Chapter 9

"So?... Do you have anything else about your relationship with Kohaku-san that you're hiding from me?"

"No..."

"Is that so? Then make sure to treasure her more than you already do"

Ichiro said that as he tapped one of Kazuo's shoulders with an amused smile, while Kazuo on the other hand was very red from the embarrassment of having to tell Ichiro and his friend everything that he did with Kohaku. As for the others...

" "goddangit... Riajuu, just go explode" "

Haruto and Kenzo were both grinding their teeth as they cried from jealousy towards Kazuo, after hearing the amount of stuff he did with Kohaku, as for Kyo he was making a thinking face

"... You sure get along with your fiancée... Lord of the scarlet eyes of the darkest destruction, heh"

"Shut up, Lord of the golden subjugation and azure order"

Kyo called Kazuo by his chunni name, while Kazuo just said for him to shut up as he also called him by his chunni. Ichiro on the other hand decided to stay out of that

"..." <Those are some cringe-worthy titles>

Ichiro then looked at his phone and saw the hours

"Oh! Lunchtime is almost ending, guys. So Haruto, you might want to go now while you all still have time"

"Fucc! You're right! Guys, see ya'll another time!"

Haruto picked up his belongings and left in a hurry, Ichiro and the other three just watched him leave in silence, then Kazuo turned his head towards Ichiro and asked

"... ... ... How the hell did you manage to convince Sakurako-san to get engaged to you?"

"Because differently from what you're thinking, I'm a pretty nice guy when I want to be one, especially to people I like"

"I see... Wait, does that mean that you are..."

"That I'll leave for you to decide"

Ichiro cut Kazuo in the middle of his sentence, and after doing that he went to his seat which was quite far from Kazuo, Kenzo, and Kyo's seats. Kazuo could only at Ichiro's back in silence, then he turned towards Kyo and Kenzo

"*Whisper* Hey, Kyo, Kenzo... Do you think Ichiro has perhaps fallen in love with Sakurako-san at first sight?"

"*Whisper* Honestly... I don't know, and I don't want to know. Because if we try to find out the answer, he'll definitely find us and make us tell him something embarrassing about ourselves"

"*Whisper* I can totally imagine him laughing like a villain while having a very amused smile on his face"

" " "..." " "

After hearing what Kenzo said, the three looked at Ichiro again who had just sat down, but Ichiro notice their gazes, and just showed them his usual smile, but seeing that smile of his, the three managed to perfectly imagine him with an amused smile as he laughed in a very evil and amused way just like how Kenzo had just said

" " "?!" " "

Then they felt a chill running down their spines after imagining that. For now, they preferred to not know why Ichiro decided to get engaged with Sakurako, nor how he managed to get her to accept him as a fiancé, instead of risking their mental health points in a gamble they would probably lose

Then a few minutes before the school bell rang, two students entered the classroom, one was a very tall and handsome black-haired guy, while the other was a pretty cute girl with pink hair done in thin twin tails. The girl appeared to be complaining about something to the boy. Once they entered the classroom, the girl appeared to say something before turning away and going to her seat, while the boy simply went to his seat with an expressionless face

And the boy's seat was exactly to the left of Ichiro's seat, then without even turning his head to the boy, Ichiro opened his mouth to say something to him in a tone high enough for the boy beside him to hear

"I see that the transfer student has gotten a fancy for you, Yasu"

"It's not just her though"

"Hm? Did you fall in love with her at first sight?"

"Yes, I did, and I even confessed to her already... But she rejected it"

"Is that so?"

Ichiro then looked to his other side and by the very edge of his eyes, he looked at the transfer student, talking to the other girls in the classroom, before he turned back to his cousin Yasu

"Lucky for you, she appears to be exactly like a certain someone"

"And who is that someone?"

"I'll leave that for you to find out, but soon enough you'll be going out with your first love, I'm sure of it"

"... ... ... Ichiro... Are you in love with someone by any chance"

"... Do you really want to hear the answer?"

"... ... ... Yes, I do want to hear the answer"

"Okay, then we'll talk about it at the cafe after school"

"Got it"

Then as the two finished their talk, the school bell rang signaling that lunchtime had ended

-

After School

-

Since it was the first day of school, there were no club activities, and because of that, Ichiro was helping his mother at the cafe as usual whenever he didn't have his tea ceremony club activities to attend to

"Here's your order, sir"

"Thanks"

And right now, Ichiro had just finished serving the last customer, for now, the cafe was currently pretty empty due to the hour, so because of that Ichiro now had plenty of free time

"Huff!"

And so he sat down on one of the fixed seats, and across the table, Yasu was sitting down with a bunch of manuscript papers around him as he kept drawing in them

"So how's your manga going?"

"Fine, it's sitting at a pretty good position, nothing too fancy, but enough for the publisher to keep my manga going"

"That's good, so what are you making right now?"

"... The publisher asked for us mangakas to make a romance oneshot, and right now I'm trying and failing to make one"

"I see, good luck with that"

Ichiro then began driving the juice he brought with him as he left Yasu drawing his oneshot

"... Ah! That's right, didn't I ask you something about you being in love with someone Ichiro at school?"

"Yes, you did"

"So can you tell me about it? Maybe I'll get an idea for the one shot with it"

"Sure, just tell me what your question is and I'll answer it"

"Got it, then first did you get a girlfriend?"

"Nope, but I did get a cute fiancée, so maybe that counts"

"You got engaged to a girl? Well... Congratulations, I guess"

Yasu congratulated Ichiro as he wrote down the few ideas he was being able to get with the help of Ichiro

"Thanks"

"Now, second question. What do you think of the girl?"

"She's an interesting and cute girl, that I want to get along with"

"I see, I see... And the last question, did you fall in love with her at first sight?"

"About that... ... ... I guess my answer would be that I..."

And right when Ichiro was about to answer, the bell attached to the door ranged, signaling that a new customer entered

"Welp, I gotta go"

"*Sigh* Right at the most important moment... Hm?"

Yasu sighed at the almost perfect timing of the customer's entrance that cut off Ichiro from answering his question, but then he saw who the customer was

"Sakurako-san, good afternoon. It has been a while since we saw each, hasn't it?"

"Nn *Nods* Good afternoon, Ichiro-san. And yes, it has been a while since we saw each other"

"It's good to see you again, Sakurako-san. I'll go start brewing you some coffee, so just take a seat somewhere and wait, if you want anything else besides the coffee just call me, okay?"

"*Nods* Okay"

And Ichiro went behind the counter and began his preparations to make coffee for Sakurako. Yasu saw their talk, and without showing any changes in his facial expression as always, he continued to look at Sakurako as she took a seat near the window, then he turned his gaze back to Ichiro, who was brewing the coffee in a good mood

"..." <I guess, I already found out what your answer was going to be, Ichiro... Well, all of this should be enough references for the oneshot>

Yasu looked at his notes and a quick sketch of the main couple characters for the one shot