Distorted | Shimada Genji | g.s. / s.g.

act I: iv.

October 2057, day two.

"I'm sorry." Neala mumbles as soon as she takes her homeroom seat next to her new friend who has her back turned to the Reis girl and arms crossed. Kasumi did not budge and had no intention of accepting the cold girl's apology.

Neala, with pleading eyes staring into the back of Kasumi's head, stands up from her seat, "I made a mistake. I took my anger out on you, the one person who made me feel seen on the first day here. I am so very sorry." She profusely apologizes and did not regard the fact all attention was drawn to her as she leaned over to bow desperately in front of the girl who finally turned around.

The Sazuki girl's eyes grow soft as she beams, "It's okay, I understand." She latches her arms around Neala's neck and pulls the uneasy girl into her embrace. Neala, tense, obliges though she is not one who knows how to handle any sort of affection since it's foreign to her.

Kasumi pulls her head off of Neala's shoulder, "Did you make it home safe yesterday?" She sincerely checks on the girl to which Neala places her hands on her hips with a chuckle.

"I am here, aren't I?" She teases the seated girl who then gestures with a nod for Neala to sit down. Neala, now in her seat, glances over at the Shimada who is staring at her. The ombre haired girl smirks at the male and he looks away, proceeding to be distracted by something behind her with flushed cheeks. She clicks her tongue and turns her attention to her friend, "I became friends with Genji."

Kasumi's eyeballs practically pop out of her head, "No way... I thought he was annoying?"

Neala sighs and smiles as she shifts her attention to her fingers messing with her mechanical pencil, "He is." Kasumi narrows her eyes then smirks with crossed arms leaning over the desk and waiting for the girl to continue her train of thought. "He was so kind and helped me with advice on how to talk to you today." Neala shyly glances at the girl who nonstop gazed at her and continued, "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have grown the balls to talk to you right now."

Kasumi gleams in excitement by clasping her hands together and bringing her clasped hands to her cheek as if she is love sick, "How sweet of him! I knew he was a sweetheart." Neala hushes her friend and glimpses at the male who is intently looking at the girls.

Neala nudges the girl and whispers, "He is fluent in English." Kasumi places her hands over her flabby mouth and cheeks grow hot. Neala giggles and places a hand on her cheek before gushing once more quietly.

"He's not that bad," Neala confesses, containing her dreamy state. Kasumi eyes her suspiciously and peeps a sight at the Shimada who is writing with a pen. Neala weakly throws a punch, "Don't look at him!"

"He isn't even looking over here," Kasumi grumbles as she becomes instantaneously sick to her stomach. The girl remembers her first interaction with the Shimada during last school year. The boy was always fairly popular, but his attention skyrocketed during this year, his last year of high school. Deep down, Kasumi knew she became infatuated with Genji at first sight when he caught her before she fell. The group of wannabe gangster girls gave Kasumi a hard time during her first month of school. She felt protected in his presence and only continues to crave it ever since that moment.

"I wouldn't continue this behavior if I were you," Genji warns in Japanese with a fiery tone and throws imaginary daggers with his glacial eyes at the girls crowded around the helpless girl. She uplifts her head up skeptically at the muscular boy hovering over her tilted figure being held only by his arms. He telepathically catches her gaze and matches it but on the contrary, he glistens his contagious, lovesick smile at the hopeless girl. She widens her eyes and all the blood bolts to her once lightskin cheeks. She rapidly hoists herself up and scratches the back of her head then turns to the girls in front of the duo.

"Shimada, why do you play white knight?" Chiaki dispassionately scowls at him and turns her gaze to the flustered girl, "What? You fell in love? Don't be silly, he doesn't want you."

But she didn't listen. She was stuck in a frenzy by her overwhelming feelings as she soullessly looked at the girls. Without a second thought, she turned on her heel and replayed that moment in her head for God knows how long that day.

She never grew the courage to confront him or build a fire with him. She feared what her friends would do to her, and she didn't know how to talk to boys. Hell, before Genji, she figured she had a phobia of boys since she would have an outburst or rosy cheeks around a good looking guy who had any sort of interaction with her.

Neala narrows her eyes at her friend's swift mood change, "You okay?" Kasumi nods and plasters a grin that attempts to become real. Neala frowns but disregards the matter. The rampant thoughts in her mind only consume her as she listens to the teacher who freshly entered the classroom.

Did I do something?

Maybe she finds me annoying.

She was still angry from before but didn't want to say anything.

Neala lays her head down on her desk in frustration as the thoughts continue to grow. Her phone murmurs in her pocket to which she lowly growls and sloppily unlocks her phone.

Genji
You are blowing steam out of your ears.

The girl whips her head around to glare at the boy but bulges her now soft eyes at the cheeky boy grinning and lowkey waving his hand at the girl. She playfully rolls her eyes with a clear mind.

Neala
ur nose is big.

Neala secretly spares an eye to the boy promptly after sending her silly message. The boy's eyes protrude and his jaw drops silently. She is hammered with the all too familiar giddy feeling in the pit of her stomach since she strained herself to push it away just the other day.

Genji
So is your forehead.

Neala
r u blind? it's four fingers.

Genji
In what? Width? We know.

Neala
lil man.

Genji
You are practically a whole foot shorter.

Neala
and i can still kick ur ass, shimada

Genji
Do you know who I am?

Neala
all talk, all bark, no bite ;)

Genji
You're lucky you're a girl.

Neala
gasp, is tht a threat?

Genji
I didn't even say anything.

"Eh ehm"

"Neala Reis, what had occurred during the Showa Period during 1956?" A voice reverberates in Tagalog off the walls surrounding her brain. Neala whips her line of sight at the teacher and telepathically feels numerous pairs of eyes on her. She hums angelically, flipping to the second page of notes in her notebook and skims till she smiles in satisfaction to find the treasure.

Standing up, she recites off the page, "By the end of 1956, The Japanese government agreed with the terms compromised with the United Nations." She tilts her head confidently at her teacher even if her Japanese was shaky. Her teacher nods with a warning glance. Neala takes her seat and blows nervous air from her lips.

She looks subconsciously in Genji's direction and spots him smirking as he writes down notes from the continuous lecture spoken by the teacher. Little to her knowledge, the pair of eyes she felt burning holes on the side of her head belonged to none other than her friend, Sazuki Kasumi.