Standing before me was Shiraishi, with her hands behind her back and a smug smile on her face. Her eyes narrowed at me as my heart was beating really fast. There were so many things going on in my mind at that time that it completely blanked me.
She nodded her head cheerfully but there was something strange with her eyes as they were rather cold, yet had a hint of softness in them. She smiled and said, "I want others to see and realise that you already have someone."
I was standing there in awe. Looking at the smiling figure of Shiraishi who was saying those words as if it was a completely normal thing. What was bugging me about her was the fact that I had no idea about her.
Even though I was quite delighted about the fact that the target was doing all the initiations from her side. It just made things easier for me. I didn't realise, but being immersed in my thoughts created a silence between us.
The awkward silence between us was broken by Shiraishi's voice as she said, "Saishi… I know you're a bit popular among girls and even since the sports festival you've already got a few girls interested in you."
I was quite surprised as she used my first name, even though we didn't even know each other at that point. The fact she used it so casually, like she was quite familiar with me, just showed her assertive nature.
Also, she mentioned girls being interested in me, but I wasn't even aware of it. Neither was she supposed to since it was about two months ago, and I'm sure that she didn't know of my existence back then.
Which meant only that she did her research about me in the past few days. The information gathering skill of girls was something that always intrigued me. No wonder I chose Kizhashi to be my informant instead of Gaisen or Tsūmen.
"What? Wait… How do you…" I asked her, as the fact that she stalked me was quite unsettling, not to mention that I stalked Saki and Reina when they were my targets.
What goes around, comes around.
"I know everything about you…" She nodded slowly with a soft chuckle as I grew a bit concerned, considering the slight possibility that she wasn't bluffing. Looking at my troubled face, she added in a low voice, "But it's just that I want all of you for myself."
Grabbing her hand, I walked out of the dark hallway as it clearly was suspicious for two students of opposite sex to be standing there and conversing with each other. The entire time, she seemed to be quite amused while I was concerned.
"You need to chill… didn't you just have a break up last week?" I said looking at her over my shoulder as we were in a rather lit area of the hallway which was quite close to my classroom but she just gave me a vague shrug and replied in a casual tone, "I did… but it's not used to dwell on the past."
"Uh…" I looked at her a bit baffled, as she slowly walked in front of and, staring into my eyes, she asked in an indifferent tone, "Do you hate me…?"
I noticed that the smile she was wearing till now was nowhere to be seen on her face anymore. I knew exactly what she was trying to do, so I decided to play along. Letting out a deep breath, I said with a nod, "I don't hate you… I'm not used to girls like you."
"You've had relationships before?" She asked me, as I instantly realised that I worded that phrase incorrectly and considering her tendency to misinterpret everything, I shook my hands and smiled awkwardly, "No… I meant girls like you approaching a boy like me."
"What's wrong with a boy like you?" She pressed on me with a mischievous smile, as it appeared that she enjoyed troubling me. With a vague nod, I shrugged, "Uh… I don't know…"
"You really didn't date anyone, right? Because it seems hard to believe coming from you." She narrowed her eyes at me and the fact that she thought that way was quite hilarious. I chuckled and replied, "You have high expectations of me. I'm just an average boring dude."
"You're not average, neither are you boring." She smiled and looked into my eyes as she said that. I couldn't help but feel like there was an underlying meaning to that. Though I didn't pay much attention to it, I replied, "That's quite nice of you to say."
"So…" She smiled softly as I said that and as she was about to continue, the sound of the bell ringing brought our conversation to an abrupt end. She chuckled and said, "Ah, it seems like we won't be able to talk today."
"We can always text, you know?" I suggested as talking over text was something I preferred more than talking in person or over call. It's nkt because I was bad at conversation but rather because it's easier to ignore texts.
"No! I need to talk with you in person. I'll be waiting for your answer." She shook her head from right to left and instantly rejected my idea as she turned around and waved her left hand at me, "See you later, Saishi!"
I noticed her figure walking off as she turned around the corner and got out of my field of vision. A lot of things were happening with me, including me getting my first ever hickey. Now it was rather embarrassing to walk around with that.
I buttoned the top button of my shirt and pulled my tie upwards as I wore it correctly. I knew that it was weird for me to wear my tie perfectly, but it was better than walking around with a love mark on your neck.
She was a strange girl. And slowly I was getting curious about her, too. Everything she was saying seemed way too calculated and her actions were all an attempt to manipulate me physically. This girl was going to be a trouble for me.