Warning:
The following work consists of the genre, shounen-ai, or boy's love. Please do not read if you may feel offended or disgusted with this genre.

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Chapter 03: Rivalry?

Even though the door is wide open at the moment, I did not pay any mind to it as my back is facing the door. Tears overflowing like waterworks, I stayed there on the floor trying to stifle the sound trying to escape my lips.

Unbeknownst to me, there was a shadow hidden right by the entrance with hardly any presence, watching over me silently and unmoving. Little did I know at the time, it is the shadow of someone who will later change my current situation bit by bit.

Having cried more than enough of my share for the past two weeks, I stood up slowly and dusted myself off. With a final sigh I wiped away the remnants of the tears and headed home for the day.

~The next day~

To be sure that I will be able to avoid Keita completely, I left my house way earlier than the time Keita normally wakes up. I don't want to see Keita at the moment as I would like to continue sorting things out in my mind. Moreover, seeing Keita now will cause the incident from yesterday to flood back into my memories.

Upon reaching my desk, I took out my cell phone and sent Keita a text message apologizing for leaving without him and that I had already arrived at school. It must have been because of the shock from yesterday that I did not get much sleep last night. As my heavy eyelids closed, I quickly fell into a deep sleep. Not long after, my surrounding seems to have gotten noisier and noisier after what felt like eternity. I was unbothered by the environment until I felt a large, but warm hand press against my forehead.

"Hmm?" I grumbled and titled my head upwards a little bit and slowly opened my eyes to see a very concerned Keita checking my temperature.
Standing next to him was Takaki-san… Wonderful, I avoided Keita in the morning to avoid seeing these two together, but now they are standing right in front of me.

"Hmm, you don't seem to have a fever… What's wrong Rui?" Keita asked after confirming that I did not have a fever.

"Maybe he has an upset stomach? I think you should go to the nurse's office Kaida-kun," Takaki-san said, trying to sound concerned.
However, in actuality, her face clearly shows more of an irritation than anything else.

I lightly brushed aside Keita's hand, feeling warmth and a burning sensation on the surface of my forehead where his hand was just touching a second ago.
"I am fine, just sleepy," I said softly.

With a small laugh, Keita said, "You must've been playing games all night."
Apparently he was relieved that there was nothing wrong with me.

I'm sorry Keita, this is really the first time that I want to avoid you completely; please forgive me.

"Ah, come to think of it, did you know there was a new student transferring to our class from another school district today?" Keita asked Takaki-san and me.

Suddenly remembering, Takaki-san said, "Oh, I did hear my friends talk about it, they said it will be a boy… Apparently, he is also good looking enough to be scouted as a model."

"Is that so?" I mumbled, trying to put my head back down onto the table.

Keita was about to say something but Sensei came in at that moment.
"Good morning everyone, I have something to announce," Sensei said while clapping her hands to catch everyone's attention.
After waiting for the class to settle down, she continued with what she was announcing, "We will be welcoming a new student today. Ito, please come in."

The door opened and in came a tall, but well-built figure. Comparing his height to Keita's height, he is a little bit shorter, but still, to reach that height is no small feat! With slightly ruffled, mid-length, dark brown hair, he looked like someone who could indeed succeed as a model.

"I'm Ito Taisuke, you can all call me Tai-kun or Tai-chan if you want," Ito-san said while waving energetically to the room. "I had to move from my previous place due to family reasons."

The girls, finding Ito-san very good looking, started bombarding him with all sorts of questions at once. On the other hand, the guys started snorting at the girls for making a huge ruckus over a new classmate.

Sensei, starting to get irked at the sudden disruption, finally clapped her hands together again to get the class to quiet down.
"Let's see…" Sensei mumbled while thinking of which seat to place Ito-san in once the class had settled down.

There were only three empty seats to choose from, all of which are located in the back of the classroom. One was right next to me (I sit right next to the windows), the second one is in the middle of the classroom, and the last one is directly across the room from me. Personally, I was hoping that he would be seated as far away from me as possible; Keita is more than enough of a happy-go-lucky type of person who I need to deal with, and Ito-san seems to be another active individual.

"Sensei, is it possible for me to sit over there? I get nervous sometimes, so it's helpful to feel the breeze from time to time to calm down," Ito-san asked while pointing to the seat next to me.

Seeing no reason to refuse that reason, Sensei agreed.

I heaved a little sigh, 'great,' I thought.

As Ito-san walked towards the seat next to me, I felt his eyes staring at me as if he wanted to burn a hole in me. To avoid his eye contact, I deliberately had my right hand placed on my cheek and looked outside the windows.

After sitting down in his seat, he quickly turned towards me and said, "Hey, nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too," I murmured to him uninterested.

"What's your name? Would it be possible for you to show me around the school during lunch time? I'll treat you to lunch, so how about it?"

Like a shotgun, he was firing so many questions at once. Getting annoyed at his rapid inquiries I answered him exhaustingly, "I am Kaida Rui. If you stop annoying me with your questions, I'll take you on a tour around this school. I don't want to eat lunch with you, so just the thought is fine!"

"Haha great!" he answered happily.

Did he just ignore my negative attitude towards him!? He's taken the word enthusiasm to a whole new level! For some reason, though, the classes flew by very fast and in the blink of an eye, it was lunch time already. I think the reason was that Ito-san kept asking me questions about myself and he would end up answering the questions for himself after I gave him my replies. In a way, I am thankful… His busy body self distracted me from thinking about the incident from yesterday with Takaki-san.

"Ito-san, let's go, I'll show you around the school now," I said after packing away my things.

"You know, you can just call me Tai. Ito-san sounds too formal for me. By the way, is it okay for me to call you Rui? I feel like we get along pretty well!" he said rapidly.

Again, what is with his overly energetic character?
"Sorry, but I prefer to be formal even amongst classmates. Rui is fine though, call me whatever you like."

"Aw, don't be like that, at least call me Tai-kun?"

Giving in, I sighed heavily and said, "Taisuke-san, that's as far as I'm willing to call you."

"I guess that's good enough for me… for now," he said smiling happily.

I was about to ask him what did the 'for now' mean, but Keita called out to me just before I was able to question Ito-san.

"Ruiii, let's eat lunch together," Keita said while waving over to me from the first row by the doorway.

I walked over to him and said apologetically, "Sorry Keita, I'm going to show Taisuke-san around the school. Enjoy your lunch with Takaki-san!"

"Eh?" Keita said with a shocked face.
Apparently this is one of the rare times when I am actually calling someone by their first name and was actually not going to eat lunch with Keita.

"Hm? Oh, he would not stop bugging me if I did not do so."

Takaki-san suddenly appeared next to me and said to me in a poisonous tone, "Oh is Kaida-kun joining us for lunch 'again' today?"

If the tone of her voice can kill, I'm pretty sure I'd be dead twice by now... She even placed emphasis on the word 'again.'

"Ah, tod…" I was about to retaliate, but just then Taisuke-san shouted out to me.

"Rui!" Taisuke-san shouted.

"R-rui?" Keita muttered in an extremely low voice that even I had just barely heard it.

'Eh?' I thought to myself as I turned around to find a confused Keita deep in thought.
I was just about to ask him what was wrong but decided against it since Takaki-san was present at the moment.

Taisuke-san, however, suddenly took my hand once he reached me.
"Sorry, I'll be borrowing Rui today!"

Shocked, I asked, "Taisuke-san? What are you doing?"
Despite the suddenness of that action, I looked back to Takaki-san and replied, "No, I won't be eating with you and Keita today, so enjoy!"
However, what shocked me more was Keita. Although he looks absolutely normal to someone who does not know Keita well enough, he seemed absolutely furious at the moment. 'Keita?' the expression on his face kept repeating itself within my head. Not wanting to think anymore on that issue, I turned back around and faced forward.

After dragging me for another two minutes, we finally reached an empty area. Letting go of my hand, Taisuke-san turned around to face me. I expected a smiling, idiotic face that he had been putting on since the moment he entered the classroom. However, as if my expectations were betrayed, I was greeted with a serious face, null of any other expressions.

"You can let it out you know. Just keeping all those emotions within yourself will only suffocate you all the more," he said in a low whisper while walking over to me.

Being a little drawn back from what he said, all I could do was let out a little, "Huh?"
"What do you mean? Don't tell me that you…"

"Yes, I know about it. You don't have to be afraid, I will not tell anyone. I was passing by the room yesterday after having a chat with Sensei. I only met you two there by chance."

Realizing what he had said, I erupted, "Why!? Why didn't you just leave!? Is this also the reason why you got close to me in the first place? Was it that entertaining that you want to make fun of me as well?"

"NO! I don't think it is wrong for anyone to love the same gender. Love is love, it should not matter if you fall in love with a female or with a male. Love has no boundaries and you should not let it restrict you either just because of what that girl said. It is okay."
After saying that, his expressions had softened into one of gentle features.

'It is okay,' it was as if I was just waiting for someone to say those words to me. That it was okay for me to love Keita. Hearing those three words, my eyes have gotten watery again.

I think it was because of my pitiful state that spurred Taisuke-san to come over to me. Upon grabbing my shoulders, he pulled me towards him. It was a warm and cozy feeling. For some reason I feel calm when staying like this.

"Why are you doing this for me?" I asked him in a quivering voice as my tears came down slowly.

"Rui, do you believe in love at first sight?"

Without giving me a chance to answer him, he continued, "Well, I do. I had fallen for you since I had saw you and after catching up with you today after all these years, I can say for sure that I love you. Will you go out with me?"

Shocked to hear this sudden confession, I pushed him back lightly.
"Eh? But you know how I feel about Keita don't you? And, what do you mean by 'all these years?'"

"Yes I do and I'm not planning to give up. You don't have to give me an answer right away. As for your last question, you will remember in due time."
After saying that, he turned around and headed back to the direction of the classroom.
"Please give me a response after you feel more comfortable around me and once you have reached an answer. I will see you in class."

The astonishment that I received overpowered my tears. Checking the clock, it seems like I barely even have the time to eat now. Instead, I headed back to the classroom to settle down for the next class.

Upon entering the classroom, I saw Taisuke-san already at his desk and chatting away with some of the girls. Still thinking about what he had said, I absent mindedly walked towards my seat. However, Keita stood right in front of me.

"You're back, I was wondering where you went after Taisuke came back," a slightly angered Keita said. "Are you doing anything after school today?"

"Ah, I just had to stop by the toilet after… And nope, nothing I can think of," I replied slowly. "What's wrong Keita?"

"Nothing in particular. I don't have club activities today, so let's go home together today."

"Eh? What about Takaki-san?"

"Ruka has something to do after school. So that settles it. Wait for me after classes end, got it?"

"Okay…" I said while giving a little nod as I find it strange that he is acting this overly aggressive.

"See you later then Rui," he said with a smile and went back to his seat.

Letting out yet another sigh at the strange actions of Keita, I sat down on my seat and placed my head on the desk. This is too tiring, one thing happening after another.

For the most part, the afternoon classes went by very slowly, Taisuke-san wasn't talking as much as this morning and it was worse now since I had skipped lunch. I'm just glad that the classes ended without much incident happening. However, I feel that today was such a waste; I have so much to review when I get home later.

Once the Sensei for our last class exited the classroom, Taisuke-san turned towards me.

"Rui, want to come with me and grab a bite? I took a lot of your time during lunch and it seems that you haven't eaten yet," Taisuke-san said.

"Ah about that, don't worry about it; I'm not really all that hungry. Plus I'll be walking home with Keita now," I answered.

"Keita? Just refuse his offer, are you really going to keep hanging around him now that he has a girlfriend?"

"I do not have any reason to refuse him… I never was friendly with anyone other than him for many years now except for… ah, never mind."

"Well, now you do! Just come with me," Taisuke-san said that and grabbed my hand again dragging me with him.

"W-w-wait! At least let me tell Keita," I said while trying to loosen his grip.

While Taisuke-san pointed up ahead, he said, "That won't be necessary."

Keita was already standing in front of the doorway blocking the exit.
"Taisuke, where are you taking Rui? He's going to go home with me now," Keita said in a threatening tone.

"I'm taking him to eat. He wasn't able to eat because he was showing me around school during lunch, so I will be treating him."

"Sorry, Keita, but I do feel kind of hungry right now. Let's walk home together another time," I told Keita apologetically while glancing sideways to avoid eye contact from the guilt of saying a white lie.

At that moment, his face flashed a quite angered expression, one of the most severe I've seen from him.
"Fine!" Keita said while grabbing his backpack ferociously and left the room.

This is the third shock I had received today, never in my life would I expect Keita to act like this and to someone he just met… As I kept thinking about it, I felt a tug on my arm again, disrupting my chain of thoughts.

"Let's go Rui," Taisuke-san said while pulling me behind him.

"Um, Taisuke-san this has been on my mind since lunch… Yesterday should be the first time you saw me, right?" I asked him, still troubled over the fact that he fell for me so easily and from what he meant in our conversation earlier. Even with Keita, it took me years until I realized my real feelings for him.

"Rui, you really don't remember me at all?"
He suddenly let go of my hand and turned around, bringing his face extremely close to mine.
"Did you really forget about me?"

Staring at his serious face, I tried to recall if I had known him before. Suddenly, like a wave, the vague and forgotten memories came flooding back to me.
"Eh? You can't possibly be…"

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Whew! I wrote up a storm for Chapter 03! >_<
Not really sure if this story is turning a bit cliché, please let me know what you think ^^

I really love to read how others view my story and it fuels ideas for my next chapter. So, please by all means leave any feedbacks, comments, questions, or even complaints – anything is much appreciated. Thank you!
Hopefully my next chapter update won't take so long and will be slightly shorter than this one, *nervous laugh* xD

Kanyuu90