The faint scent of chalk and floor polish lingered in the air as the final bell rang. Class 2-B erupted into chatter, chairs scraping against the floor, the clatter of lunchboxes and laughter filling the room.
Haruto Tanaka slid his textbooks neatly into his bag, already planning his quiet walk home and the comforting solitude of his room. But fate, it seemed, had other plans.
"Tanaka-kun!"
He looked up. There she was again—Aoi Nakamura, beaming as though the world had never heard of exhaustion. She jogged over, clutching a small paper bag tied with a yellow ribbon.
"Here! My latest experiment!" she announced proudly, thrusting the bag toward him.
Haruto blinked. "...It's not another burnt cookie, is it?"
Her cheeks puffed in mock offense. "Excuse me! I'll have you know these are perfectly golden lemon cookies this time."
"'This time,'" he echoed under his breath, eyeing the bag suspiciously.
Aoi rolled her eyes but laughed. "Okay, okay, maybe the first batch was a little overbaked. But these are fine! Promise."
She waited, arms crossed expectantly. Haruto sighed and took one. He hesitated for a second—then bit into it.
It was soft, slightly crumbly, and carried the faintest tang of lemon. Surprisingly… refreshing.
"Well?" she asked, eyes wide and hopeful.
He looked at her for a moment, trying not to show the smile threatening to tug at his lips. "It's… actually good."
Aoi clasped her hands together dramatically. "Victory! Finally, Tanaka-kun approved!"
"Don't make it sound like I'm some kind of food critic," he said, turning away to hide his grin.
"You are! You've got that serious face like, 'hmm, the texture needs 3% more sugar,'" she teased, mimicking his stoic expression with exaggerated precision.
He let out a quiet laugh—barely audible, but she caught it.
"There it is!" she said triumphantly. "I knew you could smile!"
---
They found themselves in the library again that afternoon, seated by the window where the sunlight poured in golden waves. Aoi doodled small suns and hearts in the margins of her notes, while Haruto patiently explained quadratic equations.
"Okay, so the formula is—"
"—something about negative bees and square roots?"
"...Aoi."
She giggled. "Sorry! It just sounded funny when you said it last time. Negative bee plus-minus something."
Haruto sighed, but his lips curved slightly. "It's b, not 'bee.'"
"Ohhh," she said, nodding solemnly. "So no bees involved?"
"No bees."
"Shame. Bees are cute."
He closed his eyes and counted silently to three. "Focus, Nakamura."
She grinned sheepishly and bent over her notebook again, the tip of her tongue peeking out in concentration. Despite her playful nature, she really did try—and somehow, that made Haruto want to teach her even more.
When she finally solved a problem correctly, she gasped. "Wait—wait! I got it! Look!"
He leaned closer. "...That's right."
"Really?! You're not just saying that to make me feel better?"
"No, it's actually right. See?" He pointed at her steps. "You factored correctly."
Her smile lit up the room. "I did it!"
Without thinking, she threw her hands up—and accidentally brushed his arm. It wasn't much, just a brief touch, but Haruto froze.
Aoi blinked, realizing what happened. "Ah—sorry!"
"It's… fine," he said quickly, looking away. His ears felt strangely warm.
She tilted her head. "You okay? You look a little red."
"I'm fine," he said again, perhaps a bit too fast.
Aoi giggled softly and went back to her notes, humming under her breath.
Haruto glanced at her from the corner of his eye. The sunlight caught in her hair, turning it into threads of gold. She looked so content—like just being here, in this small quiet moment, was enough.
And somehow… it was contagious.
He turned back to his textbook, but the corner of his mouth refused to stay straight.
Maybe studying wasn't so boring after all.