The next morning at school felt… heavier.
Not dramatic. Not explosive.
Just… weird.
You know when someone says something at a sleepover and everyone laughs, but then the next day, no one looks at each other the same?
Yeah. That.
---
In class, I sat down at my desk Rei behind me, Shinbou beside me.
No one said anything for the first ten minutes.
Even Hinata was suspiciously silent.
Until she whispered: "Sooooo…"
I gave her a glare so sharp it could cut air.
She zipped her lips, mimed locking them, and threw the imaginary key out the window.
---
Rei was the first to speak.
"Yuki."
I turned. "Hm?"
"Do you always overthink things?"
"Do you always announce your crush with dramatic eye contact?"
He grinned. "Not always. Just when it's fun."
Shinbou shifted in his seat.
---
At lunch, things got stranger.
Some girls were whispering again apparently curious whether Rei and I were "official."
Hinata slapped down her tray beside me and whispered, "You need to fix this triangle before it turns into a dodecahedron."
"Don't start with geometry right now."
"I'm serious. Shinbou hasn't even looked at you since karaoke."
That part was true.
He'd barely made eye contact all day.
No sarcastic comments.
No quiet glances.
It was like he'd closed a door and didn't want me to knock.
---
After school, I caught up with him by the vending machines.
He was staring at the can he'd just bought like it held the answers to the universe.
"Shinbou."
He looked up, startled. "Oh. Hey."
Silence.
Then I said, "About last night…"
"You don't have to explain," he cut in.
"I wasn't going to."
Pause.
"But you looked at me," I said. "When you answered that question."
His fingers tightened around the can slightly.
"Did I?"
"You know you did."
Another silence.
Then, softly:
> "Does it matter?"
I didn't know what to say.
Because it did.
But it wasn't supposed to.
And that made everything harder.
---
He finally looked at me really looked.
And said, "I think I'm going to skip the group stuff for a while."
Then walked away.
Leaving me behind.
With a heart full of things I couldn't say.