Eternal Starlight (Kaito x Maki)

Chapter 3: Dummies with Dumbells

The large fan on her ceiling blew cool air throughout the room as Maki sat up in her bed. Rubbing the remnants of hazy sleep from her tired eyes, she yawned and got up to stretch.

It seemed as though the past few days had gone by in a blur, as it was already Saturday. As much as she hated to admit it, a good portion of her time had been spent thinking about Kaito. He had become more of a distraction this past week than ever before. Again, she hated to admit it, but he was more of a pleasant distraction than an annoying one.

"That doesn't matter now," Maki thought to herself as she made her way to her kitchen, "I have a few things to get done today, then I'll have the rest of the day to myself."

After a few minutes, Maki had started with her daily routine, along with a few other typical chores. She ate breakfast, brushed her hair and teeth, did some laundry, cleaned the dishes, and tidied up a bit. It wasn't particularly eventful or out of the norm, but it was peaceful, and it was quiet. Maki could appreciate the silence, as the past week had been anything but quiet.

Before long, it was already mid-afternoon. Aside from a few extra chores atop her normal ones, the day went by with little to note. Frankly, it was pretty boring.

Maki found herself laying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Perhaps it's stupid to wish, but I hope something interesting happens," she thought silently. Then, as if someone above had answered her plea, the phone on her bedside table vibrated with a noisy buzzing. Intrigued, Maki reached over and opened the app from which the notification had come from.

It was Kaito.

Hey Maki roll, you busy?

Normally, she would've freaked out that Kaito had messaged her since she never gave him her number. However, the day prior, all the students in their class downloaded a messaging app that allowed them to message one another, the teacher, create group chats for projects, and the like.

Unsure as to whether she should be interested or not, Maki began typing.

No, why?

A good minute had passed before she was greeted with a lengthy response.

Ok, so Shuichi and I were plannin' to go to the gym to work out so I figured it'd be cool if you tagged along with us. We'd really love to have you, and it'll be good for us to all work up a good sweat! We were plannin' to meet up at the front doors at 4. You think you'd be down for that?

Maki worked out plenty as it were, and she had just finished a four-mile run not two hours ago. It didn't matter regardless, as she wasn't going.

I'll pass.

Come on, please? It'll be fun!

You aren't going to stop bugging me until I say yes, are you?

Pretty much.

She shut off her phone without bothering to respond. His persistence was annoying, but then again, he wouldn't be 'Kaito' without it.

After a few more noisy dings, Maki set her phone to silent mode and returned it to her bedside table. They were planning to meet at four, huh? Ignoring the seven message notifications Kaito had already sent her, she clicked on her phone for a moment to check the time.

"3:15 pm" read the screen. The violet haired dork certainly wasn't giving her much time to get ready. Not that she intended to go, anyway.