the next day after amane took his father's advice, he decided to give a run down to his notes on how he's going to confess to [name] and ask her to court her.

the first step, amane is going outside after he had finished washing up, put on a uniform and ate some breakfast. after that, he goes to wait for [name] outside of her house since he'll be walking her to school. "hi mrs. [surname]." he greeted the lady who was busy pruning the plants in her garden.

"oh amane, good morning." mrs. [surname] wiped her forehead with her gloved hand and adjusted her straw hat. "[name] is just finishing up with her breakfast, you're here to pick her up and walk to school together?"

"i actually am." amane replied while raising his hand. the lady chuckled, then she had a funny glint in her eyes.

"so what's with the change of pace?~" she asked while wiggling her eyebrows. amane flinches at the sudden question--he had forgotten that both of [name]'s parents are quite fond of him. "is it finally time for you to ask her out?~"

"a-ah, so about that--" [name] walked into the conversation as amane and her mother went silent. he lets out a sigh of relief. "oh! good morning [name]~"

"good morning amane-kun." [name] opened the gate for her to come out. the two teens bid farewell to mrs. [surname] as they start to walk to school. amane stayed up all night practicing some songs to use to execute his plans later. "did you stay up late?"

"i guess, yeah." amane may be calm and collected outside, then on the inside he's a nervous wreck. he's going to confess to [name] later after school. the whole point of this story anyways is amane courting her until [name] said yes. "i practiced some songs until i passed out on my bed and slept."

"you can literally sleep anywhere..." [name] pointed out--amane can sleep on the floor, his desk in school, even the couch. her face turned into a smirk and rubbed her chin. "so bestfriend, any girls you've been crushing on, we rarely talk about our crushes and i wanna know yours."

"there's this one girl i'd like to court." amane has to play it smooth, slowly releasing the details to [name] to see if she's showing awareness that he's talking about her. "i'm actually planning to court her later after school."

"wait what?!" [name] stopped walking and backed away from amane in disbelief. "you literally didn't tell me who's the babe and now you're planning to court her?" she pouted and turns away dramatically. "jeez, amane-kun, you're making me feel late to the tea party."

"okay, maybe i'll give you some clues about what she's like." amane started counting his fingers to subtly tell [name] about the person he likes―which is [name] herself. "well, she's cute, smart, fun to be with and pretty short. i guess she's my everything..."

"amane..." [name] parts her lips slightly, surprised at the sudden response about the girl he likes, then she wheezed afterwards and clutched her stomach. "not gonna lie you sound like a simp." her head got whacked by amane's hand, he glared at her with a small blush spread upon his cheeks.

"i shouldn't have told you then if you're gonna act like that." amane deadpanned. this girl is the definition of being dense, does she not get the hint that he likes her more than just a friend? [name] raised her eyebrow in confusion, rubbing the back of her head to soothe the pain, she catches up to amane by speedwalking since he's somehow a fast walker. and so, she has an idea.

"last one to get to school gets to be single forever!" [name] started to run.

"oi!" amane, feeling a little competitive, he decided to race along with [name]―he's a fast runner since he participated a lot in p.e. they ran up the stairs to a highway until he catches up to [name] and pulled her collar back so he could take the lead.

"ack!" [name] glared playfully at amane. "you're going to ruin my uniform!"

"don't worry, the collar is not the only thing i'll take off in the future~" he winked before he passes her. [name] blushed at the sudden remark so she was determined to make amane lose by pulling his collar to push him back. amane brushed his hair back and licked his lips, warming up a bit, then he runs up to her and wrapped his arms tightly around her to hug her from behind.

"whoa, amane-kun!" [name] squirmed a bit with a huge blush on her face, amane hasn't realized that her back is her weakness so she felt warm around him. amane chuckled as he hugged her tighter, not letting her go.

"i'm not gonna let you go that easily~" he said.

"amane-kun, if you're not letting me go." [name] said with ragged breaths, she turned to amane with a smug on her face. "i'm finding that girl in class and steal her away from you."

amane pouted. "no. mine only."

"you're too close..." [name] reminded him when she felt his breath fanning against her ear. amane realized that he was hugging [name] so close, he immediately lets her go from his arms and raised his palms defensively.

"oh my gosh! i-i'm sorry!" he frantically apologized while waving his hands and backed away to give her some space. [name] rubbed her arms and amane turned away, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "do you want to go ahead?"

"lets go together..."

"alright then..."

amane and [name] ended up walking instead, ending their silly competition. he noticed that [name] is avoiding eye contact with him. "you don't mind right?" he asked, interlocking his fingers together then stretched. "me hugging you or something...?"

"i don't mind of course..." [name] looks down on the ground and blushed. "we're friends anyways."

"yeah, friends." amane winces a bit. shortly after, they arrived at school just in time. and they were immediately interrogated by yamabuki himself because he's a tease―amane appreciates his presence sometimes but he just needs to stop ruining their quality time.

"what's this? yugi and [surname] are walking together?" yamabuki whistled. "man, you two are always together during the morning, even after school."

"shut up, yamabuki." the day felt really long in amane's perspective, he was sweating beads and his heartbeat kept pounding inside his chest because he was nervous that his plan may not be successful to woo [name], she'll probably be creeped out since it was obvious that the girl sees him as a friend.

from what it felt like a snap of a finger, it is already the end of classes. [name] told amane that she will get something from her club and she will come back shortly. amane grabbed her bag from her desk and tell her that he'll bring it along with him, which she probably didn't hear because she already left.

"amane, amane!" speaking of which, tsukasa came running towards his older brother with a cheery expression on his face. "i heard you're finally going to do it, are you nervous? don't you dare back out." he threatened while putting his hands on his cheeks. amane is indeed nervous, like who wouldn't especially that you have intentions of taking your friendship to your girl bestfriend to the next level.

it's a damn miracle if your crush likes you back. "i'm kind of nervous, don't worry i can totally pull this off~" amane puffed his chest and puts his fist against it, kind of like sasageyo but we're in the wrong anime. tsukasa raised his eyebrow and decided to ruin his self-image.

"you avoided me for a whole week when i bugged you about [name] being your crush." tsukasa remarked. "you're in love with [name]-neesan."

"yeah..." amane grumbled under his breath. he realized that they were still inside of the building and [name] was probably finished by now, maybe wondering where amane and her bag is. "i should go now, i gotta do―ugh do i really have to say it?"

"c'monnn..." tsukasa urged with a big smile on his face. "say it."

amane rolled his eyes. "operation: dubaddu wari wari."

"now go my in loved brother!" tsukasa shoved him forward as amane continued walking, he couldn't believe that he just said the codename for operation: courting [name]. he ran downstairs and saw [name] waiting for him by the gates of the school, he mentally groaned, blaming tsukasa for holding him up as he was supposed to be the one waiting for her.

"sorry [name]!" amane came running to meet [name] by the gate. "i got caught up by tsukasa and we discussed things out. i thought u went ahead, then again i remembered that i got your bag." he explained with an apologetic smile. [name] covered her mouth to chuckle at him.

"why? did you miss me or something?" [name] teased.

"i see you everyday why would i miss you?" amane smiled. the two realized what they had said so they ended up blushing. "e-ehem! let's go home." he cleared his throat as the two of them get going. the two of them started talking about their day, amane throwing some cheesy pickup lines and corny jokes that made [name] blush and giggle. they stopped by the bench in which there was a vending machine next to it. "would you like to drink something?"

"i'm kind of thirsty, so i want sprite." [name] answered while putting her palms on top of her lap.

"alright then, i'll get myself some sprite too." amane ran to the vending machine to get two cans of sprite for him and [name]. he presses the button and the sprite cans came falling down from the dispenser, he picked them up and went to where [name] was resting. "i got sprite." he whispered from behind.

[name] was startled as she quickly moved her head to the side and was met with amane's face closer to hers. it felt like the world has stopped. their noses are touching against each other and their lips were almost touching. the two quickly pulled away, amane was most likely to be affected. "s-sorry!" he babbled. "i-i didn't mean to―"

"it's alright amane-kun, it's my fault for turning my head without warning." she chuckled nervously. the two drank their sprite on their way home, continuing to converse with one another like nothing had happened. her phone made a soft ping! through her pockets and saw that her mom had messaged her.

mudrakels
ur dad and i are going out
there's leftover food in the fridge
look after your sister, love you sweetie

[name]
love you too mom

"seems like mom and dad are not gonna come back early." [name] shrugged. oh, it must be fate. at least the news may have lifted the weight from amane's shoulders, her parents watching his dumbass trying to woo [name] would embarrass him for a lifetime. when they reached [name]'s house, she bid farewell to amane. "thank you for walking with me."

"wait―um, can you go inside and look by the window?" amane requested. "there's something i would like to do." this is it, he's finally going to do it, it's now or never. [name] nodded instead of asking further more questions, she went inside the house with her socks still on (usually she takes it off along with her shoes) and ran upstairs to the window by her room.

amane removed his guitar from the case and slung the strap around him so that he wouldn't have to raise his leg to support the instrument, it's tiring in his opinion. amane places his fingers to the string as he began to strum.

"stay for tonight
if you want to, i can show you
what my dreams are made of
as i'm dreaming of your face
i've been away for a long time
such a long time
and i miss you there
i can't imagine being anywhere else
i can't imagine being anywhere else but here~"

amane stopped as he looked at [name], he could tell that there's a cherry red color dusted upon her cheeks when they made eye contact.

"how the hell did you ever pick me?
honestly, cause i could sing you a song
but i don't think words can express your beauty
it's singing to me
how the hell did we end up like this?
you bring out the beast in me
i fell in love from the moment we kissed
since then we've been history..."

[name] rests her chin on top of her palms while admiring amane from below while he was playing his guitar under her balcony. "they say that love is forever, your forever is all that i need. please stay as long as you need. can't promise that things won't be broken, but i swear that i will never leave..."

"please stay forever with me..."

amane took a deep breath, a wind passed by blowing their hairs as cherry blossom petals were scattered in the air like a typical anime romantic scene. his cheeks turned red and opened his mouth to say what he had been hiding for years.

"i love you [name]." amane confessed. "may i court you?"

♡♡♡

rewritten in: april 27 2022

a/n: sorry guys for late updates, im trying to juggle everything up since i wanted to finish sweet night and harana before i go to college. you can go check out my tumblr amane-by-together for more works and my ao3 cheeseutteokbokki for the wildness ;) (jk there's nothing there yet)