Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Kiryu, wait."

Kiryu looked back and raised his eyebrows as he saw Sakura shyly approaching.

"Sakura-chan? Did you need something?"

"Just, uh…" Sakura rubbed the back of his neck. "You're… popular, right? Like, with girls and stuff."

Kiryu couldn't believe his ears; apparently, neither did the people around them, who all went silent and turned toward them. Sakura didn't seem to notice.

"…Yeah?" Kiryu said cautiously. "Why?"

"Just…" Sakura lowered his red face and mumbled something.

"What? Sorry, I didn't hear," Kiryu said, but he wasn't sure he wanted to. He wasn't sure he would be able to control his expression if Sakura said something like 'I'm in love with someone.'

Sakura raised his face and mumbled out of the corner of his mouth, "What d'you do when… I mean, if someone, like, confesses to you and stuff…"

"…What?"

"WHAT!?"

The sudden outcry from their classmates finally made Sakura notice the many eavesdroppers. Even Sugishita raised his head from his nap and looked at Sakura with a befuddled, somewhat disgusted frown.

"What!?" Sakura screamed. "The hell are you listening for!"

Nirei nearly jumped on him, flinging his notebook and pen out of his pocket. "Sakura-san, you've received a confession!? Who was it!? When was it!? What were you wearing!?"

"Calm down, Nirei-kun," Suo said, stepping closer. "I'm sure Sakura-kun can explain."

"Sakura-kun…" Even Tsugeura was baffled. "I didn't know you had it in you."

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Sakura yelled, now more angry than embarrassed.

The rest of their class participated in the ruckus, yelling out their shock and curiosity. Kiryu waved his arms to interrupt, pushing back those who tried to get close.

"Hold on, hold on! Don't interrupt Kiryu-chan's love advice corner!" he said cheerily. "Sakura-chan came to me for advice, not you!"

"Don't brag!"

"Popular boys should stay silent!"

"Go die!"

All of the heat turned onto Kiryu, who brushed it off with a laugh. He turned back to Sakura.

"But I'm curious, too, Sakura-chan. You received a love confession?"

Sakura glanced in between their classmates—including Nirei, ready to pounce—and Kiryu with wide eyes. "…I guess?"

"You guess? What did they say?"

"Uh, that, uh…" He flushed and looked down. "That… 'fell for me'… I dunno, something like that."

A wave of shock went through the class again.

"That sounds like a confession alright," Kiryu said in a shaky voice.

"They must be really brave to say that to Sakura-san," Nirei said as he noted something down.

"They must be brave to fall for Sakura-kun in the first place," Suo said.

"HAH!? You wanna go!?"

"Haha."

Far too invested, Tsugeura had let go of his weights. "So did you accept it?"

"Huh?" Sakura frowned in confusion.

"Did you accept the confession?"

"…What? Accept?"

Kiryu massaged his head. "I can see why you need advice. Accepting the confession means you'll start going out. On dates," he added, just in case.

Sakura flushed red. "D-d-d-da…"

He couldn't even finish the word. They all exchanged looks.

"I guess that means… Sakura is still a part of us."

"Us?" Sakura said.

"The no-girlfriend club!"

"What kinda useless club…?" he muttered.

"But who was it?" Nirei asked, finally lifting his pen off the paper.

"It might be best to keep their identity hidden," Suo said.

"Oh… But there aren't many girls in contact with Sakura-san, so I'm just having trouble figuring out suspects…" As expected, Nirei didn't understand the concept of privacy and just scratched his hair with a troubled expression.

"A brave girl?" Tsugeura suggested. "The only girl Sakura-kun talks to regularly is…"

It was Kotoha, but for the sake of not seeing Umemiya's crestfallen face, they refused to even entertain the idea.

"Girl?" Sakura repeated, baffled. "I never said it was a girl."

"…Huh?"

They all turned toward him. The sudden attention made Sakura tense up.

"What?"

"Not a girl… You mean, you, you… you got confessed to by a guy?"

"…What's it to you?" Sakura said, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

They all exchanged looks.

"There's nothing wrong with dating a guy!" Nirei exclaimed. "Sakura-san can date whoever he wants! Please just tell me their information first, though."

Suo gently pushed Nirei's shoulder. "Don't mind Nirei-kun. Relationships between men is perfectly natural, however."

"That's right! It's super manly to date a guy!" Tsugeura explained.

"Can't get much manlier than that," Kiryu agreed, deadpan. "But really, we have no problem with you dating a guy, or a guy confessing to you. It's just…"

It was just that they were all guys here.

In other words, the probability that it was one of them who had confessed was… rather high. Hence why they were all exchanging suspicious looks, as if asking: is it you who dared to confess?

They all knew just how lovable Sakura was. It would be incredibly easy to fall for him. But who would dare to actually confess love, especially when Sakura was just barely beginning to accept their friendship?

"Um…" Nirei said, "Sakura-san, you can say no if you want to, but…"

Suddenly a dark premonition gripped everyone.

Suo's hold on his shoulder tightened in warning, but Nirei forged ahead. "Could you tell us who it was? Just— just in case!"

"Huh? Uh…" He scratched his nape, avoiding their eyes. "I guess? I don't think he'd mind."

A really, really brave person.

They all gulped.

"It was Endo."

"…Endo?"

"Yeah."

"Who the hell is Endo?"

The rest of them exchanged confused glances. Kiryu frowned, feeling that the name was somewhat familiar. Suo and Nirei had frozen in place.

Sugishita stood up so fast that his chair fell down. They all turned to find him staring at Sakura in horror.

"You," he said, choked up.

Sakura bristled. "What!? It's not like I asked him to!"

"…Noroshi!?" Sugishita exclaimed.

"Noroshi…? Wait!"

All at once, the name 'Endo' clicked in their heads. Endo… Endo Yamato, the co-leader of Noroshi!

There was a moment of horror, as they all waited for Sakura to deny it. But he just looked back at them, flustered and waiting for their reaction.

It was true.

It was real.

Noroshi's co-leader, Endo Yamato… had confessed his love for Sakura.

Endo Yamato… was trying to poach their grade captain!

"That bastard!"

"He actually dared!?"

"Let's declare war on Noroshi!"

"Yeah! Beat them all up!"

"How dare he approach our captain!?"

"Sakura-san, forget our previous advice! Romance with the enemy is forbidden!" Nirei exclaimed, eyes bloodshot from how wide open they were.

"I would strongly advise against meeting that man," Suo said, relatively more calm.

"E-even more brave than I expected…!" Tsugeura said, a little pale.

"Brave, or stupid? Sakura-chan, please tell me you refused!" Kiryu pleaded.

Sakura stumbled away from the ruckus, confused out of his mind at the sudden outburst of rage. "Refused what? I mean, I dunno, he just said it, that's all, I…" he stuttered a few times, then went silent with embarrassment.

"When was this?" Nirei asked. "Did he approach you recently? We need to tell Umemiya-san, this is dangerous! What if he attacks Sakura-san when he rejects him!? Sakura-san, please stay with one of us at all—"

The rest of his words went muffled as Suo said a hand over his mouth.

"I'm sure Sakura-kun knows not to accept the enemy into his heart," Suo said coldly.

"Uh… I dunno, but Umemiya acted all friendly by the end of it," Sakura said, a little unsure.

Suo and Nirei's gazes turned toward the ceiling, as if trying to pierce Umemiya's heart through the concrete.

As if called in by their resentment, a voice interrupted by the door: "What's with the ruckus? You're disrupting other classes."

They all turned and found Hiragi standing there, Umemiya's smiling head poking in from behind him. After a brief shock of silence, the class burst into noise again.

"Senpai! We need to declare war on Noroshi again!"

"Yeah! They're bad news!"

"This time, I'll definitely beat them all up… especially that rotten guy!"

"How dare he look at Sakura-san like that!?"

"That bastard deserves a good beating!"

Hiragi listened for a moment, then sighed and took out the first gas-kun10 out of many.

"Hm? Declare war? What for?" Umemiya said, still smiling.

"It's Endo-san!" Nirei exclaimed, getting teary-eyed. "He… He… He…!"

Suo laid a solemn hand over his head and finished for him, "He confessed his love for Sakura-kun."

Sakura gaped. "Hey! Why the hell are you telling them!?"

"Confessed… What?" Hiragi was so startled that he instantly forgot all his anger at the ruckus.

"That Endo guy actually confessed his love to Sakura-san!"

"We can't let him get close to Sakura again!"

"That's right! That's why… let's declare war again! Let's wipe them all out!"

"Confessed…" Umemiya said slowly.

Umemiya looked at Sakura.

Umemiya thought.

Umemiya considered Sakura dating Endo.

Umemiya considered Sakura dating anyone.

Umemiya decided.

"Sakura," he said, so serious that it made everyone go silent. "You're forbidden from dating until you're 21."

"…Huh?"

"And not Endo either. I'm sure you can find someone else."

"What?"

"Introduce them to me first, okay?"

"…The hell are you saying?" Sakura said, flabbergasted.

But Umemiya just nodded like it all made sense, smiling like a fool. "Right, I think I could accept it like that."

"What do I need you to accept it for!?" Sakura exclaimed. He moved as if to jump onto Umemiya and fight him, but Nirei bravely sacrificed himself to hold him back. "Gah! Let go!"

"Umemiya-san is right! You can't date Endo-san!"

"Yeah! Listen to Umemiya-senpai!"

"You absolutely can't date without Umemiya-senpai's approval! Got it!?"

"Yeah, and not without our approval too! Right guys!?"

"YEAH!"

"ARGH! You're all… You're all fucking crazy!"