Senpai, Let's Get Matching...

AN. I just reread "Araby" by James Joyce for my English classes and it really got me thinking about my expectations versus Reality. I'd recommend it.

I got rid of the SAO stuff because it really didn't amount to anything related to the plot. Anyways back to the story.

PS. Scrap the squid game fanfic, I was considering redoing my other Original Novel cause I really liked it, but this type, it'll be featured in the fantasy world instead of real life. No game physics, just pure magic.

_________________________________

"I can't believe how scary Taishi-san can be..."

Walking down hallways of his school, he waved to a couple of people he knew that passed by.

Yesterday, he was fighting against an ancient being that was lauded as a fish god by the people of Southern Indonesia. It was ranting something about consuming the world back into the ocean. As it was practically immune to physical attacks, reforming almost instantly after every kick and punch he delivered, he decided to just capture the monster instead, using the immense power from the teleportation tube he arrived in to molecularly deconstruct the fish god fro good. Well, at the destruction of the machinery and the tip of Indonesia.

The smile polite, usual smile on Taishi's face did nothing to hide the many popping veins that appeared on his forehead as he calmly told him to follow the man.

The horrors that followed... he shivered thinking about.

'I'll draw,' he thought. 'What better way to relax then to draw a still-life?' Feeling hyped for his art session to begin, he slid open the clubroom door only to be greeted by laughter.

Already in the clubroom were girls. Posing at near the chalk board was Gamou, with both hands on her hip as she leaned slightly to the left, one leg slightly more raised than the other. Behind the canvas was Nagatoro, using one of his pencils to doodle a... interesting drawing of her friend. The laughter he heard came from Yoshi, who was standing to the side, giggling as she pointed at Nagatoro's handiwork.

"Seriously?! A nude! A nude!" Yoshi giggled.

"Let me see."

He pursed his lips before letting an involuntary sigh out.

"I'm buck naked! Put some clothes on me!" Gamou said, barely holding back her laugh.

"But it's art." Nagatoro said with a parody of a posh accent. Noticing that him for the first time, she smiled brightly at him. "Senpai! C'mon and gimme hugsies." She said with wide arms.

Slightly grinning now, he went in to give her a hug. Nagatoro squeezed him tightly for a couple seconds before letting him go. When he was released, he noticed the other two in the room giving him knowing smiles as they moved their eyebrows up and down.

"Look at the lovebirds got at it in their love nest." Gamou snorted.

"Love birds!" Yoshi repeated.

"Why you guys come to the clubroom today?" He asked. "Don't you usually hang out in the dining hall?"

"Well, we do," Gamou began, "but there's been this annoying group lately that won't shut up. They pretend to listen, then they go right back. They're so annoying."

Yoshi, who was sitting next to her, nodded as well. Nagatoro then spoke as well. "So we decided to chill here instead." She flashed him a peace sign.

"I'm surprised though," He said, "I thought you wouldn't back down without a fight." But as soon as he said that, he felt like Danger Sense was blaring at him to run. Tuning to face the group of girls, he noticed them looking at him with slanted eyes and a terrifying grin on their faces.

"You don't get it, Senpai." Nagatoro said.

Gamou continued. "There's a better way of handling it than doing it directly."

"Yup." Yoshi finished.

"A better way?" He asked worriedly.

"We sent in a saboteur."

-----------------------------------------------------

(Dining Halls)

At a table, a group of boys were playing together on their Nintendo Switches.

"Hey, hey! Don't just use a special on me when I'm about to save my game!"

"Why should I care?"

"You should?"

The sounds of steps became louder and louder as a blonde-haired girl approached the table with her behind her back.

"Hey, hey..." Sakura called out to the group of boys. "What are you guys up to?"

Looking at their switches, she gasped in excitement. "Gaming? Teach me! Teach me!" With each repeat, the boys noticed how a certain part of the girl moved up and down as she bounced in place. Mesmerized, they all stared at the girl's chest before swallowing the salvia forming in their mouths.

One boy had offered to teach her. After he showed Sakura the basics, she managed to level up her avatar. "Wow. You're too good at teaching." Sakura said, leaning closer to the boy.

"N-Nah," The boy responded, blushing slightly at how close she was getting, "I'm not, really."

One by one, she turned her attention to each of the boys in the group, praising each.

"You're so good. Let's play by ourselves sometime."

"You're so awesome. I think I might fall for you."

"Hey, hey, are you in a relationship?"

But with each praise from the tanned girl, the more and more incensed the boys got at each other before eventually, their group had devolved into a rivalry to get more praises from Sakura.

-----------------------------------

(Present)

"Give it a week, and the group will implode! Then we'll be back in the dining hall."

Turning to face him, Nagatoro nodded her head as she crossed her arms. "Don't worry, Senpai. Men are pitiful creatures, always at the mercy of their own horniess."

"So sad!" Yoshi said while making crying gestures with her fists.

'Self-note: Don't get on Taichi or these girl's bad side.' He thought while watching the group gleefully plan their next move to even further destroy the poor souls that got their attention.

"Senpai doesn't seem horny, though."

"...?!"

How did it come to discussing his own libidio?

"He's the very picture of a herbivore." Gamou explained, pointing at him.

"A sheep?" Yoshi added.

"No, no, no." Nagatoro interjected, waving her hand in denial. "Senpai's horny as hell."

To prove her point, she suddenly sat on his lap, giving the other girls a smug look.

"See?" She asked as she took his arms so they now wrapped around her waist.

"W-Wait, don't just casually do this in front of your friends!" He whispered into her ear.

Ignoring him Nagatoro continued to explain to her friends. "He gets all red as soon as you tease him even just a little."

Then she turned her neck, pecking at his cheek before switching to the other. "Senpai gets redder and redder with each kiss!"

"P-please stop..." He begged.

"I thought you liked my kisses?" Nagatoro asked innocently. But her eyes expressed a different story, daring him to say otherwise.

"I do, b-but..."

"Then sit still and receive my kisses. Mwah. Mwah."

To the side, Gamou and Yoshi watched the couple with growing irritation.

"Geez, do they really have to rub it in that they're dating?" Gamou complained.

Yoshi shook her head furiously. "No PDA."

Glancing at each other, they both got up and left the clubroom, leaving the couple in their love nest.

-------------------------------------------

(After school)

"Hey, Senpai?"

"Yeah?"

"I never really asked you this, but what's your full name?" Nagatoro asked, leaning her head on her arms as she laid on his bed reading one of his comics.

Looking up from his desk, he gave her a raised eyebrow. "Are you telling me known each other for over five months but you still don't know my name?"

"Hey, it's not my fault! I always call you Senpai, Senpai. I forget, ok? Besides you always call me Nagatoro, so that means you forget my full name as well, right?"

"Nagatoro Hayase."

There was a moment of silence before Nagatoro began speaking again. "Is it... Senpachi?"

"No."

"...Paisen?"

"No."

"Just tell me already, Senpai." Nagatoro whined. She began rolling up his blankets as she rolled side-to-side on his bed. He thought she looked like a cute sushi roll.

"Should I?" He asked, rubbing his chin exaggeratedly as if it was a deep question.

Angered, Nagatoro frowned as she glared at her smug boyfriend. It was time to teach him a lesson.

"If you don't tell me, I'll tell you mom you were bullying me, Senpai~." Nagatoro said gleefully.

A shiver ran down his spine as his back straighten instantly. When he first introduced Nagatoro to his parents, they were half in shock and denial as they tried to grasp the idea of him having a girlfriend. After they got over it, they quickly took in Nagatoro, especially his mother, who took to no time explaining some quite embarrassing stories. His mother was also quick to tell him how much she liked her, telling him almost every time she came home how 'nice that Nagatoro-san is.'

"I give." He said, raisin both hand sin faux-surrender. "I'll tell you my first name."

"Nope." Nagatoro said, shaking her head in her cocoon of blankets. "I'm not satisfied with that, your queen demands more."

"Your majesty," He replied in a more legal tone, "how may I serve you today?"

"We," Nagatoro began, "demand thy name, noble knight. And cuddles."

"I am Hachioji Naoto, first to his name and lord of this room." He said, bowing as he finished.

"Naoto, Naoto, Naoto..." Nagatoro repeated. Her face grew frustrated before she let out a puff of air, pouting. "I'll stick with calling you Senpai, Senpai. Now come here and gimme cuddles."

Well, time for the surprise.

"Wait, Senpai, where are you carrying me?"

"Senpai? I know no 'Senpai' that you speak of? I am the Dark Knight, 'NatMan'!"

"Let me down, Senpai! Or I'll kick you!"

"How can you? You're all tied up?" To prove his point, he began tickling the sole of feet sticking out from the blanket roll.

"Perv! Gross! Horny Senpai!"

---------------------------------

(Next day)

"'Sup, Senpai." Nagatoro greeted as she walked into the clubroom.

"Good morning." He greeted back. But he noticed something different this morning. This time, Nagatoro was wearing another earring in addition to her regular ear cuffs.

"So gross, Senpai." Nagatoro said, leaning back on the couch. "It's only the morning but you're already staring at me." She sighed dramatically as she threw her hands in the air. "How will I deal with such a eromanga-senpai boyfriend?"

Pushing back her remarks, he commented on her new pair of earrings. "Did you just get new ones? They look nice on you."

Nagatoro's face lightly flushed red before she returned back to normal. Pulling her ear slightly so Senpai could get a better view, she grinned. "This? I hadn't had anything in lately, and the piercing started healing."

She then pulled out a small object. It appeared to be a plastic ear piercer. "I reopened it up with this." She said, pushing down on the top tab to show the needle going down.

"That sounds painful."He said.

"It's not painful at all. A little prick, maybe." Nagatoro suddenly had a bright idea!

Putting the ear piercer behind her back, she walked to Senpai, all while smiling.

"What are you doing?" He asked. But Nagatoro continued smiling.

Bringing the ear piercer to the front, Nagatoro pushed down on its tab multiple times. "Want to try getting your ears pierced too, Senpai?"

"Huh?!" He shrieked. Cautiously he walked backwards from Nagatoro.

"Are you afraid of pain, Senpai?" Nagatoro asked.

"No," He said shaking his head, "it's not even about the pain, but from what I read on piercings, they can result in bacterial infection the needle or if operation is not hygienic enough. A person with immunocompromised state may even more susceptible to the more sepsis or even toxic shock syndrome, which is especially high in children compared to adults. And wit would be so weird for someone like me to have a piercing, not to mention-" he murmured before he felt someone violently shake his shoulders.

"Earth to Senpai! Chill out." Nagatoro loudly spoke, still shaking his shoulders. "Don't worry about it, I've done so many times myself and for my older brother."

'Wait,' Nagatoro thought, 'Senpai with earrings?' An image of Senpai proudly flaunting his newly pierced ears brought laughter to the girl.

"See, it would be weird." He reasoned, trying to convince the girl to not to pierce his ears.

"Nah," Nagatoro giggled, "it wouldn't be too weird. Just a little bit, 'cause it's you, Senpai. Besides, you could just wear it when you're inside, if you're embarrassed."

Pulling her ear back again, she pointed at her earring. "I have another pair, so if did get your pierced, we would have matching earrings."

"Hmm," he said out loud, "that would be nice..." Wasn't this something couples did? Wear matching clothing and accessories?

"Well?" Nagatoro asked before moving close to his ear. "Don't move. It's dangerous."

'Ok,' he thought, 'it won't be that bad, just think happy thoughts.'

"Ouch!" He yelped. He hand reflexively moved towards his ear lobe before he consciously stopped himself. It was best that his unsanitized hands didn't touch an open wound.

'But, wait...'

"...there's no hole." He realized, touching his ear lobe this and finding no hole as he previously thought.

"Smile for the camera, Senpai." Nagatoro said. It was then that he noticed that she was holding her phone up, pointed at him.

"Senpai, your reactions are hilarious. Now I have another video to bring up later and laugh at in my free time."

"Did you just say another?! How much videos do you have of me?!" He tried to reach for her phone, only to be stopped by Nagatoro placing her hand on his head and pushing back into his stool.

"Nope. This is for my eyes only, Senpai." Putting her phone away in her backpack, she pulled something else from her bag. It was a scarf.

The scarf was made out of wool and was a dark shade of green. With his experience in sewing his hero costume up, he could tell that it was hand-made.

"This is for you 'cause you I always take your jackets." Nagatoro said, not looking him in the eye. A hint of red brushed her cheeks. "Especially because it's getting colder, I can't have ou bailing out on me because you're sick or something."

"I like it." He quickly answer. Taking the offered gift from her hands, he held it gently as he felt the scarf between his fingers. "I promise to wear it everyday."

"Perv!" Nagatoro shouted, now blushing madly. "I-I have clubs, so see you later, Senpai!"

With that, Nagatoro quickly left the clubroom.

Just as he himself was about to leave for home early, his 'work' phone vibrated.

"Now let's see how good this scarf can handle the cold."

__________________________________________