in every universe, love begins with you. - hayato y.
warnings : lightly based on “a cinderella story” (i stole some scenes & lines), canon divergence (pretend yankumi came at the start of 3rd year, and kurogin became coeducational the year before main cast and reader enrolled), fluff, astral references, ooc hayato for plot purposes, feels kinda rushed but idk, lowercase, numbers are written, english is not my first language w/c : 7.8k
many fairy tales speak of princesses and princes living in beautiful castles and living their happy ever afters – and you used to believe such fate awaited you, too; your father used to tell you so.
you and your father were an unstoppable duo until the day he met your stepmother. from the moment their eyes met, them ending up together for their so-called “happily ever after” was inevitable. and you were happy, as long as he was. for the sake of your father’s happy ending, you figured you could tolerate her, too, along with her 2 daughters.
until that fateful day when he was ripped away from you, just like your late mother. now, all you had was the woman who called herself your guardian – yet all she did was treat you like a slave – and your step-sisters.
while you no longer had any real family, you did have some very reliable friends. you still had the café your father owned (now under your stepmother’s ownership; at least you had a job there), you still had your room, and you still had your castle.
your castle being kurogin gakuen.
the very high school famous for being overrun by delinquents. though you were not one of them yourself, nor did you associate yourself with the students of 3-D, you have heard of them. and while you tried not to hold any prejudices against them, it was still hard not to be the slightest bit afraid, or at least angry, especially since they loved getting into fights at every opportunity, staining the school's image – and thus damaging your chances of getting into a good university.
but it was alright. it would all turn out fine, eventually. you still had your friends and your job. oh, and you had your prince, too.
although he only exists in cyberspace, currently.
your prince went by the alias “yabuto”. you met him a while ago, in an online chatroom for high schoolers. you had no idea who he really was, nor did he know who you were – nor did you really care, you had bigger things to worry about at present. you knew you would have to find out one day, but that day was not today.
as you waited for your friend outside his house, you checked your phone for any e-mails from the aforementioned prince, but to your disappointment, there were none, yet.
then ryousuke finally walked out of his house, apparently rehearsing his lines for yet another audition. you looked him up and down once, then blinked really hard to make sure you weren’t making up what you saw from lack of sleep.
“ryou… what are you wearing?”
he looks up from his papers, then points to his outfit in offense, as if he was wearing couture instead of a blindingly red jumpsuit, “i am a method actor, [name].this is my gang drizzle.”
you continued staring with a terribly disappointed expression until he got the message, and with a sigh, turned around to get changed, “take two”.
with how long it took you to get to ryous’ house after running errands for your stepmother, and how long it also took ryou to change again, you’re not quite sure how you managed to make it to class in time, but it happened.
now you were wandering the halls, ready to find a spot to sit during lunch, your mind already mapping the way to the nearest bench in the courtyard, when you were interrupted by a bunch of the 3-D guys running past you, going god knows where.
“do they ever, just, walk? or..?”
you let out a huff through your nose, shaking your head, “nah, probably not. must be serious if it’s that many of them.”
“or they heard a fight broke out somewhere, and they all want a piece.”
“also possible, but they still deserve the benefit of the doubt sometimes, y’know?”
ryou took a second to consider your offer, then shook his head, pink hair flying along with the motion, “i guess, but sti-”
he was cut off again, this time by your phone beeping in your pocket. you pulled it out quickly, only to see a message from yabuto, and you bid ryou goodbye, immediately making your way to the bench you had mentally planned on earlier.
you heard a fake-offended “ah, yes, your prince beckons!” in the distance.
you sat down on the round bench and immediately opened the e-mail, a slight grin on your face.
kurogingirl good morning! looks like it’ll be a nice day today. yabuto good morning. sure does. how was your first class? kurogingirl pretty alright. how was yours? yabuto chill. the math teacher got on our ass about something again. kurogingirl lol, yamaguchi? she's kinda funny. yabuto wish i could hear your laugh instead of hers for a change.
you're not sure what pushed you at that moment, maybe the undertone of the message, but you lifted your gaze from your phone and looked around the courtyard. there were so many guys on their phones right now, you couldn’t even zero any out as the potential “yabuto”.
another ring brought your attention back to the screen, which was lit up by a single message.
yabuto when can i see you?
just as you began considering your response, the bell signaling the end of lunch rang, so you grabbed your things and rushed to class instead. all you had time to text was a measly “soon!”.
in your hurry, you completely missed the boy who heaved a sigh at the other side of the bench.
throughout the day, you continued talking to yabuto about anything and everything – weather, plans, school... . it was easy to lose track of time while talking to him, and you only really noticed how long it had been when you glanced at your clock and realized it was nearing midnight.
yabuto do you think we’ve met before?
you can't lie and say the possibility doesn't cross your mind at least once a day, especially since you supposedly attend the same school. you had no expectations for who he really was – you'd be fine as long as he was as nice in person as he is in his e-mails.
kurogingirl hard to say. our school has about 2400 kids. yabuto i can at least eliminate the guys. you're not a guy, right? kurogingirl i have “girl” in my username. no, i am not a guy. lol yabuto can’t blame a guy for double checking! kurogingirl it's almost midnight, we should probably turn in. yabuto wait i can't sleep without knowing there's hope. please meet me at the halloween party. i'll be waiting for you in the courtyard at 11. kurogingirl goodnight, yabuto.
the next day, you were at the baseball field with ryou, helping him with practice.
well, that was the original plan. somehow that turned into you hitting the balls instead – to release some anger.
“isn’t that great, though? you could finally meet him!”
“i don’t know, ryou. the guy’s too good to be true.”
your bat smacks the ball slightly off, and you end up almost hitting your poor friend's ankle. luckily for him, he has good baseball reflexes and jumps away in time.
“oh, come on, [name]. you met him, like, what, 3 months ago? you know him!” he cautiously puts another ball in the pitch machine and covers his head in preparation. this time, your ball actually flies a bit further, but you still missed the sweet spot.
“yeah, but he doesn’t know me! what if we meet and i'm not what he expects? nobody even really knows me at this school except you and 2 of our classmates. i'm basically nonexistent, ryou. maybe the relationship is better for cyberspace.”
ryosuke's exasperation was hardly getting through to your one-track mind, so he decided he had to pull out all the stops for this: “listen, you have to go, alright, the- this yabuto guy may not be in one place for long, okay? if it helps, i can be your escort.”
you prepare to smack another pitch when his words register in your brain, and you put the bat down, “really?”
“yeah!”
“you rock, ryou!”
he heaved the most relieved sigh you've ever heard in your life. then, your phone rang.
“hello?”
“[name]? don’t forget to grab the dry cleaning on your way home. and stop at the store to get the list i sent you. and pick up the afternoon shift!”
the line goes dead and you're left standing there for a second, wondering whether you should kill your stepmother or yourself. you get ready to smack the ball again, waving ryous concern off.
this time, you see her face on the ball, and in your anger you smack it as hard as you possibly can. it ended up flying all the way over to the general sports field, where some students were lounging. a boy with brown hair gets up and, in an act of kindness, throws the ball back. you wave him a thank you, and he responds with a thumbs up.
hayato returned to his spot on the grass, a slight grin on his face, “a girl hit that, that’s crazy.”
takeda sighed wistfully, a disappointed look on his face, “a girl, huh… i wish i had a girl..”
ryu turned his head a bit too fast for his neck to keep up, completely perplexed. if he were an animated character, he’d surely have a giant question mark above his head right now, hayato thinks. “where’d that come from?”
the brunet shrugs at that, a little confused about ryu’s reaction, but still disappointed about his original comment, “the halloween party. i have no one to go with.”
tsuchiya, who was lying on the grass until now, sits up to join the conversation too, “it’s alright, take, none of us do. we can just all go together. right?”
ryu butts in, though not even looking up from his phone this time, “there’s 5 of us, though. someone wouldn’t have a pair.”
nobody notices the sly grin hayato is sporting in their disappointment until he speaks up again, “no worries, boys, one of us does have a date. and it’s me. y'all can go together.”
4 heads whip to hayato in surprise, confusion, and anger. and then he’s jumped by 3 of his friends, shoulders shaken and hair ruffled. he’s not sure whether they’re congratulating him or trying to make him bald.
his confusion is gone when hyuga asks him who his date is, and hayato is shamefully reminded that he himself doesn’t actually know. they can’t know that, though, so he puts a finger to his lips and opts to say it’s a secret instead.
on the day of the halloween party, the 3-D 5 find themselves at a small café not far from the school. coincidentally, the exact one where you happen to be working, against your will.
tonight was supposed to be your night off, but your stepmother guilt-tripped you into working instead. you can wave goodbye to your plans of meeting yabuto. to make matters even worse, the 3-D main honchos just walked in, and you’re the one assigned to their table. you shudder slightly, telling yourself it’ll be alright as you walk up to them.
you try to sound as friendly as possible when you say “hi, what can i get you guys?”, but you’re afraid you might have failed when one of them glares at you.
the other 4 place their orders, which you jot down, but now you’re left in a staring match with the brown-haired one who’s been glaring this entire time. you’re almost certain he hasn’t even blinked. just when you open your mouth to ask him if he needs more time to decide, he cuts you off, “you’re the girl from the baseball field the other day.”
you startle slightly, momentarily not even remembering what he was talking about, but then you remember the brown-haired boy who threw your homerun ball back to you last week, and you smile slightly at him, “oh, yeah. thank you again.”
now that he's figured it out and stopped glaring, he actually placed an order, and you could leave their table to do your job. they didn’t even seem as mean as people made them out to be. you brought them their drinks and swiftly left again to tend to the other customers.
about 30 minutes later, they paid and left, bumping into someone you really didn't want to see right now in the doorway.
“have no fear, ryou is here!” he ran up to you in excitement, “and i have the keys to my dad’s car!”
he then looked you up and down once, much like you had to him last week, “you’re.. not going dressed as a maid, are you?”
you smiled at him slightly, the disappointment taking over your features despite your best efforts to stay positive, “i’m not going, ryou.”
his mouth fell open, completely perplexed. as far as he was aware, the last time he spoke to you about the party, you said you would go, which was a mere 3 hours earlier, “what do you mean you’re not going?! yeah, you are! you have a date with your cyberdude!”
your very good family friend and coworker, rei, heard this and decided she had to join the conversation too, “oooh, a date? cyberdude? that the guy who’s been sending you those love notes?”
“it’s not a date. just a meeting. and they’re not love notes, they’re emails.”
“[name], if a man is taking his time to write his feelings for you, it's a love note, so what are you still doing here?”
“mother dearest said i must work tonight.”
rei scoffed at that, “that is not your mother, and it's your night off. she can't keep you here against your will. go to that meetup or i'll take you there myself.”
ryou nodded along, fully supportive of the sentiment, “you deserve to have some fun, too, [name]. you never do anything for yourself.”
you stood there for a second, weighing your options. on one hand, if you don’t work, you have no money for tuition. on the other, if you don't go, you could be passing up the romance of a lifetime. well, it's probably not really that serious, but they are right, you never do anything for yourself. and you do deserve to have fun, curse whatever your stepmother says.
“you’re right, i deserve to go! all i do is study and work, and i deserve to have some fun sometimes!”
rei and ryou cheered for you, along with your other coworkers who knew both you and your father well, and you were truly excited for a moment.
only for a moment, however.
“i can’t go..”
rei deflated visibly, completely confused about your change in attitude, “what? but you just–”
you shook your head in disappointment, “i can’t go. i have no costume.”
a moment of silence fell over your group until the woman lit up, a mischievous glint in her brown eyes, “no, you don't, but you will.”
that's how you found yourself running around at 5 pm, on your way to the nearest costume shop. when you got there, the owner was already closing up, but rei negotiated with him for you, and he let you in to try on some costumes. you didn’t find anything nice, and everyone could tell you were gradually losing hope. that is, until rei spotted a mask on display.
“rei, i can’t possibly take that–”
she shook her head quickly, refusing to hear anything you had to say on the matter, “absolutely not. god knows i won’t be wearing that dress anymore myself, and it’s been in the box for too long. it deserves a night out. just like you do.”
the dress was beautiful, it looked almost like cinderella’s gown, and you found yourself huffing a laugh through your nose at the thought. then you remembered you didn’t actually have much time left if you wanted to make it to the party, so, despite wanting to protest, you held it in and put the dress on.
it looked as beautiful on you as rei thought it would when she entrusted it to you, and you couldn't help the grin that wormed its way onto your face.
you have never before seen the school look as extravagant as it did that night. blinding lights, halloween decorations everywhere you looked, and people in costumes. even if your meeting doesn’t go well, at least you will have a nice memory to look back on. before you entered the building, you reminded ryou you would have to be back at the café by 12, and you both set alarms on your phones.
when you walked into the gym, it wasn't exactly how it usually is in fairy tales – the music didn't stop, and it didn't feel like the world stopped spinning. but there were many lights and stares on you, suddenly, which made you pretty nervous. you hoped it wouldn’t affect your ability to walk, or it would be tremendously embarrassing.
you met up with ryou again at the drink table and chatted for a while longer before deciding you should probably head to the courtyard, so you bid him goodbye.
as you walked, you realized you didn’t exactly know which part of the courtyard you were supposed to meet yabuto at, so you chose to wander around instead until you found someone. your journey was over sooner than expected when you stumbled upon a guy from your class under the nearest tree.
you approached him, slightly unsure, “.. yabuto?”
he turned around swiftly after hearing your voice, and a grin lit up his features. “why, [last name]. a pleasure to see you. what was that you said?”
you were even more unsure now. and also, was it really that easy to figure out who you were, even with the mask?
“are you.. yabuto?”
he looked slightly confused for a moment before recognition sparkled in his eyes, “oh, you mean kabuto! yeah, that’s my favorite pokémon, haha, how’d you know?”
you sighed in relief, realizing you actually had the wrong person, and were about to tell him so, when a voice from behind you interrupted you instead, “she said yabuto, not kabuto, dumbass.”
you recognized that voice. not well enough to put a name to it, but you have heard it before. so has the boy standing under the tree, apparently, because his grin suddenly turned nervous and he broke out in sweat as he swiftly apologized and ran away. you found your hand reaching for him on instinct before you slowly turned around to face the boy who had saved you from the awkward situation, only to freeze.
in front of you, in a princely costume, stood none other than yabuki hayato, the leader of 3-D – the very same yabuki hayato whom you served a drink to earlier in the evening.
his username was a smart combination, you realized.
he smiled at you, something you weren’t expecting from him, “kurogin girl?”
“.. yabuki? you’re .. you’re yabuto?”
his smile fell slightly, already knowing what your tone implied, though he still found it in himself to let out an awkward chuckle, “yeah i guess my costume doesn’t do a very good job at hiding who i am..”
you nodded once, “no, i know exactly who you are. i’m sorry, this was a really big mistake. i have to go.”
you brushed past him on your way back to the gym, and after a moment of freezing up, he hurried after you.
“wait, it wasn’t a mistake!”
you stopped after he grabbed your forearm, coming face to face with the pleading look on his face, “it was. do you know who i am?”
he nods, desperate, “i do! you’re kurogin girl! who i’ve been waiting to see, i know you!” then he shook his head once, the action somehow even more desperate than the earlier nod, “.. what’s your name?”
he confused you, more than you’d like to admit. “look, you’re yabuki hayato. you’re the leader of 3-D, a guy who lives for the thrill of a fight, and.. a closeted romantic? you can’t be both guys.”
he shook his head again, brown hair flying with the motion, “i’m not!”
you furrowed your brows under your mask, and his eyes followed the crease it caused above yours, “then who are you?”
he looked around, searching for someone who could give him an answer, when it came to him, “a while ago, i wrote you, ‘i live in a world full of people pretending to be something they’re not, but when i’m with you–”
“ – i’m the guy i want to be…”
“give me a chance to be that guy,” if you didn’t know any better you’d almost think he was close to begging, so you agreed, and his smile returned, “would you care for a stroll?”
he leaned down in a very princely manner, hand held out and ready for you to take, and you realized this is not at all how you imagined yabuki hayato to be. you imagined a guy with anger issues, who would start a fight at the first opportunity, who is mean, loud, and scary. the yabuki hayato bowing before you almost seemed … kind. gentle. perhaps a little dramatic.
so you placed your hand in his, along with your trust.
he slowly led you to the general sports field, which, to your surprise, was also decorated. there was even a gazebo built in the middle of it, surrounded by carved pumpkin lanterns and scary statues. you had no idea whose idea it was to go all out, but you mentally gave them your compliments.
“so, what do you say to twenty questions?”
you turned back to look at yabuki, who was so close that your shoulders brushed with every step, and huffed in amusement, “how about ten?”
“fifteen?”
“ten.”
he sighed, “i’ll take what i can get. first question, you do actually go to kurogin gakuen, right?”
you chuckled slightly, as if your username wasn’t clear enough already, “of course!”
“just checking!” he shrugged, a smile overtaking his features at the sound of your laughter, “okay, next question… would you tell me who you are if i guessed it right?”
you took a moment to ponder, but you supposed there was no harm in playing along with the charade for now. you could at least lead him in the right direction. “maybe.”
“maybe..” he hummed, seemingly deep in thought as his brows furrowed, “is that a wig, or your actual hair color?”
you were taken aback by his question, so much so that you stopped walking; when he noticed you were no longer by his side, he stopped also.
“excuse me?”
“is that a–”
“no, i heard you, but, what?”
he looked really confused, not understanding what your problem with the question was, “i’m trying to rule out people, so i wanted to make sure i’m ruling out the correct groups. even if you don’t tell me who you are, at least i’ll know what to look out for.”
“oh. um, yeah- i mean- no. no, it’s not a wig. yes, it’s my actual hair color.”
“glad we got that sorted out. question number… uh..”
you fell into step beside him again, a huff escaping you at his short-term memory, “number four, yabuki.”
“good with math, are we?”
“i’m fairly confident anyone above the age of five can count to ten just fine. also, that counted as a question.”
it was his turn to stop in the middle of a step he was about to take, horrified, “what?!”. when you turned to him, amusement glistening in your irises, it increased tenfold when you saw him looking completely scandalized, hand to his chest and mouth wide open – you couldn’t hold it in, you laughed.
“that’s not funny! i just lost an important question i could’ve used for something else! and you’re laughing!”
it took you a little while to calm down, breath coming in short gasps, and when you finally managed to achieve peace again, the first thing your tear-filled gaze landed on was yabuki hayato. not angry, not even embarrassed.
amazed.
inside the gazebo, surrounded by light from the ghost-shaped fairy lights strung up and the several pumpkins scattered around, he almost looked enthralled.
he was quick to shake it off when he noticed the silence becoming unbearable for you, however, and with another princely bow, he asked you to dance instead.
“there’s no music, though?”
he winked, “that’s alright, we can just pretend.”
so with one hand in yours and the other on your waist, he slowly led you through steps he somehow seemed more unsure of than you, and you realized – yabuki hayato does not know how to slow dance.
to save himself the embarrassment of you pointing it out, he cleared his throat, “alright, question number five. .. were you disappointed? when you found out?”
you took a moment to consider your response, to think about how you felt in the moment when you first turned around, and you found ‘disappointment’ was not something that crossed your heart.
“surprisingly, no. i was confused, and slightly angry, but not disappointed.”
“angry?” he realized his mistake and quickly lifted a hand to his mouth with a quiet cuss, but you giggled before he could say anything more, “don’t worry, i won’t count this as a question. but, yeah, i mean, you guys don’t exactly give the school a good name.”
you noticed the deep frown on his face, and you realized your terrible wording, so you quickly tried to explain yourself, “not that i’m unaware you guys get falsely accused most of the time! i know that, and i do feel bad about it, cause it’s due to the teacher's prejudices toward you, but the accusations also stain the name. it doesn’t only affect you or me; it affects every student here who is aiming for a good future. i might score highly on my entrance exams, but if they find out i'm from kurogin, that’s gonna change their views of me significantly, you know?”
after a moment of silence, he slowly nods in understanding, instead of choosing to fight you here and now like you feared he would, “yeah, i get it. we promised yankumi we wouldn’t fight until we graduated, so you don’t have to worry too much anymore.”
you tilted your head in confusion, “yankumi?”
he nods, “yamaguchi. we call her yankumi.”
“that’s so cute! did your class come up with it?”
“nope. she came here insisting we call her that. apparently, her previous students came up with it. she wouldn’t tell us the story behind it, though, for some reason..”
you thought for a moment before the lightbulb in your mind flickered on, “is that where you got inspiration for your username, yabuto?” you asked in a teasing tone, one brow raised in amusement.
he scratched the back of his neck bashfully, yet another thing you weren’t expecting from him. yabuki hayato is simply full of surprises.
“yeah, kind of. but don’t tell her. enough about that, though, next question… do you have a part-time job?”
you nodded once, and he returned the gesture, doing some mental math. you’re not sure he would get far in that regard – numbers don’t seem to be his strong suit.
he spun you once before you returned to his embrace, and for a boy who enjoys fighting others so much, it felt surprisingly safe.
“that eliminated a lot of girls. alright, i got it. now that you know who i am, have we met before? like, actually met and spoke to each other?”
you weren’t sure how many girls yabuki spoke to in his day-to-day life, so this was a risky question to answer, but instead of wanting to lie or avoid it, you found yourself cheering him on instead, “yeah, we have. quite recently, too.”
he grinned, a surprised “oh?” leaving his lips before he spun you again.
before he could ask you the next question, however, your alarm rang, and you quickly excused yourself and reached for your phone. frantically looking around for the shortest escape route, you apologized to yabuki and ran.
“wai– huh?”
after a moment of being rooted to his spot, hayato spun around and chased after you, already long inside the gym. you looked everywhere for ryou before you finally found him, already running toward you. you made a quick escape to the car, but in your hurry, your phone slipped out of your grip.
the one to pick it up was the boy madly chasing after you, hoping for one last peek before he lost you for god knows how long.
but if there’s one thing yabuki hayato was, it was determined. and he would do everything in his power to see you again. you’ve graciously given him so many hints to go off of, he would die before he failed.
the next day, you walked to school with ryou, as usual. he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that you didn't tell yabuki who you were – he was somehow angrier about it than yabuki himself, probably.
“ryou, it’s fine, he’s probably forgotten all about me by now.”
he groans, dragging a hand down his face in total and utter exasperation, “yeah, sure. this is yabuki hayato we’re talking about, [name].”
a helpless smile overtook your features, and some part of you knew ryou was right. but you also didn’t exactly want to just come up to yabuki and tell him who you were – you weren’t disappointed when you found out, but you knew he would be.
when you walked through the gates of kurogin, a sight you would never have imagined even in your wildest dreams greeted you.
the boys of 3-D were handing out pamphlets. with a caricature of your face on them. and stopping all girls who fit the description that yabuki himself likely gave them. to make matters worse, he was there too.
ryou side-eyed you then, a brow raised in amusement, “forgotten all about you, has he?”
you had no choice. you hid behind your friend and tried your best to blend into the crowd of people the boys let through. so far, you have been successful.
until one of them caught your forearm.
when you turned around, you were hit by a very heavy wave of deja vu, though it wasn’t yabuki you came face to face with this time. it was a boy slightly shorter than him, with ginger-ish brown hair and very youthful features – he seemed like a very friendly guy, which surprised you.
“sorry ‘bout that, you fit the description of someone we’re looking for, would you mind coming with me for a sec?”
“oh, uh, i kinda–” you didn’t even get to finish before your pink-haired friend pushed you, making you stumble and almost fall on the poor guy, “no, she wouldn’t! by all means, please take her.”
the ginger (you think? it was hard to tell) smiled, a little confused, and gestured you along. you still had the willpower to glare back at ryou and mutter a quiet “traitor” while he just grinned like he did not send you off to your death.
“sorry again, i’m takeda keita, but you can just call me take. everyone does.”
“nice to meet you. i’m [name],” you smiled at each other kindly, and you realize he really doesn’t seem like an evil delinquent at all, “so, uhm, what’s going on, exactly?”
“hayato is looking for his mystery princess. he met her last night, and he has no clue who she is. it’s a secret, though, so don’t tell him i told you,” he sneakily winked, like he just revealed some crucial information. you nodded along politely, as if it was new to you.
so he hasn’t forgotten about you, after all.
“hayato!”
and there he was, again. less princely than last night, but still very charming, now that you were not afraid anymore. uniform jacket unbuttoned and a white button-up peeking out from underneath, in typical hayato yabuki fashion – and you had to admit, he had style.
he turned to look at you and takeda at the sound of his name, and his eyes caught yours in an instant. something flickered in them, and you held your breath at the prospect of him recognizing you that fast, but you had to hold back a sigh of relief when he, after a moment of tense silence, shook his head.
takeda seemed a little disappointed when he apologized for the inconvenience and told you you could leave. you took one last glance at hayato, who was still staring at you, too, and turned to leave.
the last words you heard before you rounded the corner were from hayato.
“you’d think i’d remember those eyes.”
that night, you sat by your computer, staring at the e-mails you’ve received from yabuki since the party.
you considered just telling him who you were, just saying yeah, it’s me. i was there at your search party. and you shook your head at me. but that seemed a little petty, considering it's not even his fault, really. so you laid your fingers on the keyboard, ready to type it out, when the sound of your door slamming open ruined the moment.
“[name]~ how’s my essay coming along?” your sister said, filing her nails in the doorway. you remembered putting up a “do not disturb” sign, too.
“i’m almost done.”
“well, hurry up, it’s due friday. waiting for it is stressing me out.”
you sigh, “imagine how stressed you’d be if you had to write it.”
“oh my god, you’re right!”
before you can say anything else, your stepmother calls out to you, so you sigh again and close your open e-mails with yabuto. before you walk past your sister, you tell her to wait for you and not touch anything.
you were wrong to believe she would listen to you.
seeing the open tab on your computer screen, she can’t help the curiosity that takes over, so she walks up and opens the first one.
yabuto please, can you give me any more hints? yabuto can i see you again? please. yabuto do you hate me now that you know i’m actually just yabuki hayato, and not some guy who writes poetry at starbucks? yabuto please.
oh, she knows exactly who would love to hear about this.
a week had passed rather uneventfully – well, other than preparations for the inter-class sports competition.
you met hayato several times, in the hallways and the café, and he always stared at you like he was trying to piece something together, but he was missing one crucial piece he had no idea where to find.
it was a sunny wednesday morning when you walked to school with ryou that you heard it.
an assembly in the gym before the competition, and a note from yabuki hayato. he wanted to meet “cinderella” after the assembly.
you turned to ryou, a look he knew all too well on your face, “it might be my best shot, right?”
“yeah! you should totally go. i’ll be right there with you.”
in hindsight, you should’ve known yabuki hayato would never send a note through school announcements.
apparently, the volunteer cheerleaders have prepared a short play to “cheer the players on” before the competition kicks off. sounds fun, right?
not so much when the play is about you and your online romance with 3-D’s leader. yabuki looked as angry and confused as you, along with his friends, so you knew he didn’t let anything slip – not that he could’ve, he doesn’t even know who you are.
seeing your sisters on the podium, however, helped you piece it all together.
3-D looked ready to fight them all for hayato’s sake as much as yours, and you once again realized they truly weren’t as bad as the school made them out to be. they were actually kind and genuine, and they cared for their friends. to make matters even worse, even yamaguchi looked ready to start swinging on the girls.
you were full-on sobbing next to ryou and some other people when the cheerleader reading the narration revealed your full legal name, and yabuki’s head snapped back, desperately searching for your eyes in the crowd.
when he found you, it all seemed to click. he found the one piece of the puzzle he’d been missing this entire time, the one he’d been desperately trying to piece together and figure out.
you turned and, in your utter embarrassment, ran out of the gym without a second glance back.
yabuki reached for you out of instinct, though he was too far up front for it to even matter. he turned to the stage, sneering at the cheerleaders and your sisters, before spitting a venom-laced “you’re lucky we promised to not fight until graduation,” and running after you. the rest of 3-D 5 took a step to chase after him, but odagiri ryu put up an arm to hold them back and shook his head. “this is hayato’s fight. leave him.”
he looked everywhere he could think of, without success. he understood if you didn’t wish to speak to him now after what just happened – he just hoped you’d get over it soon enough. there are so many things he wants to know.
that night, rather than lamenting the sports competition, yabuki hayato found himself sitting at his computer, e-mails from you blaring at him in the darkness of his room. the last e-mail he received from you was from the day before the halloween party, almost 2 weeks ago.
it felt almost surreal, finally knowing who was on the receiving end of everything he’s ever written, knowing who it is he’s been silently yearning for for months now.
unfortunately, it seemed like you wanted nothing to do with him anymore.
you had said you weren’t disappointed when you found out, so he could rule out his identity as the reason. and he’s certainly not disappointed either – since he first noticed you at the baseball field, he had thought you were really pretty – so then, why?
was it something he said? his friends, maybe? the search? did you realize you were too good for a delinquent from 3-D who did nothing but bring trouble?
he heaves a sigh of complete and utter devastation for the umpteenth time that night, fingers raking through his hair, then sliding down his face. he momentarily wonders if he’ll even be able to brush the mess out in the morning, but ultimately, that seems like the least of his troubles right now.
yabuki hayato can’t remember the last time he felt this conflicted over a person, much less his relationship with them. well, other than the big fallout and reconciliation with ryu. this must also be yamaguchi’s fault. were it not for her, he’d still be the same unfeeling, unconcerned, fight-loving asshole he was so used to being. but now he has someone he likes so much it's tearing at his insides, wondering what he’d done so wrong that you can’t even look at him anymore.
he’s known you were his person before he even knew your name, and he wholeheartedly believed you were destined to meet – mind you, he’s never in his life believed in destiny or fate or soulmates – yet he was entirely convinced you were his.
in every alternate universe, in every galaxy, in every fairy tale and love story – yabuki hayato’s love began with you, and he knew that to be true. he’s never been particularly lucky in any regard; he believed good things come to those who make them happen rather than those who wait for them, and yet he doesn’t remember ever making this happen. he never once remembered working for this. sure, he’s been to matchmaking parties with his friends, and he’s tried getting girlfriends, but it never once worked out for him. he can’t help but wonder if it was because the universe needed to ensure he would wait for you.
and if there’s one thing yabuki hayato was, it was determined.
in the following days, you did everything in your power to avoid hayato. and anyone else, for that matter. you’ve gone from being unknown to a laughingstock overnight, and you didn’t exactly pride yourself on that. so far, it seemed to be working out in your favor.
until you were suddenly pulled into a random empty classroom on a sunny tuesday afternoon.
“wha–”
“can you please stop avoiding me? i just want to talk.”
you knew that voice. and contrary to that night, now you knew it well enough to give it a face, too.
this time, you didn’t turn around.
“... what do you want, yabuki?”
he sighed, relieved you’d at least hear him out, though not particularly pleased he can’t see your face, “why are you avoiding me? did i say something wrong? or was it the search? i’m sorry about that, i realize it was a bit.. much, but i was desperate–”
“you shook your head at me that day, y’know? i’m not mad about it, though. it wasn’t your fault. and that’s not why i’m avoiding you, but you’re right, it was a bit much,” you found it in yourself to huff a laugh, and his shoulders relaxed slightly.
“.. then?”
silence fell over the room, and he was worried you wouldn’t respond, worried you’d leave and continue avoiding him until the uncertainty ate him alive and he’d never have the chance to talk to you again.
“.. what do you say to five questions?”
“.. ten?”
“five.”
“i’ll take what i can get.”
you finally turned around, and he sat down on the desk behind him, waiting for your questions.
“were you disappointed? when you found out?”
he shook his head before you even finished your question, a firm “no” falling out of his lips, and you exhaled a breath you didn’t even realize you were holding. you looked at his face for the first time since the assembly, and you noticed several bandages and scrapes on his otherwise beautiful features. your eyes widened a fraction as you stepped closer, hand ghosting over one of the larger bandages, “you got in a fight?”
with a huff, he leaned toward your hand, letting your fingers lightly graze the bandage, “no. i got beaten up. i promised i wouldn’t fight anymore, you know. also, that counts as a question, [last name].”
you shook your head, not particularly bothered. you only really had one question you needed to ask, and you’ve already aired that one out, anyway.
“was it after the sports competition?”
“no, i did not get beaten up by a bunch of cheerleaders and your sisters,” he chuckled, the sound a pleasant melody, “it was over the weekend. we went out for karaoke and some guys we beat up in the past cornered us for revenge.”
“i see,” contrary to the previous uncomfortably tense silence, the one that fell over you now was like a blanket on a chilly winter evening. hayato has not once taken his eyes off of you, waiting for your next words with bated breath since he pulled you into the room, almost like a loyal subject waiting to hear the royal decree.
“why were you so desperate to find me?”
the breath he huffed out was a mix of humored and annoyed, “i’m surprised you weren’t. forgive me for wanting to know who the person i’ve been yearning for actually was. at first, it wasn’t even on purpose, really. even before i knew who you were, i’ve been looking for you in every room i’ve walked into, unconsciously. always hoping for a sign that maybe kurogingirl was in there, somewhere. now that i know, it explains the unnatural pull i felt toward you when i saw you at the baseball field that day, and at the café – you felt like something i’ve always known and only now found, if that makes sense?”
your eyes sparkled a little more than they normally should in the room shrouded only by the rays of the setting sun, and hayato belatedly realized you might be tearing up.
“i don’t… i’ve never believed in fate. and i fought it. i want you to know i really genuinely fought it – this, whatever. bare fists and all. but all that did was lead me closer and closer and, somewhere along the line, i just gave in. now i’m certain i would find you in every life and every universe, just like i found you in this one, and the ones before.”
a tear slipped out and you lightly hit his shoulder with the hand that wasn’t on his cheek. you forgot it was even there, and when you went to pull it away, his own hand flew up and grabbed yours, preventing you from doing so.
“please, and i don’t normally beg, don’t avoid me anymore. i think i’ve proven i am that guy.”
you walked out of school with hayato on your side, one arm slung over your shoulders, the other holding his bag over his.
the first thing you saw, besides the sun, were his friends and ryou, waiting for you near the gate.
the first thing you heard were cheers and wolf whistles, the second, hayato’s laugh, melodious and free.
“i take it you finally made up?” said ryou, a sly grin on his face as he leaned down, all up in your face.
you pushed him back with a hand in his and rolled your eyes, “you make it seem like we were arguing.”
“the way hayato was acting, you’d really think s–”
hayato’s bag flew through the air, hitting hyuga in the face, effectively silencing him before he could finish speaking.
before you could tell him off for it, he snuck a quick kiss on your temple, silencing your protests also, just less violently.
“don’t worry about it, he’s making shit up.”
“no, he’s not, you’ve been moping like a dog left without its owner.”
the words hadn’t even fully registered in your brain when takeda started sprinting off – you only really realized what he said when hayato ran after him, shouting threat after threat.
“ah, young love! how wonderful!”
the rest of you left by the gate jumped away at the sudden voice on your right, belonging to none other than yamaguchi kumiko herself. she seemed very overjoyed at the prospect of you and hayato figuring things out, and you were grateful to her for that – you just weren’t sure why the jumpscare was necessary. by the “why do you always do that?!” from tsuchiya, you figured it was a hobby of hers, so instead of dwelling on it any longer, you just laughed in a careless way you seemingly hadn’t in months.
not careless enough to miss the mesmerized sparkle in yabuki hayato’s eyes, though.
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