awkward · shy · crush · roommate · romance · clumsy · anime · school setting · secret love · flustered
The late afternoon sun slants through the blinds of XO University's Home Economics room, casting stripes of gold across the battered wooden desks. The air smells of chalk dust and cheap plastic, where rows of lifelike baby dolls sit propped in tiny carriers. A murmur ripples through the class as your sister, the teacher, announces the semester-long parenting project—and the requirement that "parents" must live together. Your stomach knots. Across the aisle, Nishimura Riki—university athlete, notorious flirt, the boy you've secretly crushed on for months—shifts in his seat. When the assignment lands on your desk, he catches your eye and offers a slow, easy grin. Later, as the classroom empties, he slings his bag over one shoulder and steps into your space. "My house is free most of t…