DETECTION

Man, second day of this quarter and I'm already feeling overworked with this shit.

The tall, black haired boy was walking to his high school, Meriozan High School, in his black school uniform with a white book bag on his shoulder.

I can't believe I'm really gonna involve myself with this love story.

A small smile forms on his expressionless face.

Though the idea is quite fun and does seem appealing to me feeling cool about it.

"Hello?"

Of course, I'm doing it for their sake. Nothing more.

"Hello?"

"Huh?" The boy looks behind himself to see the voice calling out from behind.

Who was behind him was Yoshikawa Manami, the white haired beauty who was also in her school uniform.

Oh wow. What a lucky day to be living a teenage boy's dream. A beautiful girl waiting for him.

Though why is she here? I've never seen her on this path before…

Mayeda paused and turns around to look back at her.

"Hm…" He tilts his head in thought.

"What is it?" The short girl asks him, also a bit curious on why he's looking at her like that.

The boy looks into her eyes, looking into them and the face around it as if he was studying it.

Why is this guy looking at me like that?

"You were hit on again, weren't you?" He states and crosses his arms.

!!??

Yoshikawa's face flushed with shock and embarrassment.

"H-how did you know that?!" She stammered, completely taken aback by his words.

"Hmph. Not telling." Mayeda smirked a little and turns around to keep walking.

Is this guy seriously gonna leave after telling that to me?!

The white haired girl jogs a little to run up to his side and walks at his pace.

"Hey, don't you know ignoring a girl is rud-"

"It's also rude to not tell me why you're here in an area you don't usually take." He responds back in a casual tone.

Shock!

Yoshikawa goes silent as they walked, their footsteps would be the only real relevant sound now.

Sigh.

"To tell you the truth, I was on my way to the mall yesterday before I noticed you walking alone on the sidewalk, so…" She tells him and slowly trails off at the last part.

…

Did she fucking follow me home?

He couldn't help but chuckle a bit which caught the silver eyed girl off guard.

That was the last reaction I was expecting from him…

"Stalker." He simply calls her before seeing the school gates in view.

!??

Once again, she was taken aback by his simple word and tries to defend herself.

"Hey! Listen here! I-"

"Relax, I'm just teasing you." Mayeda sighed and slicks his bangs up a bit, entering the gates with her.

Like yesterday, there would be a bunch of students outside just conversing and chatting.

A place filled with voices and laughter to be heard.

One that he had longed to join in before in the past.

Well, I am talking to someone other than Usui right now…

He smiled a little.

Yoshikawa would glance and notice how he carried himself.

I'm honestly surprised, he's handsome and tall who seems very nice… I wonder why nobody really talks to Mayeda.

She clears her throat, a bit shy on how she was gonna word this sentence this time.

"It's strange to me. You have all the qualities of a popular student yet you're…" The girl softly spoke in thought and looks up at him.

Oh? She really thinks so?

"Well, just because I seem like it doesn't mean I should be. I still lack social skills and inabilities to stay calm around women." Mayeda calmly spoke with a hint of sarcasm in his words.

The white haired girl shook her head and sped up a bit to stand in front of him.

"That's not true at all, I think you're a very nice and attractive guy when I got to know y-" She was telling him straight to his face, wanting to boost his self esteem up.

However, he quickly walks in front of her and placed a finger in front of her lips.

"Mmh-" She was cut off when she felt his finger pressed against her lips.

"Don't make a scene or else you'll give some eyes the wrong impression." He leans in to murmur closely for her to hear.

Yoshikawa was surprised, feeling her heart start to beat a bit faster in her chest from a close proximity and contact on her lips.

For a girl like her, she wasn't so used to being this close to a boy her age, let alone feeling a part of her like her lips being touched like this before.

I could take this as an opportunity to benefit this plan a little.

"That is unless you don't think it's bad to give others the wrong idea about us, go ahead." The black haired boy added with a small smirk for her to see, a smirk that knows damn well of what he was doing.

An immediate redness spreads across her face and stumbles back a bit.

The proximity and his words were a huge threat for an inexperienced maiden's heart.

Immediately after, the tall boy swiftly began to walk past her, entering the front door to change his shoes.

What a hassle, I know she's trying to be nice and encouraging to me, but she should really consider the place and timing.

A quiet sigh escapes his lips with a small smirk, one looking forward to a little challenge.

Though what I did just now, surely a few would be suspicious on why she was blushing while we were chatting.

It'd be bad if Usui was there in person, though even if someone were to say it and he happened to hear, I could easily give an excuse about it.

After all, he does value my words over anybody else's here.

Mayeda silently opens his shoe locker and puts on his black, leather shoes for school grounds.

The tile floor looks clean and spotless today as well, someone on cleaning duty must've been here and left no towels behind.

Well, that means they definitely cleans better than Yoshikawa, that's for sure.

Looking up at the time, it seemed to be 15 minutes before class starts.

How early.

Quietly like a mouse, he began to walk through the hallway for speech class, walking through a hallway filled with more students talking to one another.

A feeling of a public store rather than a high school these days with the amount of chatter and students there would be.

Well, I can always chill in the bathroom and wait out the extra time for now. I don't really wanna be out here alone since Usui isn't attending today.

Like a ninja, he swiftly and silently makes his way around into the bathroom and locked himself into an empty stall.

Mayeda puts the lid on the toilet and sat down on top of it before taking his phone out.

What a surprise though. Talking to a girl first thing in the morning on my way to school is definitely a high school boy's dream.

He turns his phone on and types in his password to enter.

Still, not a bad idea to talk to her first sometimes to check in how she's doing and also how to help her progress with Usui. Quite surprised she wasn't with any friends or surrounded by others though… how odd.

His fingers swiped through his screen and selected an anime recap video to watch for fun.

Yoshikawa Manami. A well known girl girl at Meriozan High School. I'd expect her to be occupied at least with someone yet today and yesterday she seemed to have all the time to chat with me.

The video playing seemed to be about a bland looking male main character who enters a school full of beautiful women that he somehow charms and gets with.

God, how many of these animes exist? Is this just another cliche harem anime for teen boys?

Everything seemed normal about this anime, the boy was an oblivious and kind soul with messy hair who pulled women of all kind that had such unrealistic body proportions.

Childhood friends, school teacher, his own sister, a bunch of female students… the same old thing.

"My goodness, this shit is hot garbage." He quietly comments from what he was watching on the recap.

Animes like this still exist nowadays, huh?

Mayeda turns his phone off and shook his head in disappointment.

Another day, another time of no new animes to watch again.

About 12 minutes have passed, so he decided to leave the bathroom and back into the hallway for class.

The hallways were much emptier now thanks to the time needed to head to class was growing slimmer.

Finally after a minute, he finds class 2-D, speech and communication class.

With nearly a minute left, he steps inside the classroom on time in contrast to how it was yesterday.

There were already nearly the entire class, only a few people were missing despite how class was going to start.

"Oh look, the turtle came to class on time today." A female teacher, Miss Akemi, comments with a small smile.

Some students in the background chuckle a bit with some heads shaking a little.

Some weren't even listening and paying attention to their phones only.

I'm not in the mood for this woman right now.

Mayeda huffs and began to walk towards his seat, the worst seat possible.

With the book bag placed down to the side of the desk and sitting on his chair, he remains silent and ready to get this shit over with.

He seemed to be in thought now and glanced around.

Mayeda looks to his side and noticed it was Matsui Miki, the one he weirdly looked at shoes from yesterday.

Matsui noticed his gaze and tried to put on a show of a shy smile.

He sees her attempt to smile which made a bit more endearing for him, so he gives her a small smile too even when his face was still as nonchalant as ever.

"Sorry about yesterday, if you ever need something. Please let me know." The black haired boy whispered to her with a small nod.

Glad to see this lady doesn't hate me that much after all. And here I thought I would get a restraining order after yesterday.

The long black haired girl was a bit taken aback but nods in response.

"Please don't worry, I was a bit at fault too for overreacting without properly talking it over. But I will take you up on that offer though." She whispers back to him with a shy smile.

They both mutually nod before Mayeda looked around again, noticing everybody was here again and in their seats except for one.

Yoshikawa isn't here yet…

He looks up a bit in wonder.

Maybe I went a little overboard with the comment earlier. I'll have to apologize when I get the chance.

Wouldn't want her to get the wrong idea that I'm interested in her or anything. Would totally make things harder on my end and worse for Usui.

He tilts his head in another thought.

Good thing Usui isn't here, I don't remember him bringing up anything beforehand, so it should just be a matter of clearing things up a missed day without missing anything important.

RING!

The school bell rung, commencing the start of the school day.

It's possible he's actually sick, but his mom is there to look after him.

Still, I'm gonna stop by earlier to check up on him.

I was the one who got him a little sick without him knowing after all.

Miss Akemi stood up and silently took attendance, counting and marking the students present at the given moment.

"Not bad, everyone but one is here on time today. Is Yoshikawa sick? I've heard she's never been late to class before from other teachers." Miss Akemi calmly spoke with a curious gaze, wondering what happened.

Small chatter would be heard in small whispers.

"Maybe she skipped school today."

"Could it be she finally has a boyfriend?"

"Possible she had different plans today and went back home."

He rests his chin on his hand, still in thoughts and wondering what his next step is.

A sudden thought crossed into his mind, one about why Yoshikawa wasn't here.

It's odd she's not here on time, I was just talking to her minutes ago…

There should be no reason to not make it on time, even if what I said earlier was shocking, it shouldn't have been that much for her to not show up.

Heck, she even made it on time yesterday despite wanting to tell me her liking for Usui.

A glint of realization faintly crossed his eyes.

So I guess the plan is proceeding already.

Mayeda stood up with his hand raised.

This catches the attention of most students, except for the ones who were still on their fucking phone.

"Yes? What was your name is again?" The teacher responds to his sudden standing.

This bitch.

"It's Mayeda Shin, please don't joke like you forgot already." He responds with an unamused expression.

Miss Akemi laughs a little and nods in response, looking down at his name on the attendance sheet.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't miss this opportunity." She casually said, seeming to relax a bit more from her cold composure.

Well, I guess she's just like how I would act too.

"I need to take an emergency call. My sister is going through it right now and I need to be by her side." Mayeda excused to the teacher, making up a quick lie on the spot.

Guess it's time for the next step.