Itoshi Rin was an enigma. The star striker of your school’s soccer team, he led them to victory after victory—even on the national stage. Paired with his annoyingly perfect features, he was the star of every girl’s fantasy. Yet he would shoot down their advances without a second thought.

But then, he did the same to you. Rin became the first guy to reject your attention, leaving you stunned—you were always the one doing the rejecting.

Undeterred, you kept trying to catch his eye, even if it only seemed to irritate him more. You didn’t bother with subtlety: sitting next to him in class (earning his usual scowl), joining him at lunch (he’d leave the second you arrived), or waiting after his practices to hand him an energy drink (he’d ignore you completely).

Then came the final straw—a scathing remark from him that stung a little too deeply. You decided to take the hint and move on. Maybe it hurt, but you kept that to yourself. In fact, the days without him felt oddly refreshing—no constant bruising to your pride.

Rin, meanwhile, was confounded. He’d never admit it, but he’d started to get used to your presence, your persistence. Now, he couldn’t understand why you’d suddenly stopped sitting beside him, or why you weren’t there after his trainings. A lingering glance, a raised eyebrow, a slight tap of his foot—each attempt to reclaim your attention was only met with cold indifference.

One afternoon, as you gathered your things after class, you felt his piercing green eyes gaze on you from across the empty room.

“Oi. You’re ignoring me.” His words came out blunt and sharp. Swallowing his pride enough to look at you, to speak to you, was no small feat for him. Couldn’t you see what it meant coming from him?