A Popular Girl Confessed to Me, the Loner—Thinking It Was a Prank, I Tried to Scare Her Off... But She Was Actually Serious. - Chapter 12: Since Long, Long Ago

After school.

As we stood side by side at the shoe lockers putting on our shoes, Hiyori suddenly turned her face toward me.

“Hey, Manabe-kun. Are you free this Saturday?”

The unexpected question made me freeze mid-motion.

My heel got stuck halfway into my shoe, and my foot just kind of hovered there, suspended in awkward silence.

“…Well, I don’t have any particular plans.”

“Yay! Then, want to go see a movie?”

“…Huh?”

There it is again. What is with this girl? Everything she does is always so sudden.

Every time, she catches me completely off guard.

But the way she looked at me while asking was genuinely happy.

Her eyes were a little narrower than usual, her lips curved up—she almost looked… shy?

It seemed like she had mustered up the courage to ask me out in her own way.

“I mean, we haven’t really done anything couple-like yet, so I thought… why not go on a proper date?”

The word date echoed in my brain.

I forgot how to breathe for a moment.

“I-I mean… sure, I guess.”

“Really? Yay!”

Hiyori clapped her hands together and did a little bounce.

…Her excitement was honestly off the charts. But strangely, it didn’t bother me.

Going on a date with the popular beauty of our class?

Just a while ago, that would’ve felt like pure fiction.
“So, is there any movie you want to see?”

Hiyori tilted her head slightly while hugging her school bag.

(This is it. My chance to unleash the ultimate introvert move.)

Lately, I had to admit—even to myself—that Hiyori seemed to genuinely like me.

If I said I still didn’t believe it, that’d be a lie. But even so, I still wasn’t entirely sure…

I pulled out my phone and opened the list of movies releasing this week.

And then, I deliberately picked something no extrovert girl would ever choose.

“…How about this one?”

I held my screen out to her.

Title: “Reincarnated in Another World Where My Childhood Friend Became the Demon Lord I’ve Got 3 Days Left Before She Destroys Me”

Runtime: 120 minutes

Genre: Isekai × Childhood Friend × Dark Fantasy × Loli Demon Lord × Overpowered Protagonist

…Perfect.

Any normal extrovert girl would go, “Uh… yeah no thanks.”

It was the ultimate cringe bait. I was counting on her to recoil.

But—

“Aha, that title is insane!”

Hiyori laughed. Not fake laughter—genuine, amused laughter.

Then she looked at me more seriously.

“Is that the one you want to see?”

That question made me freeze again.

I didn’t pick it because I wanted to watch it. I picked it to scare her off.

“…Well, I mean, I’m kind of curious about it, I guess…”

Hiyori gave a soft smile.

“Then I’m fine with that.”

“…Huh?”

“If it’s what you want to see, then that’s what matters most.”

She said it without a second thought. And without even a hint of disgust.

If anything, she looked happy.

(…Wait, what?)

If she had just said, “Ehh, that one?” or “Cringe,” then my introvert power move would’ve worked.

Now I just looked like one of those annoying nerds pushing his weird hobbies on others.

(…Crap. I screwed up.)

I regretted it immediately.

I should’ve picked something normal. No, more than that—what was I even doing trying to play the introvert card again?

What was I trying to prove?

This wasn’t cool. Not at all.

“…Sorry. Actually, I don’t have to see that one.”

I put away my phone as I spoke.

Hiyori looked a little surprised, then smiled again.

“Then… can I tell you what I wanted to watch?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Sure.”

“Actually, I wanted to see this one.”
She pulled out her phone and showed me the screen.

Title: “0 Seconds Until I Fall for You.”

The poster showed a soft-focus photo of a boy and girl making eye contact at a crosswalk—just as the signal turned green.

It was the textbook definition of a youthful, emotional romance film.

Blushing slightly, Hiyori looked down as she spoke.

“I like stories like this. Ones that really show the moment someone falls in love… Is that okay?”

She looked away, cheeks just faintly pink.

And damn—it wasn’t fair how cute she looked right then.

“…Y-yeah. That’s totally fine. Let’s watch that.”

I found myself answering instantly.

Hiyori gave a soft little “Yay,” her smile glowing with joy.

At this point, I was way past worrying about my “introvert act” or whatever.

***

On the walk home, we chatted about the movie.

Hiyori was clearly in a great mood, scrolling through her phone and asking, “Wanna watch the trailer together?”

I glanced at her profile as she spoke, and my chest tightened—not in a bad way. In a warm, glowing kind of way.

That dumb anime movie stunt I pulled earlier… now that I thought about it, it was seriously lame.

(…What the hell am I doing?)

Trying to make her pull away from me meant I still hadn’t fully believed in her.

Even after she had shown me—over and over again—through her words, her actions, everything…

(All this time, I kept thinking there’s no way someone could actually like me.)

But I was wrong.

Here she was, smiling at me so honestly, looking me straight in the eyes—

I was already in love with her.

No… I’d fallen for her—

Long, long ago.