The next morning I woke up with a fresh set of eyes and a brilliant idea.

What had happened yesterday must had been a dream.

There was no way that Saiki would had accepted my confession in the first place.

I was an average student at school with nothing remotely remarkable about me, whilst Saiki was one of the most popular girls in the school that all the boys yearned for. Not only that, she was also incredibly smart, scoring top grades in almost every subject.

For someone like that to not only accept my confession, but to also leap into my arms and kiss me was, logically speaking, utter lunacy.

I must had tripped and hit my head yesterday whilst waiting for Saiki behind the school building, causing me to have one hell of a delusion.

Thus, if I go to school today, pretending that everything is normal, all will be well with the world again.

And with that mindset, I headed to school which begins rule number 2 of the yandere survival guide of what not to do:

Ignore a Yandere.

~x~

"Yo Naosuke!"

I felt an arm at my shoulder and I glanced to my side at the boy with spiky brown hair and a grin so wide it looked like it was about to fall off his face at any moment.

This was Koichi Suda. My best friend from middle school, and really, my only friend at school. We were both outcasts that had little interest in what's going on at school and cared even less for the latest gossips and trends that everybody else seemed to rave on about. Instead, we spent most of our time at the arcades or talking about the latest manga we were reading.

"Oy Koichi," I greeted the boy with a grin of my own, "What's with that grin so early in the morning? Don't tell me you were reading that again last night, man..."

Koichi laughed, walking by my side as we headed past the school gates, "Give a guy a break! Can't I just be happy to see my best bud?"

"Heh," I chuckled, "For you? As if."

"Hahaha, you got me, dude," Koichi said, "Alright, I was just about to tell you anyways. I was reading..."

"Naosuke-kun..."

Hearing a girl's voice from behind, we both stopped in our tracks, slowly glancing backwards.

Blonde hair that seemed as soft as silk, a mesmerising pair of scarlet eyes and a face so pretty it stole away my breath.

Saiki stood behind us, her petite hands held anxiously together.

"Good morning...!" She smiled nervously at me.

"K, Kawano-san..." Koichi said, staring at her in shock.

This couldn't be happening.

Yesterday was supposed to be a dream, wasn't it...!

Just as Koichi glanced at me, about to say something, I turned my head away from Saiki, walking onwards.

"C, come on, Koichi, just keep walking...!" I hissed at him.

"B, but..."

"Hurry...!"

Koichi glanced back at Saiki, then back at me, before quickly pacing ahead with me.

Once we were inside the school building and out of sight from Saiki, Koichi started speaking again.

"What the hell was that, dude?" Koichi asked, his face beyond confused, "That's not right, man. That was Saiki Kawano from our class, right? Why are you ignoring her? And did I hear her right? She was calling you by your first name...?!"

I gulped, remembering the memories of last night.

Something was really off about Saiki's head. That much was for certain.

Not mere seconds after I asked her out, she had declared her love for me, said that she had been planning for me to ask her out all along, and carried around a kitchen knife saying something about making me lunch if I hadn't confessed to her yesterday.

The problem was that even after knowing all this, I didn't know what to do about it.

For now, maybe I could ignore her until I figure out how to handle the situation.

Yes, that sounded like a logical plan.

"Listen, Koichi," I said, turning to Koichi with a serious look, "Something happened yesterday between Kawano-san and I, and I think... I think she's completely bonkers."

"Hah?"

"Just trust me on this one, man," I said, "Whatever you do, just ignore Kawano-san. There's something seriously weird about her."

"Right..." Koichi said uncertainly, "I don't know, dude. Is it alright to just ignore her like that? It doesn't feel right..."

I needed to convince Koichi to leave Saiki alone. I didn't want to get him mixed up with this situation and end up getting hurt.

"Koichi," I said, "Please, man. You gotta listen to me here. Stay away from that girl. At least until I figure out what I should do about her."

Koichi stared at the serious look in my eyes, then sighed, "Alright, dude, I'll do you this one. I'm just not really good at ignoring people, you know? It feels like I'm kind of being an asshole. But if you say so..."

I felt relief washing over me.

"Thanks, man." I said.

At least Koichi won't get mixed up with this now.

All I had to do left was to figure out how to handle Saiki.

~x~

For the rest of the day, I continued ignoring Saiki.

She tried to speak to me on numerous occasions, but each time, I would turn my head the other way and pretend to be doing something else.

Koichi was right.

It did feel like I was being a complete asshole.

But I seriously didn't know how I should be talking to Saiki, until I formulated a proper strategy.

It was lunchtime now, and I was buying a drink from the vending machine inside the school building.

"Naosuke-kun..."

I spun around, surprised, and found myself with Saiki alone.

There was no one else in this side of the school building.

Dammit, now I couldn't pretend to be talking to someone else!

"Why are you ignoring me...?" Saiki said, staring down at my feet with a depressed look on her face.

I was pressing rapidly at the button on the vending machine behind me, waiting for my drink.

Come on, hurry up...!

"Did I do something wrong...?" Saiki asked, "Was it something I said yesterday...?"

I continued pressing at the button.

"I thought you said you liked me..." Saiki said.

I heard the sound of the drink rolling down from the vending machine.

Finally!

Now I can grab it and get out of here...!

Then, I saw Saiki reaching behind her.

The memories of yesterday when Saiki pulled the kitchen knife behind her flashed back in my mind.

"I didn't want to do this but..." Saiki said.

Screw the drink!

I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me, leaving my drink back at the vending machine.

~x~

Ah...

It was hard, but I managed it.

I didn't talk to Saiki the whole day.

School had ended now and students were streaming out of the classroom, leaving the school to go home.

Hm, where was Koichi?

I glanced around the crowds of students, looking for his face, but couldn't see him.

We had promised to go to the arcades after school today.

Did he leave already?

Reaching the school gates, I stopped, waiting for Koichi as the crowds of students leaving the school continued to get thinner as time passed until eventually everyone had left the school grounds.

Then, I heard my phone play a sound, having received a text message.

Taking my phone out of the pocket, I saw a message from an unknown number.

'Come to Class 2F.'

"Huh?" I said to myself, reading the message, "Is this Koichi? Or..."

Something told me that something was wrong here.

Quickly, I headed over back to the school building to go to Class 2F.

~x~

I was right.

Standing at the door of the empty Class 2F, I stared at Saiki standing at the centre of the classroom with an unconscious Koichi held in front of her, a kitchen knife against his throat.

"S, Saiki-chan." I said, "Let's talk calmly about this."

"Y, you ignored me the whole day, Naosuke-kun!" Saiki cried, tears falling from her eyes, "Instead, you spent the whole day with Suda-san here, instead of me, your girlfriend! You didn't even listen to me during lunch when I was just trying to give you the lunch I made for you with all my heart! Do you know how that makes me feel...?!"

"Girlfriend...?" I repeated bewildered, but then shook my head. Now was probably not the best time to question that. "Come on, Saiki-chan... I'm sure if you put down the knife and let Koichi go, we can work this out..."

"No!" Saiki said, "If I let him go, you will ignore me again...! I know you will...! And if you do that, I... I..."

Saiki pushed the knife deeper to Koichi's throat during her unstable sobbing.

Please god.

I was praying inside my head.

Why was this happening to me?

...

In the end, I knew I was alone. The only one that could resolve this situation was myself.

"Saiki-chan," I said, "I'm sorry... I was just so surprised that you liked me back that I wanted some time alone to think about it... I didn't stop to think about your feelings... I'm really sorry..."

Saiki sniffed, her knife on Koichi's throat relaxing.

"Great... that's it..." I said gently, walking up slowly towards Saiki, "Just give me that knife now..."

"..."

I was about to reach Saiki, having walked halfway to the centre of the classroom where she was.

"Promise me you will never ignore me again." Saiki said.

"H, huh...?"

"You hesitated."

"T, thats...!"

Saiki tightened her grip on the knife and my eyes widened in panic.

"Alright! I promise you!" I said quickly, "I will never ignore you again! Please! Just give me the damn knife...!"

She lowered the knife from Koichi's throat, and I walked over quickly, snatching the knife that she handed over.

Then, she pushed Koichi aside, his body falling down to the chair next to her.

"Koichi...!" I said, trying to walk over to check if he was okay, but Saiki hugged onto me, stopping me.

"I love you so much, Naosuke-kun..." Saiki said, blushing with her head resting on my chest.

I glanced over at Koichi, breathing a sigh of relief to see that he was still breathing.

Rule number 2 of the yandere survival guide (what not to do):

Ignore a Yandere.