6. Letting Him Call Me by My Name
I brushed off my butt and stood up.
'...It wasn't the contact itself that was the problem.'
I slung the shoulder bag I'd tossed by the entrance over my shoulder and turned it over in my mind.
One percent on the rooftop stairs. Three percent after our sparring match. And today, after making a whole fuss about not wanting to touch him and staying on edge over every little move he made in the equipment shed, the result was four percent.
I could just about make out the criteria.
It wasn't something as simple as whether our bodies touched. It seemed the Fall Progress was measuring the whole process of me being conscious of him, letting him jerk my emotions around, and having my attention stolen by the existence known as Kurosawa Ren.
Ironically, all that excessive vigilance and running away so I could avoid him today had just handed him the initiative.
Then the increase during our sparring match made sense, too. I'd been so fixated on the 'Fall Progress' in that status window I first saw that I'd paid far too much attention to him. And running into him at the judo club had caught me pretty off guard, too.
The status window must've judged that even though I'd won the match, he'd thrown me off my pace and stolen the initiative.
"Unbelievable."
If that was the case, then avoiding and ignoring him wasn't going to get me anywhere. Instead of blindly keeping my distance, I had to crush his momentum from my side, no matter what tricks he tried, and take back the initiative. I had to make sure he didn't even think about me that way in the first place.
When I came out of the equipment shed, I heard shouts from the judo dojo across the field. The Golden-Tanned Delinquent was probably inside doing club activities by now.
I shot the dojo a glare, then calmly headed toward the school gate. We'd see how things turned out.
**
The next morning, at 8:10.
I got to class twenty minutes earlier than usual and took my seat.
'Starting today, I absolutely will not let that bastard drag me onto his pace.'
Homeroom hadn't started yet. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, trying to get my mind under control. Before long, the back door opened, and that blond head strolled in with a swagger.
The guy opened the door wearing his usual delinquent getup, shirt buttons undone a few too many. He spotted me already in my seat, looking out the window, raised an eyebrow slightly, and walked over. He tossed his bag onto his desk and sat down beside me.
"Morning, Yuka."
I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. Normally, I'd have immediately frowned and ignored him, but...
"...Yeah. Hi. And don't call me by my first name."
"Hm?"
Leaning his upper body slightly toward me, he rested his chin on his hand and stared right at me. He seemed pretty surprised that I'd given him even a short reply, when I usually wouldn't even acknowledge him in class.
"You're not ignoring me today?"
"Well. We have to sit together for the whole semester, so I figured it might not be good to be so prickly all the time."
"Oh?"
What was that "oh" supposed to mean?
He gave me a sly grin and spouted some nonsense.
"So, does that mean you've opened your heart to me?"
I immediately picked up my mechanical pencil.
"Fuck. Don't cross the line."
"Whoa, whoa. Got it, got it. I won't. Heh."
He raised both arms in an exaggerated gesture, so I put my pencil back down. Honestly, I couldn't let my guard down around him.
**
The time flew by while I gave halfhearted replies to the guy, who kept talking to me.
At 12:30, the lunch bell rang, and Michiru immediately jumped up and came prancing over.
"Yuka-chan~ Let's go eat!"
"Sure, let's go. What's on the menu today?"
I asked as I stood up. Beside me, Reika was nonchalantly putting away her gym clothes. She glanced at her phone screen, shook her head, and said in a low voice,
"Don't get your hopes up. It's mapo tofu and croquettes today."
"Ugh."
Michiru's face turned ashen in an instant. The mapo tofu served at lunch last month hadn't been the usual Chinese dish, but mapo tofu covered in a thick, starchy sauce instead of red chili oil, with all its spice completely stripped away.
According to Michiru, it was bland and slathered in sugar, so it tasted like snot...
And sure enough, the lunch trays we got in the cafeteria looked atrocious. The mapo tofu had gone cold and smelled only of meat, while the croquettes served with it had turned completely soggy.
Of course, having eaten much worse back in the military in my previous life, I moved my chopsticks without a care.
"...Mmm. I can't eat this..."
Michiru poked at the tofu a few times, then stuck out her tongue with a bleh. Reika also picked at a few side dishes, then set down her chopsticks without a second thought.
"...Maybe we should just go to the school store instead? They might still have yakisoba bread."
"But I'm broke, since it's the end of the month... I went shopping for makeup with Reika-chan yesterday."
Michiru looked downcast, and Reika, still expressionless, gazed at me with slightly sparkling eyes. Good grief... I'd told them time and time again to start saving their money. Well, I could eat this kind of lousy grub just fine, but it must've been tough for them. Maybe I should look after them like the adult I was.
I finished up what little I had left, put down my chopsticks, and said,
"Sheesh. It's just bread. I'll buy it for you. Let's go."
"Wow, Yuka-chan, you're the best!"
"Thanks."
The three of us returned our mostly untouched trays and hurried straight to the first-floor school store. But the area in front of it looked like a battlefield after the fighting was over.
The display shelves were completely bare, and the only thing left was dry red bean bread that everyone avoided.
"This is a disaster... Ma'am, are you really out of yakisoba bread..?"
Michiru gazed up at the shopkeeper, eyes brimming with tears as she clutched the counter. The middle-aged woman chuckled and shook her head.
"Sorry, dear. The last three just went a moment ago. What a shame."
"Aaah! My yakisoba breaaad!"
Just as Michiru was about to slump to the floor, a rustling plastic bag sounded beside us, followed by a voice that was far too relaxed.
"Looking for these?"
I turned around. The tanned delinquent with the blond hair was chewing on a piping-hot yakisoba bun in one hand, while waggling two bags in the other for us to see.
"Kurosawa-kun?! Isn't that yakisoba bread?!"
Michiru's eyes practically rolled back in her head.
He smiled, gave Michiru and Reika a casual greeting, then looked at me with his usual sly expression. I seriously wanted to punch him.
"Too bad, Yuka. I bought them all."
Oh, for fuck's sake. This bastard really was no help to me whatsoever.
But he'd bought those with his own money fair and square. I couldn't just snatch them from him, so I swallowed my reluctance and decided to swallow a little of my pride, too.
I casually ignored Michiru squealing beside me about when we'd become close enough for him to call me by my first name, took a 500-yen coin from my wallet, and held it out to him.
"...Um, Kurosawa. Could you sell me those buns? They couldn't eat lunch, so they're really hungry. You already ate one..."
He looked back and forth between the coin and my face, then widened his eyes slightly as if he hadn't expected that. Then he burst out laughing.
"Ha! You actually asked me for a favor? Heh. But what can I say? I skipped lunch too, so I'm hungry, and I don't really need the money. Men need to eat more than you think."
I put the coin back in my wallet, took out a 1,000-yen bill, and handed it to him.
"...I'll give you another 500 yen. Double."
"Well, I'm not really tempted by money. What to do, what to do?"
"Dammit, what do you want?"
He thought for a moment, rummaged in his pocket, then pulled out a 100-yen coin and flipped it up with his finger.
Ting.
The coin spun in the air, then landed neatly on the back of his hand. He immediately covered it with his other hand and flashed me a grin.
"If you want it that badly, how about a nice, clean little bet?"
"...A bet?"
"Call the coin toss. Heads or tails. If you get it right, I'll hand over these yakisoba buns without taking your money or making a fuss. Simple, right?"
He spoke with the coin hidden beneath his hand.
"And if I get it wrong?"
"If you get it wrong?"
"Then you let me call you by your first name from now on. Deal?"
"...What?"
"Eek!"
I was so dumbfounded, I let out a hollow laugh. What, just my first name?
Excited, Michiru covered her mouth with her hand and jabbed Reika repeatedly in the side with her elbow.
I quickly started doing the math in my head. The odds were fifty-fifty. It wasn't like my life would be ruined if he called me by my first name.
Wait, could it be ruined? Judging by my theory, even something this stupid might raise my Fall Progress... Still, if I won with a fifty percent chance, I could give a free yakisoba bun each to poor Michiru and Reika, who were starving to death right over there.
"Yuka-chan, Yuka-chan! Please do it! Just guess, okay?"
Beside me, Michiru clung to my sleeve and shook it desperately, her eyes pleading with me. Even Reika was subtly egging me on, saying, 'With fifty-fifty odds, it's worth a shot.'
He gave his hand, covering the coin, a little shake and subtly provoked my competitive spirit.
"What, you don't have the guts? You're more of a chicken than I thought."
"...Ha."
It was such a basic taunt. But my rabbit-like little ones were watching me, and that smug look of his made my competitive streak flare up.
"Fine. Bring it on. Sakura."
"No backing out, got it?"
"Yeah, I got it!"
He slid his finger away with a crooked smile. Sakura, right? Please!
"Ah."
Michiru let out a little groan, and I stood there staring blankly at the number 100.
"Well, that's that. Be nice to me, Yuka."
He smirked as he walked past me, frozen in place, and slipped the coin into his pocket.
"..."
The status window blinked in front of my eyes.
[ You will be conquered in 100 days. ]
[ Time Remaining: D-98 ]
[ Current Fall Progress: 7% (+3%) ]
Fuck... I expected it, but it went up by three percent? Just from letting him call me by my first name?
A huge sense of futility welled up inside me. It wasn't just the fact that I'd lost the bet; I couldn't believe the reality that this obnoxious Golden-Tanned Delinquent would be calling me by my first name and acting smug about it from now on.
As I gritted my teeth in defeat, the guy who'd walked past me held out the yakisoba buns in his hand toward Michiru and Reika.
"Here. Eat."
"Huh...? Kurosawa-kun, are you giving these to us?"
Michiru asked, her eyes wide.
"Yeah. I've accomplished my goal. You two said you were hungry because you couldn't eat lunch, so split them between you."
He coolly placed the two bags of buns in Michiru's hands, then looked back at me, still standing there in a daze, and curled his lips up mischievously.
"Well, I'm off, Yuka."
"Kurosawa-kun, you're seriously amazing! The best!"
Michiru hugged the bread to her chest, looking touched, and Reika gave him a faint smile, saying, 'Thanks, I'll enjoy it.'
...You crazy bastard.
Not only had he won the bet and gotten permission to use my name, he'd also handed over the bread without a fuss and scored himself a good impression.
They say there's no point raising daughters... Michiru, Reika, you two. You sold me out and accepted the bread just like that?
My friends were beaming as they unwrapped the bread, and the Golden-Tanned Delinquent was humming as he walked away, apparently enjoying the whole situation.
In this space, I was the only loser...
**
'What, all it took was a little jab at her pride to get her to take the bait? She's easy.'
When she'd been putting up a wall and ignoring me, there hadn't seemed to be any way to get close at all. But all it took was a little prodding at her competitive streak and pride, and she walked right into the bet herself. She's surprisingly simple. Well, in the end, she's still a girl.
From now on, I could call her by her first name as much as I wanted. That expression on her face, unable to complain because she'd lost the bet even though she hated it, was going to be a real treat. Ren chuckled as he headed back to class.
"Yuka, huh..."
It really did roll off the tongue better than he'd expected.
He thought back to the moment her face had flushed red with shock and anger. That face stirred up his desire to dominate her and his sadistic streak. He wanted to ruin that face.
'Guess I'll get started soon.'
Thinking that, Ren wore a meaningful expression.