Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – New Beginnings
Haru awakens at the end of his first week at Miyano High
'A Sunday where I can just relax'
Haru sighs deeply
'What a hectic week, all I wanted was a quiet year with my sister, to ace my exams and go back to England to university'
'I haven't been up to the roof since that day, but I see Ichinose-san leave the class at the same time every lunch, I know what is going on'
Haru slams his fist down into his desk
'Why am I just letting her go up there alone every single day'
'Surely there is something I can do'
Haru stands up from his bed and yanks open his curtains
'Next week, I am going to learn at least 1 thing about her, I have to do something'
Haru goes to open his bedroom door, but the handle is pushed down before he gets to it
"Morning big bro!"
Kaya stands in the door with a beaming smile
"It's time for my pancakes!"
Haru smiles and pats Kaya on the top of her head
"Sure thing"
Haru makes his way downstairs and whips up Kaya's favourite pancakes with a drizzle of syrup
Haru slides the plate over to Kaya and sits across from her
"You've grown so much in a week"
Kaya looks up quizzically
"What do you mean?"
"Easily making friends, going to school alone, coming back with Komachi-chan, just a few months ago these things seemed impossible"
Kaya smiles
"Guess I'm growing up bro!"
Haru smiles proudly
"Yeah you are"
"So, what's up with you, bro?"
"What do you mean?"
"You've said nothing about school, I haven't seen you with Saito-senpai, is everything okay?"
Haru sighs
"It's nothing to worry about"
Kaya pouts cutely
"You have to tell me or I won't love you anymore"
Haru chuckles
"Can't have my precious sister hating me, can I?"
Kaya looks at Haru sweetly
"There is a girl in my class"
As Haru goes to continue, Kaya interrupts
"A GIRL?"
"Yes, a girl, I have been wanting to get to know her, but I have failed in every attempt, she doesn't speak much"
"A girl ignoring my handsome popular brother"
Kaya laughs
"Have you tried just blatantly asking her about herself?"
Haru looks slightly embarrassed
"Not really"
Kaya laughs even harder
"My brother has a crush on a girl!"
Haru blushes slightly
"She's cute, but I want to know her even better"
"Well, next time you see her, just ask her what you want to know"
Kaya smiles smugly
"I'm so smart"
Haru relaxes
"Yeah, you are"
Kaya slightly taken back, blushes cutely"
As the week goes by, every time Haru tries to initiate any conversation with Miku, he's either interrupted or ignored
'This Is a lot harder than I thought it would be'
As Kohei and Haru eat lunch together in class, Haru sees Miku leaving at the same time as usual
'I guess it worth a shot'
"Kohei, do you know anything about Ichinose-san?"
Kohei looks at Haru with childhood glee in his eyes
"Is this the first girl for the harem?!"
Haru stares daggers at Kohei
"You're not helpful at all"
Haru stands up
"I'll ask someone else"
Haru walks over to Sakura
As she sees him approach, she quickly tries to fix her hair and smiles at Haru
In a happy high-pitched voice
"Hey Kugimiya-kun!"
Haru hides his grimace
"Hey, Misaki-san, Kohei said you were asking about me"
Sakura blushes slightly
"I just wanted to make you feel welcome!"
Sakura smiles cutely at Haru and winks
"Well thank you, can I ask you something"
"Oh, my Kugimiya-kun, you're so bold"
"Can you help me get to know Ichinose-san?"
Sakura completely shocked steps back into a desk
"Miku?!"
The class looks over for a second before quickly going back to their conversations
"Yes, I want to get to know her, but she keeps ignoring me"
Sakura composes herself
"Maybe she just doesn't like you?"
Haru with a realization looks slightly down
"Maybe you're right actually"
"No, I'm just being bitchy, I'm sorry"
Sakura bows her head
"She really likes cooking, she's in the cooking club too, try talking about that"
Haru smiles
"Thank you, Misaki-san, it's really sweet of you to tell me, I hope we can be good friends too"
Haru flashes a sweet smile as Sakura blushes
Haru returns to his seat
''Good friends? I'd rather commit seppuku'
As the next morning comes Haru arrives in for Class set up duty exactly on 8am
"Morning- Ichinose-san"
Haru is met with a dry
"Morning- Kugimiya-san"
As Haru starts pulling down the chairs from the desks he takes a deep breath
'How do I even bring cooking up?'
"Hey, Ichinose-san, do you know what goes well with breakfast pancakes?"
Miku looks over to Haru, puzzled
"Well..."
She pauses as If to give it serious thought
"I think Nutella goes great on them, or maybe even some sugar and strawberries?"
"Sugar and strawberries sound great, Kaya would love that"
"Kaya?"
"Ohh, Kaya is my sister, she loves pancakes, so I wanted to try making something different than just syrup"
Miku seems to be actively happy to talk as she writes a few notes on the chalkboard
"Why did you ask me?"
Haru blushes slightly
"I was looking at joining the cooking club and saw you were a member"
Miku looks at Haru with suspicious eyes
"Are you sure it's not because Sakura told you?"
Haru floods red in the cheeks and turns away
"I may have asked her about you, just a bit"
Haru is met with silence as he turns around
Miku has moved a bit closer and is a less than a foot apart from Haru
"I think it was sweet that you wanted to know"
Miku is blushing heavily
'She looks unbelievably cute right now'
"Ichinose-san, can I join you in the cooking club?"
Miku thinks for a moment
"You can come to the meeting today, but to join you have to cook something for the club"
Haru smiles
"Sounds fun"
Haru and Miku go back to the normal moring routine, Haru is sporting a bright smile
'Am I actually looking forward to an after-school club activity?'
As the final bell rings, Miku and Haru complete the class clean up and make their way to the cooking club
As they walk in, they are greeted by Sakura and another girl
The other girl looks at Haru
'She's tiny, blonde twin-tails as well, she has to be a tsundere'
Haru bows to the three girls
"Thank you for letting me join in today"
The other girl introduces herself to Haru
"I'm Kuri Takeda, hope you can actually cook, dummy"
'Definitely a tsundere'
The girls sit down at a counter at the back of the cooking room
"Cook whatever you want"
Haru gets the ingredients for his usual pancakes, he whips up 3 perfectly done pancakes
One with Nutella, one with sugar and strawberries and another with syrup
"Please try each one"
Sakura takes a bite of the Nutella one first
"This is so delicious! You really can cook!"
Kuri takes a bit of the syrup one
"Hmph, it's not awful"
Miku takes a small cut of the strawberry and eats it along with a piece of the pancake
She looks at Haru slightly shocked
"Is it bad?"
"No, no, not at all, they're so fluffy, they're amazing"
Haru smiles
"So, can I join?"
The girls deliberate for a couple of seconds
Miku hands over an apron to Haru
Blushing slightly
"It's nice to have you in the cooking club"
Haru smiles brightly
"Thank you for having me"
As the club ends Haru and girls exchange contact information
Sakura smiles as she leaves the classroom
"I'll send you pictures of my amazing food!"
Haru smiles
"Looking forward to it"
Kuri walks out the room with her bag over her shoulder
"I won't text you at all"
'Definitely a tsundere'
With just Haru and Miku in the room cleaning up the last bit of mess
Haru looks to Miku
Her back to the window as the sun sets behind her, lighting up her dark hair ever so slightly
Miku catches Haru staring
"Something wrong?"
"Not at all, we just seem to clean up together a lot"
"Yeah, we do"
As things go quiet, Haru speaks up
"I haven't forgotten, you know?"
Miku stays quiet
"Just to make sure you hear this time"
Haru turns to Miku who has stopped washing the plate she was scrubbing
"I want to see you smile, genuinely"
Miku turns to look at Haru
"I hope you can make me smile, genuinely"
Haru nods, and smiles.
"I will"
A few minutes of silence pass, Haru hands Miku a towel to dry her hands
As he passes the towel, he notices red scarred skin up the Miku's right forearm
She pulls her hand away quickly as Haru looks visibly shocked
"Ichinose-san?"
Miku grabs her bag to tries to leave quickly
"What happened?"
As she gets to the door, Miku stops
She turns and looks at Haru, the sun setting behind him making his blonde hair sparkle
Miku takes a deep breath and pulls up her right sleeve
"When I was little, my house burned down, I got trapped in my room, I tried to stay in my bed but the sheets caught alight, and burned all up my body"
Miku shows her collarbone to Haru
The skin red and burned just like on her arm
Haru's eyes widen as he sees the marks and broken skin
Miku composes herself and carries on speaking
"I'm not beautiful, I'm not smart nor funny, I don't understand my feelings or anybody else's"
Miku's eyes begin to tear up
"But I want to get to know you... Kugimiya-san"
Haru's eyes widen further on hearing this, his heart seemingly skips a beat
Miku blushes heavily on seeing Haru so taken back
"You don't have to answer now"
As Miku goes to walk away, Haru speaks up
"I look forward to knowing you, Ichinose-chan"
Miku manages to get out a quick and quiet
"Goodbye...Kugimiya-kun"
As she leaves the class
Haru stands looking out of the window
'There is a long way to go, but I might actually enjoy this year'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone