Sakura Kiss (Wizard School Romance)

"Hey, hey!" You and Ban shout in unison, cupping your hands around your mouths to ensure that your shouts make their way to your intended target. "Out of the way! Out of the way of Natsume!"

It's not the most elaborate of your old cheers, but it's simple and you don't have time for rehearsals. You've barely cycled through the chant twice before Furuta joins you, clapping along, and then not long after that some of the guys from class 1-D join in, at which point the thing reaches critical mass and cascades through the rest of the small group of onlookers, until all of you (sans Arashi, who looks like he wants to die) are chanting Natsume's name.

At that point, Natsume can no longer pretend that she doesn't hear. So she turns to you, trying her best to keep a straight face despite the flush creeping up her neck and cheeks, and very solemnly flips you off with both hands.

The other boys cheer, but you just smile and wave. And before she turns away to get back to tryouts, she smiles back.

Y1E9

[] [Hinata] Hinata thinks you squealed

"It's complete and utter bullshit, is all I'm saying," Arashi says.

Furuta shrugs. "But you did fail the test."

"Look, if you can tell me when I'm ever going to have to cast a multi-polar photorefraction charm in the real world, I'll concede the point. Otherwise, bullshit."

The three of you are loitering after the end of classes, killing time while the room empties. Wednesday afternoon is your least favorite time of the week, three full days of classes behind you but another three coming right up, and you've kicked your feet up on your desk trying to enjoy some semblance of rest. The sound of Arashi's bitching continues on in the background, so consistent it's actually soothing, but just as you start to feel the stress slip away there is a small, polite cough.

You crack one eye and look up to see Yuhara-san waiting patiently in front of you. "Good afternoon Takami-san," she says, the slight nod of her head the closest thing to a bow she's probably allowed to give anyone at the school. "I believe you're free?"

You trade a blank look with Furuta, and then give Arashi a glance (he appears to be mightily suppressing an aneurysm brought on by such close proximity to Yuhara). "Yeah, I guess. What's up?"

"Two of the student council caught the bug that's going around," Yuhara says. "Since they can't go two minutes without sneezing fire all over everything, I spoke to Nakamura-sensei about borrowing someone to pick up the slack. You're the only student in 1-A without a club, so you've been volunteered."

"Interesting use of the word volunteer," you say, then turn back to Arashi and Furuta. "You two are in clubs?"

Furuta nods. "Agriculture."

"Tabletop," Arashi says. "What, you think we just sit around waiting for you to get bored?"

"That is still most of what we do though," Furuta admits.

Yuhara spends the next few minutes clearing the other stragglers from the room before running you through your assignment. It's a lot of flipping through binders and making sure certain numbers do or don't match certain other numbers, which is hardly riveting but also so easy that you can't find it in you to get particularly mad. You can't imagine that this is actually the work of two members of the student council, and your suspicions are confirmed when Yuhara breaks out a few more, much thicker binders and gets to work herself.

The day stretches on, sunset soaking the classroom in shades of red and orange. You find yourself staring out the window, listening to the steady hum of the cicadas, when Yuhara speaks for the first time in hours. "I wanted to apologize," she says, not looking up from her work.

Your eyes flicker over to her, then back to window. "It's not that big a deal. My fault for having idle hands, I guess."

"Oh, no, not about this," Yuhara says. "You really should have an extracurricular, you know. I meant...for our last conversation."

You think back to that one afternoon, nearly a month ago now. "Ah. Yeah. Also not that big a deal." You shrug. "I probably could've handled that better myself. I've kinda got a hair trigger when it comes to Ban."

Yuhara giggles, and you finally turn your head away from the window. "Sorry," she says, once she has her composure back. "It's just, Shimada-san said you'd say that."

"You asked Natsume about me?"

Yuhara nods. "I wasn't sure how to approach you…and I didn't like how we left things. I heard you and Shimada knew each other in middle school, and she assured me she was an expert on your...moods." She smiles, a flash of teeth. "Her word."

"That sounds like her," you sigh. "Well, willingly interacting with Natsume proves you're serious at least. So let's forget it." You extend your hand across the desk. "Friends?"

"I'd like that," Yuhara says, shaking your hand.

It's dark before both of you are done – though Yuhara asked you to leave one you were done, you insisted on sticking around while she wrapped up. You can do your homework anywhere, and you figure you're in this together for now.

"So, just out of curiosity," you say as the two of you make your way up the well-worn pathway leading from the school to the first-year dorms, "was I right? Did you have a whole thing with Ban?"

It's dark, but Yuhara has summoned a witchlight which hovers just in front of you to light the way. In its silvery, twinkling light you can see ears turn red. "I...nothing. I don't even...what made you think I had a thing for him?"

You arch an eyebrow. "I meant more...thing with, generally. Like, a deal. Not thing for, specifically. Like romantic."

"Oh. Well-"

"But since it's now obvious that you have a thing for him…"

"I don't-"

"Specifically."

"You don't really-"

"Romantically."

Yuhara scoffs, but she also very pointedly looks away. "I think we should change the subject," she says.

"Just when it's getting fun?"

"I meant what I said before," she says, looking back at you. Her face is very serious – not the serene, carefully composed mask she normally wears, but drawn tight in concentration. "About being friends. I don't want to make things difficult."