As the hours dragged on, school became less about classes and more about survival.
I might've made it through the day if not for the weight of four different stares burning holes into the back of my skull.
One full of rage.
One innocent and sunny.
One blank as a robotic assassin.
And the last?
Smug. Flirty. Like she'd already won and was just waiting for me to admit it.
Yeah. That one was Arisa.
As the final bell rang, I stood from my desk like a man walking into his own funeral.
Yuki brushed past me without so much as a glance, her aura alone enough to remind me I still had a target on my back.
Nao and Reina followed close behind. Nao waved, grinning ear to ear like a cat that just found the cream.
"See you soooon, Souta~!" she said, walking beside Reina.
Then she added with a devilish giggle, "Mmm, it seems we can just walk there together. Nice and convenient~"
…I didn't even reply. I just sighed and kept walking.
"Let's go then."
As we stepped outside, I could feel it, every guy in school staring me down like I'd stolen their one ticket to heaven.
"She's actually going to study with him?"
"Lucky ass loser."
"She probably feels bad for him…"
Their words were daggers.
…Yeah? I hope it hurts. I hope they burn.
Let this loser bask in the glory of the hotties.
The library was quieter than usual, end-of-day silence hanging in the air. We said our greetings to the half-asleep receptionist and walked toward the back, heading for the same study table as last time.
But even before we turned the corner, I could feel it.
Something was off.
Like the world was setting me up for failure… or fanservice.
As we rounded the corner.
"...Nao? Reina?" I blinked.
There they were.
Two blondes.
One with a pin in her hair.
One without.
And both sitting exactly where Arisa and I were supposed to be alone.
I turned to look at Arisa, and her smile was long gone.
Her eye twitched. The silent rage radiating off her skin was hotter than global warming.
"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me," she muttered through her teeth.
Nao waved like this was all totally normal.
"Heyyy Souta! Fancy seeing you here!" she said way too loudly, way too cheerfully.
I swear I could hear Arisa's soul explode.
She stomped to the end of the table and took the seat like she was ready to go to war. I followed, cautiously sitting beside her while shooting a polite nod at Reina.
"So… you guys here for something?" I asked, pretending I didn't already know the answer.
Both girls pointed to their books in perfect sync.
"Homework," they said.
...Also in sync.
Arisa narrowed her eyes, her voice flat.
"Sure. Just homework. Jerks."
She didn't even look at them.
Didn't have to.
The smirks Reina and Nao gave each other said it all.
Me?
I was just confused. Tired. Hungry.
But mostly confused.
And so, the session began.
"Alright, what are we covering today?" I asked, opening her textbook.
"History," Arisa grumbled.
"Oh boy," I said, scanning the lesson.
And of course.
Romeo and Juliet.
Fucking figures.
*
"So… let me get this straight."
I squinted at the textbook like it was written in alien.
"You're telling me you've never heard of Romeo and Juliet?"
Arisa blinked, arms crossed under her chest. "They sound like a TikTok couple."
"…Arisa. They're literally dead."
She tilted her head. "Oh, so they're like one of those sad influencers?"
"…Close enough."
I sighed, flipping the page.
Reina silently took notes across from us while Nao casually shoved another cookie into her mouth, watching the chaos unfold like a live drama. She wasn't even pretending to study anymore.
"I just don't get it," Arisa said, frowning at the passage. "Like why didn't Juliet just FaceTime him or something?"
"They lived in the 1500s, Arisa."
"Yeah? And?"
"They didn't have phones!"
She blinked. "Then how did they update their Insta?"
Nao nearly choked on her cookie.
Reina adjusted her glasses without a word but the corner of her mouth twitched. She was either holding back a laugh or mentally updating a report to Interpol.
I rubbed my temples, trying to stay sane. "Okay, focus. Let's break it down. Juliet fakes her death, Romeo thinks it's real, so he offs himself. Then she wakes up, sees he's dead, and offs herself for real."
Arisa stared at me, horrified.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."
"It's tragic!"
"It's stupid!"
"Well. People say it's romantic."
That was the mistake.
Because now, Arisa leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand, and gave me that look. The dangerous one.
"Ohhh? You think dying for someone's romantic, Souta~?"
I backed up in my chair like she'd pulled out a hidden blade. "D-don't twist my words!"
She smiled. "So if I died, would you cry?"
"W-what kind of question is that?!"
Nao, now fully invested, whispered to Reina like a spy.
"Operation Love Trap is going very well."
"Confirmed," Reina said softly. "Subject A is sweating."
"Excellent."
Just as I was about to explode from second-hand embarrassment,
SLAM.
The library door burst open with the subtlety of a war crime.
Yuki stood there.
Hands in her pockets.
Eyes locked on me.
And even though her face was blank…
…I could feel it. That weird, icy pressure. Like she just saw a crime scene and somehow knew I was responsible.
"Oh look," Nao grinned. "Big Sis is here."
Arisa tensed.
I turned into a statue.
Reina lowered her book just enough to watch things burn.
Yuki strolled over, silent as a ghost, then sat down next to Reina like it was perfectly normal to drop into someone's date-study-trap session uninvited.
"Didn't think you were into group study," Nao said with a teasing edge.
Yuki opened her textbook. "I'm not. I'm just here to make sure certain people don't get distracted."
Her eyes flicked to Arisa.
Arisa rolled hers. "Relax, Juliet. He's not drinking any poison for me. Yet."
I choked on my own breath.
"W-why are we fighting?! This is just a study session!!"
The girls stared at me.
Nao smirked.
Reina raised a brow.
Yuki sipped from her water bottle like it was wine.
Arisa leaned closer. "You're blushing, Souta."
"I'M NOT!!"
Arisa: 1
Yuki: Cold stare
Nao: Full popcorn mode
Reina: Silently storing blackmail
This study session was a warzone.
Yuki was now flipping through her history book like it insulted her family. Arisa was scribbling notes with the kind of force that almost cracked the pen. The tension could slice titanium.
And me?
I was between two ticking time bombs.
"This is fine," I lied internally. "I'm totally not going to die."
That's when I felt it, someone tugging my sleeve.
I turned and saw Nao.
She leaned over, her cookie breath very present.
"Pssst," she whispered.
"Yes?"
Nao's grin stretched wide. "Wanna ditch?"
"Excuse me?"
She leaned closer. "Come on, Souta. Let's sneak off. You look like a hostage between two crime bosses."
I nervously glanced between Arisa and Yuki.
Yuki was glaring at the Roman Empire timeline like it owed her money.
Arisa had now broken her pen.
"Okay, yeah, sure. Where?"
She pointed with a dramatic flair.
"To the vending machines."
We slipped away under the guise of "getting water."
Nao led us down the quiet hall, giggling like we were breaking out of prison.
"You okay?" I asked, as we walked under the soft glow of the hall lights.
Nao didn't answer at first.
Then, to my surprise, she said, "You were really cool, y'know."
I blinked. "When?"
"Yesterday. With those creeps."
Her voice wasn't goofy now. It was softer, like a quiet breeze.
"I was scared… and you didn't even hesitate."
She looked up at me, that usual sparkle in her eyes a little dimmer now. "Most guys would've panicked or let it slide, but you stepped in. That meant something."
I rubbed the back of my neck, suddenly feeling the heat crawl up. "I mean… anyone would've done that, plus you helped me out remember."
She giggled. "True but still."
Then she skipped ahead, twirling like a dancer. "Still… thank you."
For a second, I was silent.
Because that wasn't the bubbly Nao I usually saw.
That was someone a little deeper.
A little braver.
And before I could say anything else.
THUNK.
The vending machine swallowed her money and gave her nothing.
"NOOOOOOOO!" she cried. "MY MELON SODA!"
I burst out laughing.
"See?!" she shouted dramatically. "The world hates cute girls!"
"You'll survive."
"No, I won't! This is how tragedies begin! No melon soda, then no happiness, then I marry a boring dude with no sense of humour!"
I patted her head. "I'll buy you a soda."
Nao froze like a cat being pet.
Then she blushed.
"…You're gonna make me fall for you if you do stuff like that."
I choked.
She skipped away, giggling again.
Back in the library, Reina had relocated to the opposite end of the table, quietly flipping pages.
The others hadn't noticed we were gone, probably too busy mentally duelling each other.
I sat next to her this time.
"Mind if I…?" I asked.
Reina didn't speak, but nodded slightly.
She was reading some romance short story. The title?
"Two Souls and a Balcony."
"…Isn't that another Romeo and Juliet thing?" I asked.
She looked down. "It's… similar."
Reina wasn't talkative. That much I knew.
But when she did talk, it was always thoughtful. Heavy, sometimes.
"You like romance?" I asked.
"I like the kind where no one dies."
Fair.
"…But it's not real, is it?" she added. "People don't fall that deeply in real life. It's just stories."
"Maybe," I replied. "But sometimes stories are how people understand what they want."
She stared at me.
Then, out of nowhere.
"You'd be a good character in one."
"Eh?"
She looked away quickly. "Forget I said anything."
Cue silence.
And then, she offered me one of her candies.
"Here."
I took it.
"…Thanks."
"No problem," she mumbled.
Her cheeks had a faint pink to them.
And me?
I was losing my damn mind.
The study session spiralled after that.
Arisa, having finally stopped glaring daggers at Nao and Reina, slid closer to me with a heavy sigh, one so exaggerated it could've been nominated for an Oscar.
"Ugh, I hate this question…" she said, clearly setting the stage.
I looked over. "What's wrong with it?"
"Everything."
She batted her lashes. "So maybe… Souta-sensei, you could help me again~?"
But Yuki wasn't having any of it.
Who looked up so fast from her book it was like she'd been waiting for the cue.
"Oh, how shocking," she said flatly. "Arisa needs help again. It's almost like she always needs help."
That hit hard.
Arisa's eye twitched.
"Excuse me?" she asked, her voice dripping in faux-sweetness.
"Nothing. Just funny how you conveniently forget how to think every time he's around."
Nao nearly choked on her drink.
Reina calmly popped another candy in her mouth and watched the trainwreck unfold.
"Are you trying to say I'm dumb?" Arisa asked, sitting up straighter.
Yuki smiled. "Oh no, Arisa. I'd never say that out loud. You just did it for me."
"Oh it's on, you walking ice tray," Arisa snapped, slamming her hand on the table.
"Oh it's on, you secondhand drama club understudy," Yuki fired back, not missing a beat.
Nao leapt in with the panic of someone about to witness a nuclear detonation.
"Okay okay okay! Let's take a deep breath!"
She waved her hands like she was fanning away the tension.
"We're here to study, right? Not start a war!"
"But she started it!" Arisa and Yuki shouted in sync.
"Girls… please," I begged, ready to crawl under the desk.
"I just wanted to know who invented printing," Reina said quietly.
"NO ONE CARES, REINA!" Arisa and Yuki barked at the same time.
Reina blinked. Then pulled out her earbuds and put them in without breaking eye contact.
Peaceful defiance.
Nao jumped to Arisa's side like a bodyguard. "Okay, deep breaths! Let's all hold hands and channel our inner otome heroines!"
Everything was falling apart.
Arisa was on the verge of exploding. Yuki had that "smile before I commit murder" expression.
Nao was halfway through chanting a peace mantra she probably found on an anime forum. Reina was now eating her second bag of gummies like it was dinner theatre.
And me?
I was sweating harder than a mid-boss in Dark Souls.
Then it happened.
"OI, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS, A DATING SIM?!?!"
A voice boomed from across the library.
We all turned, some with fear, some with shame, and Reina with the deadest eyes in existence.
It was Mr. Yamazaki, the 80-year-old librarian with a comb-over and war flashbacks from the '90s cell phone era.
He was holding a broom like a katana, glaring like we'd just committed treason.
"This ain't your personal love hotel! It's a LIBRARY!" he barked, spitting a little as he pointed at Nao.
"I-I was just making peace!" Nao yelped.
"Peace my ass! I saw you waving your hands like you're summoning Pokémon!"
Reina calmly put her bag of gummies in her pocket.
"...I would never summon without a permit."
"I heard yelling, thumping, and now you're accusing each other of crimes against homework!" Yamazaki banged the broom once on the ground like a gavel.
"OUT! All of you! Before I start handing out detention slips like candy!"
"But we didn't even finish the Romeo and Juliet-"
"I SAID OUT!"
We scrambled like our lives depended on it.
Books were flying, chairs nearly toppled, and Nao tripped over her own bag.
"MY GUMMIES!" Reina shouted, scooping them up mid-roll like it was a scene from Fast & Furious.
As we burst through the library doors.
"I swear, Yamazaki's got boss music, and I swear he just swore" I muttered.
And just like that…
We were officially banned from the library for the day.