So that's your plan?
Have him absolutely hate your guts?

Yep. The fact that the king of the classroom himself is so easily provoked makes my job easy.

I don't get it.

What isn't there to get?
We're academic rivals.

???

Academic rivals to lovers.
That's the setup we're going with.

(๑•ૅㅁ•๑) Again, I ask:
???

You told me to play this like a dating game and you don't have the slightest clue about the basic of all basic tropes?

I know what it is.
The school setting. The competitive spirit. The jealousy. The tension. All of that nonsense.
Did you have a long day?
Are you sleep-deprived?

I'm wide awake, actually. At twelve in the morning.
I haven't been getting any sleep thanks to you.

Oh?
I've been keeping you up at night? How scandalous.

Asshole.

(ㆀ˘･з･˘)
No need to be so mean. It was a harmless joke.

Sometimes I wonder if you're just trolling me or if you really are out to get me.

A bit of both ♡
Which reminds me. I took a great photo of you today.

The image sent in the chat was taken right after school. Students piled out of Kanome High School. And there, squinting while furiously waving through the hectic crowd, was me.

Got quite a laugh :p
Is losing your glasses a part of your rivals-to-lovers scheme?

Maybe.
Glad to know my hunch was right, though. You're a student at Kanome High School.

So you do have common sense!!
Most people would've figured that out the moment I brought up the gossip column!! (๑>◡<๑)

He angered me beyond belief.

Now, now, Anri dear. I'm worried. Are you sure you can hold your ground against an academic prodigy like Ren Takumi?
He has an IQ of 140, you know.

You did your research.

I did. Top of his class since the first grade. Scores 100s as easily as he breathes. Mother and Father are a physician and anesthesiologist respectively.
Every morning at 5 AM, he walks an adorable, black-and-tan Shiba Inu.
And allegedly, at the age of TEN, he solved a complicated mathematical equation that a professor at Tokyo University spent his whole career trying to solve.

Was that dog information relevant?

Thought I'd sneak it in.
ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ
Point is, Ren Takumi's an over-achiever.
In contrast, you're average. For all your examinations—whenever the ranking boards go up every term—your name hovers right in the middle. Barely enough to pass. Nowhere near enough to be noticed.
And you prefer it that way, don't you?
You spent all these years, content with being average. And it can stay that way.
If you ask me, you're better off finding another way to win Ren Takumi's heart.
☆ The clock is ticking ☆

Thank you for the nauseating concern, Creeper.
But, I'll be fine.
Enjoy your stupid little game.

"MY SIGHT HAS OFFICIALLY RETURNED!"

Saeki dipped a cutely shaped eyebrow. "So, you've finally decided to stop torturing yourself?"

Moe sighed. "Your eyes are super red, Anri."

"Putting my contacts in was utter agony." I resisted the urge to rub my eyelids and risk dislodging my contacts and further damaging my vision. "How do people live like this every day?"

"You get used to it," Saeki—the contact connoisseur—responded softly. Like me, Saeki had been cursed with terrible vision. However, I hadn't seen him with glasses since middle school. Once he switched to contacts, he never went back. "Give it a few days. Maybe a week or two."

"Two weeks?" I could cry already. Wait. Could you even cry with contact lenses on?

"You're fine, then?" Moe clung tighter to Saeki's arm as we strolled along the roads leading to Kanome High School. "From now on, you'll be able to get to school on your own without us?"

These last few days, they'd been accompanying me. Initially, I'd asked Moe but she and Saeki were a package deal. For longer than I could remember, the two walked to and from school together. It constituted as quality time for them. Meaning, with this incident, I was an unfortunate third wheel.

As always.

"Yeah, I'll be okay," I responded.

"Great." Moe batted her doe-eyes up at Saeki. "I heard a cat cafe opened up nearby. I really, really, really think we should go there after school."

Saeki's blue eyes sparkled at the mention of 'cat'. He  absolutely adored animals. "I want to go," he answered in a heartbeat. He eagerly turned to me. "What about you, Anri? Are you—"

"Sae," Moe cut him off.

I'd already slipped out my cell phone, scrolling through Google to find the answer to my embarrassing, can-you-cry-with-contacts question.

Moe's pleading stare transmitted all the words in the universe.

"Anri's busy," she insisted. "She can't join us. Right?"

"Yep. Busy. Super busy," I played along. I waved over my shoulder and ducked in another direction. "In fact, I've gotta stop by somewhere as we speak. You two head on without me!"

I ducked into the nearest neighbourhood at that.

Saeki's palpable confusion rolled off him in invisible question marks whereas Moe's shoulders sunk in obvious relief. She mouthed a discreet thank-you in my direction before tugging him forward. I lingered around the corner for several seconds, hiding from plain sight. Afterwards, I stepped back out onto the road. By then, Moe and Saeki were nothing but fleeting figures, chatting and laughing to nonsensical jokes I wasn't privy to.

Sometimes, it sucked. They were both my best friends who I cared for dearly. But, they were a couple. Which meant I had to be considerate.

I couldn't wedge my way in between them, unless if they were fighting and I had to mediate. There were boundaries I learned not to cross. Conversations I just couldn't have.

Without me, they had each other. But, without them, I had nobody.

I'd always have nobody.

Shaking my head, I nudged up the volume to my music currently blaring through my headphones.

Nope.

I wasn't doing this. Thinking like this.

Not today.

Not anymore.

_________________

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