WILDFLOWER [Ryunosuke Tanaka x OC]

Chapter 3 - The Fuck Up

❀

"You're looking a little lost there, gorgeous."

Cringing at the unwelcome nickname, Kano bared her teeth instinctively and looked for the source of the voice. In the flickering, warming lights of the gym on that first Saturday of the new school year, she spotted a handful of boys setting up volleyball nets across the way. The nearest one seemed to have spoken, the one with the shock of light bangs at the front of his dark, spiked-up hair, a bag of balls from the club room tossed over his shoulder. His devilish eyes raked over her, lingering on her knee-high socks, exposed thighs, and black spandex shorts.

Ugh.

"You gonna give me directions then, dick cheese, or just continue to take fap photos in your nasty-ass mind for later?" she spat, cradling her water bottle under her arm. His name lingered in the back of Kano's mind, face familiar, but she was too angry to try to remember it.

Something with an N.

Mentally, Kano cringed; she'd raced out the door without food or coffee that Saturday morning, so she idled in Raging Bitch Mode. But a few of the boys chuckled behind the penguin-esque pervert, causing a smirk to pull taut at Kano's lips. At least her comebacks were still fire even at seven in the morning. I guess having three teenage brothers will do that to a girl.

But, for some mysterious reason, the bitterness of guilt rose up inside of her. So she backtracked. "Sorry. I'm looking for the girls' volleyball team. I thought we were meeting in here," Kano explained, managing to stifle her yawn until after she finished her reasoning.

"They usually warm up in Gym 1 before we scrimmage," explained another boy, tall as shit and wiry like a string bean, his glasses flashing in the light as he passed by, "No harm, no foul, save for your sailor mouth."

Holding her tongue, Kano nodded to the helpful boy. "Thanks, telephone pole."

"Sure," the two of them answered in unison.

Their eyes lingered on Kano as she left, a wholly new and unexpected experience for her. Maybe it was the forty pounds she'd lost over break that made them stare like that. Or the contacts. Or finally getting her braces off... Or possibly the new haircut.

Honestly, it was probably her potty mouth at the asscrack of dawn.

But even if it wasn't the foul language, Kano didn't sign up for a senior year makeover, and she didn't ask for the consequences, either. Unfortunately, when her mother set her mind on something, she got it... fuck the repercussions and fuck whoever had to deal with them.

Even if Kano accepted being chunky and 'unlovable'. Liked it, even.

Liked herself, even.

Because she definitely missed being able to pass through the world unseen.

And she missed her old life.

❀

"Hey, do you guys know anyone who draws manga?"

Tanaka tried all week to find the artist behind the amazing comic he'd found in the mystery flash drive, but the chapters were tagged with a username, not a pen name, so he'd been running in circles, spinning his wheels in vain. He didn't even know where to start looking, really.

He couldn't just call up Shonen Jump and ask them if they knew who SidewalkWildflower was in real life...

Wait. Maybe a shojo magazine. But who the fuck reads shojo?