There are two kinds of attention in this world.
The kind people chase.
And the kind I desperately avoided.
Before meeting Aiko Tanaka, my school life had been simple.
Teachers barely noticed me.
Classmates rarely spoke to me.
My name almost never appeared in conversations.
I liked it that way.
But after she started talking to me every lunch break, something troublesome began to happen.
People started noticing.
At first it was subtle.
A few curious looks from students in Class 2-B.
Whispers when I entered the room.
Small jokes from Daichi.
Nothing serious.
But high school is a dangerous place for rumors.
And rumors grow fast.
One afternoon, while I was quietly eating lunch, I overheard two boys sitting nearby.
"Hey, isn't that the guy Aiko keeps talking to lately?"
"Yeah. The quiet one from 2-D."
"They seem close, don't they?"
"Maybe she likes him?"
I nearly choked on my rice.
Absolutely impossible.
The idea was so absurd that it almost made me laugh.
Aiko Tanaka liking someone like me?
That belonged in fantasy novels, not real life.
Still, hearing my name in other people's conversations made me uncomfortable.
I wasn't used to being a topic.
I didn't want to be.
That day, when Aiko came to sit with us as usual, I tried to keep things even more low-profile than before.
But she was, as always, completely unaware of the invisible tension around us.
"Haruto-kun, did you finish the English assignment?" she asked cheerfully.
"Yes."
"Can you show me later? I'm terrible at grammar."
"Ask your classmates."
"But you explain things better."
I sighed.
"Fine."
Her smile widened.
"See? You're actually really kind."
"I'm just normal."
"You say that a lot."
While we talked, I noticed more people glancing in our direction.
Some looked amused.
Some looked surprised.
A few looked… annoyed.
Especially one person.
Across the room sat Ryo Nakamura.
Tall, athletic, confident—the type of boy girls usually admired.
He was always part of Aiko's group, laughing and joking beside her.
And lately, whenever she talked to me, his expression subtly changed.
I pretended not to notice.
But I did.
After lunch, as I was leaving the classroom, I heard him whisper to his friend:
"Why does Tanaka-san waste so much time on that boring guy?"
The words hit harder than they should have.
I kept walking without reacting.
Yet they echoed in my mind for the rest of the day.
Boring guy.
That was exactly how I wanted to be seen.
So why did hearing it suddenly feel unpleasant?
The next few days only made things worse.
More teasing.
More whispers.
More unnecessary attention.
Even in my own class, a few students began asking questions.
"Hey Sakamoto, since when did you get close to Tanaka-san?"
"We're not close," I answered immediately.
"But she talks to you all the time."
"She talks to everyone."
"Not like that."
I didn't know how to respond.
Because deep down, I had started noticing it too.
Aiko really did treat me differently.
Not in a romantic way.
But in a comfortable, familiar way.
Like I wasn't just some random boy anymore.
One day, while helping her carry books to the staff room, she suddenly said,
"You know, Haruto-kun, people say weird things sometimes."
"What do you mean?"
"Rumors. About us."
My heart skipped.
"What rumors?"
"That we're secretly close or something."
I stopped walking.
"We're not."
She tilted her head.
"Are we not?"
The question caught me off guard.
"We just talk. That's all."
"I know that," she said softly. "But I don't really care what people think."
I wished I could say the same.
For her, attention was normal.
For me, it was a burden.
And the more time I spent with her, the heavier that burden became.
That night, lying in bed, I stared at the ceiling.
Maybe it would be better to create some distance.
Return to my quiet life.
Go back to being invisible.
Yes.
That was the safest option.
At that time, I believed it would be easy.
After all—
She was just a lively classmate.
Nothing more.
I didn't realize yet—
That somewhere along the way,
I had already started enjoying her presence.