Jiro ate cereal. He ignored the screaming like he always does. After he finished, he grabbed his bag and walked out the front door.
"Hi, Jiro," Lucy said.
He nodded and walked past her without saying a word. He sped walked down the sidewalk into an alleyway near the school.
"I-I got the money..." He said.
3 guys walked up to him. One held a bat.
"Good. Hand it over now."
Jiro took the cash out of his pocket and handed it to one of them.
"Great. Now I won't beat you up... really really bad. I'll just beat you up."
The guy snapped and the one with the bat ran up to Jiro and swung at him. The bat slammed into his chest and knocked him into the wall. He fell onto the ground while blood started dripping out of his nose.
"P-Please stop..." Jiro weakly begged
"Shut your dirty mouth." He kicked Jiro in the face.
The blood from his nose splattered on the wall.
Jiro laid on his back and stared into the sky as they laughed at him. They laughed for bit until one of them was interrupted by a giant cut on his back. The other two guys turned around. There was a girl standing there holding a pocket knife. She had a mask covering her mouth. Her long green hair went down to her stomach.
"Drop the money and leave," She said.
One of them huffed and ran towards her. He swung his arm and missed. She grabbed his arm and shoved the pocket knife into it. She started it pushing it towards his hand. He screamed as the cut got bigger and bigger. She pulled the knife away and kicked him back.
"Drop the money and leave," She said again.
The last one threw the money at her and ran for it. The other guy passed out on the floor. The one with the cut on his back had already left. The girl and Jiro were now alone. She walked over to Jiro and kneeled down next to him, looking down at his face.
"T-Thank you..." He said.
She pulled her mask down and smiled.
"Of course." She grabbed his hand and stood up, pulling Jiro up as well.
He stumbled and almost fell. She grabbed his arm again before he could fall.
"My name is Hanae. You're Jiro right?"
"Y-Yeah... How'd you know?"
"We have the same class together."
"R-Right. Sorry. I-I don't talk to people..."
"I know. You're just a sad shy nerd who can't hold a conversation with anybody that isn't family."
"Y-You didn't have to be m-mean about it."
"Come on. Class starts in 30 minutes. We gotta hury up."
She dragged him out of the alley and over to the school. People stared at Jiro as he was pulled by one of the most prettiest girls in school. People started whispering. At this rate, rumors would spread. They stopped in front of her locker by the door. She opened it up and grabbed her shoes. She didn't mind the 3 love letters that fell out.
"A-Aren't you going to read those?"
"I get about 50 a week. I don't feel the need to read them. I stopped after my 135th love letter."
Jiro walked over to his locker and changed shoes. Hanae ran over to him.
"Ready?" She tilted her head.
Jiro nodded as he picked up his bag and started walking down the hallway. She walked next to him. This kind of annoyed him.
"Rumors are g-gonna start."
"Hm? What type of rumors?"
"Y-You know... Popular girl hanging out w-with a stupid freshman like me.."
"I see. You're scared people are gonna think we're dating, huh?"
Jiro blushed and looked away. This is truly the face of a stupid main character in a poorly written romance anime. The cliche blush and turn. Classic.
"Well I don't care about what they say. You seem pretty cool, so I don't mind if people make up rumors about us."
Jiro bumped into a wall.
"Alright class," The teacher said. "Yall will be working on this project with one person of your choice."
Jiro hated class projects. Nobody wants to work with him. Mostly because he doesn't want to work with other people. His teacher is aware of this so he lets Jiro work alone.
"Jiro, I'll let you work alo-"
"JIRO! Let's work together!" Hanae yelled out at him.
The class went silent. Everybody looked at Hanae.
"What? I wanna work with Jiro." She rolled her eyes and walked over to Jiro.
"Ok then..." The teacher was shocked. "Jiro and Hanae will be working together I guess."
She pushed a table next to Jiro and sat down.
"Alright, partner. Let's get workin'!" She smiled at him.
Jiro felt his mind slowly spiraling. There was so much to ballance at the moment.
Over the past month, Jiro and Hanae spent a lot of time together. Every conversation they ever had was started by Hanae. Not that he had a problem with her, it's just that he's way too shy to start one. They've already visited each others houses. Jiro felt close to her. She made him feel safe. She really made him feel happy. His depression finally vanished.
Until it came back one day.
Jiro stared at the lake that glistened in front of him. The sun was setting and the view was beautiful.
"Isn't this view beautiful?" Hanae asked
She read his mind. It didn't take a genius to realize how pretty the sunset looked.
"Yep."
"Don't you just cherish life?" She asked.
"Not really."
"Life is beautiful."
"Meh."
"The lake is beautiful." He got on top of the railing of the bridge they were standing on.
She sat down and her legs started to kick back and forth. Jiro already had his arm grabbed her belt.
"Scared I'll fall?"
"Yes."
"You're so cute. Just admit you love me."
"Meh."
"Meh is better than no." She teased. Her phone and wallet slipped out of her pocket and landed onto the bridge floor.
"Hanae I-" Jiro began to speak but was cut off.
She fell foreward. Of course Jiro couldn't pull her back. He's weak after all. Instead, he just fell with her. The wind felt good hitting both of their faces. She put her hand onto Jiro's face and kissed him. Jiro's face turned beet red. Then they slammed into the water.
