Playing a Romance Conquest Game with Kenma

Dating is so hard.

After getting another bad ending in an otome game, I complained to my deskmate, Kenma Kozume, in utter despair.

I thought he'd do what he usually did: lower his head and lean over to look at the screen of the game console I'd pushed toward him, then discuss my understanding of the characters I was trying to win over, half exasperated and half teasing.

But today was different.

I looked over at my deskmate, puzzled by his silence, and found myself face-to-face with golden, slit-pupil eyes.

Kozume, who'd been bent over his homework to finish it before the new game came out, had somehow moved closer. He was watching me without saying a word.

“Then...”

Beneath his calm gaze, fixed firmly on me, was a meticulous mind seemingly caught in a fierce debate.

[Time taken to make a decision: 0.3 seconds.]

“Would you like to play a dating game with no right answers?”

He bit his lip and added, word by word,

“...In real life, with me.”

I froze.

This was hard to imagine.

[A subtle sense of relief welled up inside me.]

Was this really my deskmate, the one who normally went out of his way to avoid socializing?

Had my constant influence finally inspired him to take the important first step toward getting to know people, winning them over, and becoming close friends with more of them?

I took the game console back from Kozume, who's especially good at video games, and, swept up in the touching feeling that all my efforts had paid off, nodded without a second thought.

A smile of quiet satisfaction crept onto my lips.

[I wonder who fell into whose (dating) trap.]

A cosplayer girl who comes across as a social butterfly but is really a game-and-anime otaku vs. an athletic boy who seems like an antisocial shut-in but is actually a keen observer. Though they're deskmates, everyone agrees they never interact outside the classroom. This is the story of their romance.

Also known as [Extreme Temperature Difference].

* The timeline starts in their second year of high school, with flashbacks to how they met and other memories woven in.

* My take on Kenma. OOC warning. The games and anime mentioned in the story don't strictly follow their real-world release dates.

* A slice-of-life romance told in a simple, straightforward style.

Theme: I'll break through the layers of ice in the polar winter to embrace your passionate and fascinating soul.