Rise Read Online Free PDF

And no one saw it?”
    “I just told you, my dad’s coworker did,” Takeshi said. “He had to talk to the police and fill out forms and stuff. Kami is the new gang name, I think. Be careful out there,
ne
?”
    “I will,” Yuki said.
    Takeshi laughed. “I didn’t mean you. You can handle yourself. I meant Tan-kun.” He mussed up Tanaka’s hair.
    “Hey!” Tanaka’s cheeks flushed red as he shook his friend off. “Watch it.”
    The school bell chimed and Takeshi wandered back to his desk. Great. Even Tanaka’s friends thought he was only worth a laugh. And of all the people to say it in front of. He glanced at Yuki out of the corner of his eye.
    “Watabe, could you come and solve this on the board?” Suzuki asked, and Yuki nodded, walking toward the front of the classroom. Tanaka watched her ponytail bob up and down as her hand carved the chalk into an answer. She dusted her hands together and sat down, rubbing her fingers against the hem of her skirt. The yellow chalk smoothed into the navy blue of the fabric. He wanted to take hold of her fingers, to rub the chalk from them and hold them tightly.
    “Tanaka!” Suzuki barked.
Crap!
How many times had Suzuki called him? He’d been in another world, staring at Yuki, and everyone had seen it.
    “
Hai!
” Tanaka jumped to his feet, jolting his knees against the top of his desk with a loud bang. The other students giggled as Tanaka did his best to laugh along, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Only Yuki didn’t laugh, looking down at her textbook with sudden fascination as her cheeks blazed.
    “Focus, please,” Suzuki said. “Daydreaming is for lunchtime.”
    “Yes, sir,” Tanaka said.
    The teacher nodded. “Come and solve this equation, please.”
    Tanaka stepped toward the board, taking the piece of chalk from its dusty metal tray. The chalk was still warm from Yuki’s fingers.
    God, he was a walking wreck. He sketched the numbers in as the giggles continued behind his back. They weren’t mean, his classmates. He’d always encouraged them to laugh at his antics—he liked being the class clown, making his friends happy. It made it easier to get along in life, to be everyone’s buddy.
    Wait. That was it. If they were going to laugh, he might as well use it. It was the only time he felt brave enough to act, like he mattered. And the way they’d caught him staring at Yuki, it was obvious, anyway.
    He sketched out the numbers to the equation as Suzuki nodded. The teacher turned his back, running his finger down the page of his text to look up the next question.
    Now was his chance.
    Tanaka kept writing, as quickly as he could before Suzuki noticed anything was wrong.
    Another curl of hiragana, another stroke of kanji. The words formed in wispy yellow chalk for everyone to see.
    “Right, the next one is...” Suzuki said, his eyes on the page. The classroom started to titter with stifled laughter and gasping. Suzuki looked into the crowd, trying to pinpoint what was going on.
    Tanaka slammed the chalk into the dusty metal tray and turned to Yuki, his eyes aflame. She stared back in disbelief at the words he’d scribbled onto the board.
    Watabe Yuki
,
please go out with me.
    He bowed for good measure as his classmates whooped, just as Suzuki turned to see what he’d written.
    “Tanaka,” he said, but his eyes betrayed his amusement. “Sit down.”
    Students laughed and snickered as Suzuki blotted out the words with the chalkboard eraser. Tanaka’s ears burned—his whole face blazed—and he sat at his desk, flicking his eyes over to Yuki’s desk.
    She was mortified, staring down at her textbook. Oh god. He’d ruined everything. What an idiot!
    But then he saw the tug of the smile escaping her lips, and the warmth of it kindled a fire through his whole body.
    She nodded, and Tanaka knew that, at that moment, he could catch any number of mandarin oranges Keiko pelted at him.
    He was a nutcase, but he was Yuki’s nutcase now.

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