Yuki is stunned, speechless, red as a tomato.
Aiko, seeing Yuki's flustered reaction and realizing "Ah… this boy really likes Ta-kun", decides to poke the bear and also size up her competition.
She leans forward with a bright, challenging smile:
"Ne, Yuki-chan~ Since we both care about Ta-kun, how about a little competition? Just for fun!"
Yuki: "H-Hah!?"
Shin: "Wait, what now?"
Aiko: "A Shin-compatibility test~"
Cue Shin trying to protest but both rivals already fired up.
Maybe even the classmates get curious and cheer them on.
---
The moment the bell rang for recess, Yuki sighed and rested his forehead on the desk. The class was buzzing with noise—chairs scraping, footsteps rushing, laughter echoing—but inside his head was a storm of its own. He had barely recovered from the emotional chaos called Aiko when something even more insane was announced right after lunch.
A competition.
A 20-round competition.
Between him and her—Aiko.
To win over Shin.
"What even is this…?" Yuki mumbled into the wood grain of his desk, his voice muffled and exhausted. "This is a school, not a reality show..."
And yet, it felt like a reality show. Especially with Mei-chan—bright-eyed, clipboard in hand, and suspiciously enthusiastic—marching around like a fully-qualified host of an idol competition.
"Contestants, please report to the cafeteria!" she announced, clapping her hands as if this was a festival.
Shin, meanwhile, had the audacity to look amused.
"C'mon," he grinned, slinging his bag over one shoulder. "Let's see if you know me better than my imouto."
Yuki shot him a look. "I don't want to know you better! And I never agreed to this!"
"But you are participating," Shin sang, casually tugging on the sleeve of Yuki's blazer, dragging him out of his seat. "Mei-chan wrote your name already. No going back now."
"You—you manipulative gorilla—!"
"Flattery won't get you out of this."
"I wasn't flattering you!!"
Even as Yuki flailed, Shin didn't let go, dragging him along toward the cafeteria like a reluctant bride heading to her own wedding ceremony. Behind them, Aiko followed with an innocent hum, her hands behind her back, and a sparkle in her eyes that was suspiciously bloodthirsty.
By the time they entered the cafeteria, Yuki was mentally writing his will.
---
The cafeteria was unusually quiet. The usual chaotic rush of lunch trays and noisy chatter had been replaced by a strange kind of stillness—one that came with expectation. Half the class had already gathered. Tables were cleared and pushed to the sides, making a makeshift open stage in the center. It was like a colosseum. A battlefield.
Yuki gulped.
"Welcome, everyone!" Mei-chan beamed, standing on top of a chair with her arms spread dramatically. "Today, we witness the beginning of an epic battle! A fight for love! The most powerful war of all—ROMANCE!"
"Wait, isn't that illegal in school?" Yuki shouted.
Everyone stared at her for a long time like she has commited and some crime and stared back,ike nothing happnened.
"Let me introduce our two contestants!" Mei-chan pointed to one side. "On my left, the challenger! The ever-so-beautiful, kind-hearted, graceful and stylish Aiko-sama!"
Aiko bowed with the sweetness of a princess, her twin tails bouncing and lips curved in a dazzling smile. The crowd cheered.
"And on my right!" Mei-chan dramatically spun around and jabbed a finger. "The other challenger! The...uh...slightly shy, emotionally confused, cute Hikari Yuki!"
"I'm not emotionally confused!" Yuki snapped, red in the face.
"I mean, you agreed to this, so…," Mei-chan shrugged.
"I didn't!"
The crowd laughed. Shin laughed louder.
"You'll pay for this," Yuki grumbled under his breath, side-eyeing Shin with as much murder as his pretty face could manage.
Mei-chan pulled out her notebook like a seasoned host. "Let's begin! The first round is called—'Guess Shin's Favorite!' Our two contestants will answer twenty questions! Whoever answers more correctly will be declared the winner of Round One!"
Yuki muttered, "I didn't even study for this."
"Let the battle begin!" Mei-chan yelled.
The crowd roared.
Yuki's heart pounded. He looked at Shin, who was lounging nearby with that infuriatingly amused smile. Next to him was a whiteboard with a marker, where Shin would write his answers. Aiko stood to Yuki's left, holding her clipboard like a professional quiz show contestant, completely calm.
Yuki was doomed.
---
Question 1: What is Shin's favorite color?
Yuki blinked. Color? That's easy, right? Boys like black. Or red. Or blue.
He scribbled black.
Aiko wrote navy blue.
Shin held up the whiteboard.
"Dark blue."
Mei-chan yelled, "Point to Aiko!"
Yuki stared. Dark blue and navy blue are basically the same thing! he internally protested.
Aiko: 1
Yuki: 0
---
Question 2: Favorite food?
Yuki remembered Shin eating apple once. He scribbled apple.
Aiko wrote hamburger steak with cheese.
Shin showed his board: "Hamburger steak with cheese."
Yuki was now 0-2.
---
Question 3: Favorite anime?
Yuki narrowed his eyes. Romcoms. He said he likes those.
He wrote Toradora.
Aiko wrote Clannad.
Shin's answer: Kaguya-sama: Love is War.
They both got it wrong.
Yuki looked smug until Mei said, "Still 2–0. Let's keep going!"
---
Question 4: Favorite drink?
Yuki guessed cola.
Aiko guessed iced coffee.
Shin: Iced coffee.
---
Question 5: Favorite animal?
Yuki wrote dog.
Aiko wrote cat.
Shin: Dog.
"REALLY?!" Yuki yelled.
Shin turned to him, smirking. "Because they remind me of someone."
Yuki turned pink.
Aiko turned suspicious.
---
Question 6: Favorite season?
Yuki guessed spring.
Aiko guessed winter.
Shin: Monsoon.
Yuki: "Tch."
Shin: "You were born in spring, right, Yuki?"
Yuki flinched. "How do you know that?!"
Shin winked. "A guess~"
Yuki nearly died.
---
Question 7: "What's Shin's favorite sleeping position?"
Mei-chan pointed the mic dramatically. "Question seven! How does Shin prefer to sleep?!"
Aiko raised her hand proudly. "On his back, hugging a pillow."
Yuki glanced at her, then nodded. "That seems right."
Mei checked the answer card. "Wrong!"
Both stared in surprise.
Shin rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling awkwardly. "It's actually… on my back, hugging Ai."
Yuki's jaw dropped. "HUH?!"
Aiko's eye twitched. "You hug your sister like a body pillow?!"
Shin shrugged, dead serious. "She clings to me in her sleep. I don't get a choice."
Yuki turned completely red. "Wh-what kind of answer is that?!"
Shin smirked. "Truthful."
---
Question 8: "What's Shin's favorite season?"
Yuki's hand shot up. "Rainy!"
Aiko confidently followed. "Clear skies."
Mei raised an eyebrow. "Interesting... Akashi-Kun?"
Shin looked away. "It used to be clear skies. But… I guess it changed."
Mei: "Changed to…?"
Shin, mumbling: "Rainy."
Yuki's eyes widened.
Mei gasped. "Correct—Yuki!"
Aiko: "Wait, why the change?!"
Shin muttered, "No reason."
Yuki blushed, turning his face away. It's because of me… isn't it?
---
Question 9: "What's Shin's go-to comfort food?"
Yuki: Okay. Think. We ate lunch together yesterday. He had… rice. No! Noodles?
Aiko: "Omurice with ketchup smiley face."
Shin, smiling: "Made by Ai, ideally."
"Correct!" Mei-chan announced.
Yuki's eye twitched. "Ketchup smiley? That's so… specific! He didn't even eat that yesterday!!"
Shin, rubbing his neck: "Didn't pack lunch yesterday."
Yuki: "THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"
---
Question 10: "Shin's favorite anime genre?"
Yuki's eyes sparkled. Finally, something I can win at.
He smirked. "Romcom!"
Aiko hesitated. "Psychological mystery?"
Mei checked the answer card. "Correct answer: Romantic Comedy!"
"HAH!" Yuki pointed with victory pose. "Got it!"
Shin, chuckling: "Well, yeah. I do like dumb high school love stories."
Aiko frowned. "Romcoms rot your brain."
Shin: "I like having my brain rotted."
Yuki coughed. "That explains a lot."
Score: Yuki - 3, Aiko - 4
---
Question 11: "What's Shin's most used word or phrase?"
Aiko shot her hand up immediately. "Ai."
Mei blinked. "Wait, that's… correct."
Yuki looked betrayed. "Seriously?! Your sister's name?!"
Shin nodded seriously. "I live with her. Of course I say her name a lot."
Yuki grumbled, "You could at least pretend it's weird."
---
Question 12: "What's Shin's favorite household chore?"
Aiko: "Cooking!"
Yuki: "Laundry."
Shin: "Cooking. Especially when Ai helps."
Mei: "Correct—Aiko!"
Yuki: "You guys do everything together or what?!"
Shin: "We don't do taxes together."
Yuki: "OH WOW, CONGRATS."
---
Question 13: "What's Shin's favorite drink?"
Yuki snapped, "Chocolate milk!"
Aiko blinked. "Coffee?"
Shin: "Chocolate milk."
Mei: "Point—Yuki!"
Yuki smugly crossed his arms. "Hah. I KNEW it."
Shin gave him a thumbs up. "You've got good taste."
Yuki blushed a little. "Tch. Whatever."
---
Question 14: "What subject is Shin worst at?"
Yuki: "Math!"
Aiko: "History."
Shin: "History."
Mei: "Correct—Aiko!"
Yuki's head hit the desk. "How can you forget dates?!"
Shin: "Because I don't care when Napoleon was born, Yuki."
---
Question 15: "Favorite late-night snack?"
Yuki paused. Instant noodles? Chips?
Aiko: "Milk and cookies."
Shin: "...Yeah."
Mei: "Correct!"
Yuki blinked. "That's so soft… Wait, cookies?! Who makes them?"
Shin: "Ai."
Yuki: ...I hate her cooking skills.
---
Question 16: "Favorite thing to wear at home?"
Yuki and Aiko again, at the same time.
Yuki: "Hoodies!"
Aiko: "Boxers and oversized t-shirts."
Shin: "...Both. But mostly oversized shirts."
Mei: "Point to Aiko!"
Yuki: "HOW is that appropriate?!"
Shin: "Who said I was appropriate?"
---
Question 17: "Shin's dream job?"
Aiko raised her hand. "Writer."
Yuki: "...Novelist!"
Mei: "Correct—both of you!"
Yuki beamed. "Ha!"
Aiko: "Technically, mine was more general."
Yuki: "Technically, I don't care."
---
Question 18: "What kind of partner does Shin like?"
The cafeteria fell quiet. Everyone leaned in.
Aiko smirked. "Someone who understands him."
Yuki's cheeks pinkened. "Someone... cute."
Shin, visibly red: "...Both are... accurate."
Mei: "One points each!"
Shin glared. "Why are you even grading this like an exam?!"
Mei grinned. "Because this is war, Akashi-kun."
Score so far:
Aiko: 11
Yuki: 6
Yuki's eyes narrowed. I'm not losing. Not like this.
Aiko smiled sweetly at him. "Doing your best, huh?"
Yuki crossed his arms. "Tch."
---
Question 19: Favorite type of person?
Mei-chan's voice rang out with extra dramatic flair. "Alright! Question nineteen—Shin's favorite type of person?"
The room fell quiet. Tension buzzed in the air like static before a storm.
Yuki chewed on the back of his pen, glaring hard at his answer sheet like it had personally offended him. His heart thumped. His cheeks were already flushed from everything else today, but this question felt too intimate. Too revealing. His pen hesitated… then moved.
He scribbled softly:
Someone who's a bit stubborn, says no but means yes, and makes me laugh just by pouting.
He blinked down at it, eyes widening.
"Wait, that's… me—!"
Yuki's brain short-circuited. His face went from pink to scarlet. He slammed his hands over the page as if to erase it with sheer panic.
"Why did wrote about myself?"
Across the table, Aiko wrote confidently:
Someone outgoing and who speaks their mind.
She smiled, satisfied, twirling her pen like a champion swordswoman polishing her blade.
"All answers locked in?" Mei-chan asked, glancing at both sides.
Yuki nodded, very slowly. Aiko raised a thumbs-up.
Shin smirked lazily and flipped his board for everyone to see.
Shin's answer: Someone who's a bit stubborn, says no but means yes, and makes me laugh just by pouting.
Dead silence.
Mei-chan choked violently on her water. "W-Wha—"
Yuki's pen dropped from his fingers.
Shin blinked at the answer, then looked at Yuki.
Yuki blinked back at Shin.
Aiko slowly turned her answer sheet around again. Someone outgoing and who speaks their mind.
Yuki's soul screamed inside his chest.
He almost flipped the table.
Mei-chan, now gasping with laughter, slammed the referee bell. "Point to Yuki! OH MY GOD, YUKI WINS THIS ROUND!"
The cafeteria burst into a mix of cheers, whistles, and dramatic anime reactions.
Yuki ducked his head, red as a tomato.
Shin just smiled, that cocky, teasing smile.
And Aiko?
She narrowed her eyes with a competitive sparkle. She wasn't done yet.
---
Final Question – Number 20: Who is Shin's favorite person?
Mei-chan's voice dropped to a whisper, as if announcing the climax of a battle anime.
"Final question… Who is Akashi Shin's most favorite person in the world?"
The cafeteria held its collective breath. Even the vending machine stopped humming.
Yuki's heart skipped a beat.
Was it…?
Could it be… me?
They'd talked so much lately. He'd said cute things. Teased him. Taken a photo. Defended him from Aiko… Maybe—just maybe—
Hands trembling, Yuki slowly wrote:
Yuki?
A tiny question mark lingered, unsure, like a whisper from his heart.
Aiko, calm and smiling with unnatural confidence, glanced over at Shin from the corner of her eye. Then, without a moment's hesitation, wrote in big, confident strokes:
Me.
The room buzzed with quiet energy.
Then, Shin—calm, proud, almost smug—flipped his board toward the crowd.
Ai. My younger sister.
Yuki's brain blue-screened.
His head snapped toward Shin. "Your SISTER?!"
Shin gave the most casual nod in the universe. "Of course. She's my number one."
Aiko crossed her arms, letting out a sigh so heavy it might as well have carried centuries of disappointment.
"Figures," she muttered, eyes glinting with something sharp and knowing. "Classic. Grade-A, textbook Sis-Con."
Yuki tilted his head like a confused puppy. "S-Sis…Con?"
Aiko leaned closer with the calculated grace of someone about to drop an emotional nuke. Her voice dropped to a whisper, sharp and soft like silk hiding a knife.
"Taa-Kun is the walking, talking embodiment of a Sis-Con. Like, scary level. Beyond help."
Yuki blinked rapidly. "W-What kind of level…?"
Aiko took a dramatic sip from a juice box that definitely hadn't existed, then launched into the list with the deadpan seriousness of a court witness.
"He thinks about her all the time. Can't go one day without texting her. If she doesn't message him, he starts pacing. Has actual withdrawal symptoms."
Yuki's eyebrows slowly climbed his forehead.
"Calls her first thing after reaching school. Sends her pictures of his meals just so she knows he's eating properly."
Yuki opened his mouth to object—but Aiko kept going.
"He says no one understands him like she does. That 'the world could vanish, and as long as Ai is with me, I'll be okay.' She's basically his everything."
"Sleeps better when she's hugging him. Like—literally—he told me once: 'Ai's arms are my safest place.'" She mimicked his deep voice with a roll of her eyes.
Yuki's brain did a little pop like a soda can opening.
Yuki's soul shriveled up like a raisin.
"W-Wait—sleep?! They sleep together?!"
"Oh yeah," Aiko nodded, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Cuddles her like a giant body pillow every night. Arms wrapped around her, faces touching, legs tangled. Sometimes she falls asleep drooling on his shirt, and he just pats her head like it's the sweetest thing ever."
Yuki's ears turned red. Then pink. Then full crimson.
"And get this," Aiko leaned in closer, her voice just above a whisper. "He says her hugs are healing. That when she hugs him, his anxiety goes down and his heart rate evens out."
Yuki's eye twitched. He looked like a broken protagonist from a romance anime. Wind could've blown through his hair with a tragic violin soundtrack playing.
"And if that wasn't enough," Aiko continued, "she's a Bro-Con. The absolute worst kind."
"B-Bro-Con?!" Yuki's voice cracked.
Aiko nodded. "Worships the ground he walks on. Writes poems about him. Carries one of his old hoodies in her school bag 'just because it smells like him.' I've seen her hug his shirt like it's sacred. One time, she told me, completely seriously, 'I'll marry Onii-chan when I grow up.'"
Yuki's eyes widened like he'd been slapped by the universe. He clutched his chest as if his heart had literally cracked down the middle.
"She talks like he's her husband," Aiko added with a raised brow. "Says stuff like 'my Onii-Chan is the best in the world."
"And—get this—" Aiko leaned in even closer, so only Yuki could hear. Her tone was mock-casual, but her eyes gleamed with mischief.
"She kisses him."
Yuki's mind went into emergency shutdown. A red SYSTEM ERROR sign practically flashed behind his pupils.
Yuki's heart flatlined. "K-K-K-Kisses?"
Aiko caught the panic flash across his face and clarified—though slowly, almost cruelly.
"Not lips," she added like it was a minor mercy. "But cheek kisses, forehead kisses, neck kisses. You name it. And they're not even shy about it. She does it daily—he lets her. Enjoys it, actually."
Yuki's brain short-circuited. He sat frozen in time, the faintest trace of steam rising from his head. His mouth opened, closed, opened again, like a stunned goldfish trying to process betrayal.
Yuki stopped breathing.
"And they see each other naked."
Yuki jumped out of his seat—almost literally. "NAKED?!"
"Mhm," Aiko sipped her juice like it was tea. "Same bathroom. Same dressing room. Same everything. He's seen her, she's seen him. Daily."
Yuki had mentally combusted. "D-D-Daily?!"
"They grew up that way. And they're still like that. Shin doesn't lock doors, and she walks in like she owns the place. I swear I've heard them argue about shampoo while one of them was still in the shower."
Yuki's eyes had fully rolled into the back of his head. He leaned back like an old man staring into the void. His paper crumpled beneath his trembling fingers.
Aiko gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"So," she said, almost cheerfully, "good luck competing with that."
And from the other side of the room, Shin—calm, smug, and glowing with innocent pride—lifted a hand and waved at Yuki with a tiny, knowing smile.
Yuki didn't wave back.
He was too busy dieing.
Beside them, Mei-chan, having way too much fun, declared with a flair, "And with that! The winner of Round One: Tanaka Aiko! With eleven correct answers versus Yuki's seven!"
Then—
Applause broke out.
Aiko stood up, bowed like she just won a gold medal. "Thank you, thank you."
Yuki, meanwhile, had slumped into his chair like a wilted flower, face down, arms limp at his sides.
Shin crouched beside him with a grin that could only be described as criminal. "But you did write your name, didn't you?"
Yuki lifted his head a centimeter. "I—You—Shut up!"
"So you wanted to be my favorite?"
"NO! MAYBE! I HATE YOU!"
"But still…" Shin tapped his board gently. "Only four points behind. Not bad. For a tsundere."
Yuki screamed internally. Outwardly, he squeaked, grabbed his answer sheet, and curled up like a shrimp.
The cafeteria buzzed with energy, gossip, and secondhand embarrassment.
Thus ended the first round—with dramatic reveals, emotional devastation, and a thoroughly roasted Yuki who couldn't decide if he wanted to vanish, explode, or fight Ai in a dramatic anime duel.
And Aiko?
She just winked at him.
The battle had only begun.
---
END OF CHAPTER : 14 : ROUND 1 - GUESS SHIN'S FAVOURITE! : PART : 1
---