Just a Little While Longer || An anime love story

Chapter 36

     When I went up the rooftop, Ayato was there leaning over the rails and looking out on the horizons. "Ayato-kun." I called his name. He suddenly looked back and smiled when he saw me. "You asked for me?" I asked as I'm walking to him. "Just felt like seeing you." He smiles. "Oh, I heard from Arisa and Tsubaki that they were trying to force you into the contest, but apparently you were too stubborn." He chuckles. "Oh, well, can't help it." I shrug, remembering about their doings.

     "You seriously should sign up." He says turning to me. "But—"

     "I don't want anyone else to be my partner." He tells me. "If those idiots hadn't signed me up in the first place, then I would've been fine with you not wanting to do it but now that they've signed me up, I can't back down even if I beg. And you saw how those girls were surrounding me."

     I look away hesitantly, not sure what to do. "...Look, it's just, I'm already part of the cooking people, I can't do twice at the same time, and—"

     "We signed you up Shay!" I heard a familiar excited voice go. Turning around, Arisa and Tsubaki came, Arisa all smiling and Tsubaki just rolling her eyes. "I wasn't in on this." She tells us. I look at them confused, then suddenly realized. "What?! You did what?!"

     "Don't worry, we already asked your chef for permission for you to skip out some, so now you can participate!" Arisa exclaims. I look at her, dead with wide opened mouth. "Why would you do that?!" I complain. "Oh come on, we heard you, you said you would do it if you didn't had any problems with the cooking stuff." Tsubaki joins in on the excitement from Arisa. Ayato turns to me, smirking. "Well, you can't back down now."

     "But I don't want to do it."

     "You said you would." Ayato smilingly raises a brow. "I said that just to sound nice." I confessed. "Shay, you can't be anybody else's partner, neither can Ayato, so come on! You'll be thanking me later on!" Arisa exclaims then ran out the door after grabbing Tsubaki's arm before I could explode to her.

Arisa's POV

     I started laughing after we ran away from Shay. "You sure that was a good idea." Tsubaki asks me, unsure that this wasn't a good idea. "Don't worry, I do this all the time to her." I replied after calming down. "Besides, once you're signed up, you're signed up, you can't quit your spot."

     "But she's Prez, she can change it right?" Tsubaki asks. I shook my head. "This happens every year and every year, the rules are the same. Either she's Prez or not, she can't change that." I answered. Tsubaki then shrugs. "Well, let's just see about those two then." She said and I nodded in agreement. After that, we told senpai and Ryo all about this and they both laughed happily. So tomorrow starts off the day of the contest. That'll be totally fun. It's too bad Takuma-kun is busy, I would've loved to have a rival. 😏

Shay's POV

That next day came and we all got ready for the contests. Us contestant girls had to change into this certain dress. Some were given black, some were given white. I had the white one. The guys, I'm guessing are just wearing their normal uniform clothing since that happens every year.

     I had Arisa put my hair up in a messy bun, after she did that, she left, back to the audiences. As we're called to go up next, the girls meet up with their guy near the stage. "Shay, you're up." Rina sensei tells me. My heart started pounding, scared about the audience reactions as I'm walking out of the dressing room. When we were near the stage, Ayato was already there. He saw me and looked at me in awe. Although my face was a bit flustered, I tried hiding it. "T-there's nothing to gawk at, it's just a dress." I tell him. "But you look nice in white." He smiles as I placed my arm around his, to get ready to go on stage. "Next couple, Ayato Kajima and Shay Akira!" The announcer announces. I was starting to get the creeps when Ayato suddenly squeezes my hand. "It's okay." He assures me as if reading my mind. I smiled back at him and we went on the stage.

     Some people were surprised that we signed up together, some were surprised because they thought I wouldn't signed up, others watched in disgust, such as Hana and Yuki and their minions of course, but some, like Arisa, Tsubaki, and Yui-senpai cheered loudly. "Yeah Shay! Work it!" I hear Arisa shouting. Looking down on the floor, I felt embarrassed by what she was doing. "This girl." I quietly mummer to myself.

After all the contestants were announced, we went onto our games. One of the games was about, your guy going behind a wall and holding out his hand and the girl has to find it. So the girls and I had to look away for the guys to get their spots behind the wall. What if I get it wrong?! Gosh, I'll be the worse! I start worrying about the worst possible outcomes. I can't do this! I can't do this! I can't do this! As I'm screaming myself in discourage, the announcers finally says that we could go search for our guy's hand now.

We all walked up the stage and I'm worrying like a freak. Some of the girls looked confident, maybe too confident, some were worried too, and some just looked normal. Remember his touch, you know his touch...Right...?

Looking at all the hands I've looked at so far doesn't look like it belongs to Ayato-kun. Then, just as I'm about to give out, a certain hand struck out to me. I gave a soft gasp. Ayato? I ask myself. Going near it, I held the hand, feeling it, and it felt like Ayato's. I gave him a squeeze and he squeezed back, letting me know that he knows it's me. "I got it!" I yelled as I pulled his hand forward, making a loud thud. I jump, knowing that I just make him bang his head against the wall. "Sorry." I quietly tell him.

When all the girls finally choose a guy, they finally revealed it. Some were totally wrong, and when mine was revealed, Ayato was standing right in front of me. We gave each other a soft smile. Only five of us girls had the right hand, so the others had to end it at that while the rest of us continued. "Good job, I taught you well." Ayato smirks as he whispers in my ear. I flustered and back away. All he did in return was just laugh at my reaction.

The final game for the best couple was left with two couples, me and Ayato against a couple from Ayato's class. It was a question that we were given. If the couples had the same answers, then that couple wins, if not, they lose. This was one of the hardest, in the past years, barely anyone passed this stage, so you really had to know your partner. It's like a telepathy game. The couple in Ayato's class had a question about what was their favorite memory together. Their answers were a bit similar but also different, so that means that if me and Ayato got ours wrong, then we'll lose.

"Shay and Ayato, your question is...What is the best thing about your partner?" He asks us. I look at Ayato, scared if I'll get it wrong or not, he gave me an assuring smile. With that smile, I felt better and gave him a smile back. That's it! I quickly wrote my answer down. It's gotta be this...right...?

"Okay, time's up." The announcer says after some few more moments. I was first to reveal my answer so I took a deep breath and showed the audience my answer. "His smile!" The announcer announces. Not wanting to look at Ayato for some answers, I shut my eyes closed as I look away from the audience. "Her smile!" The announcer announces. I gasp and quickly looked up. No way! Ayato just chuckles as he sees my shocked face.

So basically, we won this year best couple. It was my first time too, and I won. I felt so proud of myself and thanked Arisa for signing me up. "Told ya you'll thank me in the end." Was what she said. But, after that answer though, I soon start realizing that I'm always happy and feeling better when Ayato smiles at me. And I remember when I first started smiling after some years, maybe that's why Ayato wrote that...