By Zephyria “Ash, did you see that post?”
Bill asked as soon as he got out of the car and greeted him. Ashley locked the car door and walked alongside Bill, asking.
“What post?”
“I knew it.”
Bill chuckled as if he had expected it, took out his cell phone, and quickly moved his fingers to type. Ashley tilted his head, adjusted his bag, and walked on. He waved back at a child who greeted him from over there, and Bill elbowed his arm.
“Hey, look, hey.”
“What is it?”
Unable to resist Bill’s urging, Ashley took the cell phone he held out. Ashley, who skimmed through the post on the bulletin board, asked.
“What are you talking about in this?”
“Ugh, seriously.”
Bill, frustrated, snatched the cell phone from him and started reading aloud while looking at the screen.
“I’m a high school boy. I recently made a friend, and he’s a really cool kid. He’s always kind and very nice to me.”
Ashley was dumbfounded and chuckled at Bill’s silliness, who was deliberately reading in an exaggerated, theatrical tone. Regardless, Bill continued to read.
“He’s the captain of the ice hockey team and incredibly handsome. He’s the most popular kid in school, but he’s not arrogant at all.”
Until then, he thought it was just an ordinary story. There are many ice hockey team captains in the world, and most of them are popular and not arrogant, and the talk about being handsome is extremely subjective. He was listening without much thought when Bill raised his voice and read the next sentence.
“Plus, he’s smart, so he takes all AP classes. He also got a perfect score on the college entrance exam.”
Huh?
He felt something strange at that part. Of course, there are many students who take all AP classes, and there are just as many who get perfect scores on the college entrance exam. But if all of these overlap, the number will be much smaller. And Ashley was one of those reduced numbers.
“Give it here for a second.”
Ashley snatched the cell phone from Bill, who was trying to continue reading, and quickly looked at the screen. Bill stood still and watched him, his eyes only moving to follow the letters, and couldn’t help but ask.
“Hey, isn’t this you? Right? Isn’t it?”
Bill couldn’t hide his excited expression. But Ashley was just looking at the screen and didn’t say anything. Bill looked at him, puzzled. He thought he would ignore it as a trivial story or laugh it off, but the reaction was completely different from what he had expected.
“Ash, hey.”
Bill called him again. Ashley, who hadn’t taken his eyes off the screen until then, was startled and raised his head. Bill was surprised once again when he saw his face. Ashley’s face was surprisingly flushed red.
“Hey, you.”
“There are a lot of ice hockey team captains.”
Ashley cut him off before Bill could speak and handed back the cell phone. Bill was puzzled and quickly followed him.
“No, but still, look. It’s not just that.”
Bill continued to hold out the screen and said.
“Look here, all AP classes and incredibly handsome. And popular too.”
“There are a lot of kids like that.”
“A perfect score on the college entrance exam is the same as you? Hey, no matter how many ice hockey team captains there are and how many perfect scores on the college entrance exam there are, how many kids would have all of these things overlapping?”
Bill finally shouted as if he was wronged. Ashley couldn’t deny his words because he had the same thought. So instead, he chose to ignore the First Amendment and suppress the press.
“Don’t talk nonsense. Did you finish your homework? Even if you play as an ice hockey player, it’ll be hard to get into college if you don’t manage your grades properly.”
“Curse me, go ahead.”
Bill complained as if he was upset, and soon brought up another topic. Ashley casually matched his rhythm while walking side by side, but in fact, he didn’t hear a single word. The contents of the post he had just read kept floating in his head.
My heart races and my face flushes whenever I see him.
The moment he recalled the most exciting phrase, he covered his mouth with his hand to hide his opening mouth. Ashley knew right away. That Koi was the one who posted this. If he had been alone, he would have cheered and run from one end of the field to the other.
Koi likes me!
But he couldn’t do that now. If this gets out, Koi will be teased a lot. Maybe he’ll even be bullied. The best thing to do was to bury this as soon as possible. To do that, the only way was to pretend not to know and ignore it. He had to suppress his excitement and somehow maintain his composure. He desperately suppressed the urge to run to Koi right away, shower him with kisses, and shout that he liked him too.
Don’t rush.
Ashley calmed himself down and fell into thought. The most important thing was that it was certain that Koi liked him, but he hadn’t realized it yet. The fact that he posted on a site where these idiots gather and spout nonsense was proof of that. If he knew what this feeling was, he would never have done this.
Then how can I make Koi realize?
He fell into new worries. But if it’s a worry as enjoyable as this, he’ll be happy no matter how much there is.
“Ah.”
It was when he forcibly closed his mouth, which was opening again, with force. He saw someone hiding in a hurry over there. Of course, Ashley didn’t miss him.
“See you later.”
“Huh? Hey, Ash!”
Bill was taken aback and shouted at Ashley, who lightly tapped his shoulder and left, but he had already run far away.
*
Huff, huff.
Koi leaned against the wall, panting. He probably didn’t see me, right? He was inwardly anxious, but he couldn’t stick his head out to check.
He couldn’t sleep a wink last night trying to find the password. When Father came back, he covered himself with the sheet up to his head and frantically typed in the dark, but eventually failed. The number of views kept going up, and countless comments were posted, but he didn’t have the courage to check.
What do I do!
Eventually, he gave up and came to school, but his head was full of thoughts about the wrongly posted post. He flinched and was surprised every time he saw the children passing by. Will that kid go to that site too? Did that kid read that post? Maybe he even left a comment.
His head was complicated with thoughts popping up on their own, and his heart felt like it would burst with anxiety. He was heading to his locker, keeping an eye on his surroundings with a trembling heart.
“Gasp.”
At that moment, Koi gasped, discovering the person he least wanted to see. That unique physique couldn’t go unnoticed. It was Ashley.
As soon as Koi saw him, he hurriedly hid. He hurriedly turned around behind the first building he saw, took a deep breath, and stroked his chest. But this was only for a moment. He couldn’t avoid him forever. Koi also knew this, but he wanted to postpone that moment as much as possible. Even though the first class he had with Ashley was less than 30 minutes away.
“Haaaah…”
It was when he was trying to calm his racing heart with a deep breath.
“Woah!”
“Eek!”
Koi screamed in horror at the sudden threatening sound. With laughter, Ashley hugged him from behind.
“A, Ash.”
When he turned around in embarrassment, Ashley smiled brightly at him. Ashley said to Koi, who was speechless and only moving his mouth.
“What are you doing here? The building where the class is is over there, right?”
“Th, that’s right.”
Koi stammered and quickly racked his brain. He had to say something, but no words came to mind. Ashley, still smiling, said to Koi, who was working hard to figure out what to say and how to say it.
“You’re not running away from me, are you?”
“N, no, no, absolutely! Absolutely not, why would I!”
Koi shook his head violently, not knowing that such an extreme reaction was actually a strong affirmation. Ashley narrowed his eyes at him.
“Koi, do you remember what I said?”
“Huh? Uh, uh?”
When Koi stopped his head and looked at him, Ashley whispered.
“I told you that you can never run away from me.”
Hearing those words, Koi unknowingly held his breath and looked at him. Ashley added even more sweetly.
“I told you I would never let you go.”
“Uh, uh-oh.”
Koi stammered in embarrassment. He kept noticing Ashley’s thick arms hugging him tightly. Ashley’s body touching him and the breath he felt on his face were so hot.
Scary.
His heart was racing so much, and he was so breathless that his mind went blank. He was even afraid of the excessively exciting feelings and the rising excitement.
Why.
Koi looked at Ashley’s face blankly and thought.
Is this what happens when I see Ash?
At that moment, the post he had posted the day before came to mind, and he belatedly came to his senses.
“Wa, wait, wait a minute!”
Koi shouted urgently and flailed his arms. From Ashley’s point of view, it was just a pathetic flutter, but seeing him struggling to get out of his arms, he had no choice but to let him go. On the one hand, he also felt a resentful urge to hug him even tighter and make him unable to move at all.
But in the end, what he chose was to grant Koi’s wish. When he slightly loosened the strength of his arms, Koi quickly got away from him. Ashley felt bad seeing him standing three steps away when one step would have been enough.