REAL CONFESSIONS. . .

( KIND OF) MANGA SPOILERS ALERT!

- - -

"Yashiro. . .I like you!"

Yashiro stiffened and gaped in shock at Hanako's golden eyes staring right at her. They held emotions that Yashiro can't quite understand - yet she was still overwhelmed by its intensity. A moment of silence washed over them with serenity.

Yashiro wanted to freeze time.

She smiled, wide and bright as her eyes fluttered shut. The boy looked away in fear he'd get blinded by her brightness, or melt under her warmth like Icarus. "Hanako-kun. . ."

Hanako's eyes bore into her in the mention of his name said with unexpected gentleness. His orbs held hope, expectancy, and unease.

Yashiro laughed a bit at his pitiful expression, like a kicked puppy out on the streets. It really didn't help Hanako had such, wide, pretty eyes.

They stared at each other with what felt like an eternity. Like a sudden burst of emotions shot through them.

Yashiro took his hand and beamed at him.

"I like you, too. . ."

They stayed like that for a while. No words needed to be said, just the fact that they're together, basking in each other's presence is enough.

"And. . .

Done!"

Yashiro let go of Hanako's hand smiled at him. "That was nice! We did it in one try! You are really good at acting, Amane-kun! I felt goosebumps!" Yashiro dramatically placed a hand on her cheek and flushed on cue. "I didn't even need to look at the script again. . ."

As if both of them are just acting.

Amane seemed to be lost in a daze for a second, until he realized that Yashiro was staring at him intently. He blinked and smiled back. "Yeah! You were also really good, Yashiro-san! I was actually scared my character was going to get rejected."

Yashiro laughed along with him.

They played two main characters in a series created by a certain brunette. It was an original story based off of their real lives, but really, it's just a stage play for their school. There was a boy named Amane who died and got cursed to be trapped forever in the school ground of the academy. Amane turned into a ghost named Hanako. . .and you know the rest.

"Alright, everyone! Great job! 10-minute break and we'll finish this quickly!"

The small crowd cheered.

As Yashiro walked away from the stage to fix herself before the next practice set, Aoi, her best friend and most loved actress, daintily walked over to her.

"Nene-chan, you two were a natural!" Aoi gushed, a faint red dusting her cheeks. "I was so in love with the way you two played your role! That felt so real."

Yashiro's smile faltered a bit. Yeah, only if it was, huh? But she quickly recovered and plastered her brightest smile to avoid worrying her best friend. "Yeah, Amane-kun's really good at acting. He didn't even look at the script! He was just told to confess and I felt like it was the real deal."

Aoi's expression turned sly. "Oh? Is that so, Nene-chan? Then that can only mean one thing!"

Yashiro's forehead creased. "What?"

"He likes you for real!"

Yashiro's face turned bright crimson. "W-What!? Ao-chan, no! Amane-kun is just a really good actor! It's like his alternate universe self is actually a ghost or something! I don't know!"

"You're blushing awfully hard, Nene-chan."

Yashiro just walked away, ignoring Aoi's light-hearted chuckles.

She decided to go outside of the school, just to relax and breathe in fresh air.

The sunset is really pretty, Yashiro thought as she stared up at the sky painted with swirls of orange and pink, the clouds barely visible as the sun outshined and dominated the sky.

Before Yashiro could fully relax and calm her mind, she felt something unbelievably cold placed on her neck.

She shrieked and tried to push the hands away, until she was face-to-face with none other than Yugi Amane himself, him and all his mischievous eyes glory.

"Your hands are freezing!" Yashiro pointed out, her hands hovering where Amane's hands were a while ago. "No, they're always so cold!"

Amane chuckled and went beside her, looking at the view of the sunset in front of them. "Sorry, sorry. Body heat is something I lack."

"That's concerning."

Amane shook his head. "Nah. Tsukasa and I always have cold hands, so I guess it's just between us?" Amane just laughed and changed the subject. "So, the play starts next week, huh?"

Yashiro glanced at him. "Are you nervous, Amane-kun?"

"Are you?"

"Yeah." Yashiro's eyes darted down on her shoes. "It's been. . .really fun hanging out with you guys like this. I've even met Minamoto-kun and Mitsuba-kun in this stage play. I'm just. . ."

"Nervous?"

Yashiro looked at him in surprise. "Yeah, that. I'm just nervous that on the day we'll perform the stage play in front of thousands of people, the next day, everything we all had in months will be gone."

Amane seemed silent, which made Yashiro highly uncomfortable. She was expecting Amane to at least stay stuff like "even if it's going to be gone, let's just treasure the moments as much as we can" or something along those lines.

"Yashiro-san. . ." Amane began, making Yashiro's breath hitch, "who says it has to end?"

"I guess, Amane-k- wait, what!?" Yashiro is probably really a fish with the way her mouth opened and close repeatedly.

Amane smirked at her. "You're not the only one who enjoyed it here, you know. I really am happy being with you guys. I feel like I belong here, with all of you by my side." Then, Amane's smirk dropped into something more of a meaningful, soft grin. "Especially because. . . you're there."

Yashiro's face erupted into a blush. "What do you mean by that?"

Amane huffed and looked up at the sky, which was now slowly appearing to be littered by stars with a bright, golden moon that hung the highest. Amane had always wondered what it's like to go there.

"Did you seriously think all of those back there were just plain acting?" Amane asked in slight disbelief.

"I- uh, yes?"

"Well then, either you're seriously blind or just that oblivious. . ."

Yashiro gently slapped him on the shoulder, offended. "Hey!" She grumbled half-heartedly.

Amane chuckled and grabbed her hand, looked up at her, and pressed a quick peck on the back of her hand.

If Yashiro was blushing a while ago, then she's seriously exploding right now. Please stand by, Yashiro.exe has stopped working.

As the girl continued stammering out an incoherent string of words - as she suddenly lost the ability to speak properly - Amane breathed in deeply and stared at Yashiro's eyes.

"Yashiro, I really like you."

"Amane-kun, I-"

"Yugi and Yashiro! Please return back to the stage!"

We'll talk about this later, Amane mouthed to her, as Yashiro nodded.

They went back inside, stumped at the looks on everyone's faces.

"What?" The two asked in unison.

Everyone quickly looked away and innocently got back to what they were doing earlier, as if they weren't just watching Amane's real confession earlier and acted like they were in a very cliche romance scene in a movie.

"Nothing. . ."

- - -

BIG THANKS TO CrystalTale FOR GIVING ME SUCH A GOOD PROMPT!

I love this au so much 😭 ❣️

Also expect more ships in the next chapter because I just realized my book is literally just 3/4 of hanonene.

Thank you so much for reading this book!