The school morning moved on like nothing happened.
Chairs scraped floors.
Homeroom dragged.
Akiyo had her head on the desk halfway through math again.
And no one—no one—even suspected that Zay Harukawa, Kiro Yamakaze, Ryusuke Endo, and Nakahara had just spent an entire night together gaming, yelling, and straight-up bonding.
Until.
Lunch break.
The hallway near Class 2-B buzzed with noise as always. Students from other classes drifted in, some trading bento snacks, some stealing chairs to chat in groups.
Akiyo was mid-sip of her juice box, leaning against the wall beside her class door. Calm. Normal.
And then—
"YO, NAKAHARA!!"
She nearly choked.
Across the hallway, from Class 3-B, Ryusuke appeared—bright as the sun, waving like they were besties in a drama series.
Zay was behind him.
Kiro was facepalming already.
Too late.
"WE'RE COMING OVER AGAIN THIS WEEKEND, RIGHT?"
The hallway froze.
Like a live glitch in reality.
Akiyo, still holding the straw in her mouth, stared at him.
"...Ryu..."
"What? We are, right?" he beamed, hands behind his head, swaying like this was completely normal.
A girl behind Akiyo whispered, "Wait. Nakahara—and the Decay boys?"
"Isn't that Zay Harukawa next to him??"
"They went to her house??"
"She knows Zay??"
Zay sighed. "You had one job."
Kiro leaned in, stage-whispering, "Abort mission. Abort."
Akiyo's eye twitched.
Her juice box made a sad crumple sound as she crushed it in her fist.
She walked forward, calm as can be, and grabbed Ryusuke by the sleeve.
Smile sweet.
"Hey, Endo. Let's have a quick talk behind the building. Just you and me. Alone."
He blinked. "Oh? That sounds—wait. Why does it sound like a trap—"
She yanked him off like a scene from a sitcom.
Zay stared after her, then casually turned the other direction to avoid eye contact with the watching crowd.
Kiro sighed again. "RIP, Ryu. You had a good run."
I turned back to my desk, pretending to be busy rearranging my pencil case or whatever else people do to recover from verbal combat with a social landmine.
And then—
"You're not plain."
I paused.
Blink.
Looked at him.
Zay didn't even glance back. Just said it like he was commenting on the weather or the fact that our math teacher had a coffee stain on her sleeve.
Like it was just… obvious.
My brain lagged.
"...What?" I said, a little sharper than I meant to.
He finally turned his head a little toward me. Not all the way. Just enough for that lazy red-eye look that was more unreadable than any exam question.
"I said you're not plain," he repeated, then looked back out the window like that was that.
My ears burned.
Excuse me???
I slapped my notebook shut, spun in my chair toward him.
"And what do you mean I'm plain in the first place?!"
That got his attention.
He looked back, blinked once. "...I didn't say you were."
I groaned. "No, but you were replying to them. Like I was plain and you were trying to, what—defend me?? Just say I'm normal or something. What kind of weird indirect way is that to talk?!"
Zay tilted his head slightly. "You're overthinking it."
"No! You're under-explaining it!"
My cheeks were hot now and I knew it. The kind of warmth that started at your neck and betrayed you even if your face stayed blank. I tugged my ponytail tighter like that would fix the heat.
He just watched me quietly for a second and then gave the faintest smirk.
Like a barely-there one. But it was there. That jerk.
"What??" I demanded.
"You're fun when you're mad."
I nearly exploded.
"ZAY—!!"
"Oi, what's with the yelling?" Kiro slid into the classroom with a milk carton like this was a sitcom. "Are we fighting again or flirting this time?"
I froze. "Wha—?? I—excuse me???"
Zay didn't answer. Just looked back out the window, peaceful as a monk.
I was going to kill someone.