amane threw himself to bed after he ate some dinner with his parents and brother. he was tired from the shopping he had with [name]——he enjoyed being with her.

      he was busy strumming with the guitar while he was laying down on bed. there was a small ding! from his phone. amane looked over to see that [name] messaged him.

username:
amane-kun
i can't sleep

      amane chuckled and typed back.

hanako-07:
do you want me to help?
can i call you perhaps?

      knowing that [name] has quite the strict parents and her twin sister bugging her from time to time, she would decline his invitation. to his surprise, she replied.

username:
alright
let me get my earphones

      amane jolted up in surprise when his phone started to ring. he puts on his headphones and connected his microphone. "hi, good evening [name]." he could feel his lips curling up into that stupid smile once again.

      "i have difficulties in sleeping, although why do you have to call me? we literally live next to each other." amane agreed, why does he have to call her? but he did have an answer.

      "because i like hearing your voice." amane replied. "not because i called you to make you feel sleepy with the late night talks, i just wanna hear you, please?"

      amane noticed from his window he could see [name] burying her face against the table with red seeping through her ears. he smirked and puts his microphone near his lips. "[name]? i can see you blushing here~" he cooed.

      [name] cupped her ears, amane's microphone is fitting for an asmr, he chuckled deeply to tease her ears more. "shut up, you didn't see anything." [name] scolded with a mutter, so amane obliged and stopped teasing. "but hey, are you practicing your guitar? i wanna hear you play."

      the choppy haired boy's face changed into a nervous look, he only learned one part of the song called can't take my eyes off of you he was quite embarrassed at the song choice and [name] wanted to hear him play. amane takes the acoustic guitar and sat back down to his swivel chair and leaned in to the microphone and started to strum gently.

      it's like giving her a live performance but not really since it's in a call. 

"you're just too good to be true
can't take my eyes off of you
you'd be like heaven to touch
i wanna hold you so much
as long last, love has arrived
and i thank god i'm alive
you're just too good to be true
can't take my eyes off of you."

      amane was quite lazy at the moment so he skipped to the chorus of the song. "i need you baby, if it's quite alright. i need you baby to warm the lonely nights. i love you baby, trust in me when i say~"

      "oh pretty baby, don't bring me down i pray. oh pretty baby now that i've found you stay and let me love you, baby. let me love you~" 

      amane finished the song and places the guitar to his side. "um, how was it?" he asked. [name] giggled at the other line in response.

      "you're just like a vocal angel, you sound so good while singing—" [name] started to ramble on how good he is in singing, which he could feel his whole face heating up at a bunch of compliments. "i like your voice."

      amane wanted to chide in and say that [name] sounded better than him. to him her voice is versatile, she can be sweet and soft spoken in a normal daily basis, then it becomes low and raspy when annoyed or frustrated at other thing, he didn't care, she sounded lovely, like milk.

      that was confusing, amane doesn't even know what milk sounds like—unless? ehem, but you get what amane meant, he couldn't help but to sometimes fawn over her voice.

      "but not as much as i like yours..." the flustered amane buried his head on top of his arm while the other was cluthing his stomach because of the butterflies. he was too in love with [name] that he have this midnight brainrots of her while he stays up all night looking at the moon.

      no wonder [name] couldn't sleep, amane was too busy thinking about her. amane is definitely crushing on her, but you know what they say when a crush exceeds it turns to love.

      'do i have a crush on her or have i fallen in love?'

      "amane-kun?" the choppy haired boy was startled after he spaced out for what it seemed like a minute. "sorry, did i bother you from rambling too much?" [name] says with a worried tone.

      this whole time [name] was ranting and he noticed that he was only focusing on her voice rather than the topic itself. "n-no." he stammers. "it's fine, continue on talking—"

      the call went on for more than an hour. amane enjoyed every single second of it, he liked talking to [name] and it feels like he's stepping out of his comfort zone when he's around her. he reels himself away from his desk using his swivel chair and stood up to open the window.

      his face was greeted with cold breeze and the thin lines of moon beams highlighting his visuals. amane let's out a relaxed sigh, staring at the ethereal moon and the shimmering stars powdered acrosss the night sky. "the moon looks so pretty." amane mentioned.

      "it is." [name] went downstairs to the gate to get a better look of the moon. "you really do love the moon, huh amane-kun?"

      no. amane really loves [name]—more than the stars and the moon. he finds it hard to convey his feelings directly to her. "no, i love you more—"

      "ha?"

      "I MEAN THE MOON! I LOVE THE MOON MORE HAHAHAHAHA!" amane lets out the fakest laugh that he could muster like those kpop idols when a western reporter interviews them. he could feel his fingers shaking and his panicked breathes after he almost confessed to [name]. that was a close one. "sorry, i was too loud."

      the next day, amane arrived in class yawning consecutively due to him sleeping late after he called [name] that night. he was going to bring his acoustic guitar to show it to his friends other than [name], which is akane and yamabuki. "whoah man, you got a guitar?"

      "you can play?" akane questioned while he adjusted his glasses.

      "a little bit, but i need to practice on more songs so i can actually be good at it." amane sheepishly grinned.

      "give us a sample." yamabuki pulled out his phone to record amane, but the choppy haired boy simply refused at the idea in which the yellow haired boy obliged and tucked his phone back inside his pockets.

      "just one, i learned it yesterday." amane sat on top of the desk while holding his guitar as he started to pluck the strings. akane and yamabuki were stunned, he didn't have a guitar yesterday and then he just owned that one practice solo.

      perks of being a fast learner.

      amane calmly strumming the strings of the guitar. he grinned while moving his fingers against the fret for the chords. amane perked his head up and saw [name] was looking at him, so he gave her a little wave. "hi [name]-san!" he greeted.

      [name] waved back. "hi amane-kun..."

      "and that's our cue to leave." yamabuki raised his hands and sashayed out of the scene.

      "ao-chan! i love you!" akane dashed over to aoi while proclaiming his daily love for her.

      "hmm, three points." yikes. you can do better than that akane. it was only [name] and amane that was left from the back of the classroom. they stood in silence until they spoke at the same time.

      "so what now?" the two of them chuckled on how they ended up saying the same thing unexpectedly. [name] smiled at amane in which he flinched with a small blush on his face.

      "thank you for yesterday." [name] mentions, regarding towards the call they had last night. "we rarely do phone calls whenever we work on a project, but i was wondering if...we could do it everyday?"

      'my gosh, she looks so cute...' amane thought after she had said that, how could he say no to such request? a gentle smile curled upon his lips. "i'll call you every night if that what makes you happy." amane clasped her hands together.

      "by the way, i took a picture of a mokke recently." [name] pulls out her phone and showed him a picture of the pink mokke.

      "it looks cute." amane commented while rubbing his chin to look at it.

      "you're more cuter." [name] glanced at the corner of the classroom to avoid his look, deciding to pull out a smooth compliment.

      "nah, you're much cuter." amane cheekily grinned as he lightly pinched her cheek so he wouldn't hurt her. [name] chuckled while she tries to pry off amane's fingers away from her cheek.

      amane was a bit shy of the idea of courting his best friend, though that's the point—if he confesses, then ask her if he could court her to be guaranteed that [name] will like him back. maybe she was just waiting, he didn't want her to make the first move, it would be kind of odd.

      he made up his mind, he has to court her.

      when the teacher arrived, amane puts his guitar on the back of the classroom and went back to his assigned seat which was behind [name]'s chair. their teacher begins his lesson as time went by in a speed of light.

      break time. [name] turned her seat around and saw amane's sleeping on top of his desk. [name] sighed, resting her arms on his table while sitting in front of him. "amane-kun, you always sleep in class." she mentions.

      her hand made its way to his choppy hair and brushed his locks between her fingers. she laid her head on his desk and smiled at his sleeping form. to her surprise, amane gently grabbed her hand and interlaced their fingers together as if they were holding hands. "stay here..." he mumbled in a sleepy voice. "[name]..."

      [name] blushed and lifted her head up, staring at her left hand that was now occupied with amane's hand. she smiled in a few seconds. "okay." she whispered while she continued to play with his hair.

      "yieee— [surname]~" yamabuki teased as he passed by, earning a glare from [name]. "okay okay, sorry to disturb~"

      "what the...?" amane received a can of black coffee from tsukasa and a packet of melon bread from [name]'s younger sister with a message.

      "meet us by the rooftop, be there or be square." -the melon bread (kokoro)

      "i'm telling [name] you like her if you don't getcho ass here." -the black coffee (tsukasa)

      amane deadpanned. "these dumbasses...

rewritten in: april 20 2022