Chapter Text
It hurt.
Naoto sat on the floor in the slightly hidden room right next to the art classroom, sniffing lowly and clutching his chest as he suffered the pain of honesty and real life.
He should’ve seen it coming; after all, it was quite obvious. Why would a pretty girl like Nagatoro, and all her stylish looking friends, come to hang out with a literal nobody like himself, other than for the sole reason of mean entertainment?
He had developed some sort of delusion the more he spent time with them, some sort of hope they actually wanted to be friends with him, but the evidence was plastered everywhere, making it clear it was the other way around.
For once, they’d never stopped teasing him. In fact, apart from some times when Sakura needed to use him for some extra curricular reason, most of them never treated him with any sort of kindness.
Showering him with degrading comments, laughing at his hobbies and ambitions, and straight insulting him was the usual treatment he always received from them, and mostly from Nagatoro herself.
Still, he had been stupid enough as to label them as his friends. People he could rely on for help and a place to relax after a harsh day of dying off his already diagnosed, abnormal anxiety.
He clenched his fists drenched in tears as he recalled what had led to this horrible meltdown.
Two hours ago....
“This...should be enough for morning practice” Naoto declared, placing his well worn brush down on the canvas holder.
Taking a deep breath and enjoying the sweet smell of fresh paint and clean oxygen, thanks to the window he’d recently decided to leave open, he stood up and stretched. His eyes travelled around the entire room, scanning his latest works carefully to see which errors could be fixed and what needs more work placed on, until he spotted something out of place on the sofa Nagatoro would usually occupy whenever she decided to come bother him.
Picking it up with utmost care (After all, you never knew what to expect with Nagatoro’s belongings), he noticed it was merely a japanese notebook, one she must have left in here after greeting him earlier today.
Hayase Nagatoro - 2 A
Smiling at the name of his secret crush, Naoto steered himself and started pumping up fake confidence into his heart.
It would be cool of him to deliver this notebook back to its owner, wouldn’t it?
With that thought in mind, he packed up most of his art utensils inside the little, well made bag he used to store them and hid it behind some counters, not really trusting this school with his precious tools, and took off towards Nagatoro’s classroom.
Coincidentally enough, it was the same classroom he had been assigned to a year ago, so it was no problem for him to get there rather quickly.
Slightly deflating at the sound of loud students talking within their in between class break period, he finally spotted her room, flashbacks of his last year around it coming up in his mind that made him cringe internally. He was never quite popular with people, not even his own classmates.
Nearing the door itself, he attempted to reach for it, right before hearing Nagatoro’s particular voice stand out from the rest of the class.
“Huh? Senpai?” Naoto’s eyes opened widely, thinking he had been spotted even though the door was closed and no one was strolling around the hallway.
“Yeah! We always see you hang around Hachioji-senpai, even without Gamo-chi or Yoshi-chi!” Sighing and feeling relieved at the fact that they were only talking about him and he hadn’t been spotted by the entire class instead, he was forced to stay still and listen lest something bad happened to him.
“We were wonderin’ if you, perhaps, like Hachi-senpai? Haya-chan?” His heart came to a stop.
Huh? Nagatoro liking him? That Nagatoro? That’s plain insanity! Sure, they spent most of their free time around each other last year and continued doing so in this new term, but Nagatoro actually taking a like to him of all people? It couldn’t be. He’d be delighted, of course, there’s no denying that. But the thought of her actually sharing his feelings was something he hadn’t even dreamed upon, not even once! They may give off that image to outsiders and onlookers, but it surely w-
“Huh!? Me...liking S-Senpai!? There’s no way!” Ah...right, of course.
“But you all seem to be so friendly around him! Everyone says if you need to find Haya-chi somewhere, it’s most likely in the art classroom!”
Naoto gulped, nodding to himself. There was no way to deny that.
“Pfft! Well, they got it wrong. It’s definitely not like that, look…” She took a deep breath, and slowly, Naoto’s heart started crumbling to pieces.
“Senpai is extremely disgusting, y’know? He keeps weird porn around the art room, he has these creepy expressions and he’s straight gross!” She started, smiling devilishly, “All he does when we’re around is think about lewd stuff or keep on drawing his lame ass looking paintings, I’ve even offered to model for him just so he could try painting something other than his boring fruits or that cringy manga of his, but I couldn’t handle his lewd eyes looking at me with that creepy expression he always has!” She feigned disgust, “We’re not there to be friends with Senpai, come on! It’s just the best spot to be, it’s the farthest from the teacher’s office, no one comes around, and he actually lets us do whatever the heck we want. Can you believe it? Senpai is such a wimp and such a loner that he’ll let us bully him so long we keep him company in his art room, hahahaha!” She finished with foreign laughter.
Naoto didn’t need to listen to anything else, immediately dropping the notebook out of his sweaty hands and bolting away from there, sprinting towards his only safe haven for the time being, not caring about the students he passed through even if they could see his face.
His broken and crying face.
—
Nagatoro laughed even though her chuckles were merely faked, having played this act too many times not to pull it off perfectly in front of these two dimwits she didn’t even know that well.
The two girls in question were looking at her with worried eyes; perhaps she had gone a little too far? But it mattered not, she had saved herself from the interrogation about her feelings towards Senpai, and that was enough for her.
“So yeah, Senpai is just a- Ouch!” A solid smack on the head forced her to turn around, just to face the look of an angered Gamo-Chan, who had heard everything Nagatoro had spilled about her paisen.
“Hey, Hayase” The tone of her well sized friend left no room for escape, and Nagatoro could only swallow in return, “Just why were you saying such horrible things about Paisen? He isn’t even here for our usual teasing, and even then you don’t take it this far” She seemed extremely out of character, but even Yoshi who was behind her didn’t play her usual act, instead opting to remain silent as it happened.
“I-, uh, well, I-It’s sorta the truth either way, right?” The tanned girl already knew that wasn’t the case, but her own persona stopped her from being honest about how she felt, “I mean, Senpai is always ogling us whenever you...would…” Gamo’s glare drowned her excuses before she could even finish, and with a disappointed sigh, the orange haired girl wrapped her arm around Nagatoro’s shoulder and placed her eyes on the muttering girls in front of her.
“Just to be clear, I ain’t really the sorta’ girl to be all kind and knightly, but what this dumbass has said is a complete, utter lie” She lifted up a hand and scratched her cheek meekly, “Paisen...he’s cool, a bit awkward I guess, but he’s definitely not what Hayachi was saying” Her face morphed into one of mischief, “And yes, Hayachi is totally head over heels for Paisen, nyehehehe” The girls in front squealed in delight as Nagatoro turned bit red and attempted to attack the orange haired delinquent to no avail.
“Head over heels!” Yoshi repeated, snickering behind Gamo, furtherly applying salt to the tanned girl’s wound.
“Just be glad tha Paisen wasn’t here to listen, it’d be hard to fix up this kinda mess-”
“Hey guys!” A loud snap sound coming from the abruptly opened door forced them to turn around and find a worried looking Sakura panting heavily, as if she had made her way to the classroom solely by running.
Gamo raised an eyebrow, confused. Sakura would never, ever run, no matter the question; Sweating for her was worse than even confessing to her antics with multiple boys, as it meant a risk towards her make-up and her portrayed, well cared for aura as a gyaru.
Just what in the world could’ve made Sakura run to their classroom, when hers was literally on the other side of the second year’s floor.
“Um...Did something happen, Sakura-san?” A random classmate asked the weary looking gyaru, and she just skipped towards her actual group of friends, forcing the classmate to sweat drop.
“Hey, Sakurin!” Yoshi greeted the girl and waved her hands, smiling until she noticed her worried face.
“Say, did you guys see Senpai-kun a little ago?” Sakura’s tone stirred something within Nagatoro.
“Huh? Paisen? He...uh, he was around here?” Gamo panicked a little, turning around to try and find an already gone Senpai.
“Well, I saw him running in the opposite direction from here...and Senpai-kun doesn’t really run often…” She reached into her side bag and took out a japanese notebook, “I also found this on the way here”
“Ah! That’s my notebook” Nagotoro butted in, reaching up to snatch the thing out of the gal’s hands, “I, uh, left it there so I could have an excuse to bother...senpai…” Her stomach sank down immediately, “W-Wait..he couldn’t have…”
Gamo picked up what it all meant and gulped dry, fearing the worst.
She sighed in dismay when Sakura continued:
“He was also crying”
A loud sound filled the classroom, and suddenly Nagatoro was nowhere to be seen.
-
“Senpai!” Nagatoro thought as she sprinted through the hallways, “No way, no way, no way. He heard all that!” She drifted against a turn and used her hand as a claw on the wall to hold herself and not lose momentum, sprinting once more towards the only place she’d think Senpai could be.
Running and evading every student that blocked her way, she reached the stairs and skipped the steps two by two before missing her footing, falling and hitting her shin.
It hurt like all hells, but it mattered little. She had probably destroyed what little confidence Senpai had built with them for the last year, she had gone too far thinking Senpai wasn’t there to hear her, and even if he wasn’t...just why the hell did she say all that?
Nagotoro continued limping as fast as she could whilst cursing herself and her stupid tendencies.
It was all a damn lie; truth be told, she was really over the moon for Naoto, no matter how hard it was for her to admit it. At first it was merely teasing, a way to release tension and to have a place to relax, but as time went by, she started falling rather quickly. It was fun to be with him, spend time in silence or talking about anything she could bring up and he wasn’t like any other boy around, Senpai wasn’t pushy nor was he extremely full of himself, his attempts to look cool were rather cute, and he treated her entire group with care, not just using them as some sort of prize.
Tearing up a little bit, she gasped for air and picked up her pace once she sighted the art club door.
“Senpai!” Nagatoro yelled, trying to make her entry to no avail.
The door was firmly closed.
“Senpai!” She knocked hard on the door, and peeking through the glass, she found a note stuck to the other side of the door window.
Gulping down, she got on her tiptoes, and started reading the letter.
Nagatoro, I know you’ll be coming here once you’re done with classes, and since I don’t really want to stutter nor let you make a mess of me once again, I decided to leave you this note instead.
Please, leave me alone.
At first, it was fine to get teased by you, I just took it as your way to befriend people. Did you know I was there at that restaurant where you were set up by Yoshi-san about a year ago? I realized you don’t really tease guys at all, only me! I thought, wow, I must mean something in a way for her, but now I realize that I was only a dog for you to play with all along, and I’ve grown tired of it.
I thought of you all as friends, the way we’d spend time together in the club or even sometimes outside, it was fun, I was very happy. Even when all you did was tease me or hurt me in words and expressions, I felt like at the very least you enjoyed my presence there, although I always felt kind of out of place. I had my suspicions, but you guys always laughed and shared that mood with me, so I shoved those doubts away.
Now I know I was right all along. You are all just using me, using this precious place that I love as a hang out spot, where you can bully me indefinitely without any teacher popping up unexpectedly, and I won’t let you do that anymore. I’m done and I hope you can at the very least read this note and then leave me alone, otherwise I’ll have to tell the teachers about it.
I don’t wanna be with you lot anymore, I don’t wanna feel harassed all the time and I’m tired of getting my hobbies kicked into the dirt everytime I mention them. I’d rather be that Loner Senpai than getting hurt and used by you guys.
So please, don’t come over anymore, let me be. I’m done.
Goodbye.
Gamo and Yoshi arrived barely a minute or two later, and were welcomed with one sight Gamo had never thought she’d ever see in her life.
A broken Nagatoro, crying standing up as she stared at some weird note on the art club door.