School was coming to a close and Nishikata had begun packing up the remainder of his things. 'Should I ask her?' He thought as he glanced over at Takagi. 'I mean, I still don't know what to say exactly ... and I still need to think about what Kimura said.' He threw his bag over his shoulder and glanced over at her again. 'Because of all this, she hasn't teased me much this week, I need to think of a new rule for push-ups for when things like this happen.'

She glanced up, and for a moment, they locked eyes. "Huh?" She mumbled.

Nishikata quickly looked away, pretending that he wasn't just staring at her.

"Nishikata?" Takagi asked. "Did you ... want to talk to me about something?"

'And there she goes, knowing my every thought. I might as well say something though.' "I ... kinda."

"Well, what is it?"

"I ... don't exactly know how to put it into words ... and I don't really understand it myself yet."

"Oh, so ... you need some time alone then?"

"Yeah, I'll call you later." He began walking away before turning around to address her once more. "I promise."

"I'll hold you to that." She said with a smile.

Nishikata resumed walking as he began thinking of his predicament. 'How do I see Takagi now? Well, what are we?' He groaned and threw his head back. 'Maybe I should just wait till I get home to think on this.'

As he began walking out of the school, he noticed Nakai and Mano walking in his direction. "Oh, hey guys."

"Hey! Nishikata!" Nakai greeted enthusiastically. "So uh, we wanted to ask you something."

"Oh, really?" He paused and put his hand out. "Wait, if this is about the rumor-"

"It's not." Nakai interrupted. "It's actually ... are you going to be okay?"

"Huh? Why do you ask that?"

"Because we're worried about you." Mano replied.

Nishikata sighed. "Thanks guys, but I need to do some thinking."

"Well then, best of luck man." Nakai said as he gave him a thumbs up. "And if you ever need anything, don't be afraid to ask."

"Thanks."

They parted ways and Nishikata began the long walk home by himself.

It didn't take him too long to get home, but he was hoping that it would take longer so he wouldn't have to face thinking about this whole thing so soon. "Well, here goes nothing."

He walked inside and went up to his room where he threw himself onto his bed. "Man, now where do I start? I guess with what Takagi and I actually are." He pulled out his phone and pulled up the picture he had of her. "Well I don't hate her, that's a start. But what else?" He looked deeply into the photo and felt at ease. "Are we rivals? I guess that doesn't really narrow it down. We're not dating, that definitely needs some form declaration." He put his phone away and looked at the ceiling. "Well are we friends? We do ... sometimes hang out." He stayed there for a few minutes before rolling over. "She teases me almost every day though, and it's just because she likes seeing my reactions. Maybe I don't-"

He froze as a memory popped into his head.

Flashback

Takagi and Nishikata were on their way home from school together and Nishikata was falling with his two choice questions.

'Grr, I underestimated her, I'll need a better question than that.' Nishikata thought as they walked.

"Nishikata?" Takagi asked.

"What?"

"Well you've asked me two weird questions in a row, what's your angle? Are you just trying to give me a hard time?"

"Huh!" Nishikata felt exposed, Takagi had read him right once again but he wasn't about to give up. "Not ... really."

"Fine, then I'll ask you one now. Would you rather that I disappear, or that you'd have to be teased by me forever? What'll you choose?"

"Huh?" Nishikata began nervously. "What do you mean disappear?"

"Poof, I'm gone."

End flashback.

"And I said that I would rather be teased forever, than have her disappear." He sighed and looked over at his wall. "After something like that, I'd have to be some kind of jerk to deny that there's something positive between us." He groaned and rolled to the side of his bed. "She's nice from time to time and it's nice being with her, even when she's teasing me."

He looked over at his desk and noticed the paper Takagi made in calligraphy class that he had pinned above his desk. "Status quo ... not like we'll be able to keep that much longer." He thought to himself some more and remembered the conversation he had with Takagawa. "And I said she means a lot to me." He sat up and pulled out his phone. "I'm a compleat idiot."

He scrolled through his contacts until he got to Takagi. "Of course she's a friend, and I never even considered it. Damn I'm a jerk."

He waited for a few seconds and almost instantly, she picked up.

"Nishikata?" She asked.

"Hey ... Takagi ... like I said at school ... there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

"So you finally have the words?"

"Not exactly ... but I finally have a clearer picture."

"Well, I may be able to save you some trouble."

"Huh? How so?"

"Well ... I don't think you really understood what Sumire meant when she said that I was with her."

"Huh?"

"I mean, a better statement would have been 'I was standing right next to her.'"

Fear began to build up inside Nishikata as he began to suspect what she was talking about. "Hey ... Takagi ... when you mentioned Sumire ... is that Takagawa's first name?"

"Well yeah, she didn't tell you?"

Nishikata's face became redder and redder as his heart began to speed up. "Takagi?"

"Well, if I didn't know any better, I would have assumed that you were in love with me."

She burst into laughter as Nishikata's mind went into full on panic mode at this new information 'CRAP CRAP CRAP! THIS IS THE WORST THING THAT COULD EVER HAPPEN!"

"But in all seriousness, seeing what you wrote really made my day."

"Huh?" Nishikata asked as his mood instantly changed.

"I mean I knew that the rumor was fake ... but seeing you say that ... made me feel a lot better."

"Takagi."

"And ... I should be fair, you mean a lot to me too Nishikata."

Nishikata's heart skipped a beat as he felt a comforting warm sensation inside him. "Well ... it's the truth, I don't like to be teased but ... we've spent so much time together ... that actually brings me to the reason I wanted to call you."

"Really? What's that?"

"It's ... mostly an apology."

"For what?"

Nishikata took a deep breath as he prepared himself for what he was about to say. "You mean a lot to me but ... I've never taken the chance to call you my friend."

"Huh?"

"I mean we spend so much time together, we walk home together a lot, we bump into each other outside of school more than a few times, but I've been avoiding it ... and I'm sorry."

There was a long silence from the other end and Nishikata began to worry. "Takagi?"

"Did you even ask if I wanted to be friends?" Nishikata's face went red again but Takagi quickly burst into laughter causing him to become less uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. That's actually very sweet of you. Also ... I guess I'm kinda guilty of that as well."

"You ... no, I'm the one who created tension between us."

"We're not about to have a guilt off, are we?" She asked with a laugh.

"I guess that would be silly ... so, friends?"

"You sure you want to do this? If we spend even more time together than there's a greater chance that people will get the wrong idea about us."

Nishikata paused as he though her words over; normally, the thought of people getting the wrong idea about him and Takagi would make him extremely embarrassed, but after all that's happened, he didn't care any longer. "If people are going to get the wrong idea anyway, I'd prefer that they think I love you, rather than hated you."

There was a long silence, so long that Nishikata began to worry that they might have gotten disconnected. "Takagi? You still there?"

"Oh, right." She said sounding a little surprised. "I ... if you're sure then ... friends."

"Friends."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get to homework."

"Okay, so I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, it's been awhile since we walked to school together."

"It's only been a week."

"Still, I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah, so am I."

"Okay, okay, I'll talk to you later."

"See ya."

They both hung up and Nishikata stared at his phone as the strange conflicting feeling was replaced by a comfortable warm feeling. "Takagi."

Over with Takagi however, things weren't as calm. She was sitting on her bed with her phone held against her chest as she was shaking like crazy. "Nishikata." She said with a smile. Her face was bright red and she was on the verge of crying tears of joy. "If only you knew how easy it was for you to win." She laid down and stared at the ceiling. "I guess things are growing between us ... I wonder how much longer I have."

Back with Nishikata, he stood there with his phone in his hand and his other hand on his chest, his feelings clearer than they were before. "I ... I really do love Takagi ... I can't believe I actually said that." He rubbed his forehead as a smile formed on his face. "They were right, Takagawa, Amakawa." He frowned. "Half the other kids at school." He sighed and smiled again. "I really do love her, even if she does tease me."

He took a moment to enjoy his realization, but soon, the harsh reality came crashing down on him as sadness filled his heart. "But ... she probably doesn't feel the same ... does she?"

He began to shake for a moment before throwing his phone against the bed, causing it to bounce and land on his desk. "DAMN IT!" He threw himself onto the bed and began crying. "Why? Why does this have to happen to me? Takagi could get any guy she wants, she would never fall for someone like me!"