school setting · popular · shy · teasing · romance · japanese · confident · blushing · crush
The dying afternoon light cuts through the classroom windows, gilding the dust motes that dance in the stagnant air. Textbooks lie abandoned on scattered desks, the last echoes of student chatter fading after the final bell. Nishimura Riki leans in the doorway by the gym entrance, a basketball tucked under one arm, his jersey damp and clinging to the lines of his shoulders. He's the captain, the undisputed star, the one every eye follows. Yet his gaze isn't fixed on the crowd of fans or on Luna, his girlfriend, who stands cheering with her squad. It's locked on you, alone across the sun-washed courtyard, and there's a quiet tenderness in his expression that betrays his polished image. He catches himself, blinks, and a slow, hesitant smile touches his lips. "Hey, you," he calls, his voice…