The Artisan's Grapevine

Friday afternoon found Maeda Hiroshi casually climbing up one of the school's stairwells to his classroom. Both Gotou and Katsuo trailing behind him.

"First, he stops playing games, then he gets a date..." Hiroshi could hear Gotou mumbling to Katsuo. "With Akane-san no less."

"Are you a traitor, Hiro?" Katsuo asked, but with no real heat behind his words.

Hiroshi stopped at the top of the stairs and looked back at his two belligerent friends. "If you were in my position, would you have said no?"

The only answer he got was the grumbling annoyed expressions that they shared with each other.

"He's being reasonable again." Gotou told Katsuo.

"Real-lifers and their logic..." Katsuo said, giving Hiroshi his most dead-eyed expression.

Hiroshi sighed. These two really need to grow up a little.

He resumed walking onto the second floor. The other two followed, still grumbling to themselves. Hey, at least they're still walking with me...

Now that they were in the hallway proper Hiroshi could once again feel the itch of many eyes following his every move. Ever since that morning all the students seemed to be either glaring at him or looking on curiously. Some, he noticed, just gave small smiles that he tried to figure out. The answer proved to be elusive, though.

Even Daiki seemed to give one of those smiles.

---

"I'm a little jealous sure, but if I had to admit it, then you're probably who I'd expect to date Akane-san." Daiki told Hiroshi before they had to get to their classrooms for Homeroom.

Daiki then reached out and shook his hand firmly, if a little painfully. Right there in front of Hiroshi's classroom. The smile on his face seemed to contradict the somewhat confrontational grip he had on Hiroshi's digits.

"Why?" Was all Hiroshi could ask. With some of the negativity coming off some of the students looking on in the hallway he was a little surprised by these words.

Daiki thought about the question, still gripping Hiroshi's hand in a vice grip before coming to a decision.

"It's fine if you don't know." Was all he said. He then finally let go of Hiroshi's hand and turned to go to his class. He called over his shoulder, "See you at lunch, Hiro!"

With that he slipped into class 2-A, looking oddly happy with himself.

Now, Hiroshi was left alone with all the stares as he looked at the door that Daiki disappeared behind with confusion. He stood there for a moment, letting the whispers float by him, and thought about Daiki's words.

Not finding any answers he sighed and, ignoring all the gossip around him, walked into his own class.

---

Hiroshi shook his head. Even after a couple classes he couldn't wrap his head around Daiki's words. And the constant staring and gossiping from everyone was becoming a bother. But he didn't show it. It didn't bother him on the few other occasions where people would talk about him before. So, he tried to let it bounce off of him again. However, this time around some of the students were glaring.

Glaring was a lot different from just simple curiosity.

But it was mostly the boys that were glaring. With a few girls here and there.

Hiroshi could understand their reactions. Really, he could. The idol of the school, the one that everyone liked, rejecting people constantly for the last year and a bit, now all of a sudden asks someone out? Of course some people would be a little bitter about that.

Understanding didn't make it any more comfortable for Hiroshi.

Even just walking down the hall to 2-B made him too conscious of his movements under the scrutiny of all the other students in the hallway. Gotou's and Katsuo's grumbling wasn't really helping matters either.

_Why did Daiki have to choose then to be mysterious, damn it. _Hiroshi thought wryly.

He had almost made it to the classroom when he heard someone call out, "Maeda-kun!"

Hiroshi stopped and turned to the sound of Hirano Ami's voice.

"Oh, hey Hirano-san."

"Hey." Hirano replied. A cheeky smirk gracing her cute face.

Once again Hiroshi felt the almost magnetic pull of her large breasts on his eyes. He, of course, resisted. It really was unfair that the male body was so susceptible to embarrassing itself. He did however find it somewhat easy to not look rudely at girls. Or at the very least, to not get caught looking.

I am still a guy going through puberty after all, He forgave himself.

"It's all over school you know? That Akane-chan asked you out." Hirano informed him. As if he didn't already know.

"Gee, I hadn't noticed." Hiroshi said while looking around at all the other students staring.

He also noticed that some of Akane-san's friends were standing behind Hirano-san. Most of them also had that small smile as if they knew something he didn't.

"Oh, don't worry about them. They'll get over it soon." She said, waving her hand dismissively. "But man, I had no idea that she was going to ask you out when she told me she had something to do yesterday. I didn't even know she had someone she liked!"

It was always kind of amusing to hear Hirano-san speak these days. After what happened last year she had made it a point to talk with the boys in her classes, both in first year and in their second year. Friend to friend. Now it would seem that she had picked up a more relaxed way of speaking, similar to how the guys would talk. Of course, it wasn't a completely masculine change in behavior, but it did make her sound more relatable and easier to talk to than with most girls.

"And besides, you seem like a great fit for Akane-chan." She finished.

"Really?" Was all Hiroshi could ask. He wasn't really inclined to agree.

"Really." Hirano-san said, nodding in the affirmative.

"It's true." One of her friends spoke up from behind her. Hiroshi forgot her name but she did look familiar with those braids in her hair. "If it was going to be anyone it would be you. Since you're both so mature and all."

Hiroshi didn't see it but Gotou and Katsuo both rolled their eyes at each other behind him.

"I didn't think that girl would date anyone, really." Another friend spoke up. This one had a braided ponytail. He didn't remember her name either. He knew that one of Akane-san's friends was called Ogawa-san but he had no idea if that was one of these girls.

While most of the girls seemed to agree on Hiroshi being a good fit for Akane, a couple didn't look very convinced. He couldn't really blame them. Akane was pretty much the model student. The best grades; popular with both the boys and the girls; probably the prettiest girl in school; the teachers loved her. The list went on.

Hiroshi on the other hand, while not ugly or lacking in grades, he didn't really stick out all that much. Which was exactly what he preferred. However, if he had to give a self-evaluation he would say that he was above average in looks, well above average in grades, had a somewhat healthy physique that he barely had to work for by occasionally doing something physical...

Okay, now that he thought about it the list didn't sound too bad.

But mostly he was laid back. Maybe even lazy.

He didn't really think that he would be a good fit for someone like Akane. But then again, he wouldn't have thought that someone like Akane-san would go out of her way to talk to him so much if there wasn't at least some interest. So, maybe these girls were right. Maybe--

"What are you all doing standing out here?" Came a voice from the side. They all turned to see Akane-san herself standing there, having come up the stairs that Hiroshi and his friends came up a minute ago.

"Akane-chan!" Hirano-san exclaimed. "Oh, uh..."

She seemed to struggle to find a response but quickly recovered. With her cheeky grin back in place she said, "We were just teasing your boyfriend here."

Akane-san blinked a couple times in surprise. The comment caught her off guard for a moment before she gave a hard grin back at Hirano-san.

"Seeing as how classes will be starting soon, why don't you ladies start marching?" She suggested (commanded) as she pointed towards the door to their classroom.

"Uwah! Akane is angry." One of the girls playfully exclaimed. Her and a couple others giggled as they made their way (retreated) to class.

"Bye bye Maeda-kun!" Hirano-san said teasingly before taking her leave as well.

Now it was just Hiroshi, Gotou, Katsuo and Akane-san. With a smattering of other students still loitering around to stare at Hiroshi and Akane-san.

Akane-san let out a sigh as her friends left. She shook her head a little, her hair swaying slightly at the motion. "I apologize for that, Hiroshi-kun."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Hiroshi said, smiling to let her know that no harm was done. "They were just teasing, I'm sure."

"Still..." She seemed to struggle for a moment. "I apologize for all the... attention." She concluded with a glance around the hallway at all the people staring. "I hadn't expected it to be quite like this..."

Akane seemed to drift into a thoughtful silence as she contemplated all the other students watching them. In that moment, to Hiroshi it seemed like she looked just a little regretful. And just a little sad. Once again, he was reminded of the mask that she no doubt wore while in school. Maybe all the attention she got from her fellow students, and even the teachers, was more a burden than anything.

Or maybe he was imagining it. Regardless, he felt like he had to change to topic.

"Hey, did you figure out the plans for Sunday?" Hiroshi asked.

Akane looked up in surprise before understanding dawned. "Ah. Right. Yes, I think I have it figured out." She said. A small smile graced her lips now that she wasn't thinking about anything else. "I'll email it to you after school."

"Alright." Hiroshi accepted.

"...real-lifers..."

Hiroshi's left eye twitched.

That mumble came from behind him. Most likely it was from Katsuo. Hiroshi turned to see both of his friends giving him the most blank of stares. His eye twitched again.

"Oh, hello Gotou-kun, Katsuo-kun." Akane greeted after realizing just now that they stood there behind Hiroshi.

"Uh, h-hello Akane-san!" Gotou sputtered.

"G-Good day!" Katsuo said stiffly, almost saluting.

Now it was Hiroshi's turn to give them a blank deadpan look.

Akane gave a small giggle at the responses she got before turning back to Hiroshi. "I'd better head to class too."

"Right. We'd better do the same I guess."

"See you later, Hiroshi-kun. You too, Gotou-kun, Katsuo-kun." She said before heading off to her classroom.

She left before Gotou or Katsuo could form another reply. Hiroshi too made his retreat before his friends could say anything else.

---

The rest of the day went by in mostly the same vein. Class continued as normal while the breaks between were filled with more curious and annoyed stares. Gotou and Katsuo grumbled a bit more here and there. Though they did seem to be getting better about the whole thing.

One thing that Hiroshi found more annoying than anything else was how his jokes weren’t going over well with anyone anymore. That was the real downside in his humble opinion. Except, he did manage to catch a few people off guard now and then. Like that girl Fujiwara-san. At least he still had some fans of his jokes.

It’s all about the little triumphs in life.

Hiroshi occasionally would glimpse Akane-san in the hallway during breaks and lunchtime but neither of them made an attempt to talk to each other again today. Beyond brief eye-contact of course.

After finishing his food during lunch Hiroshi tried to tune everything out by doing the usual. Stare around at nothing in particular. Except that this time around he couldn’t help but feel a couple disapproving stares thrown his way. Maybe in their eyes the potential boyfriend of the school’s idol wasn’t supposed to be a lazy prick?

Whatever. He tried to listen in on his friend's conversation this time. Something he didn’t often do.

“--they finally had that talk.” Gotou was saying.

“Who did?” Katsuo asked.

“Temerin and Sonya. Didn’t you play last night?” Gotou exclaimed, looking a little indignant.

“No. Mom made a fuss about my studies and made me do some chores afterward. And then after that I heard about Hiro and Akane-san on the school's forum.” Katsuo said. They both then turned their heads to glower at Hiroshi again.

“Wait... What’s this about a forum?” Hiroshi asked. All of a sudden he didn’t feel like being lazy anymore.

“You don’t know about the forum?” Katsuo asked looking skeptical. He suddenly grinned and turned back to Gotou. “He doesn’t know about the forum.”

“Heh. Hiro... you’re in for a weird crazy ride.” Gotou said with an almost evil grin. Hiroshi gave them both a suspicious look before they gave him the url for this... scary sounding forum. “Be careful not to get lost though. It’s a rabbit hole in there.”

And with those parting words his grin disappeared and he went back to talking with Katsuo. As if nothing happened.

“So Temerin finally said what we’ve all wanted him to say--” He began.

“No, no! Wait don’t spoil it! I’ll play it tonight. I want to hear him let loose for once.” Katsuo pleaded.

“Heh heh. Alright. But trust me on this, it’s a great scene.”

And just like that they went back to talking about their game like Hiroshi hadn’t said a word.

He slowly got his phone out and hesitantly typed in the address for this “forum.”

What came up was a simplistic looking page with a soft green background and images of vines climbing up the borders of the page. At the top sat the name of the site. “The Shokuninkonjou Grapevine.”

Seriously? Who put in all this effort just for a place to spread rumors and gossip? Hiroshi shook his head in disappointment. Kids these days.

Looking at the first thing on the page under the name of the website Hiroshi saw what happened to be the most trending discussion. It was titled “Kurosawa Akane and Maeda Hiroshi Dating: Approve or Disapprove?”

Hiroshi’s eye twitched.

Immediately underneath the title was a polling based on those two choices. The disapproval rate was at sixty-seven percent?!

His eye twitched again.

Well, at least thirty-three percent were in favor... That’s something at least. Some people seemed to be okay with this. It reminded him of the small smiles he saw some students throwing his way. And then there was Daiki.

Hiroshi shook his head and looked back at the “grapevine.” The discussion had... over six-hundred comments?

He glared at the number six-hundred and twenty-four. I better not look at any of those comments, he thought. Otherwise the toxicity will kill me.

So, ignoring that whole thing he scrolled down to try and find better topics to peruse.

Big mistake.

‘Who the hell is Maeda Hiroshi?’ Three-hundred and nine comments.

‘What was she thinking?!’ Two-hundred and eighty comments.

‘He doesn’t seem so special.’ Two-hundred and fifty-one comments.

‘God! I’m so jealous!’ Two-hundred and four comments.

‘The Angel has been defiled!’ Two-hundred and three comments.

‘Who stole my shoes?! You bastards!!’ One-hundred and seventy-nine comments.

‘Help! Anyone understand Ushida-sensei's homework?’ One-hundred and thirty-eight comments.

‘Girls of Shokunin! Help me to understand!’ One hundred and thirty-two comments.

‘He’s actually not that bad tbh’ One-hundred and twenty-seven comments.

‘My cat just had kittens. Anyone interested?’ One-hundred and twenty-five comments.

‘Master Tomato’s Weekly Haul #14’ One-hundred and nine comments.

‘When a boy starts talking sense, the world has ended.’ Ninety-four comments.

‘How to train your boyfriend.’ Eighty-nine comments.

‘What is this site anymore, bring back the good ol’ days.’ Seventy-four comments.

Hiroshi dropped his phone on his desk and rubbed his temples. “They’re hopeless. They’re all hopeless.”

Do these people not have lives? Do they not have hobbies? Do they not study? Or do they spend all their time messing around on their phones?! It hasn’t even been a full twenty-four hours yet and they’ve already made around two-thousand comments on this subject alone!

Hiroshi himself to breath deep and slow before he ended up losing his temper. Which was very rare for him to do, since he never really lost his temper. Not since elementary school.

He breathed a few more times and rubbed his twitching eye. An annoying side effect of being irritated.

After a minute he finally opened his eyes. Looking around he saw that no one really took notice of his little moment. Gotou and Katsuo were too engrossed in their game-talk and everyone else were either going about their business or glancing at him.

So, nothing's changed.

Putting his phone away he sighed. I never thought I’d get this much negative attention in high school.

He was more a fan of being under the radar. Most of the time. There were of course those times where he felt like he needed to say something. Like when that first-year kid was being bullied. Or last year when the class next door was being rowdy and disrespectful to their teacher. Or that time Hiroshi stood up for that misunderstood delinquent.

He sighed again remembering his more “courageous” moments.

Sometimes... sometimes he just couldn’t sit quietly and leave things be. He couldn’t let misunderstandings go. Or bullying. Or blatant hypocrisy.

He couldn’t let it go.

So yes, his actions contradicted his desire to not stand out. But now this whole date with Akane-san has everyone looking his way. Of course, Hiroshi didn’t blame Akane-san herself for this attention. He wouldn’t do that. She was just a teenaged girl showing interest in a boy. Perfectly natural. It was the childish behavior of everyone else that had him exasperated.

She may be popular and people might admire her, but she had every right to be interested in whoever she liked. Completely regardless of anyone's expectations of her.

But sadly, that’s not how life ends up working.

For the third time Hiroshi sighed, just as the bell rang.