It was a peaceful Friday night. Pillows were thrown. Nail polish fumes were thick in the air. A horror movie was playing in the background but mostly being ignored in favor of serious girl talk.
Momo was curled into a beanbag chair, nervously holding a cup of hot cocoa like it was a holy relic.
Across from her on a plush pink carpet were her three best friends
They were doing what all sleepovers eventually devolved into: aggressively ranking their crushes.
"My type?" Kana said, stretching like a cat. "Someone with stamina. The track team captain. I don't care if he has two brain cells—I can train him."
"I want someone deep," Mika sighed, her eyes misty. "Someone who writes poetry. Or at least reads subtitles instead of turning on the dub."
"Honestly, same," Yuki nodded, clutching her glittery phone. "If he doesn't know his zodiac moon sign, I'm out."
All three turned to Momo.
She immediately began sweating.
"Momo," Kana said. "It's your turn."
Momo shrank further into her beanbag. "Um…"
"Don't say no one," Yuki warned. "You blushed for twenty straight minutes when a guy asked you if the water cooler was working."
"That was loud," Momo whispered defensively.
Mika patted her hand. "Come on. We're your besties. You can tell us."
Momo inhaled sharply. "...Okay. Promise you won't freak out?"
"Promise," they chorused.
She looked at them with wide, innocent eyes.
"…I have a boyfriend."
Silence.
The movie screamed in the background.
Yuki blinked. "Like… a real one?"
Momo nodded slowly.
Kana leaned forward. "Is he made of felt? Is this a K-Pop cardboard cutout situation again?"
"No!" Momo squeaked. "He's real! And he's… he's Yozora Akimatsu."
THUD.
Mika fainted.
WHUMP.
Kana dropped her soda. It exploded like a firework.
Yuki? Yuki just stared at Momo, pupils dilating like she'd seen a demon crawl out of the TV. "...Yozora? As in, student body president, a classical piano prodigy, probably part-time mafia prince Yozora?!"
Momo nodded.
Kana recovered first. "Momo. Babe. My delicate peach. What do you MEAN you're dating the hottest and most terrifying boy in school?!"
Mika sat up, eyes wild. "Is this a prank? Is Ashton Kutcher going to jump out of the laundry hamper?"
"He—he asked me out," Momo squeaked, hugging her cocoa tighter. "And I said yes. He's actually… kind of sweet. In a weird, stabby way."
Yuki was typing furiously on her phone. "The group chat is going to implode. This is historic. I'm making a meme."
"Wait," Kana said, standing up and pacing like a sports coach. "You mean to tell me the guy who once stared a teacher into resigning is your boyfriend?"
Momo nodded again.
"Did he hypnotize you?" Mika asked.
"Blink twice if you're cursed," Yuki added.
"I'm not cursed!" Momo cried. "He just… looks at me like I'm the only person on Earth. It's scary. But, like, romantic?"
There was a long pause.
Then, slowly… all three of them screamed.
Momo's poor hamster in the corner cage flailed off its wheel.
When the screaming died down, Mika wiped a tear. "You're dating a walking Gothic romance novel."
Kana shook her head in awe. "You went from blushing at water coolers to taming the school's final boss."
Yuki took a picture of Momo and typed: Day 187: Momo has infiltrated the elite. The prophecy is fulfilled.
Momo sighed and buried her face in her cocoa again. "Why did I say anything…"
And despite the horror movie playing in the background, the most frightening thing that night was still the idea of Yozora Akimatsu… dating sweet, shy, adorable Momo.