Chapter Text
CONVENIENCE STORES were forever a comfort to you. You couldn’t tell if it was the overpowering scent of fried food or the lingering scent of cigarettes from former customers that had entered before you. Regardless, it didn’t get rid of the welcoming aura with the sight of mouthwatering sweet and salty treats. With the little amount of cash in your pockets, you resorted to purchasing one or two items.
You greeted the worker at the counter with a bow before making your way to the cold foods section. Pointing with your finger and peering with your eyes, you scanned for a certain dessert before you smiled and reached for the cup of milk pudding. You grasped the dessert in your hand as you walked to the counter and gently placed the item on the glass. The cashier gently nudged the pudding towards you, leaning against the counter with a soft smile.
“On the house,” they simply said, to which you shook your head and reached into your pockets for the exact amount of money needed to buy such mundane food. You took the pudding and waved goodbye, or a ‘see you tomorrow’ to the cashier before heading to the exit and walking out.
Your free hand reached for your headphones that were draped around your neck, placing them over your ears and softly smiling once music started to play. You ripped off the seal of the pudding cup and detached the small spoon, immediately scooping up a portion and slipping it in your mouth. The familiar taste spread across your taste buds and you couldn’t help but hum in delight as you made your way to school.
Academics weren’t really your strong suit, yet you were able to attend a private academy with decent grades since your first year of highschool. There was nothing prestigious about it, or about you. There just happens to be a sudden plot twist to your normal, average person, from someone who thought they were unnoticeable to being one of the people the academy has taken an interest in. It’s not that you were complaining, it was more of an unanswered question to why people liked you.
You finally had reached the intersection, spotting a vibrant pink haired male turn the corner and walk a few inches in front of you. You stayed silent and decided to keep your distance as you just about finished your milk pudding.
Saiki could feel your presence, instantly hearing the lyrics to the song you were currently listening to. He blinked, internally cringing as he securely held his school bag.
‘Still unbelievable she’s able to focus with those songs she listens to.’ He thought to himself as he looked up and saw the familiar faces of the ones he wished he could avoid. Saiki stopped in his tracks while he stared at Nendou and Kaidou, looking quite displeased with them.
Nendou raised his arm to signify a solid wave, “Aye, my pal! Wanna walk with us?” He asked while the other looked over Saiki’s shoulder. “I’d rather walk alone, thank you,” Saiki telepathically said. You weren’t paying attention, and instead found the designs of the cup that you’d seen a million times more interesting than reality. You thought that you had lagged behind Saiki and the distance between you both had grown until you bumped into a solid surface.
You let out a soft groan and stumbled back in an attempt to figure out where you were. It only took a mere few seconds to realize that you’ve bumped into Saiki’s back. Normally, others would turn around, either to complain for you to watch where you were going or to reassure that it was fine. Yet, with Saiki, all he did was continue to stare at the two guys in front of him, no reaction from you rudely bumping into his back.
You took the acceptable route for both parties and stood beside Saiki, quickly bowing with an apologetic expression on your face. You looked at Saiki before glancing at his friends, “Sorry, Saiki” was all you were able to utter before you moved to the road to pass the trio and hop back on the sidewalk to continue your journey to the school. You threw away your trash in a nearby waste bin as you hummed softly to the tune of the next song that was on queue.
‘Nevermind then, I guess she can’t focus,’ Saiki watched you walk away and Nendou and Kaidou let out giggles as they fawned over you. Saiki walked past the two as he tried to ignore the giggling. “She looked our way, how cool is that?!” Kaidou exclaimed with a hint of dream in his tone. The two follow Saiki as they begin to gossip about you. “She’s so sweet, pretty too!” Kaidou compliments while Saiki watches your back, your figure getting smaller in distance. “Man, It’s tough though with Teruhashi.” Nendou pointed out, to which Kaidou shrugged in response.
Saiki finally had a chance to relax once they entered class and sat in his seat beside you. He bored his eyes into the board as he waited for class to start. He noticed you still had your headphones on and the music you enjoyed was leaking out. Irritated by the mass amount of noise from inside the room, he decided to blur out all the noise and relax when all he focused on was his thoughts.
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Lunch had begun a few minutes ago, and you walked with Teruhashi into the cafeteria. She smiled at everyone once there were eyes on you both and you walked to grab a meal ticket with an unenthusiastic look on your face. Once you had grabbed your meal, you situated yourself in your regular spot and reached to play with your food. Your table was swarmed with guys once Teruhashi sat down a few spots away from you. You scrunch your face up and turn away from the crowd as you begin to eat your food.
You ended up losing your appetite with the crowd around you and reached for your headphones to place over your ears. You stopped yourself when you heard someone stutter, curious to who it was, you looked up and immediately made eye contact with one of the boys who was quite heavily interested in both you and Teruhashi.
You raised your hand to run a hand through your hair and hummed as you stared at him. “Can I help you with something?” You tilted your head in curiosity and held eye contact to which the boy broke first and rubbed his neck, face dark red as he looked away in embarrassment.
“I─ Um.. I wanted to say you look really beautiful today!” He exclaimed with all the courage he had mustered up. A giggle emitted from your lips, not being able to contain the laughter that bubbled inside you. You stood up, standing face to face with the man, keeping your eyes on him. He extended his arm towards you and held out a gift to which you looked at.
A can of juice, how adorable.
You smile and take the can as you let your fingers graze over him in thanks. “How sweet of you, I appreciate the gesture,” You placed a hand on his shoulder and sent a subtle smile his way before you sat back down. He was completely stunned as he rushed back to his seat with a flushed face.
Saiki had watched the whole scene, having an incoming rush of thoughts fill his head.
‘ Gosh, she’s so lucky. I’ve been crushing on him for ages!’
‘I wish I was like her! So confident, so kind.’
‘I really can’t believe that Teruhashi hasn’t competed for her position with Y/N.’
Aren had taken a spot beside Saiki and let his eyes lingering on you before he looked away. He subtly pointed his thumb towards you and leaned in so he could whisper as quietly as he could. “That’s the girl from our class right? She’s so pretty, I didn’t even notice her.” Kaidou looked at the purple haired boy in shock and tilted his head. “How could you not?” He asked as his face switched to a weird expression when he caught Nendou shoving his chopsticks into his mouth, positioning them so he could look like a walrus.
“Well, I mean she’s quiet. Do you think she has a boyfriend?” Aren crossed his arms on the table while he stole another glance at you before his eyes fixated on Saiki. “What do you think Saiki?”
“I couldn’t care less, she isn’t a bother so why do I need to give my input.” Saiki gave Aren a blank stare before he turned back to his food and took the opportunity to finish it.
“Why should we even try, she’s way too out of our league.” Kaidou sighed with a hint of disappointment, his hands fumbled with the red bandages on his arms.
“But, Teruhashi talks to us and she’s out of our league” Nendou pointed out, chopsticks still in your mouth.
“How are you able to speak properly with those?” Saiki stares at Nendou before lightly shaking his head and looking back down.
Saiki disregarded the debate over you and Teruhashi and left the table, a feeling of irritation bubbling inside of him while he ignored the calls from his so-called friends.
What was so special about you anyway? Sure, you were decently good-looking, but that’s nothing special.
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You slip on your outside shoes and head towards the entrance of the school where Yumehara stood, waiting for you. You spotted her and gave her a wave, to which she excitedly returned with a smile on her face. “Y/N! Ready to walk home?” You gave her a nod, motioning her to lead the way. You both started to walk and make small conversation with her.
Yumehara looked up and immediately yelled out, “Kaidou!” You look up and purse your lips to hide your small smile as Yumehara jogged towards him. The blue haired man turned around and stopped as he waited for the both of you to catch up. Once you did, you could see the faint blush on his face which caused you to look away with your lips pursed once more. “Hi Yumehara, and─ and Y/N. The guys and I are going for some food, wanna join?”
With no hesitation and speaking for the both of you, she gave him a nod and a big smile. “Not once did I agree to this,” Saiki squinted his eyes as he continued to walk and cringed as Nendou came running after him to say he was coming along.
“Don’t worry about him, we’ll go anyway. Come on,” Kaidou nodded his head to the two other guys and began to walk, keeping a slow pace to walk with Yumehara.
The two lagged a bit behind once they realized you were on your phone, Kaidou leaned into Yumehara’s ear and whispered. “Since when were you friends with Y/N?” The brunette girl’s cheeks started to burn darkly with the close contact, to which she ended up stumbling over her words.
“Not─ Not long.. She just recently started opening up to me,” Kaidou nodded in acknowledgement and stopped once the group arrived at the restaurant.
Nendou wrapped his arm around Saiki and smiled while pointing at the ramen shop. “Here it is! Let’s go in and check the menu.”
The exterior of the shop did not look pleasant at all. And once you all entered, the place looked like a junkyard and a landfill at the same time. Broken glass everywhere, rundown furniture, you swore you saw rats mating in the far corner. This place seemed like a ghost town and you would’ve believed it if someone told you it was haunted.
“Uh, Nendou.. This place looks and smells disgusting,” Yumehara pointed out with discomfort on her face.
“Don’t be silly, Yumehara! This place was recommended, I’m sure it’s fine.” Nendou shrugged her off and asked for a menu while he sat down.
“Gaslighting yourself isn’t healthy,” Saiki pointed out, but Nendou ignored his remark and ordered a bowl of miso ramen. The food had then arrived and you all had sat down to watch him eat, intrigued to what it looked like. The soup looked similar to a polluted ocean and you gagged at the sight of it.
Nendou grabbed the chopsticks and immediately ate some of the ramen, chewed and swallowed. His stomach started to swirl and he puffed his cheeks out, gagging at the taste. “I feel weird,” he held his stomach with a sick look, Saiki blankly stared at him.
“How gullible and idiotic are you?” He scolded as he stood up. Saiki helped Kaidou bring Nendou outside to an alley where he spilled out his inside. You pay for the meal and walk out with Yumehara who waited patiently outside the alley for the guys.
Eventually, they came out and Nendou looked incredibly unwell. “You should head home, you might’ve gotten food poisoning,” You said, concern laced in your tone. The taller male shook his head, insisted he was fine and that we should head somewhere else. Everyone else urged for him to go home which resulted in Kaidou pulling him to start walking. The rest of you followed and headed back in the direction of the school.
Once you reached the intersection, you bid your goodbyes to everyone else and followed Saiki to the direction of your house.
‘Since when did she live this way?’ Saiki glanced behind him as he felt your presence and spotted you putting your headphones on and started playing music. His nose scrunched up and he stopped his movements as he stood in the middle of the sidewalk. You didn’t notice him stop until you bumped into him and felt a sudden wave of deja vu. You pull your headphones off and look at him, a weird awkward tension between the both of you.
“Sorry for bumping into you, I really need to pay more attention, huh?” You awkwardly laughed, but Saiki ignored your statement. He stared at you with a blank expression and kept eye contact between you two.
“Something wrong?” No response.
You took the chance to slowly walk past him, Saiki watching you leave before he telepathically told you what he wanted to say.
“Don’t wear headphones when it’s getting dark, it’s dangerous when you can’t hear anything.” He then crossed the street and opened the gates to his house before he entered inside. You stood there, unable to process what he said.
“Never knew he cared for others,” you shrugged it off and listened to him regardless of his sudden outburst. You hook your headphones to your bag and walk to your own place. Saiki heard you just as he opened the door and closed it before heading up to his room.
‘I don’t, I simply didn’t want to be the one at fault if something happened to you. Too much aftermath for someone who matters to a lot of people.’ And with that, Saiki changed into his sleepwear and climbed into his bed. He closed his eyes and drifted into slumber, disregarding the fact he had homework.