Chapter 8: The girl who looks like a Rabbit
Hello Dear Readers.
Author here.
My exams are still ongoing, but I ended up writing a chapter in these days on my free time. So I thought why not post it?
Mashiiro is not in this chapter. She will be appearing in the next chapter, and the story will take place then onwards.
Till now, I was only introducing characters. There are still a few left, but I won't be writing a special chapter only for them. Maybe Hikigaya's introduction would be special, I don't know.
I won't be posting any new chapters till this month is over, my exams are not over yet.
Here's the chapter-
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I'm a vindictive sort of person. Or at least, that's what most of the people I know think of me.
They think my actions to be completely egotistical with full disregard of every other individual. To some extent, I believe it to be true. I have done more than enough things in my life that I'm not proud of. Things that have made me realise the type of rotten individual I truly am. I don't completely despise that part of me, quite the opposite actually.
I love this rotten part of myself, as this selfish heart of mine makes me able to live my life without feeling hurt. It gives me the strength to think, 'I deserved it', when something bad happens to me.
That's the only reason I didn't truly hate Chihiro-sensei for making me go out of my way to bring her cousin to Sakurasou from the train station in her stead. I made her wash my dishes, so I think it's fair. Even so, I should have asked her for directions.
It took me about 20 minutes to reach this god forsaken place.
The quickest way from Sakurasou to the station was through the 'Red Brick Strip Mall', as per Kanda's instructions. I'm fairly surprised the guy remembered the deal we made for my silence. He was waiting for me outside the school to take me to a nearby restaurant, but I decided to postpone that event to a later date due to my prior engagement. He even told me a few things about this street named 'Red Brick Strip Mall'. He was born and raised here, so his precepts and the directions he gave surely came in handy.
I'm new to this place, despite that, people living in these streets are the kindest people I've met in my 16, almost 17 years of life. Walking through the streets, most of the people I met on my way greeted me with friendly smiles.
Truly, even my classmates don't greet me. It was certainly a unique experience.
I was even handed a Croquette for free from a kind lady. She was an angel, an angel I tell you!
Before I could get anymore lost in my thoughts about that old lady, who I'm going to pay a visit the next time I come here to buy more Croquettes from her, I looked at the watch on my left hand. It was only 5:15 at the moment, so that means I was 45 minutes early, but oh well.
I stuffed my mouth with the croquette, and started moving towards the Station which was now at a visible distance. Reaching my destination in no more than 2 minutes, I looked at my surroundings to get a general grasp of what this place was like.
...
Nothing major really. It's just a station.
There was a board at the entrance of the station with 'Arts University Station' printed on it. Even though the name of my school has been changed from Suimei to Sobu, the university it is affiliated with is still called Suimei University of Arts, that's why the name of the station remains the same.
There weren't that many people in the station at the moment, most of the people here were students from my school. There was only one barrier at the station, which if you ask me, seems to be really inconvenient. Residents from the other side of the platform would need to walk across the level crossing to buy tickets because of this arrangement.
My eyes turned towards an empty bench near the barrier, and not wasting any time, I dashed towards the bench with every ounce of energy in my body. No way in hell am I going to keep on standing for more than half an hour. If anyone dares to come between me and my bench, I would make them regret it!
I successfully reached the bench, put my bag on one side, and my ass on the other. There's still some time left till the arrival of the little girl, so it shouldn't be that bad if I take a quick nap right?
With that thought in mind, I closed my eyes and reclined on my seat. I had one arm over my bag so that nobody steals anything from it, it's not like they will find anything of value in my bag in the first place but still, can't blame me for being cautious.
Seriously, this place feels kind of relaxing despite all the noise around me. Maybe it's because nobody is talking to me? I guess this feeling is not going to change anytime soon.
It's not like someone is going to talk to me here in the first place—
"Excuse me. Can I sit here?" Me and my big mouth.. or thoughts? Uh.. whatever floats your boat.
"...no."
My answer was swift and my eyes still closed. I'm assuming it's a girl who is currently standing over me, considering her voice.
"Sorry?"
There was confusion laced in her tone. She must have not expected me to answer her this way. I think I should annoy her a little so that she would leave me alone. If she gets angry, I would simply apologize and say I was sleep talking.
"... I have a disease where I can't sit with another individual for more than 5 minutes. Moreover, it's contagious."
"Well then, I'm pleased to inform you that you won't find any problem with me sitting here. I'll be occupying this seat for less than 5 minutes."
Okay, that didn't work.
I reluctantly opened my eyes and heaved out a sigh. I took my bag from the other side of the bench and put it on my lap. I turned my gaze back at the girl to apologise, only to end up staring at her face. I mean, she is beautiful, but that's not why I was staring. Rather, I stared at her because I think I have seen her before.
Standing in front of me is a girl with waist-length black hair that has bangs hanging on the left side with a bunny-shaped barrette in the back, blue-purple eyes and a slender, well-defined body. She's fairly tall for a Japanese girl. She looks to be only a little bit shorter than Kanda.
Poor guy.
She is also wearing the Sobu High's school uniform, which means she is another school mate of mine. Why am I meeting so many girls from my school today? It's weird!
By the time I was done assessing her from the corner of my eye, the girl simply took the seat next to me without another word. She took out her phone, put on her earphones and started listening to, I'm assuming, music from her phone. I'm more than certain that she caught me staring at her, but she didn't comment on it as if she was used to this kind of attention. I decided to not dwell on it too much and moved my gaze away from her to give her some space.
I went back to my previous position and closed my eyes, but once again as if the god hates me, I was interrupted by the sound of some people nearby.
"Hey look... That girl..."
"Isn't she that actress on TV? Sakurajima Mai, was it?"
"Yeah, it's gotta be her! I heard she goes to a school nearby. I had no idea I would see her in a place like this though."
"Let's take a pic and upload it!"
"Wait, seriously?"
"Don't do it~"
"It's fine, it's fine. C'mon, just look over here."
Oh, give me a break. Don't you guys have something better to do? And who the hell is this Sakurajima Mai? Are they talking about this girl beside me?
I reluctantly opened my left eye to stare at the girl beside me to see her reaction. She didn't make any movements and was busy listening to music with a far-off expression on her face, confusing me in the process. Is she not the one they are talking about? I turned my gaze at the people talking in front of me and what I saw confirmed my doubts. A young man with a weird hairstyle, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, had his phone out trying to click a picture. He was trying to get a clear angle of this mysterious girl's face.
I closed my eyes and decided to not interfere on the matter. It's not my place to say anything anyway. If the girl feels uncomfortable, she can simply tell them to fuck off herself.
"Hey, don't you think she might get uncomfortable?"
"Pft-, Don't worry~ Celebrity like her likes the attention we people give her! She should feel thankful I'm clicking a picture of her like this!"
From the corner of my eye, I noticed the girl beside me squint her eyes, but still kept quiet. I closed my eyes and decided to focus on getting my beauty sleep.
.
..
...
Fuck.
I know this is a bad idea. But I don't want to hear anymore of these people's nonsense. The best course of action at the moment would be to keep my mouth shut. But as I've said before many times.
My mouth doesn't listen to me!
"Tch. People nowadays have no respect for personal space! Taking creep shots like this is illegal you know?!"
I kept my eyes closed, and made sure that my voice was loud enough to reach their ears.
"Huh? What..?"
"Are you talking about us?"
"Exactly. Who else is here trying to take a picture of a high school student without her permission beside you? You're seriously creepy, gross."
I decided to use the tone of a particular Blondie from my class, hell, I even stole the last line she used on me the last year when I tried asking for her notes.
I never thought that I'd be using that line myself. I guess her highness Miura has left a huge impact on me(lol).
It's troublesome, I know. I myself don't know why I'm going out of my way to help this girl who I don't even know. If she wasn't from my school I would have turned a blind eye to this incident, but that is not the case.
Moreover, I'm sitting beside her so they are also taking a shot of me with their phones too. I'm certain that dude is going to upload this image on social media to get famous. And I'm also sure that someone is going to comment over that guy sleeping beside her, which is me.
Or at least, that's what I told myself.
"What the.."
"Hey, let's just go. That guy is giving me the creeps."
"I think he knows her.. See? They are sitting together..."
"Tch, c'mon guys. Let's leave."
I mentally fist pumped as I heard the sound of their footsteps, indicating that they were retreating before the battle even began. Hmph, cowards!
"Thank you."
A calm voice said from beside me, making me open my eyes and stare at the girl beside me with a curious look. She is thanking me, I thought she would just ignore me. She was listening to music, how did she even hear the conversation?
"Why are you staring at me like that? I thanked you for your help with those people." The girl gave me a blank stare and put down her earphones. I matched her blank stare with an uninterested expression of my own.
"Oh, no, it's not a problem. I wasn't helping you."
"Hm?" The girl tilted her head in a cute manner and gave me a questioning gaze. I sighed a heavy sigh and straightened my back before responding.
"They were about to click a pic of you. I was sitting beside you, so I would have also been on the frame. I just did what I did for myself." I'm sure I wouldn't be helping her if she wasn't sitting beside me. So taking credit for something like that, isn't what I plan on doing.
"Hm? So that's what you are telling yourself?" The girl looked at me with a slight smile. That smile was really cute, more so when it's the first time I have seen her with an expression other than a poker face.
"..What do you mean?" I massaged my eyes, turned my gaze back at the girl and shrugged my shoulders, "I'm telling the truth."
Half truth to be exact.
The girl hummed, seemingly not convinced. She looked at me for a few more seconds making me feel a little self conscious. What are you staring at Missy?
"You are in your second year, aren't you?" Huh? How did she come to that conclusion after staring at me like that?
"...Yes. What about you? I haven't seen you in our school, and you don't look like a first year." She has that mature charm going for her. When I think of someone younger than me, my adorable pig-tail haired Kouhai comes to mind. Not a cool beauty like her.
"That's because I'm not in my first year. I'm a third year." I expected as such. She looks older, not in a bad sense mind you, she just doesn't look like a child.
"So you're my Senpai?" I asked, feeling a little glad that she isn't the over energetic type. She seems to be a person of a few words, just like me. I can't handle another senpai like that alien.
Senpai nodded at my words before putting her finger on her chin in a thinking pose as she stared at my face. I raised my eyebrow at her action and decided to wait for her to elaborate.
"You are strange." Well, now that's not a nice thing to say to a person is it?
"... I would rather not ask 'why'."
I don't want to know why you think so. It would be better if I don't know. I don't want to cry in front of you.
"You stared at me for quite a while. I thought you knew me. But I guess I was wrong." Hello? Didn't you hear what I said?
"...Well, I thought I saw you from somewhere. After hearing those people's conversation, I know you are an actress. So I think I must have seen you on TV or something." I said and stared back at her with a calm expression on my face. The fact that you're really pretty didn't help to stop my staring either.
"Thank you for your compliment."
Senpai politely thanked me, making me blush in embarrassment as I realised I talked out loud. Again!
"..Me and my mouth..."
"Don't feel embarrassed. It's natural for a boy your age to feel that way. I would be surprised if you didn't find me attractive." Quite a confident one, aren't you?
I sighed and got my bearings back. I looked at her and gave her a nod, "I guess you're right. Senpai is really pretty. The prettiest person I have seen till now if I'm being honest. I'm sure I'm going to have dreams about my meeting with you for quite some time." I said jokingly with a blank face.
"Now, don't think anything weird." Senpai glared at me, a little embarrassed, before her expression turned back to the usual calm and collected one, albeit she was still pouting, "Well, I'm totally fine with being the subject of erotic fantasies for young boys...."
Oi.
"I was just joking, you doofus. I'm not a perv!" I looked at her, almost offended, "What do you take me for?" Shit, I ended up calling her a doofus.
Senpai looked surprised by my words. She looked around the place, before a slight smirk graced her face. She shook her head a little then gave me a smile.
"Well then, it was a terrible joke and I didn't laugh." Senpai was about to say more, but the sound of a train coming reached our ears, interrupting her words. Senpai looked disappointed for a few seconds before her expression returned to being calm.
She stood up from the bench, put her phone and earphones inside her bag, and moved towards the train. She suddenly stopped, and looked at me for a few seconds as if she was contemplating something. After another second of thinking, Senpai decided to introduce herself.
"It was nice talking to you. I'm Sakurajima Mai."
I already know that. Those morons were kind of loud. I nodded at her after that, before realising she was waiting for me to do the same. I mentally facepalmed and gave senpai a slight smile.
"It was...uh, nice, talking to you too Senpai. I'm Matsumura Yoshihiro." Senpai nodded at my introduction before a small smirk graced her face.
"Hiro-kun then."
Oi, who gave you the right to give me a nickname? We're not close! I'm not blushing because of it. Not at all!
Well, at least it's better than Yoshimon.
I looked away from Senpai's direction, feeling a little embarrassed. She giggled at my reaction. Are you a sadist, Senpai? Do you enjoy making children cry?
Still, I can't help but find her giggling adorable.
The doors of the train opened, and Senpai went inside. She gave me one last glance and waved bye in my direction. I hesitantly waved back, feeling a little strange by the gesture.
Did I just make a friend? I did, didn't I?
I doubt it. It's more like I made another acquaintance. An acquaintance that doesn't hate my guts.
...
...
...
Just as I was deep in thought, I finally realised why I found her to be familiar.
Her face...
She looked like a rabbit.
Weekly Power Status
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