Yuichi didn’t just stare at Kanae, in awe of his non-existent beauty. Instead he insulted him.

Yuichi never really praised Kanae. That was why Kanae could relax around him. He didn’t have to work to keep up the Cool Beauty image with Yuichi.

He wasn’t just a pretty face.

He was just Kanae Hayakawa.

I like him so much, he thought.

His heart was bursting with love for Yuichi.

In the end, they did it four times that day.

Kanae clung onto Yuichi in his sleep.

Kanae woke up first. He had stirred a little in Yuichi’s arms, which caused Yuichi to open his eyes.

“Morning,” he said with a smile.

“Morning.”

They shared a morning kiss.

He was so happy, he wanted to cry.

Chapter 4

“Is it true that you two are dating?!”

Kanae had decided that today he had to go to school. Unable to rouse Yuichi from the bed, Kanae had left him and returned home, gotten ready and went to school. Today he only had second and third period, so it was an easy day. After school was out, he'd go straight home.

He avoided the school cafeteria for the moment. If Yuichi turned up, then things might have gotten messy. He might have announced their relationship to the whole world! If Kanae left the campus at lunchtime and then came back just before third period, he could then go straight home when he was finished and no one would have a chance to ask him anything.

Or at least, that’s what he had planned to do. After second period, he was stopped as he was leaving the classroom. Suddenly faced with “the question,” Kanae panicked, but he managed to retain his cool expression, so the other guy probably hadn’t noticed that anything was wrong.

“…what?”

I have to calm down!

Kanae grinned casually. He didn’t know this guy’s name, but he had seen him before. Maybe it was someone from the same class. “Is it true that you’re seeing Yuichi Nagao?”

He said a prayer to the heavens. Yuichi probably told anyone who had been willing to listen. Now it didn’t matter if he went to the cafeteria or not. “What’s it to you?”

Kanae’s expression didn’t crumble. The tone of his voice didn’t change. For the past two years, all people did was try to get information out of him. He was experienced enough to avoid their questions.

He noticed that lots of people had gathered around. Everyone wanted to know the answer. “…nothing, I guess. You two are an odd match, so I was just a bit surprised.”

“Why are we an odd match?” Kanae skillfully changed the subject. The guy shrugged.

“I guess it was Nagao.” The answer revealed that this guy’s estimation of Yuichi wasn’t particularly good. Kanae smiled at that.

“Yuichi told you?”

“No. It was being whispered all throughout the school cafeteria, and anyone who wasn’t in class was talking about it.”

“Well, thanks for letting me know.”