We Are Not A Pair

The next day at Sakura's apartment, she was just about to close the door when she took notice of the keychain that Alan gave her the other day once again and suddenly thought of moving it to one of the zippers of her backpack.

And that's what she did as soon as she was finished closing the door of her apartment room.

At that exact moment, Alan was also going downstairs when he saw Sakura close the door of her room just now. Almost instantly, his face lit up.

"Hayashi-san!" He called out and waved his hand happily by the time Sakura turned around to face him. "Good morning."

Sakura plastered a smile at him and greeted him back, "Good morning, Yamaguchi-san."

"You know, you can just call me by my first name. Isn't that what friends are normally doing?" Alan suddenly pointed out and pursed his lips.

Sakura also thought about it. Alan is a multi-billionaire heir and a person who is truly way out of her league. How can she just call him by his first name just like that?

Additionally, his fans would definitely kill her for sure once they heard her calling him by his first name.

Finally, Sakura responded, "Nope, I still prefer to call you by your last name."

Alan kind of protested about it for a few seconds before giving up when Sakura didn't budge a bit.

"Then, can I just call you by your first name?" he asked out of nowhere, surprising Sakura.

Sakura pretended to think about it before replying casually, "Yeah, sure you can."

Alan beamed and asked again if they could go to the train station together. When Sakura said yes, it made him smile, and soon they started walking out of their apartment.

They are already on the roads when Alan notices the keychain that he bought the other day already attached to Sakura's bag.

Somehow, it made his day even brighter…

***

At school, Sakura and Alan have to part ways after arriving at the Business and Economics building. However, both of them have the subject Philosophy in both their schedules every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so they'll still be seeing each other later at 3 pm.

After waving goodbye to one another, Sakura proceeds walking towards her first-period class, where the first thing that she needs to see upon pushing the classroom door open is the dashing and handsome face of Mori Ken who's just casually laying back in his seat.

Instantly, the events from yesterday came gushing inside her head on a whim as she slowly entered and walked towards her seat next to Ken's.

{"I don't know what challenges you have overcome in the past… but you've done very well in overcoming these things."}

{"Well done, master…"}

Sakura could feel her cheeks burning as every memory of what she said yesterday came pouring out to her, making her cover her face as fast as she could.

I shouldn't have said all that out of the blue! I should just have kept it to myself! Now, I feel more embarrassed than ever to face him.

"Good morning,"

When Sakura already reached her seat, Mori Ken immediately greeted her. However, the latter's forehead eventually creased when he noticed how Sakura covered her face with both of her hands.

Ken quickly stood up and tried to have a closer look at the girl. "W-what's the matter? Are you sick? Are you hurt? Say something."

When Ken tried to remove Sakura's hands away from her face, Sakura flinched right there and then with his sudden movement and took a step back.

"I'm okay! Geez, no need to touch me!"

Afterward, Sakura took a seat and ignored the guy for the next couple of minutes. But at the back of her head, she is just being shy about facing Ken once again after how yesterday's events suddenly turned out.

Why am I acting like this? What is wrong with me?

Sakura places her head on her hand as she tries to contemplate what is exactly wrong with her today.

Meanwhile, Ken went on with what he was doing earlier and finished a simple sketch drawn at his sketchbook that he bought recently.

He was in the middle of doing it when he was reminded of something and turned his attention again towards Sakura for the second time.

"Hayashi-san, about the reporting we need to do in our Math class next Tuesday…" he began speaking, but Sakura interrupted him midway.

"I'll just finish it for both of our sake. No need to team up with one another in finishing it since I can do it alone."

Ken's eyebrows hunched together in disagreement and retorted, "No, that's not how pair reporting works. We are a pair here, a team! No one is working alone, do you hear me?"

Sakura can't help but raise her eyebrow in protest. A pair? Did he just tag them both as a pair?

Sakura pointed out resentfully, "I think you're mistaken. We are not a pair, because a pair does not abandon one another until the end."

Ken seemed not to get it at first but eventually realized what Sakura means and sat back on his seat in silence.

For the rest of the class, both Ken and Sakura didn't talk to one another after that.

Once the first-period class ended, all students had to go out of the classroom to go to their next respective classes. As for Ken, he also stood up from his seat, slung his bag cooly on one shoulder, and proceeded walking towards the door.

Sakura, on the other hand, immediately felt guilty for snapping at Ken like that earlier when he meant no harm. Regretfully, she convinced herself not to take all things personally with him and apologize for what she did.

It was, after all, a stupid move to dig out the past over academic matters. It doesn't make sense at all.

Finally, after making up her mind, Sakura quickly got up from her seat when she saw Ken already nearing the door.

To make him stop walking, she called out, "Mori Ken! Wait!"

Like a magnet to her, Ken immediately stopped in his tracks and turned to face Sakura, who is now dashing her way towards him.

When she finally reached his location, Sakura took her time to collect her thoughts for a few seconds before speaking.

"Is there something wrong?" Mori Ken asked when Sakura was still being silent.

"I…" Sakura trailed off, avoiding meeting his gaze. "I just wanted to say sorry for what I said back there. I know the past doesn't have to affect our academic matters so I would be willing to work with you whenever you're available."

Ken fell silent for a few moments after hearing that, as if he was thinking too hard on what to respond to her.

Finally, he said, "You're right. I did abandon you, and---"

"Stop," Sakura pleaded with a downcast face. "Just stop, please. I just said that personal matters don't have to mix with our academic matters, so please… just work with me on this reporting as normally as we could."

Ken immediately purses his lips to stop himself from going further.

"Alright then," he replied. "If that's what you want."

After that, he didn't have to wait for her response and walked out of the classroom to attend his next class, leaving Sakura breathing heavily as she lay her head down for a while.