"I heard someone confessed to you before the opening ceremony today, Kiyoshi?" Mio prodded.
Kiyoshi looked shocked for a moment before he smiled again.
"Yeah. The girls just can't let me be with everyone, they want me all to themselves."
"Not just one, though. Seven or eight girls confessed to him today." Ren added. "I wonder what good deeds must precede such luck."
"Seven or eight. Are you kidding me?" Akio's eyes widened in disbelief.
"I am sure the girls who did confess and the girls who didn't are all weeping by now. Though they don't know they dodged a bullet." Ren laughed.
"Hey, Kiyoshi, you weren't being rude and smug with a girl when she asked you out, were you?" Akari growled.
Kiyoshi's smile started to strain a little.
In the past, I had seen him laughing and throwing better comebacks. Even when they were insulted him far worse than this. But today it's different. Did something happen?
"You didn't possibly say, 'I am the School Prince and you'd have to share me with all the girls,' did you? I bet the girls would have beaten you." Mio joked.
He kept stirring his coffee repeatedly.
I think I should stop them.
"Umm.. EVERYONE!" I practically yelled. Everyone looked at me. Even some people from other tables. What should I do? What should I say? Oh, right.
"Since we're done with lunch, I wanted to share these with you guys." I took out a pink box from my bag, which I bought from Sakura Colour this morning.
"Sakura Colour!" Mio gasped.
"Are you sure, Hina? Aren't these expensive?" Akari seemed worried.
Yes, these were expensive. In fact, my mom had asked me to bring these home today. She loved Sakura Colour sweets, and I was sure that an earful of a lecture was waiting for me at home, so please just take them already.
"It's... it's okay. I bought them to celebrate the end of the first-term."
Everyone seemed reluctant to take the sweets. I really messed up the timing and made everything awkward.
Urghhh... What am I even doing here? Everyone, just take some and start talking about them if you want.
"Thanks, Hina. I would love to have one." Akio took one sweet from the box with a playful smile.
"I have heard of them. I would love to try too!" Kiyoshi said with a soft, grateful look.
Akari, Mio and Ren also took one.
"God! This really melts in my mouth. It's so good!"
"Right? I heard they only sell these in the morning, and there's always a line in front of the store."
"You waited in line for us, Hina? Thank you again."
"This is bliss!"
Everyone looked content. Thank you and sorry, Mom.
After that, everyone talked about sweets. Mio shared her info on summer special parfaits. Akari looked at her as if she was a cream puff. Wait, what? And the guys were being guys.
Now it was time to leave. We paid our bills and left the restaurant. Akio left first, as he was called home early. Later, Akari and Mio left, as we continued on our way to the station. I went to the station with Ren and Kiyoshi. Ren got on a train, while I was waiting beside Kiyoshi.
He had a slight grin, but his eyes were gazing into the distance. Even after we left the restaurant, Kiyoshi's expression only worsened.
"Thank you for earlier," Kiyoshi said in a low and calm voice.
"For the sweets?" I asked.
"Yes, thank you for the sweets again." Kiyoshi chuckled.
He wore a neutral—slightly vulnerable expression and sat on the bench behind him. He looked at the sky with wandering eyes, except there was a roof blocking it.
"Are you okay, Kiyoshi? You looked down the whole day?" I asked him, regretting it the very next second.
He looked surprised. "You could tell?"
"Yes, I guess." I replied. "Are you tired from turning down the confessions today?"
His lips trembled and his gaze flickered here and there before he spoke.
"Can I rant a little?" he asked with drooping eyelids.
He must have wanted to share or at least, throw those feelings outside.
"I'm listening."
He looked at me with a sad smile. He tilted his head backward and looked above. "Today, from the moment I entered in school, I just repeated a cycle. Every time a girl called me at a specific place, I went there. I tried to stay calm, knowing what it was about. I didn't look away from the girl and gave her my complete attention. Of course, I wasn't frowning or staring at her. I would chat with her to ease the tension, or sincerely wait. No matter how much she stuttered, stammered, or even paused for breaks, I waited. Once she asked me out, I thanked her for feeling that way and made it clear that I didn't reciprocate those feelings, while trying my utmost to be considerate of her. Of course, every girl looked sad right after I said that." He sighed. His eyes were wavering, gazing into the past, reliving those memories.
"The feeling you experience when you turn someone down, look at them as their smile fall, their confidence betray them and they lose their composure is one of the worst. It really hurts to watch it." He opened a bottle and drank some water.
"That's... really sad."
"After school, a girl called me or rather abducted me from the hallway and took me to the back of the building where another girl waited. She wore her hair in two braids and had rectangular glasses. I knew what to expect as I walked towards her. She didn't even look at me and just stared down. Her face screamed nervousness, so I waited patiently. She stood there for a few minutes before she gathered her courage and asked me out."
"I turned her down as politely as I could. No, as politely as anybody could. But she started crying. I couldn't just walk away when she was crying, so I went to her and tried to console her. But she pushed me and turned around. "Please don't look at me!" she screamed. Her friend pushed me away. She asked me to leave, furiously. She said that I was the one who made that girl cry, so I... shouldn't... bother acting considerate." He turned to me, the empty bottle dangling from his hand.
"That was the cherry on the whole cake of the day."
"That's... too cruel." I felt it. He was being criticized for something that wasn't even his fault.
"Right? Tell me about it."
He was just being a considerate guy who was putting up with these confessions and sadness all day long. He didn't ask for it, nor did he run away. He faced them all with sincerity. But he was still being criticised for his actions. For something that wasn't his fault. Something that was obvious and natural. That must be what it's like to be Kiyoshi. People always ask too much from him. To be perfect, to not be relatable, to be a fantasy.
Girls who just wanted to admire that fantasy watched from afar. While girls who wanted to live that fantasy asked him out. When Kiyoshi rejected them, they were thrown back in this reality that doesn't care. They saw him as a dream and when they realised that it was only a dream, they would reject it altogether.
This isn't a problem anyone can solve. I don't think I can help him. But maybe I can try to make him feel better.
"I think the girl was just embarrassed," I said, looking at the tracks.
"Huh?" he turned to me with a confused expression.
"You know, she was the last one to ask you out, and probably knew that she would get rejected too. So she must have been overwhelmed by those emotions even before she asked you out. I think she would have cried, even if she hadn't confessed to you. So don't blame yourself."
Kiyoshi looked at me with wide eyes.
"Really?" he asked hesitantly.
I looked at him. "Yes. Also when she started crying, it probably messed up her make-up. So she was trying to hide. She wouldn't want to be seen by her crush in such a state, even if she had already been rejected, right?" I said with a comforting smile.
"I guess... yeah."
He looked at me with meaningful eyes as the corners of his mouth lifted a little. He didn't say anything until his train arrived, but his expression improved with every passing second. He stood up from the bench and turned to me.
"Thank you again, Hina." he said slowly. His shoulders were relaxed, and he had a lingering smile.
He went inside the train. As the doors were closing, he waved his hands and gave me a smile. This smile felt different than what I have seen all day. It looked—genuine. I waved back.
This wasn't the first time anyway. Before every vacation, he was asked out by many girls, or so Akari said. Perhaps he got overwhelmed by his emotions today, just like that girl. So much for being the School's Prince. I chuckled—no, I was laughing I believe.
I walked to my platform and saw that one train had just passed a minute ago, and next one was coming an hour later. Honestl... Wait, what? An hour?
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