Yes, I like it."
"I see," Minaho nodded as both of you turned your faces toward each other. "I never really got a good look of it, can you describe it to me?"
"Describe it?" you asked in genuine surprise. "Ano... It is silver and it has these small black stones on it... Fourteen, if I remember correctly, since she turned fourteen last month. They're onyx, by the way, those stones. Those colours, black and silver, make it a little mysterious and beautiful."
"It sure sounds pretty," Minaho smiled warmly. You instantly felt your cheeks heat up and you looked at your hands in your lap. He asked a few more questions after that, which you all answered while looking at your hands. You were scared to look at those intimidating dark gray orbs of his, for you feared you would make a fool out of yourself once you did. "[l/n]-san?"
"Hmm?"
"Can you look me in the eye while answering my next question?"
You reluctantly obeyed and stared in his eyes. He stared so intensely back at you that you immediately blushed again. You felt like he was studying every inch of your face, judging whether he liked what he saw or not. Your blush darkened as you recalled what you looked like in the mirror this morning. You weren't the type to wear make-up, so your skin wasn't really smooth or flawless. You suddenly got the urge to hide your face in your hands, but you resisted.
"Did you..." Minaho started slowly, "steal Fumio-chan's bracelet or not?"
"No," you said, but your throat was dry and it came out as a whisper. You hastily cleared it and said it again, louder this time. "No, I did not steal her bracelet."
Minaho's eyes squinted before he abruptly stood up. "Come on, lunch break is ending soon. We should head back to the classroom."
As you followed him down the stairs and back to the classroom, you mentally slapped yourself. During the entire 'interrogation', you had done nothing but give signs that indicated lying. It was all because of your nerves, but now you blamed yourself for it. You had once looked up how one could detect lies by body language and had found things that made it likely that someone lied. Not contracting your words, for example, or using the questioner's words to formulate an answer. "I did not steal her bracelet." "Baka," you whispered to yourself. Another thing was turning your face or body away and not making eye contact, which you had done almost all the time. "Baka, baka, baka."
But there was nothing you could do about that anymore. You entered the classroom after Minaho, who instantly went up to Fumio-chan. "Well?" asked the anxious girl as if she head a deadly disease and he was a doctor who could cure her.
Minaho shot you one last glance before he cleared his throat and said in a clear voice: "[l/n]-san did not steal your bracelet, Fumio-chan."
You had a really hard time to keep your jaw from hitting the ground. What the... Why didn't he sell me out? you thought, astonished. I thought my nerves made it seem obvious that I was lying.
During the next classes, people occasionally shot you suspicious glances, but they'd let you off the hook after the bracelet was returned. One of your senpais had found the adornment in the girl's toilet and returned it to Fumio-chan between classes. The delighted girl didn't apologize to you, and neither did your classmates, but you didn't care about that. Right now, you wanted to talk to one person only.
When classes were finally over for today, you quickly got your stuff from your locker and then hurried to Minaho's locker. Said boy was just placing the books that he didn't need for tomorrow in it and you patiently waited until he was ready. With your back against the lockers beside his and your arms crossed, you watched as shock and surprise came over his usually neutral features after he closed his locker and saw you. He quickly composed himself, however.
"Hey, [l/n]-san," he said casually, lifting his bag to sling it over his shoulder. "What brings you here?"
"Why did you lie?" you blurted out. You hadn't really thought about what you would say when you faced him and now you just said the first thing on your mind.
"Lie?"
"Why did you tell them I didn't steal Fumio-chan's bracelet?"
His lips curled in an amused smile and you would gladly give ten years from your life if you could kiss them right now. But you couldn't, you had to stay focussed! "I certainly didn't lie about that, did I?" he chuckled. "Fumio-chan just forgot to put it on after washing her hands. You had nothing to do with it, or am I mistaken."
"No, it's just..." you sighed, feeling frustrated with yourself for not properly voicing your thoughts. "Back on the roof, didn't you think it was obvious that I lied? I know what body language makes it more likely that someone lies, and I did almost all of that! Not to make you believe that I did lie, but didn't you notice that at all?" The last line came out hurriedly, because you remembered that you were now trying to make your crush believe that you lied... Yeah, let's not try that!
"Of course I noticed, it was rather hard to miss."
"Then why didn't you tell them?"
"I watched you since those rumours started about you lying about everything and I noticed that you're a really good liar, [l/n]-san." You frowned a little while thinking: is he complimenting me or reprimanding me? You didn't know how to respond, so you just waited for him to continue. "So I thought that there should have been another reason for why you acted like that on the roof. Whatever it was that you were lying about, it wasn't the bracelet."
"I wasn't really... lying, you know?" you muttered while looking down.
"Gomen, my bad," he apologized immediately. Silence followed after that, seeing as most of the other students already headed home. It wasn't that late yet, but it was surprising how the school grounds could be cleared of students on a warm Friday afternoon. Everyone had rushed out, ready to enjoy their weekends. This was why Minaho and you were the only ones in the hallways, and realizing this sent a little more blood than usual to your cheeks.
You cleared your throat and flashed him a cheerful smile, which you faked just a little. "Well, and here I thought I would be crushing your dreams to become a detective by saying that you couldn't read any body language, but it turned out alright. I'm glad, now I won't have a heavy heart this weekend." You laughed only a tad too loud and too long as you scratched the back of your head. "Anyways, I have an appointment and I need to hurry to make it in time. See you Monday, okay?"
You pushed yourself off and almost got away from this nerve-wrecking situation. Almost. Minaho's hand lashed out and grabbed your wrist, not tight enough to cause you pain but tight enough to stop you from running away. You turned around, you widened eyes displaying the shock you felt upon his sudden actions. He watched you with a neutral look in his eyes.
"That's a lie," was all he said, but it caused your heart to skip a beat. Your skin began to tingle where he touched you, so you pulled your hand out of his grasp. He let you go without comment, but kept on staring at you, keeping you trapped in his gaze like a rabbit in the headlight of an approaching car.
"No it's not, I really have to go somewhere." You tried to make your statement sound casual and light, but you couldn't help but sound a bit tense.
"No you don't," Minaho said, still without any accusation in his voice or words. "That's a lie."
You broke a sweat upon seeing him being so calm and as he took a slow step towards you, you hurried to take one back. This continued until you were with your back against the cool metal of the lockers, smiling nervously as he stood a few feet in front of you. Figuring that you couldn't talk yourself out of this, you just smile and said nervously: "Only a white lie."
"I wonder why you keep doing that," he said while he held his chin with his hand. He looked like a professor studying a newfound fish in his aquarium. "Lying, I mean. And I wonder why you are so bad at it all of a sudden." He bent forward, his head inching closer to your face to study you a little better.
Yes, I like it.""I see," Minaho nodded as both of you turned your faces toward each other. "I never really got a good look of it, can you describe it to me?""Describe it?" you asked in genuine surprise. "Ano... It is silver and it has these small black stones on it... Fourteen, if I remember correctly, since she turned fourteen last month. They're onyx, by the way, those stones. Those colours, black and silver, make it a little mysterious and beautiful.""It sure sounds pretty," Minaho smiled warmly. You instantly felt your cheeks heat up and you looked at your hands in your lap. He asked a few more questions after that, which you all answered while looking at your hands. You were scared to look at those intimidating dark gray orbs of his, for you feared you would make a fool out of yourself once you did. "[l/n]-san?""Hmm?""Can you look me in the eye while answering my next question?"You reluctantly obeyed and stared in his eyes. He stared so intensely back at you that you immediately blushed again. You felt like he was studying every inch of your face, judging whether he liked what he saw or not. Your blush darkened as you recalled what you looked like in the mirror this morning. You weren't the type to wear make-up, so your skin wasn't really smooth or flawless. You suddenly got the urge to hide your face in your hands, but you resisted."Did you..." Minaho started slowly, "steal Fumio-chan's bracelet or not?""No," you said, but your throat was dry and it came out as a whisper. You hastily cleared it and said it again, louder this time. "No, I did not steal her bracelet."Minaho's eyes squinted before he abruptly stood up. "Come on, lunch break is ending soon. We should head back to the classroom."As you followed him down the stairs and back to the classroom, you mentally slapped yourself. During the entire 'interrogation', you had done nothing but give signs that indicated lying. It was all because of your nerves, but now you blamed yourself for it. You had once looked up how one could detect lies by body language and had found things that made it likely that someone lied. Not contracting your words, for example, or using the questioner's words to formulate an answer. "I did not steal her bracelet." "Baka," you whispered to yourself. Another thing was turning your face or body away and not making eye contact, which you had done almost all the time. "Baka, baka, baka."But there was nothing you could do about that anymore. You entered the classroom after Minaho, who instantly went up to Fumio-chan. "Well?" asked the anxious girl as if she head a deadly disease and he was a doctor who could cure her.Minaho shot you one last glance before he cleared his throat and said in a clear voice: "[l/n]-san did not steal your bracelet, Fumio-chan."You had a really hard time to keep your jaw from hitting the ground. What the... Why didn't he sell me out? you thought, astonished. I thought my nerves made it seem obvious that I was lying.During the next classes, people occasionally shot you suspicious glances, but they'd let you off the hook after the bracelet was returned. One of your senpais had found the adornment in the girl's toilet and returned it to Fumio-chan between classes. The delighted girl didn't apologize to you, and neither did your classmates, but you didn't care about that. Right now, you wanted to talk to one person only.When classes were finally over for today, you quickly got your stuff from your locker and then hurried to Minaho's locker. Said boy was just placing the books that he didn't need for tomorrow in it and you patiently waited until he was ready. With your back against the lockers beside his and your arms crossed, you watched as shock and surprise came over his usually neutral features after he closed his locker and saw you. He quickly composed himself, however."Hey, [l/n]-san," he said casually, lifting his bag to sling it over his shoulder. "What brings you here?""Why did you lie?" you blurted out. You hadn't really thought about what you would say when you faced him and now you just said the first thing on your mind."Lie?""Why did you tell them I didn't steal Fumio-chan's bracelet?"His lips curled in an amused smile and you would gladly give ten years from your life if you could kiss them right now. But you couldn't, you had to stay focussed! "I certainly didn't lie about that, did I?" he chuckled. "Fumio-chan just forgot to put it on after washing her hands. You had nothing to do with it, or am I mistaken.""No, it's just..." you sighed, feeling frustrated with yourself for not properly voicing your thoughts. "Back on the roof, didn't you think it was obvious that I lied? I know what body language makes it more likely that someone lies, and I did almost all of that! Not to make you believe that I did lie, but didn't you notice that at all?" The last line came out hurriedly, because you remembered that you were now trying to make your crush believe that you lied... Yeah, let's not try that!"Of course I noticed, it was rather hard to miss.""Then why didn't you tell them?""I watched you since those rumours started about you lying about everything and I noticed that you're a really good liar, [l/n]-san." You frowned a little while thinking: is he complimenting me or reprimanding me? You didn't know how to respond, so you just waited for him to continue. "So I thought that there should have been another reason for why you acted like that on the roof. Whatever it was that you were lying about, it wasn't the bracelet.""I wasn't really... lying, you know?" you muttered while looking down."Gomen, my bad," he apologized immediately. Silence followed after that, seeing as most of the other students already headed home. It wasn't that late yet, but it was surprising how the school grounds could be cleared of students on a warm Friday afternoon. Everyone had rushed out, ready to enjoy their weekends. This was why Minaho and you were the only ones in the hallways, and realizing this sent a little more blood than usual to your cheeks.
You cleared your throat and flashed him a cheerful smile, which you faked just a little. "Well, and here I thought I would be crushing your dreams to become a detective by saying that you couldn't read any body language, but it turned out alright. I'm glad, now I won't have a heavy heart this weekend." You laughed only a tad too loud and too long as you scratched the back of your head. "Anyways, I have an appointment and I need to hurry to make it in time. See you Monday, okay?"
You pushed yourself off and almost got away from this nerve-wrecking situation. Almost. Minaho's hand lashed out and grabbed your wrist, not tight enough to cause you pain but tight enough to stop you from running away. You turned around, you widened eyes displaying the shock you felt upon his sudden actions. He watched you with a neutral look in his eyes.
"That's a lie," was all he said, but it caused your heart to skip a beat. Your skin began to tingle where he touched you, so you pulled your hand out of his grasp. He let you go without comment, but kept on staring at you, keeping you trapped in his gaze like a rabbit in the headlight of an approaching car.
"No it's not, I really have to go somewhere." You tried to make your statement sound casual and light, but you couldn't help but sound a bit tense.
"No you don't," Minaho said, still without any accusation in his voice or words. "That's a lie."
You broke a sweat upon seeing him being so calm and as he took a slow step towards you, you hurried to take one back. This continued until you were with your back against the cool metal of the lockers, smiling nervously as he stood a few feet in front of you. Figuring that you couldn't talk yourself out of this, you just smile and said nervously: "Only a white lie."
"I wonder why you keep doing that," he said while he held his chin with his hand. He looked like a professor studying a newfound fish in his aquarium. "Lying, I mean. And I wonder why you are so bad at it all of a sudden." He bent forward, his head inching closer to your face to study you a little better.
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