Daichi's face turned pale. He was obviously afraid, as evidenced by the look on his face when he noticed Shuhei grinning. Daichi shuddered; it was not his usual kind smile.
"I—I saw nothing. I swear."
"Is it true?"
Shuhei didn't stop grinning. Ignoring the agitated Daichi, he positioned the hot pot in the middle of the space and moved cautiously toward him.
"Just admit that you've seen it all. I just want to know what you think about this?"
Daichi had Shuhei standing right in front of him. Their faces came very close to touching as he bowed slightly.
"I...I...." Daichi was momentarily perplexed. Daichi, however, awoke when he noticed Shuhei's deliberate demeanor, as though he was staring down at him. I don't know where the courage came from, he suddenly got up and shouted at Shuhei.
"Why do you have my photos? And these were even taken secretly! You're stalking me, aren't you? It ought to be you who explains things to me."
Shuhei's brows lifted. "Hm? Since I took the photos, they belong to me. Indeed, I did engage in stalking."
Daichi was a little taken aback when his accusation was completely refuted. "You—What do you mean by this whole thing?"
"Why? Is it really wrong for me to keep photos of people I love?"
Daichi had no idea what to say in response to Shuhei's question. He was stunned.
"What? love?"
"Yes, Daichi, I love you..." Shuhei knelt on the floor and picked up the photo album. "...it's been a long time."
Shuhei's words couldn't be more clear.
"You must be joking, right? You're kidding me, right?" Daichi laughed bitterly, hoping in his heart that Shuhei would say he was joking.
But Shuhei's solemn expression made Daichi's laughter fade away.
"I'm not joking. Look at this." Shuhei flipped through the first page of the photo album. "Did you see it?"
Daichi gave a stiff nod. "Yes,"
"Can you tell me who is in this photo?"
"There were a lot of people... it was during the new student entrance ceremony... right?"
Shuhei groaned in frustration. "Focus! Look closely, who is the person in this photo?"
"... I'm not familiar with those students..."
Shuhei let out an irritated chuckle. "You're pretending not to see, huh? OK, let me make it clear. This is you. I took this photo on purpose and kept it because you were in it. Then this. There is also you. Then there is this... all of the photos in the album are of you."
shuhei displays every page Daichi has previously seen. Even though Daichi had seen it, after being given a hint by Shuhei, he realized that every 'random' photo of Sakuraoka students displayed in the album had him in it.
Daichi Nishiyama appears in all of the photos in the album.
"Yoshimoto, this is..."
"Do you believe it now?"
Daichi frowned. "What exactly do you mean by 'believe'? I would better pretend I am not seeing this crazy stuff!"
"It's fine if you don't want to believe. I still have a lot of ways to make you believe that I truly love you." Shuhei's handsome face was adorned with a deranged smile. He approached Daichi.
Daichi felt goosebumps and shrank back. "What do you want to do?"
Shuhei was silent. His hands reached out and touched Daichi's shoulders, pushing him down onto the bed. Shuhei, who usually wore a cold expression towards others, crushed Daichi without warning, his big hand touching Daichi's cheek.
Shuhei's touch made Daichi tremble from his feet to the top of his head. He struggled as hard as he could while staring at Shuhei, trying to free himself from the weight of Shuhei's body.
"You're struggling in vain, Daicchan. Don't you see my body is much bigger than yours?" Shuhei spoke while burying his face in Daichi's neck crook.
"Get away from me, you maniac! Bastard!"
Shuhei raised his head, meeting the ferocious gaze of the Chunibyo teen beneath him. He didn't say anything in response to Daichi's curse words, instead stepping forward and blocking the noisy little mouth with his own.
Daichi opened his mouth reflexively. Shuhei took advantage of the situation by inserting his tongue and exploring the mouth that had just cursed him.
At first, the kiss was gentle. But because Daichi was struggling, Shuhei pressed his cheeks hard and kissed him roughly as well.
"Mmmm!"
Shuhei let go of Daichi when they were both almost out of breath.
Shuhei gently stroked Daichi's lips with deep appreciation, as if he could not believe he had just kissed those lips.
Daichi took advantage of the opportunity to gather strength and pushed Shuhei to the ground.
"You're not normal! Go be abnormal on your own! Don't drag me into it!"
Daichi bolted after shouting. Unfortunately, he fell to the floor after tripping over a hot pot in the middle of the room.
The pot of hot noodles spilled onto Daichi's feet.
"Ahh!" he screams in agony. His right leg, which had been scalded by hot water, was very sore.
Shuhei approached Daichi while he was still rolling around on the floor.
"Does it hurt? Come here and let me see—"
"Get away from me! Get out of my way!"
Daichi hurriedly crawled out of the room, ignoring the burning sensation in his legs. He could not stand being in the same room as Shuhei any longer.
Shuhei's house is small. So, as soon as Daichi left the room, he could jump to the front door, which was only 3 meters away.
Daichi grabbed the knob and tightened it. When the door did not open, his feelings became vexing.
"Locked?"
Daichi refused to give up and continued to turn the knob erratically. He even pounded on the door, hoping it would open right away.
"Open up! Please open up!" Daichi pleaded, his voice shaking.
There was the sound of footsteps approaching from behind him. Daichi didn't want to care, but the words he heard brought him to a halt.
"You're wasting your time doing that. I had already locked it."
Daichi turned around to see Shuhei standing there with the keys in his hand.
Daichi's pupils constricted. His body rushed at Shuhei, wanting to grab the key. It is just that Daichi had forgotten his leg was hurting. Due to the pain, he stumbled and fell right in front of Shuhei's feet.
"Ah? You don't need to kowtow like that, you know." Above Daichi's head, an annoying innocent voice could be heard.
Daichi clenched his teeth and growled, "You damn thing! Open the door and let me out!"
Shuhei was unfazed by Daichi's ferocious demeanor. He even laughed as if he was becoming happier.
"I knew Daicchan had a temper from the beginning, but... seeing you like this in person made me almost unable to control myself!"
Daichi stiffened. He clearly understood what Shuhei was saying.
"You ...!" He couldn't scold his any further for fear of exacerbating the situation. Moreover, it seems that this Yoshimoto is a bit abnormal. Daichi had to restrain himself.
Someone suddenly lifted his back collar. Shuhei picked up Daichi from the floor like a kitten.
"What do you think, Daicchan senpai? Will you become even more enraged and cause me to lose control? Maybe you should know that my lust is so strong—"
Shuhei's sentence was terminated because the keys in his hand were confiscated. He felt a kick in the stomach a split second later. Shuhei fell because he was careless.
Daichi rushed to insert the key into the lock, not wanting to waste any more time. The door clicked open.
Daichi was relieved by the dark atmosphere outside and the cold raindrops. "I did it!"
Daichi ran down the stairs, ignoring his aching feet, cutting through the raindrops in the darkness as if his life would end if he stopped. He had no idea Shuhei was staring at him with a gloomy aura from behind him.
Shuhei's tightly pressed lips suddenly smiled as soon as Daichi vanished.
•~•