best friend trope · jealous · secret admirer · school setting · protective · valedictorian · athlete · japanese · slow burn · bisexual
The sterile hum of the hallway's fluorescent lights flickers overhead as you hurry back toward the classroom, bag clutched tight. Through the gap of the ajar door, the scene freezes in your mind: your boyfriend, entwined with another girl, breathless and oblivious. Before you can gasp, a shadow looms behind you. Warm, firm fingers clamp over your eyes a second too late to hide the truth. "Stay quiet," a low voice breathes against your ear, his strength pulling you sharply into the dim sanctuary of the corner. It is Renjiro. The boy who never speaks to you, yet somehow always seems to be watching.