people pleaser | nishimura riki

15. stand up

╭── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╮

From the very beginning, he was aware of it.

And partly as to why he treats her so differently to everyone else.

There were always the little things that reminded him of her.

And now with Aira's existence, it was like a second chance for him.

Aira resembled her too much.

Maybe everyone knew of it too.

It was like deja vu.

Because of how close Aira, the supposed new girl, was with Riki, students that adored him envied her. Some would stare at a distance and pray for her downfall. Some would make it appear so that she knows they are glaring at her.

Some...would go to the extent of wanting to hurt her.

Unethical, but violence will always be part of human nature.

"Nishimura, i think your friend is in trouble." A classmate of theirs spoke whilst trying to catch his breath. Not everyone hated Aira as they are grateful for all the contributions she has done to the class.

Upon hearing the news, Riki quickly asked the boy to lead the way as they eventually made it to the cafeteria.

The classic.

It was obvious something was going on due to the circling commotion. A pathway was easily given to him and soon, he saw a few students being the centre of attention.

Aira was in fact in trouble.

About to make a move to stop the scene, a hand grabbed onto his wrist which stopped him from moving forward.

"Don't. She can deal with this herself." A familiar voice muttered towards him.

As he turned around to see the owner of the voice, his mind ran in confusion in many ways.

Why was she stopping him? Why was she just watching on the sidelines?

Why was Aira's best friend not helping her?

"It's not the first time anyway." Remi watched as Aira stood confidently with her arms crossed. Although Remi's expression did hint at a speck of concern, she looked proud of her friend.

"What's happening?" Riki finally asked as Remi was sure he was not going to interfere.

"You." Remi turned to face him. "You happened, Nishimura."

"...Huh?"

"Gosh I thought you were fast to catch on." Remi sighed and turned back at the girls now yelling at Aira. "Those three are jealous of the fact Aira got to be your friend and not them."

"I don't even know them." Riki rolled his eyes, looking at the three students who seem like juniors.

"Well, they know you. You have no idea how many times a day Aira has to face these annoying rats." Remi scoffed.

The scene was getting pretty heated as the three continued throwing insults at Aira. However, unaffected, Aira ignored them and waited until they had nothing else to say.

"Are you done?" She asked with a tone of neutrality. There was no hate towards them which annoyed them even more. "You have class soon. Eat now or else you will fall hungry later."

"You are such a menace!" One girl yelled.

"Aren't we all?" Aira sighed. "If you want to be friends with Riki, go on. No one is stopping you. I'm sure if you want to become friends with him he will gladly accept." She shrugged casually.

Surprisingly, with that, the three girls stormed back to their seats with irritated expressions.

With the commotion ending, everyone else began heading back to their lunch.

"Although it's technically your fault. I must say, you did save her. If that was the same girl a few months ago, she would be apologising with her knees on the ground. Thank you for teaching her to love herself first." Remi smiled before walking away.

As Riki contemplated on whether he should speak to Aira or not, he was once again dragged by a bunch of intimidating seniors to a back lunch table.

"How do you feel now that Aira is all grown up?" The girl with re-dyed red hair spoke with much enthusiasm. "Probably unwanted." Miu snickered as she answered her own question.

Riki could only roll his eyes before stealing some food from their food plates.

"Hey not my jelly-" Miu tried to stop him but revenge was revenge. "What a brat."

"What did you teach her?" Sunjae asked in curiosity.

"Nothing much. Maybe she just hung around me for too long." Riki shrugged. "I'm a good influence."

"Influence my ass." Minhyuk laughed. "She should take all the credit. I mean it was 1 against 3."

"Riki you know, at first i was sure you found yourself a clone of her. From the similarity in appearance to personality, i was so sure history was going to repeat itself." Miu spoke in a more serious tone this time.

Riki stayed silent.

"...but that was all impressions. From what I've seen so far, she is nothing like her. She knows how to stand up for herself." Miu added on.

Another moment of silence was taken place until he finally spoke.

"I saw her last week." Riki spoke.

"She came back?" Sunjae's eyes widen in shock.

"The audacity." Minhyuk scoffed.

"Did she see you?" Miu asked, now concerned for the younger one.

Knowing the conversation was not one Riki wanted to participate in, he stood up and was ready to leave the food hall. However, before he left, his eyes searched for Aira who was happily eating with her friend.

"She did."

And with that, he left with a thick cloud above his head.

"I don't have a good feeling about this." Sunjae whispered as the rest agreed.

Perhaps he was right.

Fate tends to clash with one another.

And to think that Riki was saving Aira? He was really just saving himself.

Reality is cruel.