[Later that night, at Aria-san's apartment.]
"How can I get him to notice me?" Aria-san muttered to herself, hugging a pillow in her lap. Her hair was down, and she wore loose, comfortable clothing, having just come out of the bath.
How could she get the chuuni's attention? She pondered, curled up on the sofa, reflecting that she was neither goth nor tall, nor did she possess a large chest to boast about.
Her maid, Mai-san, then suggested, "How about telling him how you really feel?"
Aria-san sighed. "You know I can't do that." She buried her face in the pillow, exhausted from her internal conflict.
It wasn't that she was particularly interested in the chuuni; it had been over a decade since they last met. Even though they were close back then, so much time had passed that they were practically strangers now.
"Besides, if anyone should confess, it should be him. The one who confesses first loses in the game of love and war, after all." Aria-san excused herself with that reasoning, for not making any advances toward the chuunibyou so far.
"Whatever you say, Aria-sama," Mai-san replied sarcastically, humorously mocking her master's excuse while maintaining a deadpan face.
Aria-san squinted, unimpressed by Mai-san's attitude. "You're making fun of me, aren't you?"
Mai-san just smiled cluelessly, pretending to be unaware of Aria-san's accusation.
On a more serious note, Mai-san inquired, "Aria-sama, it has been a few weeks since we transferred to Hokkyokusei, and you haven't made any progress. When are you planning to make your move?"
Aria-san awkwardly replied, "I... I'm working on it," seeming to have no real strategy at all.
"Do you have any ideas?" she asked, hoping that Mai-san might have some suggestions.
As expected, Aria-san hadn't prepared any strategy. Fortunately, Mai-san had conducted her own research by observing her classmates.
"Well..." And so the two discussed their plan moving forward.
[The next day]
In Class 1-A, as Aria-san sat at her desk, she stared at her eraser, reflecting on the strategy she had discussed with Mai-san the night before.
"Aria-sama, as I've mingled with other students in my section, I learned some things they do when they like someone," Mai-san began. "They refer to their romantic interest as a 'crush' and believe in superstitions that can help their love life."
'Alright, first is the eraser,'
Aria-san wrote my name on the eraser, following Mai-san's advice that "people write their crush's name on the back of their eraser and use it as a good luck charm to give them courage when the item is present."
Then, Aria-san pretended to drop her eraser right in front of me. It bounced to my feet, catching my attention.
I picked it up, wondering why this unfamiliar-looking eraser had my name on it.If their logic was correct, this was enough to communicate that I was the person she fancied.
However, I wondered, "Why does this eraser have my name on it?" I stared at the suspicious-looking object, not remembering ever owning it.
Aria-san then looked back at me, saying, "It's mine." She glared at me, trying to hide her embarrassment, though the tips of her ears were flushed.
At that moment, it clicked for me: 'Don't tell me... SHE WANTS TO ERASE ME?!' I thought, misunderstanding the hidden meaning behind the eraser, completely unaware of the crush lucky charm concept.
...
"It didn't work...?" Aria-san thought to herself, questioning my lack of reaction.
'Maybe he didn't read it?' That would explain why I was able to remain calm even after receiving a show of romantic interest, even if indirectly.
If that didn't work, she figured it was time to move on to her next strategy. In Mei-san's words, "A similar approach would be to fill the back of their notebook with their crush's name."
With that in mind, Aria-san raised her hand, excusing herself for a bathroom break. However, before she left, she handed me her notebook, telling me to "Guard this with your life."
'Can't you just hide it under your desk?' I thought, wondering why she was ordering me around all of a sudden, completely unaware of her hidden agenda.
After she was gone, with nothing better to do, I opened her notebook out of curiosity.
'She has beautiful handwriting,' I noted, flipping through the pages filled with our lessons. I wondered what the ojou-sama's writing quality was like; I wanted to tease her if it turned out she had bad handwriting, like she did back in our childhood. However, all I could do was admire her beautiful penmanship. Until I reached the last page.
'Why is the back page, filled with my name...?' In contrast to the elegant handwriting I'd admired earlier, the letters on this page were crooked, scrawled in red ink, sending chills down my spine as if it were some kind of curse for the person named on the paper.
'A death note?!' I thought to myself, perplexed about why my name was written over and over again in red ink at the back of Aria-san's notebook.
'I knew she hated me, but I didn't realize she hated me this much...' In reality, she was just too embarrassed to write my name neatly, causing her letters to be crooked due to her shaking hands.
I quickly closed the notebook, deciding to pretend I hadn't seen what was inside.
When Aria-san returned, she asked me, "Did you open the notebook?" She asked with a glare, though in truth, she was just curious if I had noticed the romantic hints she had been trying to convey all this time.
"Nope, didn't see a thing," I responded, acting clueless about the secrets hidden in that notebook.
'I guess this plan didn't work either,' Aria-san thought to herself, realizing she still hadn't managed to send her message across.
[Later that lunch.]
Later during lunch, Aria-san approached me. In Mei-san's words, "They have a phrase called, 'A way to a man's heart is through his stomach.' That means you should feed them the food they like, and surely they will fall for you."
"Yukiya-kun. Ah~"
Out of nowhere, while we were eating, I found Aria-san trying to feed me with her chopsticks.
"N-No, thank you..." I replied, feeling a bit nervous about what she was trying to offer me.
For the past few days, Aria-san had observed me trying out spicy food during lunch. I was actually trying to improve my spice tolerance because the last time I bought meat buns with Mocha-san, I could barely keep a straight face, not wanting the world to know about my one and only weakness.
"I said. Ah~" she repeated, persistently trying to feed me while smiling so menacingly.
'It seems she's trying to taunt me,' I thought to myself, wondering why she was acting so out of character all of a sudden. She might have noticed I can't handle spicy food and is now teasing me for it. 'I accepted the challenge.'
I bravely opened my mouth and took a bite of the food she offered, trying hard to maintain a straight face. My face turned slightly red, and she had the audacity to smile at me so cheekily.
She probably thought I was embarrassed, looking at me as if she were feeding a dog. Little did she know, spicy food was the only thing I could handle, so I thought, 'She really must hate me, huh.'
"How is it?" Aria-san inquired for my opinion, smiling innocently.
"It tastes great..." I replied, barely holding on to my facade.
When Aria-san left the room, I immediately grabbed Mocha-san's already opened strawberry milk box and drank every drop of it through a straw.
"H-Hey?!"
'My strawberry milk!' Mocha-san screamed internally, watching her drink disappear in an instant.
"S-Sorry, I'll buy you two milkshakes later," I promised, wanting to make up for what had just happened.
"S-Sure..." Mocha-san blushed, realizing, 'Isn't that an indirect kiss just now?'
Favors aside, I clenched my fist, thinking to myself, 'I'll definitely pay her back for this.' I sighed heavily, muttering under my breath, "She really must hate me, huh."
Mocha-san then commented, "I don't know. You guys are more alike than you think you are."
She said this without realizing it, trying to forget the indirect kiss that had just occurred.
"What do you mean? How are we similar?" I asked, taken aback by Mocha-san's statement. Only after I inquired did Mocha-san realize she had blurted those words out loud.
Nervously, she replied, "Oh. I-It's nothing," while thinking to herself, 'That you're both tsunderes' in one way or another.
Humoring Mocha-san's comment just now, I began to ponder to myself.
'Could she also be, another shadow hero...?'