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.

Chapter 01: Forceful Agreement

“Ayumu, go out with me!” one of the school’s most popular student ‘commanded’ as he stood haughtily in front of me.

At 5 feet 11 inches (1.80 meters) tall, with golden hair, amber eyes, and extremely attractive looks enough to be scouted by model agencies, he’s within the target zone of majority of the girls in the school. Natsuo Ishikawa probably ranks in the top three most handsome male along with Keita-senpai and Taisuke-senpai.

That being said, I am facing quite the predicament here. I am just your average teenager, more on the aloof side with just average looks, or so I believe. I am short, standing at approximately 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 meters) with natural black hair and dark brown eyes. There is nothing I particularly excel at and I lack motivation to do a lot of things. I guess the only thing that keeps me going is my love of sweets, despite my detached personality.

How did such an amazing guy end up asking me out? Well, I guess it has to do with circumstances that I can only hypothesize at this point.

Approximately a year ago, he began dating my older twin sister, Ayumi. Of course, that is to say, he did not immediately date her in beginning because she had very old-fashioned looks; bangs that cover her face and huge, nerdy eye glasses. After she got a complete makeover, she transformed into a complete beauty and he withdrew his rejection. As a result, my first impression of him hasn’t been good with begin with; though, I guess rumors of him being a playboy had sort of made me prejudiced towards him from the very beginning.

As Natsuo began dating Ayumi, I got to know him better as a person. Turns out that the rumors were baseless and created by rivals to deter other competition from seeking him as a boyfriend. However, his core character is a different story. Being raised in a sheltered, rich family must have warped his views on basic knowledge and the courtesies of life. In other words, he is no more than a spoiled brat in my point of view.

According to Ayumi, she fell in love with him when he saved her from several bullies trying to rob her on her way to school during the entrance ceremony. I guess in her mind, he was like a prince rescuing a damsel in distress. However, the longer they dated, the more Ayumi learned about his other characteristics. I guess things did not turn out the way she expected it to be; to be honest, the way he acts when he is alone with Ayumi is a completely different façade he puts on in school. It’s as if his existence was a scam. At the same time, there was someone else who was trying to court her; in fact, he already fell in love with her long before the whole transformation. Personally, I rooted for Ryouta, her current boyfriend, since his feelings are true and pure compared to Natsuo’s.

During the time Natsuo dated Ayumi, he still hung out with other girls who has feelings for him. I do not know if it is his foolishness or the lack of experience in love. Either way, their relationship slowly began to crumble. Realizing this, he confronted me and demanded that I offer him advice on how to fix things… all in exchange for sweets, which I could not refuse. As a result, I became his go to person for advice. By that time, however, it was too late and Ayumi no longer holds the same feelings she had for him in the beginning. Seizing the chance, Ryouta swooped in and snatched Ayumi’s heart.

At that time, Natsuo finally showed some emotions and I finally realized that he did possess feelings towards Ayumi, but did not know how to express them effectively. Which now leads to the ultimate question of why me? Isn’t he supposed to be straight?

Thinking about it will get me nowhere. No choice but to ask, I guess.

“Why?” I asked him.

“You’re asking why? Of course it’s to get revenge on Ayumi! To achieve that, you’ll be helping me out!” he proclaimed ever so proudly.

So this is all that’s about.

“Are you an idiot? You’re an idiot aren’t you? Ayumi doesn’t hold any feelings towards you anymore. Plus, she’s my sister. I have no intentions of helping you on such moronic things,” I refused, getting ready to storm off the roof.

“Hold it. I didn’t give you the option of refusing me,” Natsuo said to me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, stopping in my tracks.

“In exchange for your help, I’ll give you these limited edition assortment of lollipops,” he said haughtily as he whipped out several flavors of lollipops I have not seen before.

He’s really underestimating me, isn’t he?

“Listen, I have my own virtues. I am not the type of person to sell out of family for sweets,” I replied sharply.

Shit, I take back all the things I thought about him before. He’s seriously a brat!

“Let me rephrase then. If you don’t help me, I’ll cause trouble and make sure things go sour between Ayumi and Ryouta.”

“… Isn’t that the same thing you want me to do when you asked for my help?”

“No, it’s different.”

“How so? Sounds the same to me.”

“If I tell you, you’ll definitely help me out then? Well, it’s not like you have any choice, so I’ll tell you anyways.”

Wh-what idiocy, I thought to myself.

“All I want to do is prove to her that I’m a better man than Ryouta and to make her jealous as well as regret breaking up with me,” he continued.

“That’s the thing, Ayumi doesn’t hold the same feelings towards you anymore! It will just be a waste of time. You should just move on and find another girl,” I tried to dissuade him, after realizing that he still holds hope on fixing the relationship, though he’s doing it so arrogantly

“You never know until you try, that’s why I need your help. When we date, she’ll notice me again and I can show her all the good sides of me this time.”

“You do realize that dating me won’t change anything, right? To Ayumi, it will just mean that you have moved on…”

“Look, will you help me or not?”

“…” I thought about it for a second.

If I refuse to help, he probably means it when he said he’ll wreck Ayumi’s and Ryouta’s relationship, probably breaking those two apart with whatever method he has planned, stupid or not. If I do help, maybe he will realize that Ayumi is genuinely in love with Ryouta and give up then.

In all honesty, I was jealous of Ayumi… to be able to fall in love and date. This jealously led me to realize that even I, myself, wanted to be in a relationship. However, given my distant personality, it’s very hard to. That’s why, while I want to protect Ayumi’s relationship, I am also afraid at the same time. I do not want my first relationship to be superficial…. But, I guess there’s no helping it. Ayumi is more important. I can probably treat this as a test run…?

“Fine, in exchange, you will swear that you will not do anything unnecessary to Ayumi,” I replied.

“You have my promise,” Natsuo grinned widely.

From that day on, my life took a complete turn with the idiot completely ruining the pace I had been going for most of my life.

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Thank you for reading Chapter 01 of Rising Feelings. Comments and feedbacks are greatly appreciated!

Until next time~
Kanyuu90