ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ʙᴀᴄᴋɢʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ | ꜱᴀɪᴋɪ ᴋ ꜰᴀɴꜰɪᴄ

𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟞

"Stop staring," The boy said with his mouth full of coffee jelly, his face expressionless. 'He talks?'

I looked away quickly, examining the floor as I fiddled with my finger, nervous to confront his intimidating stare.

All I could mutter was a quiet, "Sorry," before I averted my eyes up to him, only to be met with a black lampost. "Right."

Quickly, I searched for the Strawberry Boy, whipping from side to side. Finally, I noticed him already crossing the street so I lunged towards him. A car honked at me twice before I shuffled off to the other side, still running after Saiki.

I'm pretty sure he noticed my restless panting because he stopped for a second, an annoyed expression drawn on his usually blank face. I smiled sheepishly, humiliated.

"I'm walking this way anyway," I announced. His eyes were still squinted and his mouth was still shaped into a deep frown. "So... I thought we could walk together maybe..." I muttered hesitantly. 'God that was stupid.'

Shortly after, the strawberry head resumed walking in the same direction. I followed, slightly shrugging at the lack of a response. 'I shouldn't expect much from him anyway'.

Soon, I caught up to him and we walked past the shops and houses of the neighborhood together in synch. The soft trampling of our footsteps against the ground and the twittering of the birds calmed me down.

I watched the canvas of the sky that was painted with a subtle gradient of the shades of amber. The orange pigment dripped from the sun, the colour fading away slightly as it set. Blinding us both through the opaque clouds of cotton, I breathed slowly, admiring the view. It was a sight for sore eyes. But so was the boy next to me.

I soon found myself drawing away from the sunset and watching his right hand droop beside me. Examining the ring that the Strawberry Head was still wearing on his right hand, I was perplexed. It was the exact ring that stopped him from listening into anyone's thoughts.

'Why does he still have it on? We've left the public space, haven't we?' I wondered, inching closer, still eying it.

Suddenly, his right hand flinched under the tension in the air. I hadn't even realised how close I had gotten to his figure. As soon as I did, I shuffled over to the other side of the pavement; the side nearest the road.

'I hope he doesn't think that I know beacuse that would draw too much suspicion towards me.' I worried.

Zapping cars zoomed past me as I carried on walking absent-mindedly. I gasped as I felt a car skid past me, rushing out of the way to avoid hitting my hand. The driver yelled at me for walking too close to the road. In response, I just stuck my tongue out then caught up to Saiki, chuckling quietly at the situation.

I marched, proud of myself for being such a savage, when suddenly someone grabbed my hand and pulled me to the other side.

"Hey!" I scolded as I tried stabilising myself before realising who it was. His expression was nonchalant as always, his stare was glaring as always but he had a subtle ghost of a smile on his face. That was unusual. My face gradually turned from annoyed to surprised to proud again.

'Who knew his smile, out of everyone's, would be so damn contagious?' I thought to myself as I grinned.

I thanked him for saving me from an accident back there whilst admitting that I often got distracted so I wasn't very self aware. He simply nodded and began walking again. I shrugged, joining him.

After a little while, we finally arrived at my house. I opened my mouth to announce that I would have to split off from him but Saiki made a sharp turn before I could...

"We're neighbours!?" I squealed.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆