deny it but Tsubaki raised him off to it.

"... and you also seems to like her. You betrayed my heart, Ume-chan!!!" He closes his eyes and played it off like he was in a drama of a wife being cheated to by her husband, clutching on his shirt, wrinkling it, and then wiping the lone tear he tried hard to produce.

He opened his one eye a bit trying to sneak a glance on Umemiya's reaction.

"Tt-that's-!!!" To his expectation, Umemiya's face burned so hard. It can be comparable to the color of tomatoes he pick on his best harvest season. So fresh and young.

'So red?!!'  Tsubaki thought and gradually smiled.

'Just as I thought, Ume-chan's cute, too, when he's in love.' But then his happy face turned sour.

He fixed his position and covered his face. 'If only it was directed to me.' he was back again in the swamp of misery. But then he slapped both his cheeks to wake himself up and looked at Umemiya whom tilted his head in confusion.

"If you're just going to deny it, don't bother... and don't worry I won't tell anyone about your girl... Arghh, I don't really wanna say that though."

"Y-y-your g-girl? Th-that's a bit...." Umemiya was a blushing mess. He didn't hear Tsubaki's last statement. 

If anyone see him now and someone told them that he was the leader of Bofurin, surely they wouldn't believe it, because right now, he just looked like some shoujo girl in a shoujo story. 

Flushing, Bashful, and Soft. Somehow, Tsubaki felt irritated by it.

"Just.." 

"Just what?"

"Tell me everything that happened while I was not around, Ume-chan. How'd you come to like her. Something like that! I need tea."

#unedited.

I kept cringing ✌️.