Makeup

Kouji rushed up the steps, of which there were many. He was impatient and didn't want to wait for a slow elevator. Though as he ran up these stairs, he wondered if it was perhaps best not to be spending so much energy getting to where he believed Waa was at.

The location being on the roof, at the top of this tall school. One that looked a lot taller when one is running up the stairs like a madman.

"There. You. Are." He called out to her, out of breath. "Hold on… A second." Kouji was tired from all that work, that it made it rather difficult for him to talk.

"I'll wait." She replied in a tone of indifference. The girl didn't even bother turn her head to look at him as she spoke. "It's not like it matters to me."

"All right, look." He said once he caught his breath. "What are you doing up here? The ball's going on right now, and we both know how important it is."

"Of course, because we're all being graded on it." She responded, continuing not to face him. Kouji approached her, and stood besides the girl as she looked out on the view from the roof. "Relax, I'm not trying to skip. I just needed some fresh air." This was unlike her. Fresh air was never something she cared to get when cooped up in her room. "Just worry about the others, they probably need your help more than me."

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I didn't mean to make it seem like I was only looking for you because of school." In his heart, he figured that there had to be something to have upset her. It wasn't like her to seem so upset. Whatever it was, must've been pretty important to her. "I'm taking it that I must've said something to make you mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you." She told him. "It's just tiring with everyone telling me how great I looked." It wasn't anything unique about her specifically. A lot of people said that about a lot of other throughout the event. It's just that it kept getting into her head about what she looked like normally.

"So you felt bad about how you normally present yourself?"

"It's not that either." She rolled her eyes, but to be fair, it's not as if she'd consider her problem to be common. "I can live with not looking as pretty as most girls. But, I guess when I saw the way you looked at me…" While she may not have self-esteem issues. It was a little impossible to not take note that perhaps Kouji was looking for a beautiful girl. All of this was serving to remind her how little of a chance she stood in her eyes.

"I see…" He paused to think things over. It made more sense now, and he knew how to help her feel better. By being honest. "Look, you better not tell anyone else about this, but I was so happy that you confessed to me."

"Really?" She was confused. "But wouldn't it been easier so you don't gotta deal with the three of us?" Love triangles weren't easy, but certainly adding more points to it made it much harder to handle.

"True." He admitted. "But, I mean I'm glad you're the one that said it, because I kind of viewed you… As more than just a friend."

"You what? When did that…"

"I can't explain when, but it's been there for a while now. And I mean that, without all the makeup, or the wonderful dress you got on. I mean the regular old Waa we all know." It was weird to think about, since she certainly was the one girl out of the group he figured he wouldn't be into. At least with the others, including when he hated them, Kouji was aware of how attractive they were.

With her it was a little different. There were just those small little things that one notices when you get to know them better. For him, he learned a little bit more about his tastes in a girl, whenever he got closer to her. It's hard to explain, but yes, Waa is a girl that Kouji thought was cute. Even if most boys would disagree with him. "I'm glad you said something first, because I know I'd never make a move on you. Because I thought you'd just make fun of me, or something."

"You really think I'd make fun of your feelings?" He nodded in response. "You're kind of right." Kouji sighed in response to that followup statement. "But, only just to hide how happy I'd be." For the both of them, that felt good to hear.

"Yeah, so don't worry about comparing yourself to the others too much." He informed her. "I'm not placing it high on my list of things to look at, but even if I did. You're all real cute girls to me."

"That's good to hear." She breathed a sigh of relief, and took a good lasting look at the stars lighting up the night sky. "You know, there's no one else here right now." Waa leaned in towards him, getting onto her tiptoes to reach his face.

"Someone could still catch us, and you've got important things to get to." He reminded her of one of the reasons he came up here for. "But, I suppose a quick little peck can't hurt." Kouji turned his head down to give her a small little kiss. She returned the favor a bit, taking his hand to place onto her butt.

"Eh?" She spoke in a joking manner as she did so. "What do you think?"

"I don't know why you keep thinking that's a good idea." All this served to remind him, was how undeveloped this girl was. "But I have one." Kouji lifted her off her feet, carrying her in a princess style manner.

He would never admit this to her publicly. But that moment they shared at the arcade, when she leaped into his arms. That was definitely the time when he started to view her more than just a friend.

"Well this is fun." She enjoyed the sensation of being picked up, feeling weightless. "When did you decide to get so bold?" He had literally just told her moments ago, that he was concerned about being caught.

"I guess you could say that kiss got me very excited." He answered, taking her back inside. "But we only get one flight of stairs. I don't want to actually get caught."

"Deal." A shame she thought. It wasn't easy climbing these steps with her high heels on, nor would it be much easier on the way down.

Now, it was time for these two to return to the party.