It seems She still lingers in His mind

There was a boy who constantly rejects affection from others, hiding within his hardened shell. He refuses to stay wide open considering how much it hurts. He didn't care even if this comfort costs him his improvement. He was fine with being below-average and unhappy if it meant he was comfortable.

Question: what would that kind of boy do when faced with a love confession?

Answer: Curiosity

Well, his first instinct was actually to instantly deny her advances, but considering he reaped what he sowed it would be unfair for him to just write her off instantly. He was the person who attracted her interest with his direct actions towards her, so to shut her off would be cruel and contradictory. Illogical.

"Reason."

"Hmm?"

The female of the pair tilted her head. It seems she was keeping quiet until now to let him gather his thoughts, and he was grateful for it. However now he has inquiries that needs answering, and she was the key to them.

"Give me a reason."

"Err… Because I'm cute?"

He shook his head. That was not what he meant. He needs no reason to accept her love. That was an option he will never take. What he wanted was to ask for the motive, the cause. He has long since figured finding out the reason was the best means to make logic out of seemingly illogical actions.

"Not a reason for me to accept, but a reason why you fell in love with me."

"Well… I don't know either. I noticed you, then I liked you, then I loved you before I realized it."

He narrowed his eyes. That statement made as much sense as a flying pig in his opinion.

"Illogical."

"Emotions are not bound by logic, yes."

The two went quiet at that. He slowly mulled over her words, tasting them with his lips. Those words were not foreign to him; they were things he often heard in the past, usually from an annoying person with a rough personality.

Emotions are not bounds by logic. They are incomputable through calculations and oftentimes impossible to make sense of. There is nothing he could do with them no matter how much he wrecked his brain since they are processed through the metaphorical heart.

Well now, didn't he know that very well himself?

His eyes turned up towards the sky. The weather wasn't very good, seems like it will rain sooner rather than later. He did not watch the weather report these during these two days so he didn't bring an umbrella. He should hurry home.

The two continued to walk towards his house. He has yet to reply to her confession, and to be honest he wanted nothing more than to ignore it. However, it didn't seem possible considering he could feel her eyes staring at him even now.

A lover… He has no intention of having one. Illusory feelings such as love won't be given a place in his life. It was nothing but temporary faults created through errors in calculations within the mind. They will soon wilt and die, and what is left will be mere pittances that are more troublesome than they are worth.

Therefore, he will reject her confession. And he will do it with nothing but the truth. That is the least he could offer her.

"…Care to take a guess as to what my only fetish is?"

"Oh, so you have one. Is it glasses? Fujoshi? Highschool uniform? Or is it yaoi?"

"…Submission."

She beamed with a smile as if he did not just say something scandalizing.

"Oh, that's a kinky one. Do you want me to call you 'Master' and follow your every order?"

"Who knows? Maybe, maybe not. I don't really have much preference, or at all. All I care is the fact a submissive partner won't harm me."

That seems to have poured cold water on her previous excitement. She looked at him with what he perceived to be pity. It seems she realized his line of thoughts. He has a deep sense of insecurity about love and therefore wishes for nothing more but a partner that simply won't betray him.

That was why Submissive girls will always be his largest fetish.

"…That's a really sad line of thought."

"I couldn't care less. We live in a world where everything is temporary, including love. The more I love someone, the more it will hurt when those love wilts. Love might be wonderful but the more wonderful it is the more painful it also will be. Rather than drowning in both happiness and pain I would prefer the mild taste of normalcy in life."

"Then your answer is…"

"I will never fall in love again."

She smiled.

"I see."

The two were quiet for the rest of the trip. There was not much else to say. He was wondering why she is even still following him back to his house, but it would be far too cruel to shoo her away right after he just rejected her. Therefore he shut his mouth and walked onwards.

Soon enough he reached his destination.

"…This is my house."

Yes, they had finally arrived at the humble house he began to familiarize himself with. With those parting words, he began to open the front gate. This meeting was tiring, and he didn't feel like doing anything for the rest of the day. It should be fine even if he slacked through his A-T learning experience a bit.

He opened the front door to his house and walked inside.

"…what are you doing?"

"I'm following you."

"…go home."

"My house is far from here, and it's going to rain soon. How cruel are you to leave a helpless girl in the rain?"

As if taking her words as a cue rain began pouring down from the sky. She grinned. He made a mildly displeased sound, before exhaling a sigh. His door was left open.

"…Fine, come on in."

"Yay!"

The two entered the house. Ebina looked around with excitement, humming a random tune with a skip in her steps. On the other hand, Higashi lazily walked towards the kitchen to prepare some tea.

He idly wondered why she bothered following him after her confession was rejected, not to mention entering his house. Did she merely wish to have a cover above her head while it rains, or was there something more?

By the time he finished his task, it seems she had enough of exploring as she was comfortably sitting at the sofa without a care in the world. He served the tea for her and another cup for himself. That done he comfortably sat on one of the chairs.

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

She looked at him with curiosity in her eyes. There was no trace of sadness from being rejected. He idly wondered whether she was merely playing around with both their feelings on that confession. Then again maybe she was simply that good at pretending.

"You said you'll never fall in love again, right?"

"Words for words."

He had a feeling he knows the next sentence that will come out of her mouth. An inquiry of sorts, asking a subject he was touchy about. Nevertheless, he was determined to hear and answer her truthfully. That was the least he could do after rejecting her confession.

"Again means you've fallen in love once, right? What kind of person was she?"

And there it was. He carefully thought about how he should answer the question just enough to satisfy her curiosity without revealing too much of his own history. Staying wide open to others will only end painfully for him.

"Ah, you don't have to tell me if you don't—"

"She was a rascal."

"Eh?"

He bit his lips. It has been a while since he last thought of her, mainly because he prefers not doing so. Reminiscing about the past was not an enjoyable pastime for him, considering the regrets stood out far more than the happy moments.

"A jerk. She punches me whenever she is embarrassed or annoyed. She constantly takes my money to buy whatever stuff she fancies. She won't take no for an answer and we constantly argue all the time."

"…Those all sound like bad things. What about her good points?"

That was a simple one.

"She won't lie."

"…That's it?"

"Yeah. She simply won't lie. That was why I fell in love with her."

"And she is now…"

"She's not around anymore. Three guesses as to what that means, first two don't count."

She looked towards him, before smiling once more. This time there was a glint of something in her expression. What exactly he couldn't recognize, but there was something within her gaze.

"You still love her don't you?"

"I will never fall in love again."

His reply was instantaneous since there was no need to hesitate. For him to actually love someone was a once-in-a-blue-moon miracle. He wasn't even a person who was interested in romance, and she was a strange exception. A miracle that cannot be recreated even if one tries their damnedest.

"…Well, what a romance I've been dragged into."

"…I apologize."

"No, I willingly plunged into this myself."

Ebina Hina looked through the window. The rain has stopped, and sunlight was starting to crack in once more.

"Well, I suppose it's about time I leave for today. Thanks for entertaining me today."

She walked close to him and pecked him on the cheek.

"Consider this my declaration. I still won't give up on grasping your hea—"

Her words were interrupted, as Higashi closed her lips with his.

"Hnn!"

He wasn't being aggressive or needy in the kiss. Their lips were merely connected with one another.

One. Two. After three seconds has passed he pulled back.

Her cheeks were flushed. She was panting badly. Her knees were trembling. All from a kiss without even the tongue. She really was inexperienced in physical acts of affection, wasn't she? Now he felt bad for doing that.

He sighed.

"I—"

Before he managed to say what he wanted, his lips were assaulted as she tiptoed and kissed him. This one was sloppy and desperate, full of emotions. It was something he never had to deal with till now considering how cool and cold his past lover was.

By the time their lips disconnected, she has since pushed him onto a chair, with her on top of him. He could have easily resisted but decided to just let her go wild considering he most likely stole her first kiss.

Another dozen seconds passed as she constantly kissed his lips, sometimes trying to slip her tongue into him. Yet he was steadfast in not responding to her beckons.

She panted roughly while he kept his breathing stable. Her lips were starting to get swollen.

They should probably stop at this point, but it doesn't seem like she would be willing to do so…

Can't be helped. He grasped her by the shoulder and forced her onto the chair, switching their position around.

Now he is the one pushing her into the chair.

He has been taught how to read faces by a friend of his for about two months, so her emotions were bare for him to see.

He closed the gap between them bit by bit. She gulped. Her eyes were shaky.

As expected…

His head went for her ear, before whispering a sentence.

"You're shaking."

She seems to have realized it with his words and tried to stop herself. Yet there was no stopping it.

"T-this is from excitement."

He shook his head before backing away.

"I don't pardon lies, especially not in love."

Standing up, he sat on another seat before taking sips from the cup of tea he prepared beforehand.

"Besides I'm a law-abiding teenager. Underage sex is illegal."

Putting down the cup, his gaze went towards her eyes.

"Back to what I was saying before you interrupted me… I considered moving on but it seems that is merely impossible for the current me. Go find some other man who will actually love you."

Her response was to sob.

His face paled.

"Hics… You jerk."

Her sobbing got heavier and heavier. After a dozen seconds, it has grown into full-blown crying.

Well, that was only the natural response, he supposes. Why did he even kiss her again? Oh right, because he hoped he could have moved on.

Moving on…

What a joke.

He remembered the event which happened just moments ago when he willingly kissed her lips.

A simple moderate kiss on the lips for exactly three seconds, without anything fancy or even much force at all.

The kiss he knew 'she' prefers.

…what an unfunny joke.