Chapter 16: Chapter 16 - Akari Can’t Stay Honest

Akari Tachibana realized something very disturbing.

Kuro Kurogane treats her as though she were a small child.Such treatment is unacceptable.

Utterly unacceptable.Especially now that Kuro is having emotional times with Aoi.

Even more troubling, Kuro sometimes looks calm around Rika.And somehow, Mina was able to get him to smile naturally. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

But when it comes to Akari...

"Kuro-kun, here!" "Kuro-kun, please feed me!" "Kuro-kun, please carry this!"...That seems like a child.

It’s a disaster!Akari threw herself dramatically onto her bed, face down.

"I have to grow up."

Aoi slowly looked up from her book.

"...Not possible."

"Mean."

"Accurate."

Akari aggressively pointed toward Aoi.

"Just watch me!"

Aoi turned her page quietly.

"...This will be good."

The next morning was so weird.Super weird.

Kuro, as usual, walked into the dining room, half-asleep.

"...Hi."

Normally, Akari would have been hanging on him.

But instead , she was sitting at the table, prim and proper, drinking tea in a civilized manner.

"...Hello, Kuro."

Kuro came to a halt.

"...Who are you?"

Akari twitched.

"I am attempting to behave like a woman!"

"You sound like you have a constipation."

Aoi almost broke her tea with how hard she was holding in her laughter.Akari glared at both of them.

"I will become a refined lady today."

Kuro moved carefully into a chair.

"...Why does that sound dangerous?"

"Because it’s not dangerous," Akari stated with confidence.

The moment she was done, she was spilling the tea onto herself. Silence.Kuro looked on .

Aoi expressionlessly gave her tissues

"...That was graceful."

"SHUT UP!"

School got somehow worse.Akari had spent the whole morning trying her best to act "cool and mature—like a heroine."

Spoiler, it did not work.

Instead of normally being next to Kuro.

She attempted to be distant.Leading her to come off as a weird stiff.

"Kuro..." she said awkwardly.

"...What."

"If you need help with your homework..."

"...Did someone replace you with an alien?"

Akari’s eye twitched

"No."

"You sound like a rich aunt."

Aoi added:

"...A divorced rich aunt."

Akari slammed her forehead into the desk

"HOW IS THIS SO HARD?"

Many classmates started to crocodile stare now.Mina immediately came over, sensing chaos.

"...What is wrong with her?"

"Kuro-kun keeps treating me like a kid!"

Mina looked at Kuro.

"...Because you act like one."

"ET TU, MINA!?"

Nearby, Rika fixed her glasses.

"Your speech mannerisms have changed, drastically."

Akari looked hopeless.

"HOW DO I MAKE MYSELF LOOK MORE MATURE?"

Silence.Then, Mina’s face started to smile slowly

"Ohhh."

Danger pretty much oozed from Mina’s grin.

Kuro-kun was about to be trapped.

"Okay, Kuro-kun,"

"...What?"

"What kind of girls do you consider mature?"

Kuro immediately sensed a trap coming.

"....I refuse to answer."

"Coward!"

"Survival instinct!"

Akari began leaning forward like there was no tomorrow.

"JUST TELL ME SOMETHING!"

Kuro let out a long, frustrated sigh and said, "Someone who can be calm, basically."

At that moment, the whole room turned to see Aoi.The girl quietly sipped her cup of tea.

"I’m the winner!" she declared proudly.

"NO FAIR!" Akari squealed with exaggerated horror.

Kuro ran a hand over his face in frustration.

This conversation was going nowhere fast.

Lunch time quickly turned into a disaster.

Akari assumed that twenty-something-year-olds acted "sexy" simply because they were older.

Of course the problem was she didn’t have a fcuking clue what that would entail.

"What’s up, Kuro?" asked Akari.

Kuro looked up from his book annoyed.

Akari was standing by his desk with her usual weird-ass-looking grin.

"Do you want some of my lunch?" she asked.

"Yes, that’s typical." Kuro answered in disbelief.

In certain ways, Akari’s mind was in panic mode.

Akari quickly realized that was not the best way to talk to Kuro.

Then, from somewhere close by, Mina whispered to Akari, "Use body language."

Nodding gravely in acknowledgment of Mina’s suggestion, Akari again placed herself in a situation of great danger.

She leaned down toward Kuro rather dramatically.

Rather, she leaned down toward Kuro too dramatically—and lost her balance.

"Kya—!"

THUD

An instant later, Akari landed on Kuro’s lap.

The classroom froze.

At that second, Kuro’s brain completely turned off due to:

1.) The enormity of Akari’s chest resting on him,

2.) The fact that Akari’s skirt was riding far too high,

3.) The fact that Akari had a super-sweet scent to her.

Total. Implosion.Akari raised her head up slowly from Kuro’s lap.

With their faces now nearly touching, Kuro could feel his heart rate go through the roof.

And at this point, Akari’s face was obvioulsy red.

This was not what she intended.

"Hey, Hey Kuro..."

"...Would you please get up?"

"I can’t move,"

"That sounds even worse."

Suddenly, the classroom burst into screams.

"What is this , some kind of romcom?!"

"Kuro, you jerk!"

Meanwhile Aoi sat silently, staring at them.

Then she slowly began closing her notebook.Danger was activated

Mina had almost died laughing.

"This is the best entertainment ever, OMG."

Akari finally frantically tried to get away from Kuro as fast as she could, while her face was almost completely red.

Kuro also looked completely destroyed mentally.

After this, both of them never made eye contact with each other again.

After school finished Akari sat dramatically on a bench at the top of the building.

"I’m hopeless."

The sunset was softly painting the roof an orange hue. Footsteps were softly approaching her.

Kuro sat down beside her.Silence.

Akari looked away from him, feeling very awkward.

"I’m surprised you came."

"You didn’t show up for club clean."

"Oh."

Another silence. Then Kuro sighed.

"Why were you trying to act like that today?"

Akari slightly froze up.

"Was that obvious?"

"Yes,"

"I’m so embarrassed."

Kuro was staring directly ahead without emotion.

"You don’t need to fake who you are."

Akari blinked. Kuro scratched his cheek awkwardly.

"You being so different today was kinda weird."

"Owww!!"

"But,"

He slightly paused.

"You’re totally normal."

Akari finally slowly looked to him.

The light gentle winds moved her hair a little from side to side while she was doing this.

"Really?"

Kuro nodded once.

"You are kind of loud and annoying."

"That’s not romantic."

"Suddenly, when you completely withdraw your presence from me, it is strange to me."

He turned his head.

"And to me, that feels strange as well."

Akari continued to watch him.Slowly, she began to grin.It was not lighting him at all.

It was not pretending to be him.It was just kindness.

"So you don’t like me when I am normal..." said Kuro, when he realized that the words he used to refer to Akari were dangerous words.

"Was she saying what I thought?"

"That’s not what I said."

Akari’s face beamed with light again.

"Got my recovery right, Kuro!" she yelled.

And he was just as happy to be back over there as all of Cordell.

It was last his good friend Kuro could ever find him, and he made a small smile too at how happy he felt at that moment.