Chapter 3 - Two-Faced

Having spent his entire summer playing video games and watching anime in his room, Yuki grew accustomed to living independently. His mother would usually spend the majority of her time working. Yuki would sometimes forget to eat. However, he was aware of it when he felt nauseous or dizzy.

Yuki didn't complain about his living conditions. All he had to do was wake up, relax, and eat instant ramen whenever he felt hungry. While others, if put in the same situation would feel lonely. Yuki didn't even think about spending time with his friends. He was always alone anyway. Yuki was an only child that lived with his single mother. He didn't even get to spend time with his mother because she was working almost all the time.

After the long vacation, it was time to start going back to school. Yuki didn't expect anything special. He was going to accomplish as much as he could while conserving his energy.

As per usual, the teacher made everyone introduce themselves. Ms. Anna was taking attendance when a new student came running into the classroom. It was a girl with long black hair. She was wearing the school uniform which was a button-down shirt alongside a skirt, leggings included.

"Do you have a reason as to why you are late?" Ms. Anna asked.

"Sorry, I forgot to set my alarm." the girl replied.

Ms. Anna gave a perplexed look.

"I'll let it pass since it's the first day. Don't let it happen again."

The new girl took a seat and Ms. Anna continued taking the attendance.

"Finn?"

"Here," Finn replied

"Serina?"

"Here," Serina replied

"William?"

"Here," William replied

"And finally, Yuki?"

No answer

"Is Yuki here?"

Still no answer

"This is the last chance for Yuki Kaito."

"Huh..., that's me. I'm here."

Yuki quickly turned red. He was embarrassed because he zoned-out during class. However, Yuki was abruptly reminded by the constant calling of his name by Ms. Anna.

He didn't expect anything special to happen that day. To his surprise, he had found someone that caught his eye. The new girl's beauty was astonishing to him. Whenever he looked at her, his heart began to beat a lot faster. His face would turn red as a tomato and wasn't able to think straight.

After Ms. Anna finished taking the attendance, she made the class play a couple of introduction games to help the students to get to know each other. It turned out that the girl Yuki liked was Sophie. She had just transferred to the school because her parents wanted to move to a new house.

Yuki was never interested in anything before. He accepted his boring life for what it was. Never having the ambition for anything, Yuki never pushed himself to achieve above and beyond.

This time, something within him triggered. He wanted to do anything to impress Sophie. All he wanted was to gain her attention. He was going to push himself beyond his limits.

He started studying every day for multiple hours. He was no longer the same energy-conserving pessimist he once was. His academic scores improved drastically.

One day in October, Ms. Anna decided to assign a group project. She randomly selected three students per group.

"In group four, Aria, Sophie, and..."

Yuki wished that he could be in the same group as Sophie. It would finally allow him to talk to his crush. Right as he thought that Ms. Anna finished her sentence.

"... Yuki, you three will be a group."

He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Yuki couldn't be more delighted.

Before they started working on the project, they exchanged contact information because they wanted to work on it at home. This wasn't entirely necessary as Yuki already planned to spend the entire day making the presentation for their project in hopes of impressing Sophie. He went home that day and created the perfect slideshow. It went above and beyond all of the teacher's expectations.

The next day, Yuki showed his work to his group members on the class computer. As expected, they were astonished by his work. There wasn't a single error in it.

"Wow, you did all of this in one day?" Sophie asked

"Y-ya, is it good?" Yuki replied

"Are you kidding? It's perfect!"

Yuki was surprised that his crush complimented him. Sure, he spent 5 hours making and editing it, but he never thought he would get a reaction as big as this.

"I have to agree with Sophie on this one. Though I am confused, why finish the entire project in one day? We still have a week left." Aria asked

Yuki had been caught off guard. He couldn't admit that he spent hours working on it to impress his crush. That would be too embarrassing.

"Um, I wanted us to get a head start on the project. I was kinda hoping that you would give me some advice."

By reversing the question, he had avoided any need for him to expose his true intentions. As expected, Aria didn't have anything back to say.

At the end of the week, they presented their slide show and received tremendous positive feedback. When all the marking was finished, their group ended up being the only one to get a perfect score. Just like that, his precious time with Sophie was over.

Fearing that he would never have the courage to speak to her again, he prepared himself to confess his feelings. He ran hundreds of simulations through his head. "What's the worst that could happen? If she doesn't feel the same way, all she'll say is no." he thought.

After weeks of debating if he should confess, Yuki finally came to a decision. That day he texted Sophie.

"Hey, I know this is sudden but are you free today?"

"Ya, I'm not doing anything special right now, do you need something?" Sophie texted back

"Is it okay if you meet me at the library near the school? I need to tell you something." Yuki replied

About an hour later Sophie arrived at the library. Yuki arrived 30 minutes earlier than the arranged meeting time so as not to miss his chance to confess.

"What did you need to tell me?" Sophie asked

Yuki's heart started to beat faster and faster.

"This is a bit embarrassing for me but, I like you. I like you a lot."

"...And I was wondering if you would go out with me sometime."

Silence filled the air.

Yuki was scared but he at least managed to convey his feelings. "Even if she doesn't like me back, the worst she'll say is no," he told himself as a way of reassurance.

Suddenly, Sophie let out a small laugh.

"Ew, no way".