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She sighed loudly as she heard the degrading names being called out to her. She rolled her eyes when she heard the most common thing of all.
"How's the weather up there?" She wanted nothing more than to get angry and to scream and shout at them, but she knew that wouldn't change a thing. If anything, it'd make things worse.
"The weather isn't any different here, is it?" She looked up with a frown at that voice. She'd heard it before, but she couldn't quite place it. The group that'd been calling out before had fallen silent and the looks on their faces contained nothing but utter terror.
"I think they were talking to me." She said as she looked at the long haired basketball player. She knew he was big, but seeing him in person actually made her realize he was bigger than her.
"Does it matter?" He said as he bit into a Pocky stick.
"Is that a new flavor?" She said as she frowned at the unfamiliar package.
"Yeah, it just came out." For the first time, he properly looked at the girl. She was tall, not as tall as him, but definitely taller than other girls. Besides her length, there was nothing extraordinary about her. She had plain brown hair that reached to her middle and plain green eyes. He held up a Pocky stick.
"You want one?"
"Thanks." She said as she accepted it and took a bite, carefully tasting it. "It's good, but not quite perfect yet." She concluded as she finished it.
"That's what I thought too." He said with a nod.
"I'm Shiromi, by the way."
"Atsushi."
"Nice to meet you."
During break, she went up to the roof and sat down by the fence with her bento in her lap. She was about to start eating when the door opened.
"Atsushi." She said surprised, she'd never seen anyone else on this part of the roof. Everyone was usually at the other end.
"Oh, it's you." He said as he sat down in front of her. "Why're you here?"
"I always eat lunch here."
'Then that must be the sound of the door I always hear.' He looked at the door over his shoulder. 'I'd be just out of view.' He always sat by the other fence and had heard the door opening and closing pretty much every day, but he'd never bothered to check who it was.
"Why here?" He asked. She shrugged.
"People always complained about what I was eating, so this is easier." He stared down at her bento, which seemed like any other bento he'd ever seen.
"Ehhh, weird."
She chuckled and nodded.
"Yeah."
'He has no obligation to talk to me, but he does. I'm kind of glad.' Because of her length, she had to eat more than the other girls. That wasn't very easy when someone was constantly saying 'you'll get fat if you keep that up'. Therefore coming to the other side of the roof where no one else was, had become her tradition. But she couldn't deny that it was lonely.
"Why're you here?"
"Same reason." He said as he took out a bag of snacks and candies, and started eating. It didn't seem particularly healthy, but she wouldn't criticize him like others had done to her. Everyone was old enough to decide what they wanted to have for lunch after all.
"You have a lot of egg rolls." He remarked.
"Ah, yeah, they're easy to make and they're delicious so I always make a lot." She looked up at him. "You want some?" He nodded. She picked one up with her chopsticks and held it up to him to take. To her surprise, he leaned forward and took it with his mouth.
'S-seriously?' She thought. He licked his lips.
"They're good."
"Thanks." She said as she laughed nervously. But maybe secretly, that feeling in her stomach was what she suspected it to be.
"Y-you want another one?" She asked, uncertainty more than clear in his voice.
"Sure." She held up another one and watched with a flushed face as he ate it in exactly the same way.
He looked up at her and frowned.
"You okay? You look like you've got a fever." She nodded aggressively.
"I-I'm perfectly fine! Don't worry." He shrugged.
'If you say so.'
'What the hell am I even doing?' She asked herself as she stared at the second bento she'd made. 'This is bad... Really bad...'
---
Once up on the roof, she sat down at her usual place by the fence and nervously fiddled with her skirt.
'What am I? Some love struck teenager? No, stop it, there's no need to be nervous about this.' She convinced herself as she took a few deep breaths and nodded to herself. The door opened and Atsushi walked onto the roof.
"Oh, you're here again." He noted before walking over and sitting down in front of her again.
"Every lunch break, yeah." She said. "H-hey, I thought you might like this so, here." She held up the second bento box and tried her best to smile normally.
'What's this about?' He wondered as he opened the box.
"Oh, egg rolls! Thanks!" He looked at her and noticed that her face was just as red as yesterday.
'Could it be..? Nah, probably not.'
She cracked another egg into the bowl and sighed to herself as she started mixing.
'I've been doing this for four days now and it's as if he hasn't even noticed...'
"Oh, you're up early." Her mom said as she came down the stairs.
"Yeah, I couldn't sleep."
"Can you bring home some groceries after school?" Her mom said as she held up a note to her daughter.
"Sure."
'Eggs, ham, milk, jam, rice-' And so the list went on and on. 'Damn, I hope I can carry all of that.'
---
After another fruitless lunch, she sat through her other classes without paying much attention. When the final bell resounded, she got up ever so slowly and made her way outside. She shivered as she stepped into the cold air.
'Already Winter, huh?' She thought as she sighed, watching her breath swirl away like dragon smoke. By the time she'd reached the shop, it was getting dark and she was glad to be in the light again when she went in.
---
She checked her list once more before moving to the checkout and packing her stuff. As she walked out the door, however, she quite literally ran into Atsushi.
"Sorry." She murmured as she feigned a smile and tried to pass him.
"Hey," He said. She froze. "want to walk home together?" She turned to him in surprise, but nodded quickly.
"I'll wait outside."
He didn't know why he'd asked her that. He didn't mind walking alone, he didn't need any company. He absentmindedly stared down at a row of Pocky packs.
'Maybe she does.' He looked up in surprise. She does? That wasn't any of his business, but then why..? He shook his head and picked up a few packs before heading to the counter and checking out. He heard voices coming from outside and as he stepped through the door, he found three men standing around her, laughing loudly.
"You big freak!" One of them said as he pointed at her.
She simply looked down, ignoring their words, their stabbing at her. She was used to being called all that anyway. Then the men's laughing suddenly stopped and she looked up to find Atsushi standing behind her. His entire posture was threatening and his glaring eyes seemed to be almost glowing. The men slowly backed away before running off.
"You ready?" He asked as he returned to his normal self. She nodded and picked up her bag of groceries.
"Yep."
He'd felt so angry he could crush them. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and wondered what it was about her that made him act so strangely.
'No matter how I look at her, she's ordinary.' He thought. He couldn't wrap his mind around it.
"Thanks for back there." She suddenly said.
"You get that often?" She shrugged.
"I'm used to it. It's kind of weird for a girl to be this big after all." He couldn't deny that, but that was hardly her fault.
"Don't let it get to you." He paused. "I think you're fine the way you are." He halted and looked down an alley.
"I have to go through here, see you tomorrow."
Before she could respond, he'd already disappeared down the alley. Besides her parents, he'd been the first to say that to her.
'Maybe... just maybe.' She thought with a smile as she continued on.
He leaned against a wall with a loud sigh as he laid a hand over his heart.
'What're you getting all worked up over?' He thought disapprovingly. 'This is probably pretty bad.' He looked up and closed his eyes for a moment to calm his heart.
'Just move on.'
She felt renewed the next morning and she happily made another egg roll bento, because it'd become a normal thing, but also because she wanted to thank him for last night.
---
'I was so excited, I ended up leaving so early...' She thought as she stared at the closed school gates.
'There's plenty of time left to go get something tasty.' She figured as she started making her way to the shop, her earphones securely lodged in place, playing her morning playlist.
He sighed as the railroad gates closed right in front of him. He'd had a hard time falling asleep last night, something that happened very rarely to him.
'It's because of her, no doubt.' He thought as he shook his head. Why? He could guess why, but that was one of the possible reasons he'd rather ignore or even pretend didn't exist. He had no use for things like that, he convinced himself.
"Atsushi!" He jumped at the sudden pat on his shoulder, much to Tatsuya's surprise.
"Are you alright?" Tatsuya asked with a frown.
"Fine." Atsushi muttered. "I'm fine."
She patiently waited in front of the railroad gates and counted her money.
'I should have enough for a few things.' She thought. 'Maybe there's a new Pocky already...' The gates slowly opened and she waited, but someone ran past her, snatching her purse from her hands.
"Hey!" She yelled as she duck under the opening gates and gave chase. He was fast, but her length gave her the advantage. She'd caught up to him in no time and tackled him. The man flipped around and punched her in the face, causing her to fall back.
When he came back to his senses, he was looming over a beat-up man.
"Atsushi!" He looked over his shoulder and saw Tatsuya running up to him, just to his right, Shiromi was lying on the ground with a heavy nosebleed. Atsushi bent down to pick up the purse and turned back to her. Tatsuya knelt down beside her and checked her pulse.
"She's just unconscious." He noted, then looked at the beat-up man, "He looks like he's in a much worse place."
"Serves him right." Atsushi said as he crouched down and looked at her.
"For now, let's move her out of the middle of the road." Tatsuya proposed.
---
After sitting her down against the wall, on top of their backpacks, they waited for her to regain consciousness. Tatsuya dabbed away the blood with a tissue until her nosebleed stopped.
"I've never seen you run that fast." Tatsuya said.
"Oh."
"And you hit that guy pretty hard."
"He had it coming."
"She's from our school."
"If you have something to say, just say it already." Atsushi said annoyed. Tatsuya stood and shook his head.
"Never mind. We should bring her to the school nurse, she might have a concussion."
She woke up in a comfortable bed and stretched out, but as she smiled a shot of pain coursed through her face and she curled up into a ball.
"Good morning." She looked up in surprise, finding Atsushi and another basketball player beside the bed.
"Hello." She said as she sat up, frowning at the two. "Sorry, but what happened?"
"You were robbed and then knocked unconscious." The unfamiliar guy explained. "I'm Himuro Tatsuya, by the way."
"Shiromi Kasuma."
"Oh right, here." Atsushi said as he took out her purse and held it up to her.
"Ah thanks!" She said as she gratefully took it. "I was pretty sure I'd be able to catch him, but I didn't think he'd actually hit me."
"Don't worry, he got what he deserved." Tatsuya said with a smile.
"Thanks so much for all your help." Tatsuya and Atsushi stood, nodding at her.
"Not a problem."
"You knew her." Atsushi raised his shoulders.
"And?"
"Nothing." Tatsuya smiled. Atsushi pulled up a brow, but decided to leave it.
'He said I'd ran... why don't I remember that?' He thought as he tried to remember exactly what'd happened, but the blank between him hearing her and him seeing the beat-up man remained. There was no question in his mind that he'd been the one the beat him up, though, and he was glad about that. Simply thinking about it again made him angry.
'I hope she'll be okay.'
"It's not a concussion, so you're free to go." The nurse informed her with a smile.
"Thank you for your care." Shiromi said formally. She got dressed and headed out, bumping into Tatsuya.
"Seems you're back up and at it." He said with a smile.
"Yeah, I'm healthy as a horse." She replied.
"That's good to hear."
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to know where Atsushi is, by any chance?"
"He said he'd be on the roof." She was surprised by that. Was it some sort of message from Atsushi he was relaying?
"Thank you."
'What am I even doing?' He thought as he sighed. 'There's absolutely no way, is there?' He shook his head. 'Probably not, but I'll just give it a shot. If it doesn't work, then at least I'll know.' The door opened and he looked up, finding her in front of him almost immediately.
"Tatsuya said you'd be here." She sat down.
"Would you like to have lunch with me?" He nervously blurted out. She seemed surprised, but nodded with a smile.
"I'd like that."
---
"Ah, I'm glad I still got to eat those egg rolls." Atsushi said with a smile, then he realized that she might take that the wrong way.
"Not that that's the only reason I'm here." He quickly said. Crap, what was he going to say now? Then his actions over words mentality kicked in and he got on all fours, gently pushed her down onto the cold ground and looked at her for a moment.
'I simply can't ignore this feeling.' His hair fell haphazardly in front of his face as he leaned down and kissed her. He leaned back and smiled faintly.
"Sorry."
"Don't apologize." She said as she rolled him over and kissed him fiercely. She felt how he smiled into it and she couldn't help but do the same. She sat back, unable to keep the smile off her face. He propped himself up on his elbow and brought a hand up to her head, ruffling it through her hair. She laughed nervously.
"I was starting to think this was just one sided." She admitted.
"I'm a bit slow at figuring these things out."
He sat up so that she was in his lap and put his arms around her.
'This feels right.' He thought, feeling somewhat relieved. 'I'm glad.'
"Atsushi." He leaned back and nodded at her.
"Hmm?" The blush on her cheeks grew substantially and she stared at him with a timid look on her face.
"I... like you." Her voice was but a whisper. Without even realizing it, he'd pressed his lips onto hers again.
"Sorry, that was just too cute." He murmured as he rested his forehead on hers.
"I don't mind." She said as she pecked him on the lips. He grinned.
"I'm acting all different because of you."
"Is that bad?"
"Contrary." He paused. "I love it."
~END