Chapter Text
The day at school started as usual.
A bucket of cold water tipped over the moment the red-haired short girl stepped into the classroom.
A loud thud could be heard from the impact of the iron bucket and her head. Her unevenly cut hair was now wet, clinging against her shoulders.
The moment that happened, half of the class filled with absolute laughter.
"Ha–aha! she really thought she's tough for not even reacting at that," a girl with an irritating voice mockingly spoke while lifting her chin. "Aww, come on, Chuuya. That was funny, do you not want to even laugh?" another girl spoke, her voice even more annoying than the first one's.
Chuuya, now standing in a wet shirt, did not respond at all. Her countenance didn't even change. The only thing that changed was the cold glare she directed at the group of girls. A girl caught the glare and got a bit of goosebumps, but quickly brushed it off.
"You're no fun." said one of the girls again. That group of girls quickly lost interest in her and went outside the classroom.Though the girls conversation with eachother was still audible. It goes something like "She's going to be overjoyed when she sees her desk!" "Oh we decorated it real beautiful for her!"—But fortunately not long after, their voices fade away.
Probably too tired to argue back, the red-haired girl walked to her own seat with the same frown she'd been wearing since the beginning. It's fine. She thought to herself. The worst thing that could happen is just catching a cold from having to wear a wet shirt for the rest of class.
Not far from her, still in the same classroom, sat a brunette with hair long enough to reach her hips, wearing a black jacket as she observed the whole situation. Not laughing, not concerned either. No one noticed it though.
She placed her left hand on her desk which was covered in messy black marker scribbles. Those scribbles formed words like 'dumb', bitch', 'bastard', 'trash', 'worthless', 'disgusting', "gross"—you name it. She was just about to sit but got interrupted by a voice from a girl seated to her left.
"Wait," the girl said, her voice flat.
"What is it?" the soaked girl replied, waiting for a response from the other, a pause lingered between them "Just speak. If you're here just to make me a stupid entertainment like they did, leave it already." She added with more pressure.
Another pause followed. But this time, it's for Chuuya who turned her head a bit and took a glance at the hazel-eyed brunette, still waiting for a response.
"I'm not really capable of entertaining you, Dazai." The redhead said, sounded almost exhausted.
"No, I don't have those intentions." Dazai finally answered.
"Aren't you cold in that? Your hair is wet too." Dazai's voice softened. Her eyes narrowed slightly. She stared at Chuuya amusingly with a half-smile on her face.
She found Chuuya's soaked hair to be strangely captivating and radiant. Those citrus-colored strands darkened and became saturated, drenched with water still dripping down.
Despite being slightly stunned by the question and the brunette's expression, the ginger replied hurriedly "of course it's cold. But I'm fine." Having said that, the girl turned her head back to where it was with the intention of avoiding eye contact with the other. She wasn't expecting another reply either in the first place.
Instead of a reply, she got her wrist grabbed by Dazai. The action was so abrupt that she immediately turned her head back to stare at the brunette.
Chuuya was already prepared if Dazai was going to humiliate her too, but deep in her heart the thought came quietly "not again. Not you too."
"What are you-" Before the redhead finished it, she was interrupted by the Dazai "You will need to have a great care then!" the other girl exclaimed before she stood up with ease and straightened her legs.
Though the first thing Chuuya noticed was that the dumb brunette towered over her. She had almost forgotten that fact.
To rub salt into the fresh wound, Dazai with a little smirk excitedly "Oh wait, I forgot you're always this short"
Right now, Chuuya is not just stunned but also bewildered. She still locked her gaze at the other girl. The girl she is staring at is standing there almost innocently. "Neither of those comments were necessary. And get your hands off me."
What Dazai noticed here isn't Chuuya's irritation, or she definitely ignored it. But Dazai was absolutely captivated by the redhead's mismatched irises, they were like summer and autumn, her left reflecting the radiant blue summer sky untouched by the clouds. Her right like the leaves that littered a winding road on a crisp autumn morning filled with warmth.
"Hm?" The brunette murmured clearly ignoring Chuuya's request. "Just follow me." She added. She pulled the girl's wrist then walked out of the classroom, Chuuya involuntarily followed after her.
The gesture was impulsive, almost thoughtless, like something she'd done years ago without needing permission.
As their steps echoed through the corridor, the redhead with a puzzled look spoke "Where are you even taking me to?"
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A girls' restroom. The lights were dimly lit, the weak fluorescent lights casting a pale glow over the two teenagers beneath them.
A half-broken faucet dripped quietly somewhere nearby. Water stained the damp floor beneath their shoes. Not filthy, yet never truly clean either.
Two mirrors hung along the wall, one of the mirrors' surface clouded with heavy dust, could only reflecting a hazy silhouette. The other one was clean but cracked through the middle, reflecting everything in uneven, broken fragments.
Dazai stood closest to the clouded mirror, though she wasn’t looking at it. While chuuya was standing in front of the broken mirror and wasn't looking at it either.
Their breath intertwined in a room a lot smaller than what their classroom is. "Take my jacket" the brunette insisted, standing face-to-face with the redhead.
"I said I don't need your help," Chuuya muttered. "I dont need your jacket, I'm fine." She added.
The brunette, of course, didn't care. Shrugged, she then took off her own jacket and gently tossed it to Chuuya. Before Chuuya could process what happened, she had already caught the jacket.
Now that Chuuya realized it. Dazai, not only has a long kind of unkempt wavy brown hair, she also has a horrid fashion choice beneath the jacket she wore. Chuuya never noticed it before because the brunette was always wearing that jacket.
Bandages were practically wrapped around her body, her arms, her neck, even half of her hands. She also wore leggings under her skirt. Won't that be suffocating? especially that this is summer, the sun burned hotter than ever.
But chuuya just brushed it off and didn't care enough, since she didn't have the courage nor could she gain any useful purpose from asking things like that to her.
"You are actually borrowing me your jacket..." Chuuya said, at loss of words.
While closing her eyelid Dazai replied "Mm. Yeah, now just wear it and-" but before Dazai could finish her sentence, Chuuya interrupted. "I'm confused."
"What?"
"Why would you even care that much, I'm not a great person at all in this school." Chuuya uttered as she clenched the jacket in her hand tighter.
Dazai didn’t answer immediately. She only tilted her head slightly, watching droplets of water slide down the ends of Chuuya’s hair.
"Does it really matter?"
Chuuya lowered her gaze to the jacket in her hands, her fingers started loosening around the fabric.
Chuuya did not intend to reply that one. She then walked slowly to enter the toilet cubicle in the corner as Dazai watched, standing in the same spot unusually still.
After the cubicle door was closed, silence filled the restroom again.
Inside the cubicle, she hesitated for a moment before slipping the dark jacket on, it stood out in contrast against her bright orange hair.
The jacket was still faintly warm, unfamiliar against her soaked uniform, and she stood there for a second longer than necessary, she didn’t know what to do with that fact.
After becoming the target of relentless bullying at school, Chuuya expects everyone to either laugh or look away.
Dazai does neither.
Instead, the girl Chuuya hasn’t spoken to in years quietly offers her a jacket, drags her out of class, and acts as though the distance between them never existed at all.
Chuuya thought it's silly.
Somewhere outside the restroom, distant laughter, conversations, and footsteps echoed through the hallway before fading again.