12. First fishiest feeling

Lights beamed from the circular header above, flickering one after another when Shinsou entered in the dorm room. You followed behind him, momentarily stopped in your tracks when you felt as though a pair of eyes were burning a hole behind you.

Your eyes wandered around, searching for what seems like nothing before you quickly dismissed it and went back inside.

A careful breath escaped your lips before your eyes trailed towards the purple-haired male who released a sigh of relief when he removed his black mask. He gently grabbed his kitten up and embraced it within his arms.

Your eyes softened, lips tugged with a sudden warmth that busied your thoughts from the uncanny feeling earlier. Your fingers shut the door behind you before you slipped out of your shoes.

The feeling never left you, but you didn't want it to bother you either. There were other things that rummaged through your mind. For one, some mysterious things about Touya that Shinsou seemed to know more about.

You pressed your lips together before you strolled your way in the living room to drop off your mini sling bag on the couch before you sat down in sudden silence.

You were enjoying the rare moment of having fun with Shinsou through the hallways earlier, but through it all, you felt something very strange. Something you just knew in your gut where watchful eyes were fixated on you as if you were some lone deer in the forest.

"Hoy," Shinsou called out, while taking a seat beside you, his back lazily reclined on the couch with his cat on his lap. "You're surpringly quiet now..."

"Hm?" You turned your eyes to his cool, unaffected ones before you flickered your eyes back to your bag, busied yourself to find your project papers. "...I was just thinking about something weird."

"Good," he chirped, tugging a slight smile, tone filled with playful mockery.

"Ha?" You dipped your head back at him with a snarl. "Good? What do you mean good?"

"It's better when you're quiet, that way I can relax from that annoying mouth of yours."

"HAH?!" You gaped once again, irritation filled your expression before Shinsou confidently smirked at you—not affected one bit.

You rolled your eyes from him, forcefully zipping your bag back up before your phone dinged with a new notification. Your eyes perked up, swiftly fished out your phone to find a message from Touya.

9:23am

[Touya]

Hey, I miss you alr, my baby-doll.

You couldn't help but squeal inside, after the memory of him asking you to be his girlfriend, it felt as though a fresh, newfound love surfaced above the disturbing feeling in your stomach—especially away from your irritating roommate.

Each end of your thumb typed like a storm, eyes fixated onto the glowing screen, before you sent your reply.

9:23am

[You]

Me too! We'll see each other during lunch!

9:24 am

[Touya]

Awe I want u rn tho

9:24 am

[You]

I'm alr yours tho :)

9:24 am

[Touya]

I know u are, I wanna see you rn, wanna ditch class?

9:24 am

[You]

My teacher let me off to do a project early, so I'm working in my dorm rn, but don't ditch class! We can see each other during lunch!

9:25 am

[Touya]

agh fine, I'll see u after this class, k?

9:26 am

[You]

Sure, whatever u want :D

9:27 am

[Touya]

Can't wait to eat u ;)

oops I meant

see u*

sorry lol the autotype wants a death wish today.

You blinked, biting your lip with a baffled look, nevertheless you dismissed it with a slight chuckle. You turned your head to the side, catching Shinsou writing stuff on his project paper, looking all focused and confident.

A small smile unawarely formed on your lips, mostly thinking about how lucky you were to have a hot-shot of a boyfriend like Touya, but now towards your roommate, realizing how he looked like your boyfriend.

Your eyes wandered from Shinsou's poofy purple hair, then down to his long purple lashes, accentuating his almond shaped, violet eyes—glimmering from the sunlight.

Then, down to his sharp nose as if you could imagine sliding your finger on it, and lastly, towards his red, luscious lips—almost reminding you of Touya's ones when he kissed you.

Unbeknownst to you, the more you stared, the more your cheeks warmed. Unsure of whether it was the reminder of your boyfriend, or maybe Shinsou's naturally uniquely attractive look.

Or maybe the fact that you two were in a neutral friendship as roommates and classmates.

His purple eyelashes flickered up, revealing his lazy look. Eyes locking with your own widened ones, before his lips tugged a smirk.

"You staring at me is giving me an impression that you like what you see," his deep, smooth voice spoke, snickering at you before he raised a brow. "...Isn't that right?"

Your lips ajar, crinkled your nose as you quickly shook your head profusely in protest. "Far from it actually, I was thinking of how you look kinda similar to my boyfriend."

He raised a brow, nearly frowning once again at the mention of Touya. He sighed before he forced his frown to curl to a light tug. "Oh? Admit it, I'm the more attractive one out of the two of us."

You made a hefty laugh, wondering inquisitively at his sudden change in tone, yet somewhere within his eyes buried something you couldn't comprehend. As if he was hiding some grandeur secret, waiting to be unveiled. You simply shook your head with an eye roll.

"Ha-ha, dream all you want, your attractiveness has given you no girlfriend," you sneered, raising a brow in slight confidence.

"Oh? I can get one faster than you can."

"Ha," you snarled, bowing your head down slightly, remembering of how fast you somehow gotten a boyfriend within two weeks into school. "...I'd like to see you try, Shinsou, by the end of this week."

"I would, but I haven't found one that suits my taste...yet," He spoke as he shrugged lightly. "And plus I'm not into dating or going along with these cheesy romance business anymore."

"Anymore...?" You asked, eyes filled with peaked curiosity. "What happened?"

He shook his head with a subtle, sad frown. "...Just some stupid crush I had on my best friend since I was young, that's all...but she ended up going for someone she hasn't personally met, but she claims that...that person is her soulmate, which I thought was rather stupid, and just because they chatted online and talked through the phone every night, they somehow fell for each other, I sometimes wonder how I fell in love for someone so stupid."

"..." you blinked, never have you ever seen Shinsou ramble about something so much before, as if he was still harbouring bitterness in his heart concerning this particular person—which made you remember of what Fuyumi had said—something about how Shinsou fought over a girl with her youngest brother.

You wanted to tease him or just dismiss him on it, but the way he talked about it made him sounded solemn, serious, and full of hurt within his voice—which made you want to comfort him—as impossible that sounded, considering your current relationship with hm.

"It's fine," you murmured softly, before you placed your hand on his shoulder, earning his attention. You smiled softly with a softened gaze. "I'm sure you'll find someone less stupid to love."

"..." he curled his brow, quite baffled, yet amused at your effort of comforting him. He merely chuckled as he looked at where your hand was on his shoulder, before he flickered back into your eyes with a cool gaze.

"Nah, I'm done with these cheesy romance stuff," he muttered before looking back down on his paper. "I just hope to find a best friend again who'll truly stay by my side...and possibly be my partner, but I know that's not happening anytime soon."

"...Your best friend left you?" You asked, feeling a sudden sense of care towards him.

"Tch, I don't care anymore, she's gone anyways."

"Ha? She's gone? Did she move...?"

He shook his head. "No, she's dea—decided to leave and go on another path..." He sighed discontentedly, tension thickening like smog before he shook his head and looked back at you. "...Let's just get this project over with."

Your throat suddenly parched dry, surprised and unsure why his voice sounded so sad. As if something he wanted to release, yet reluctant to do so for fear. You simply murmured a small "okay" before you looked back to the front. You swore that you were about to hear him say the word "dead".

——

You read through the material with him, feeling the tension slightly dissipate when you made a joke here and there. Yet, through it all, you felt that uneasy feeling as if someone was watching you from afar.

You felt it from Shinsou before, something quite similar to that. But, this time it felt like something dangerous, ones that trickled with hostility.

You shifted on your spot, swallowing as you drew closer to Shinsou, as if you felt comfortable and safe around him—causing him to cock a brow at you. "What do you think you're doing?"

You turned your eyes at him with concern and slight fear. "Shinsou...you know that feeling where someone is watching you...?"

He raised a brow with a blank look. "All the time, from girls especially."

You sweatdropped before you shook your head at him with puffed cheeks. "Tch, not that, I mean like...it felt as if someone is watching me right now...even though whoever this person is...isn't here."

"..." he curled his brow, before shaking his head, a hefty laugh escaped his lips as he flickered your head with his palm to the side. "You're being paranoid right now, miss popular, the world doesn't revolve around you, so, not everyone has the time in the day to spy on you."

You shook your head silently, before you smiled softly, feeling slight relief of his words. Yet, the feeling still remained.

You curled a playful smirk as you tilted your head at him. "But, Shinsou, how come you have the time to stare at me during class?"

"Ha?"

"You stare at me during class," you repeated with a cheeky smile, leaning closer at his forced frown—nearly hiding his face by looking away, a light tinge of red surfacing.

He rolled his eyes with scoff. "That's because I could smell how much you stink from across the class, can't you imagine how much more when you're up close?"

"HAH?!" You gaped, nearly growling under your breath at him. You merely crossed your arms before you drew closer to his face with your lips puckered up in annoyance.

"You said you find my scent attractive," you spat, pointing the tip of your finger on his chest with a furrowed glare.

"Yep, attractively smelly."

"Gosh, I hate you."

"Knew that already, Princess popular."

"Agh, stop calling me that, you poofy purple twerp."

He rolled his eyes before he shifted himself away from your sudden closure of proximity. But, you merely drew closer, causing him to shift further back.

"Tch, stop it, you creep," he muttered in annoyance, before his cat jumped up on the sofa and twirled around you once again.

"Haha, fine, I'll snuggle with your wifey instead."

"Oi, give her back right now," he demanded, solemnity in his tone as he tried to grab ahold of his cat from your arms but, you simply hugged her more and turned to your back.

Shinsou grunted in irritation before he moved closer to you, bumping his legs against your own. "Give her back."

"No!"

"Tch, that's it," he scowled before he slid his hand around your cheek and brought you to look into his eyes, glowing purplish red with eyes slightly widened, brows curled in seriousness.

"Give me back my Princess right now."