Chapter 47: Chapter 47 - Jealousy Isn’t Fun Anymore

Mina has always found jealousy to be comical.Cute even.

Girls who battle over the same guy? Pure entertainment.

Kuro’s nervous behaviour around attention? Hilarious.

This is the way everything is supposed to play out.

So why does her chest feel so irritated right now?

It’s lunch time.

On the rooftop.A regular day. Except that it isn’t.

Because at that moment a second-year girl is directly in front of Kuro Kurogane holding a letter declaring her love for him with shaking hands.

"I’ve always thought you were really cool..." She says nervously.

Kuro looks completely unprepared for the emotional rollercoaster that is life which is a reasonable reaction.

At the same time Mina is standing nearby with her juice next to Akari and Aoi watching it all transpire.

She would have normally relished in this moment.

Normally, she would have teased Kuro for weeks after.

But now her mood continues to go down hill with every passing moment.

Especially when the girl smiles shyly and slowly moves even closer to Kuro.

Mina accidentally crushes her juice box.

Silence.

Akari blinks slowly.

"...Did the juice offend your soul?"

"...Shut up."

Definitely suffering from emotional damage.

Kuro felt awkward as he scratched at the side of his face.

"Um... Sorry..."

Then, she gave a weak smile.

"Um... I anticipated this."

It felt awkward.

Kuro delivered a low bow as a show of good manners.

"Please forgive me."

From there, the silence of the confession fell upon both until the girl departed in peace.

Yet, Mina was still annoyed after.

Why ? . Because Kuro had told her no.

So, what was making her annoyed.

Then Akari with a smug grin, drew close beside her.

"Oooo"

Mina narrowed her eyes.

"What do you want?"

Akari placed her head close to Mina’s so only they could hear.

"You are jealous!" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"No."

Akari gasped loudly going, "Immediate denial." "Severe signs."

Aoi sitting behind them quietly having tea.

"Mina-sensei has been staring at Kuro since the confession started."

Mina began pointing fingers, "Both of you are scaring me."

Akari smiled brightly.

"Experience."

Sort of not helping.

At last, Kuro walked over to Aoi and Mina like he had just finished running a marathon.

"Why do these confessions suck life from me ? "

"Maybe you have a skill issue."

Interesting. Seemed to restore to normal. Perhaps.

Then another girl approached with Kuro asking him about notes.

And Mina felt her chest tightening

Annoyed.

Lately more girls are noticing Kuro.

The quiet kid that used to do nothing in the classroom has laughed more , talked more naturally is generally easier to approach.

And Mina hates that part of it is because of her.

After School Mina had dramatically barged into the girls’ restroom.

"What’s wrong with me?"

Her reflective image mirrored a perfect Mina.

Perfect hair, confidence, and gyaru energy till her insides were an absolute emotional disaster.

As she stood at the sink trying to figure out her mess, someone walked in.

Rika was carrying books and contemplating them when she looked up and saw Mina’s face.

"Mina, you look troubled."

"Thanks, what’s your support."

She had calmed enough to wash her hands and then asked, quietly, "Kuro-kun?"

That hit home.

Mina groaned.

"Is it that obvious?"

Rika thought for a moment.

"Only to the girls that like him."

And Mina froze.

"What?"

Rika looked calmly back at Mina.

"Did you not realize?"

Realize?

No, no, no.

That couldn’t be true.

Mina had teased him, texted him nonstop, stole his hoodie, thought of him before she slept, got jealous of any other confession,smiled at every text.

Oh no.

Mina stared blankly at the mirror before placing her hands over her face.

"I am going to die."

Rika looked a little worried and said in a small voice.

"That’s the new slang for emotional panic, right?"

"NO! That is like EXTREME,"

That night Mina was walking home in complete silence, no music, no phone, no energy, just thoughts.

Everything was suddenly so clear to her.

Mina had so many thoughts and feelings right now. It was overwhelming.

Sometimes her heart would race when she saw Kuro’s name pop up on her screen, waiting for permission from him to breathe again.

Her heart would also race every time he complimented her. The way he made her feel completely changed everything she thought she knew about herself and it scared her.

Part of her thought it was going to be fun and playful until this point in time where they had only been playing around and having fun together.

This time though, she didn’t know how to be playful anymore, because Kuro had found the real person underneath that mess of noise.

What was she supposed to do now to protect herself?

And then suddenly he messaged her.

Kuro: hey, you disappeared pretty quickly today

Mina was overcome with instantly feeling pathetic when she read the text.

Kuro:you okay?

Simple enough question; and more than anything else today, that simple act of kindness caused her heart to hurt more than any time prior in her life.

Mina stared blankly at her phone for a few moments before moving to text back with a small smile .

Mina:I’m just tired.

Kuro:Go to bed early tonight.

Mina chuckled softly to herself.

As he continued about his business, it dawned on her that he was oblivious to the havoc he had wreaked on her heart.

As she strolled down the street alone after dark, she said to herself:

"I really did fall for him, didn’t I?"

Up until now, this thought had entertained her greatly, but now it felt like a heavy weight around her neck.