Julius scratched his cheek, looking a little nervous but mostly hopeful.
"So... Rosalina," he said softly, "would you like to go on a date with ?"
Rosalina froze. Her eyes twitched. Once. Twice. She looked like she was one second away from exploding.
Julius waited, heart pounding, but still smiling like an idiot who didn’t care.
After a long silence, Rosalina finally spoke, voice dripping with pity.
"How sad, Julius. You really fell hard, didn’t you?"
She let out a tired sigh and shook her head.
Julius didn’t even flinch at the insult.
"Rose... please. Just say yes. That’s all I want."
"You—!"
Rosalina snapped, then caught herself. She took a deep breath and tried again, calr but still frowning.
"What happened to you? Just one week ago you weren’t like this at all."
Her face showed real disappointnt... but inside her head it was total chaos.
’Please don’t let this be a prank. Please please please don’t be a joke.’
Ever since yesterday when he suddenly confessed, a loud happy voice inside her had been screaming with joy... but a tiny, an voice kept whispering: ’What if he’s just ssing with you?’
Julius tilted his head, genuinely confused.
"What do you an, Rose? This ’is’ the real . The old was fake. So trash personality forced on ."
Rosalina blinked. "Forced? By who?"
Julius shrugged like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"There’s this one trashy writer. He wrote that way. Controlled everything."
Rosalina stared at him for a full five seconds.
"...You were already weird before. Now you’re ’extra’ weird."
She crossed her arms.
"And the worst part? You turned into a total simp!"
Julius just grinned wider.
"Yeah... but I’m only your simp. So... date? Yes or yes?"
Rosalina groaned, covered her face with one hand, and muttered under her breath,
’I swear... if this is a joke, I’m kidnapping you and kissing you the whole day.’
But her cheeks were already turning a tiny bit pink.
Julius leaned in closer, tilting his head.
"Rose? Rose?"
She didn’t answer. Her eyes were locked on his, wide and frozen.
He got even closer, too close, until their noses were almost touching.
"Kyaaa!!"
Rosalina’s face exploded bright red.
With a quick shove, she pushed him square in the chest.
Julius stumbled back two steps, arms windmilling.
’That was way too close!’ she scread inside her head.
"How dare you get that close?!" she snapped, voice sharp but shaky.
Julius caught his balance, rubbed his chest once, then stepped right back toward her like nothing happened.
He clasped his hands together, tilted his head, and unleashed the ultimate weapon:
big, sparkling puppy eyes that sohow shot literal stars straight at her heart.
"Pretty please, Rose? Can I take you on a date? Just one? I promise I’ll be good."
Rosalina’s eye twitched. Hard.
’Damn it... how am I supposed to resist THAT?!’
’This is his strongest move yet... I’m done for...’ she groaned internally as her mind went into full chaos.
’I want to go with you too, you big idiot! But I can’t just say yes that easily, give a reason I can’t refuse!’
She bit her lower lip so hard it almost hurt.
His hopeful eyes were locked on her. Waiting.
’If he keeps looking at like that I’m going to lt right here...’
’Okay. Deep breaths. In... out... in... out...’
’Now—pinch!’
She secretly pinched the soft skin on the back of her left hand, hard.
"Ow—!"
A sharp sting shot through her. Her brain cleared for a second. The blush faded just enough.
Her expression turned ice-cold in an instant.
She crossed her arms, lifted her chin, and glared at him.
"...You think puppy eyes are going to work on ?"
Her voice was steady now, but her poor pinched hand was still throbbing behind her back.
Julius clicked his tongue.
"Tsk."
He snapped his fingers once, looking genuinely disappointed.
"Damn... I really thought my face alone would seal the deal," he mumbled under his breath.
Rosalina’s eye twitched again.
’He knows exactly how cute he is... and he’s weaponizing it. Annoying.’
They stood there in awkward silence for a solid minute.
Julius was clearly brainstorming, rubbing his chin like a detective in a bad rom-com.
Rosalina was just... waiting. Arms crossed. Trying (and failing) to look unbothered while her heart hamred.
Finally, Julius’s eyes lit up like he’d solved world hunger.
"I got it!" He chuckled, all smug and proud.
Rosalina almost blurted "Really?!" but caught herself at the last second.
She cleared her throat.
"Ahem...What exactly did you ’get’?"
Julius flashed his brightest grin.
"How about a bet?"
Rosalina frowned, suspicious.
"What bet?"
"You rember what the professor said today? That competition between first-years and second-years to decide class rankings, the Class Decider match?"
"Yeah...?" she said slowly.
Julius leaned in a little, voice dropping like he was sharing the best secret ever.
"We compete. You and . One-on-one side bet."
Rosalina raised an eyebrow.
"And?"
"If I lose..."
He paused for dramatic effect, then pointed at himself with both thumbs.
"...we go on a date. You win, I take you out. No excuses, no take-backs."
Inside Rosalina’s head: fireworks, alarms, confetti cannons, and one very tiny version of herself doing backflips.
Suddenly, poof!, a super-deford mini-Rosalina appeared floating near her shoulder.
The mini version had huge sparkling eyes, tiny pigtails, and zero chill.
She imdiately started blowing endless heart-shaped kisses toward Julius.
"Kyaa~! That’s my Julius! So smart! Co here, honey~ Let give you your reward~mwah! Mwah!mwah! "
Real Rosalina’s brows knitted together so tight they almost touched.
She hissed through her teeth at the hallucination. "Shut. Up. You’re not helping."
The mini-Rosalina just giggled, spun in a circle, and planted one last loud "mwah!" kiss in the air before vanishing in a puff of pink sparkles.
Rosalina pinched the bridge of her nose.
"...You’re ridiculous."
Julius just kept smiling, completely unfazed.
"So? Deal or deal, Rose? One little competition. Winner gets the date."
She stared at him. At those stupid hopeful eyes.
At that stupid confident smirk. At the way her traitor heart was already chanting ’say yes say yes say yes.’
After a long beat... she sighed.
"Fine."
Her voice was sharp, but the corners of her mouth betrayed her with the tiniest upward twitch.
"But if I win, you have to carry my books for a whole month. And no whining."
Julius pumped his fist so hard he almost fell over.
"YES! Deal sealed!"
Julius stuck his hand out, palm up, grinning like he’d already won the lottery.
Rosalina stared at it for a long second, like the hand might suddenly grow fangs and bite her.
She hesitated... then slowly, very reluctantly, slid her fingers into his.
The mont their palms t—*ZAP!*
A literal electric spark (or maybe just her imagination) shot straight up her arm and exploded in her chest. Her heart did a full backflip.
But the real show happened with the mini-Rosalina.
The mini version popped back into existence right above Rosalina’s shoulder, eyes huge, cheeks flaming, both hands clapped over her face.
"Kyaaaa~!! Noon!! Noon!! I can’t— I can’t take it anymoreeee~!!"
She dramatically clutched her chest, spun once in the air like a malfunctioning firework, then collapsed backward in slow motion.
Twin jets of bright-red nosebleed shot out like cartoon geysers.....
*SPLURT! SPLURT!*
So powerful they actually left little steaming trails in the air.
The tiny Rosalina hit the ground (sohow still floating an inch above Rosalina’s shoulder), twitched once, mumbled
"skin...ship... too powerful..." and poofed into sparkly pink smoke with one final weak heart bubble.
Real Rosalina’s eye twitched so violently it almost fell out.
She slapped the empty air where the chibi had nosebled all over the place.
"DISAPPEAR! For real this ti!!"
_____
A/N:
A hero once said, ’Give your blood and I shall give you freedom.’
I am far less brave — give your power stones and I shall give you more Chapters.
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