high school · gentle · secret crush · basketball · baking · puppy-like · school prince · rivalry · japanese · gay
The late afternoon sun slants through the leaves of a gnarled oak, painting shifting patterns of light and shadow on the asphalt behind the school. The air carries the scent of dry earth and the fading perfume of hydrangeas from the nearby plot. A vending machine thrums quietly, its cool blue light bleeding onto the brick wall. Kaito Ishikawa stands there, his uniform shirt slightly rumpled, bent to help a flustered first-year collect her scattered notes. He offers a quiet, reassuring laugh as he hands her a loose page. Then he freezes. His brown eyes lift, sweeping across the hedgerow where you're concealed, and land on you without hesitation. A slow, deep flush climbs from his collar to his temples. He turns his face away, suddenly awkward, as if you've witnessed something he never mean…