WEEK ONE: Friday (Yuzuru)

Lunch wasn't nearly as satisfying when I couldn't nap with Seryou. I did get to eat the food he'd given me though, and it was maybe the best bento I'd ever had, with rice and salad and eggs and fish and even a cup of miso in a little thermos. So much better than what I usually ate at school. I devoured every last bit, and was in the process of licking the container clean when Koike's fist landed on my head.

"Ow," I said loudly. "Why do I stay friends with you? All you ever do is hit me."

Koike made a face. "Why do I stay friends with you? You're so gross."

"Am not," I retorted, and licked the inside of the container one more time. She raised her fist and I ducked away. "You don't understand how good this is."

"Where'd you get all that from, anyway? Did your mom make it?"

"Seryou gave it to me," I said while inspecting the second container. There was still some sauce and a few grains of rice at the bottom. I decided to swipe it out with my finger, since Koike was so opposed to the licking.

"I just bet he did." She tapped the end of her chopsticks against her own bento, kind of like she was debating saying something else.

I sucked the sauce and rice off my finger and eyeballed her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Koike sighed. She looked around a little, like she was making sure we wouldn't be overheard, then pulled out her phone. "Shino, I think you need to see this."

A video started playing on her phone screen. She had the volume muted, but I recognized Seryou with the Pocky sticking out of his mouth. Damn, he even looked hot from the camera's perspective, with his elegant features and wispy long hair and totally kissable lips framing the pink snack.

Then I appeared on the screen, biting the end of the stick and eating it all the way up to where Seryou held it in his teeth. I hadn't seen it at the time, but he had gone so pale that his perfect complexion looked like milk, except the blush to his cheeks and ears that got brighter the closer I got to his face. I felt a deep stir of satisfaction watching our mouths come together, brief though it was. The camera zoomed in on his expression after I'd pulled back, and for once he didn't have that distant, glamorous vibe going on. He looked surprised, and... well, now that I was seeing it from this angle, he looked pretty turned on. Heh.

You and me both, buddy.

The video cut off, and I reached for Koike's phone with a grin. "Play it again."

She snatched her phone back with an exclamation of annoyance. "Honestly, Shino, what is wrong with you? What is this?"

I really didn't get why she was making such a big deal out of it. "Some first years wanted us to play a Pocky game." People did it on TV all the time. I knew because my sister spent countless hours squealing from the living room when her favorite boy bands were doing fan service on those game shows. Seryou's classmates reminded me of her a lot, actually, which is why I went along with it to begin with. It had given me an excuse to get close to Seryou while we were at school. And the Pocky was strawberry, so...

"And how about this one?" She scrolled up on the screen, and there was a picture of me and Seryou walking side by side through the train station. I made a pfft noise, and she scrolled further to show that someone had cropped the picture into a close-up of our hands. Seryou was giving me a can of coffee, and my fingers were touching his as I took it. There was a bright red circle drawn around our hands, and some silly-looking bunny rabbit sticker with hearts for eyes.

Koike narrowed her eyes at me like I was supposed to find this meaningful.

"So?" I finally said, and she sighed and scrolled yet again. There was another picture of Seryou and me together at the school gates, and one where we were hanging out in the hall between classes. At the bottom was that selfie of us surrounded by the three first-year girls I'd been thinking of, the ones who'd offered us the Pocky today.

Koike continued glaring like she was trying to blast laser holes in my forehead. I shook my head at her blankly, and she sighed. "Do you not see these hashtags? #RealLifeBL. #wehaveproof. #boyslovecouple."

"What's a hashtag?"

"Oh my god, I'm gonna kill you. Okay, how about this? Read the name of this Instagram account." She zoomed in on the screen until some English letters were the only thing visible, and thrust the phone in front of my nose.

English was one subject I was great at. "Houka Boys In Love," I read aloud. "Huh. Catchy."

"Catchy? That's all you have to say, catchy?"

Was I supposed to say something else? Koike slammed her phone down on my desk and grabbed my shoulders, shaking me. "Shino, you are so— I don't even know where to start with this!"

I squirmed out of her reach. "You could try using words instead of violence," I suggested, heavy on the sarcasm.

Her hands went to her temples and she closed her eyes. She inhaled and exhaled deeply, then sat in the chair next to mine and looked me straight in the eye. "Okay," she said tensely, "let's just start with 'is it true?'"

"Is what true?"

She hissed between her teeth and shushed me, then leaned closer and asked, barely above a whisper, "Are you dating Seryou Touji?"

"Yeah. I've only said it a jillion times, but nobody believes it."

She gaped at me for what felt like a full minute. "Is this a joke?"

"It started out that way, but I really like him now." It was the first time I'd admitted that to anyone besides Seryou himself, and warmth crept into my face. I liked him so much it was scary. And I wanted to watch that video again... what were the chances I could talk her into showing me how to find it on my own phone?

"Oh my god." She paused. "Oh my god. Shino, what the hell?"

"I like him," I repeated, because it felt good saying it. "He's smart and nice and a good listener. And he's pretty, too."

Koike kept staring at me. "But... are you gay?" She lowered her voice even further.

"No." That didn't sound quite right, though, did it? "I don't think so. I don't know, I haven't really thought about it."

"Well maybe you should start thinking about it, idiot."

"Why? It doesn't matter."

"It most certainly does!" she shouted, causing a bunch of our classmates to turn and look at us curiously. They were used to Koike and me arguing, so once they saw it was me she was yelling at they went back to their work on the festival decorations. Koike quieted down again and said, "Shino, you can't date someone if you're going to lead them on, even if it is the school playboy."

"That's not what I'm doing," I insisted.

She gasped as if she'd just remembered something, and put a hand over her mouth. "Hold on a second," she leaned in toward me, "is Seryou the one you watched that movie with last weekend?"

I nodded.

"So then you guys... you two really...?"

Uncharacteristic shyness took over as I thought of that afternoon in my room, the way we'd kissed and kissed and it felt like the world had come to a stop. The playful little Pocky moment today couldn't begin to compare.

Koike sat back in the chair in disbelief. "Impossible. Seryou never touches anyone he dates."

I frowned. "But... you were kidding about that, weren't you?"

"No way. It's like one of his cardinal dating rules."

"Well that's not true, because he kissed me the same day you told me that. I figured you were pulling a prank on me."

"He kissed you?" The shock in her face was too genuine to be an act, and I suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

"Uh-huh." He really didn't do that with everyone?

Koike was shaking her head slowly. "I don't believe this. So you guys dated last week, but didn't break up on Sunday?"

"We kinda did," I replied, "but then I asked him out again for real, and he said yes. We haven't gone on a real date yet because of cram school and stuff. I'm seeing him tonight, though."

"Shh!" She looked around the room again. "You'd better keep it down. You know dating is against school rules."

I scoffed. "No one cared that Seryou was dating a new girl every week."

"Maybe not, but he was dating girls."

"So what?"

"Shino, you cannot possibly be that stupid."

I opened my mouth to protest, but something about the way she was looking at me put me off. I was used to her exasperation, her insults and even her fists. I was not used to seeing such seriousness in her eyes.

"It's not the same," she said. "For all the talk about our society becoming more progressive, most people don't really mean it when it comes to their own spaces, their own families and schools and workplaces. If this gets out to the wrong ears, Shino, it's gonna be bad. For you and Seryou both."

"That's not true—"

"What will your mom say when she finds out?"

Shit. My mom would... well, I actually had no idea what she would do, except I was pretty sure she wouldn't like it.

Koike must have seen the alarm in my face, and gentled her tone. "For once in your life, Shino, you've got to think things through. I get that you have feelings for Seryou. I think every girl in Houka can empathize with you there. But what you're doing has big consequences. The kind that could change your entire life. So before you go charging into this with your usual bullheaded recklessness you'd better be damn sure it's worth it."

Her words echoed in my head for the rest of fifth period, and I was still hearing them when Seryou appeared at my classroom door at break time. I grabbed the empty bento boxes and tried to ignore Koike's pointedly raised eyebrow as I passed.

I handed him the boxes as we went out into the hall. "It was delicious," I told him.

"I'm glad." He flashed me a million-kilowatt smile that made me feel warm all over. "What time does your cram school get out tonight?"

"Seven," I replied a little breathlessly.

"Okay, I'll meet you there. Want to go to Sakuragichou and get dinner someplace?"

"Yeah." Man, I'd told Koike that he was pretty, but now that he was standing right in front of me I was struck by it again. His dark hair defied all our school rules in terms of length and layers, tumbling around his narrow jaw and delicate cheekbones. He had the most beautiful black eyes, the kind that swallowed you whole when he was watching you. And then there was that mole just below the outer corner of his left eye. I wasn't sure why I wanted to touch it every time it caught my attention. It was a tiny imperfection that somehow made him more real. As if, if he didn't have it there, he'd be too flawless to exist in real life.

It wasn't until he said my name that I realized I was staring. "Oh. Sorry, what?"

"I asked if there was anything else you wanted to do besides dinner. We could go to a movie or something."

"Sky Garden," I said immediately. I'd always wanted to go there on a date, but never had the chance. It was one of the most famous date spots in Yokohama.

His face brightened. "Sounds good. We'll do that after. The view is great this time of year, when all the holiday lights are up."

For some reason this made me grumpy. "You've dated there lots of times, huh." How irritating. And kind of disappointing too. We lived in one of the most romantic cities in Japan, and I bet he'd already done everything there was to do.

He tilted his head, eyeing me thoughtfully. Then he stepped a little closer. "I've never been there with you," he said, in a voice so seductive that the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Holy shit, he was good. No wonder girls were falling all over themselves to be with him. He was doing it again, that thing where he made it seem like I was the only person in his universe. I knew it was just Seryou being Seryou, but damn. He held my gaze evenly, standing so close I could feel his body heat, but he didn't touch me or make a move to kiss me Iike I wished he would. Where were those girls and their Pocky when you needed them?

"Seryou—" I raised a hand to the irresistible mole under his eye. If Koike was right, and what we were doing was dangerous, why would someone like Seryou want to risk all that for someone like me? He could have anyone he wanted. Sure, he acted like I was special when we were together, but he'd been on a million dates with a million other people and treated them all the same.

There was only one person I knew of who had really gotten under his skin. The gorgeous butterfly girl who apparently lived in his house and had the same name as me. The one who had cheated on him and broken his heart. He said last week that he liked me more than her, but... I dropped my hand and cleared my throat. "You better get back to class, break's almost over."

I turned and hurried back to my desk. Why was I thinking about that all of a sudden? I didn't like it. Stupid Koike and her stupid lecturing. She was making me paranoid about the dumbest things. Well, I wasn't going to let it get to me. I was going on a date with Seryou tonight, and this time nothing was going to ruin it.