Senpai, Do You Want To... Share A Burger?

Looking outside the Art room, he watched as the baseball team was playing against the other team from Ninomiya.

"Our team's pretty good, huh?" Looking from the window next time to him was his classmate, Izumi Miyamura. After helping with the accident about a month ago, they started to hang out more in class.

Initially, they both decided to hang out in the air-conditioned clubroom until the weather dropped a little more, passing the time either doing home work or, as Miyamura recently taken a liking to, painting. But attracted to the ruckus outside, they both just decided to watch the game instead.

'Huh,' he thought. 'Nagatoro's late.'

*Ring-Ring*

Hearing a phone ring, he saw that it came from Miyamura's.

"Sorry," The boy with the glasses said. "I got to go. See you tomorrow, Nao-kun?"

Giving the boy a wave, he watched as Miyamura left the clubroom.

________________________

Miyamura was walking down quickly, keeping his head down. He made a sharp turn around the corner. Looking back, he should've paid more attention to where he was walking and slowed down.

"Oof!"

"Ah!"

Rubbing the back of his head, he looked at who he ran into. 'Wait, isn't that Hori-san, the most popular girl in class?' He thought.

The girl was still fazed from the crash, rubbing her head as well. Scattered around them were papers and stationaries that had spilled out of the bag along with a phone with a pink case.

Quickly getting to his knees, he picked the spilled contents form the ground and handed to back to the girl. "Sorry," he said a low voice. Bowing to her, he made his way around her and quickly left school.

Waking from her shock, she soon started to put the items back in her back. But noticing a shiny object on the ground, she picked it up.

"...Earrings?" She asked out loud. 'What is Miyamura-san hiding?'

___________________________

"Hmm, maybe she has club activities," he muttered. "Is it swim club today again? No, it's closed because the pools being cleaned today... maybe archery club... possibly... or the tennis club... but I don't know if they have a girl's team." As he was muttering, He started to remember the events yesterday.

-----------------

(Yesterday)

"Senpai."

"Yes?"

"Want me to model for you tomorrow?" She raised her hand as if she was in class. "You never drew me last time when I was wearing that swimsuit."

"No, it's okay." Picking up a apple, he showed it to her. "I'm planning on drawing an apple tomorrow."

Seeing this, the girl facepalmed. Picking up both the apple and banana, she began to angrily rant. "Apples and bananas are always going to be there for you to draw." She then put both to her face. "I'm a high school girl over here! A high school girl! Have you heard of a thing called scarcity value?"

He gave up. "Fine, fine, I'll draw you tomorrow, then, okay?"

-------------------

(Present)

"I mean," he said to himself, "if she's not coming, that's okay, too." But he couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed and the ache in his heart at her not showing up.

Hearing the door slide open, he looked at the door to see a green couch slowly slide through the opening.

"One and two, one and two..." He could see Nagatoro behind the couch, pushing it in. "One and two, one and two, one and two..." Finally pushing all of the couch in, she stopped to swipe the sweat off her forehead.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

Sitting down on the couch, she crossed her legs, looking all too smug. "The crafts club didn't need this sofa anymore, so they gave it to me. The chair here was so hard and uncomfortable" She explained. Laying and the couch, she snuggled against it. "See? It's nice and soft" She said rubbing her cheek against the cushion.

A tiny bit exasperated at her action, he reprimanded her. "I never asked you to bring that into my club room."

*Ding*

Hearing the batter hit the ball, he looked out through the window to see the ball curve in the air. Reminiscing the past, the image of another baseball soaring in the air came to mind. 'I almost got expelled that day, huh?'

"What's up?" Walking up the window as well, she looked outside. "I saw you staring pensively out the window earlier, too." They both looked down at the baseball diamond.

"Hosokawa-kun from the baseball team's killing it again." She said. "They say he's a superstar who'll become a professional player for sure. It's hard to believe he's the same age as you." That was blatant insult if he ever heard one.

"How do you know so much about him?"

"Oh, are you jealous, senpai?" She said putting a hand to her mouth, smiling.

"No, but it's odd how people do things to earn praise than to do things they love."

"Do you want praises, too, senpai?"

Thinking about the question, he answered. "No, not really." The praises, spotlight, and fame; those weren't the things that attracted him to being a hero. While he had no problem with people like Captain Celebrity, who at least did their jobs well, he believed that a hero's focus should always be to help other's, regardless of the outcome or backlash.

"Though... if I did want praise, I don't think I have any talents to praise." Looking at the Nagatoro, she seemed to be grinning at him.

"Do you praise people at all, then, senpai?"

"Um, sometimes, I don't really keep track..." He trailed off.

"Talents aside," She said, gesturing with her hands, "if you want praise, you have to give praise first." Raising a fist, she shouted, "He who never praises receives no praise!"

"So with that said..." She then sat down on the couch, pointing at herself. "Try praising me."

"How did it come to this?" He asked himself.

"Everything is worth a shot." She responded to his rhetorical question. "Ready? Come on."

"What am I suppose to praise you for, again?" Looking at Nagatoro, he started to play along and think of praises for her. 'Her face is... cute? But I couldn't say that to her face...' He then looked below her waist. 'She has nice, slender legs? That would be sexual harassment...' Looking upwards again, he stared at her hair. 'Her hair smells nice... that sounds creepy.' But seeing as it was the safest option, he decided to go with it.

"Y-Your hair is nice and smooth." He managed to speak out.

Clapping her hands, she laughed out loud. "'Nice'?"

Blushing, he covered his face with his arms. Seeing this, with great effort, she stopped laughing. "Sorry, praise me more."

"Y-You have a light step."

"'Light Step'!" She repeated, before standing up to start moving side to side rapidly. "Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Enjoying herself, she giggled. "Come on! More! More!"

"The first time we met in the library, when you smiled at me, your eyes..." He said, recalling the memory, "...I thought I was staring at stars."

Hearing such a heartfelt compliment from him, she was stunned before turning bashful. Scratching her cheek, she looked to the side. "Th-Thanks."

Both sitting down, Nagatoro bit her lip before speaking. "Since you said a lot of nice things about me..." Suddenly, her shy demeanor switched back to teasing face. "I'll praise you this time, senpai."

She then started rubbing her chin while looking at him. Leaning back and forth multiple times while looking at him, she stopped and crossed her arms, nodding to herself as if in deep contemplation. As if a lightbulb went off in her head, she smiled brightly at him.

"Your face is funny." She said confidently."

"...?!"

"You make a lot of interesting expressions, senpai." She said, returning back to rubbing her chin. "And if I stare at you long enough, you start twitching under your eyes." She then focused on staring at him.

Avoiding eye contact, he consciously prevented his eyes from twitching under the girl's gaze. 'Come on, keep steady... No!' His eye twitched.

"See? You're twitching under your eyes!" She exclaimed while pointing at him.

"M-My eye's were just itchy."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Weren't you going to model for me today?!" He shot back, trying to change the subject.

"Okay." The girl sat back down on the sofa. "How should I pose? Since we have this sofa..." She started shifting around, doing various poses.

"Something like this...?"

"Or like this? Look, look."

"What do you think, senpai?" Seeing his blush grow larger, she this was the time to land the finishing blow. "Or, how about this?" Started to raise her skirt bit by bit.

"Could you please stop that and pose normally?!"

Smiling at him, she gave a thumbs up. "Okay."

Preparing his pencil, he began sharpening it with a exact-o-knife. 'Why does she always want me to draw her?' He wondered. 'She probably enjoys embarrassing me while I try to draw...'

"*Yawn* I'm getting sleepy..." Getting into a more comfortable position, she put one arm under her head. "You don't mind me changing my pose since you haven't started yet, right?"

"Sure, I'm almost done preparing."

"I'll give you a reward if you draw me well." She said smiling.

"You don't have to do that. It's probably some dare again..."

"That's only because you don't have guts, senpai."

"Guts?"

"Senpai, you could be a little more..." But as she was about to finish her sentence, she fell asleep.

Looking at how peaceful she looked sleeping, he smiled little before starting to draw.

After fifteen to twenty minutes of drawing, he was done. Putting down his pencil, he looked at the drawing again. 'I managed to finish.' The drawing showed Nagatoro lying on the couch, smiling as she slept. 'But I rushed through it. So I made a ton of mistakes, maybe I can still fix some if before she wakes up.'

"I see." Behind him was Nagatoro. "How was your nap?" He asked.

"It was amazing. Anyways, time's up!" She gleefully shouted. Looking down on him she grinned. "Now it's time for your reward." Standing up and grabbing her bag as well as his, she started to drag him.

"Wait! Where are we going?"

"Your reward, senpai!"

_______________________

Inside a restaurant, he sat across from Nagatoro in a window booth.

"Hey, Nagatoro."

Looking up from the menu, she give him a small grin. "Yes, senpai?"

"...Is this the reward?" He asked, gesturing to the restaurant.

"Yeah, I just got my allowance this month. And I wanted to eat out, so your reward is me paying for this meal." Leaning on both hands, she looked at him with a sadistic gleam in her eyes. "Oh, did you expect something else, sen~pai?"

"N-No. I-I was just surprised, that's all."

Before Nagatoro could continue teasing him, the waitress arrived.

"Hello, what can I - wait!" The voice then switched to English. "Oh, Nathan!" She said loudly, attracting the attention of several other customers. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend." Now elbowing him, she whispered into his ear. "But if she doesn't like turtles, ditch her."

Switching back to Japanese, she said, "Don't you two worry, the burger's on the house for you two love birds."

"W-W-Wait-!"

But she had already left their table, giving him a wink as she left.

Curious, Nagatoro tilted her head as she looked at him. "Do you know that women, senpai?"

"Oh, that was Belcher-san, the wife of the owner of this restaurant. I manage their finances."

Registering that tidbit of information for later use, she gave him cat-like smile. "Did you hear her, she thought we were on a date."

"Y-Yeah. We're just fr-friends eating together." He said.

Another waiter arrived, placing two burgers with fries down before leaving.

"Oh, we're friends? Then as friends, you don't me doing this, then, right?" Taking her plate, she walked over and sat in the same bench as him to his right. "Friends sit together, right, senpai?"

"I-I suppose so." He said blushing at her close proximity.

"'I suppose'?" Laughing at him, she held her stomach. After she laughed, she wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. "Senpai, here's your real reward. Close you eyes."

"?"

"Just close your eyes already." Closing his eyes, her do as she pleased. Like last time, he felt something touch his lips.

"Taste it, senpai."

'It's soft and warm, but what is it?' Opening his eyes, he realized he was face to face with a burger.

Nagatoro moved the burger away from his face to reveal his tongue slightly sticking out. She began laughing at his face. "What are you doing? Trying to get your tongue in?!" Seeing his shocked face, she continued. "You're a million years away from being able to kiss me."

"I-I wasn't trying to get my tongue in." He said looking away from the burger. "You said 'taste,' so..."

"Though," she spoke, "I did like your drawing you did of me afterschool."

"O-Oh, no problem. You asked me to draw you, so I tried my best." But before he could talk more, he heard a ring come from his pocket. Pulling out his phone, he realized that it was his work phone.

Looking sorry, he apologized to Nagatoro. "Sorry, I have to deal with something. See you next week?"

"Oh, see you later, senpai." Quickly waving to her, he got up and left the booth. Waving to Linda and the other staff as well, he left the family diner.

As she watched her senpai leave the door, her attention turned back to the burger she used to make her senpai kiss. Blushing, she raised the burger to her face before giving it a kiss where his lips touched.

"...An indirect kiss with senpai." She whispered to herself.

From the kitchen, Linda watched he girl kissing the burger while munching on popcorn. Grabbing a handful of popcorn, she stuffed it in her mouth. "This is better than my soap drama's" She said before continuing to eat popcorn.