Chapter 61 – New Beginnings

"Earth to Takei. Earth to Takei. Hello? Are you still on this planet?"

Eiji was seriously confused with Takei's current condition.

That dull and aloof boy was staring blankly at his desk while also daydreaming in class.

It was typical for Takei to daydream in class, but it was quite unusual for him not to even respond to another person talking to him.

"..."

The silence ensued until Eiji had enough of Takei's spacing out.

He whacked Takei in the back of the head with his palm as a result of his patience wearing out.

"Ouch! What was that for?!"

"For not responding, idiot."

Takei looked at Eiji with resentment in his eyes until he realized that Eiji was indeed right about him not responding.

"Sorry... It's an off day for me."

"Yeah, I can tell." Eiji grinned. "So what happened last night?"

Even though Takei hadn't told anyone about the events of last night, Eiji still had an inkling about who caused such a rare change in him.

Takei recalled the special sleeping event that happened yesterday night and focused on the thing that happened at the very end of the night.

He gave into the atmosphere and kissed Akari on the spur of the moment.

Rather than a full blown kiss, it was more subdued and could be called just a simple peck on the lips.

However, that single peck on the lips was just enough to change the status quo between them.

The relationship between them was forever changed due to his actions while they were in bed together.

No matter what he wanted, there would be no going back for them.

It might be for the best... I need to keep moving forward, so this might be the best choice to force me to adapt to a new uncertain future.

Even with such uncertainties about their relationship, Takei felt exhilarated about the new future that would happen due to his actions.

"This is going to get interesting..." Takei murmured.

***

As class finished, Takei exited the classroom without uttering a single word to one of his classmates.

He felt it was too troublesome to say goodbye to the people he knew, so Takei decided leaving silently was the best choice for him.

Walking through the hallways, Takei noticed a certain blonde haired girl being surrounded by a group of girls.

He wanted to eat the lunch that she brought for him, but Takei didn't feel like interfering with a conversation that was ongoing between the goddess and her followers. There was also a chance that he would be roped into their conversation, which was absolutely the worst case scenario for him.

Averting his eyes from the situation, Takei walked past them and continued his business.

"Wait, Takei!"

"Tch."

Takei clicked his tongue since the goddess managed to notice him while he was trying to sneakily pass by. He wasn't annoyed by her calling his name, rather he didn't want to get involved with the group of girls around her.

"Is this the rumored boyfriend?"

One of the girls in the group decided to ask Takei a very difficult question.

"Ah, no... I'm not her boyfriend."

He didn't exactly know how to explain their relationship at the current moment, so Takei went with the safest answer.

"What a dull answer..."

The ginger haired girl responded to Takei's reply with a look of exasperation.

If Takei remembered correctly, the girl's name was Helena Suzuki.

She was a star player on the tennis team for their school. Also, she had good grades and outstanding beauty that could only be rivalled by some people. Helena had high specs all around and was only rivalled by Akari.

But, why was such a person interrogating Takei so intently?

As he was trying to observe the situation from a different viewpoint, Helena interrupted with a proposal of her own.

"How about this... We can all eat lunch together in the cafeteria and learn more about each other?"

Takei wasn't particularly enthused with the invitation, so he tried to deny it in a polite way.

"I couldn't possibly intrude on your girl talk."

"It's okay! Akarin would want you to come talk with us too, right Akarin?"

As fast as Takei had denied her invitation, Helena went on the counterattack to ensure that there was no way for him to escape. He also noticed that Helena was decently close enough with Akari due to the nickname.

"..."

Akari stayed silent since Helena's insistence was forcing her to make a move, but she didn't want to accept it without Takei's agreement.

Sighing to himself, Takei decided to agree to chat with them in order to lessen the burden on Akari.

"Alright, let's go."

Akari looked at him with surprise evident on her face, but Takei simply nodded to show his acknowledgement.

The group headed towards the cafeteria and immediately headed for the nearest open table. No one in the group needed to buy any lunch, since they had already brought them from home.

Sitting down at the table, Takei was coincidentally seated next to Akari.

The smell of her perfume was slowly drifting into his nostrils which incited a certain feeling inside of him.

Akari noticed that Takei was staring at her which made her blush in return.

It seemed that she had not recovered from the event that happened last night yet, since she was fidgeting and squirming restlessly next to him.

When everyone was finally sitting down and situated, Helena began the interrogation on the both of them.

"How far have you guys gone?"

"Pfft!"

Takei was in the middle of drinking water, but her question made him do a spit take.

"What's wrong? You two are dating right? Tell me the details!"

Cleaning up the water that he spit out, Takei glared at her.

"We're not dating..."

He trailed off near the end of his statement, since Takei was slowly losing confidence in that line.

"..."

As per usual, the goddess wasn't used to be teased so she averted her gaze and played dumb. It was very evident that she was embarrassed though, since the tips of her ears were growing increasingly red.

"Oh, I see now... Akarin, I feel bad for you."

Helena calmly observed the situation and gave her pity to Akari.

"..."

Takei could see why Helena was pitying Akari so bad.

His cowardice was holding him back from conveying his true feelings to Akari.

Takei was confident that his feelings for her were second-to-none, but his past trauma still was making him second guess his own emotions.

Due to the events of the goddess versus devil confrontation, Takei's deep seated fears were assuaged by a massive amount.

Even with that massive amount of fear being reduced, he still wasn't fully himself.

That's why Takei wanted to wait a little bit more until he could fully recollect himself.

Once that time comes, Takei believes that he will be able to fully convey his feelings to Akari.

"Not... yet..." He murmured.

Since Akari was the one sitting next to him, she was the only one who heard his fragmented murmurs.

"Not yet?" She asked.

Takei was too stuck in his thoughts to have even heard Akari speak to him, so he kept muttering to himself without even being aware that Akari was listening.

"We're not dating... yet."

"..."

The tinge of red on Akari's face slowly spread to all the corners of her face until her face was completely dyed red.

If this was a manga world, there would be steam coming out of her ears.

Putting aside the comedic effects, Akari was extremely happy and excited about Takei's decision.

It seems that the goddess wouldn't have to wait that much longer.

---

Akari's Final Affection Meter: 0 -> 3%

Here we are again, ladies and gentleman. We're now in the endgame. (Although, this series won't be ending anytime soon).

Sugar-san: I'm ready for my power spike!

Serious-san: It's not nice to gloat about your power...

A/N: On a side note, poor Rikka was sick from school today.