giving in to the love

everyone adores you (at least I do)

Everybody has you up on their wall sometimes
Everybody thinks of you when they sleep at night
When I say, "Everybody, " I'm actually referring to mе

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Nagumo has always been observant. Whether he liked it or not, he just noticed things. So when he became aware of you and your gloomy demeanor, it was more of a 'What's wrong with her?' than anything else.

You didn't socialize with the class, you were always staring out the window or sneaking into the back of the school building or climbing up the rooftop with students from other classes.

He would see Aoi approach you every once in a while but you'd only give her half smiles and one word replies. This made group activities especially hard for you. Not until Nagumo's parents took Rion in.

Rion was a month late but blended in with the class with ease. He noticed Rion and you started to click, being seatmates made it convenient.

In a few weeks, Nagumo noticed you were smiling and talking more but only with Rion. Then you slowly started to mingle with the other girls. It's as if Rion was the bridge for you to connect with everyone until you were comfortable doing it with the whole class.

Nagumo didn't really think much about it until you started coming to his house to hang out with Rion. He wasn't the type to lounge around the living room, he's always upstairs in his room or at basketball practice. But on days where he's at home he started going downstairs more frequently.

There was one time while he was getting snacks from the fridge and he heard you laughing in the living room. Not giggle, not chuckle but a full blown laughter, it was almost unrecognizable. He was curious so he peeked. You and Rion were watching a movie and you looked so happy and he thought he'd want to see that again. He wanted to hear it again so he tried pulling jokes on you in school. He would tease Rion in front of you and then he started teasing you too, but it wasn't working like he wanted to because you were getting annoyed with him. But he still liked it, it's better than nothing, he thought. He enjoyed seeing different reactions from you.

However, something changed in him during his birthday in July after your classmates had already left. It was one of the hottest summer evenings and you were wearing a hoodie. He came out of the kitchen, leaving Rion and his mom alone to clean up because he wanted to check up on you. Well, it was more because he wanted to make fun of your fashion choices. He was so smug about it but you smiled so sweetly at him and said, "My mom hates me and I'm trying to hide that hate from everyone so they wouldn't hate me too."

His smile slowly dropped. What do you mean? is what he wanted to ask. But he realized how sad you were all the time and even though you're doing better these days, your eyes still looked tired, like they're always so far away. Like you're physically here but your soul isn't.

He shook his head, "Stop joking around like that," letting out a fake chuckle.

"Do you want a birthday gift?" You asked softly.

His eyebrows knitted, "You already gave me one."

"This one's different," you said.

Apart from Rion, Nagumo was always around you, trying to get a reaction from you. You're not stupid, it was obvious how he was always trying to brighten up your day. He's been taking down every brick from the wall you put up around you and you always wondered how it would be nice to open up to someone like him.

You didn't know what had gotten into you but you just felt like you wanted him to take a look inside, just a little sneak peek. Maybe like a cry for help? Like, 'I'm here! Someone's still alive here!' even if it's just with him and this moment alone.