Monarch 1: Perseverance

3 - Katsuki and Haruna

The first week of school flowed by with little incident... If little meant Rekka constantly tormenting Haruna. Rekka never meant anything rude by it. But for some reason, she was just not clicking with Haruna... But Rekka wasn't giving up. Katsuki assumed that it was Rekka's outgoing personality clashing with Haruna's. Since the only person that Haruna interacted with on a regular basis was Katsuki (who had a very quiet and easy-flowing personality), Haruna didn't know how to deal with another outgoing person like Rekka.

If Haruna chastised Rekka, Rekka would double the chastisement. If Haruna tried to flow with Rekka and not react... Rekka would poke even more to get a reaction. It was honestly wearing Haruna out, and Katsuki knew it. Due to this, Haruna wanted as little interaction with Rekka as possible. But on the other hand, Katsuki was starting to get along with Kazuyuki.

Kazuyuki and Katsuki realized they have similar interests in shows and books. Katsuki never would have guessed that Kazuyuki was an anime and manga fan, but he's kept up with most of the recent releases. If you name it, Kazuyuki at least has a good idea of what it is. Every day, Kazuyuki and Katsuki tried to convince Rekka and Haruna to try to get along long enough to have lunch together. Just to see if they eventually found a way to mesh... But Haruna always refused.

Katsuki wasn't sure why Haruna was being so stubborn about this, though. Sure, meeting new people can be hard on Haruna, but she eventually found a way to click with new people. In fact, Haruna has already made a couple of new acquaintances in class. Mainly people that are also looking to join the soccer team. Coincidently, Rekka made friends with the same people for the same reason. But she wasn't nearly as outgoing with them as she was with Haruna. You could say she was being 'normal' around them. She would have normal conversations with them about soccer and what their plans were as far as training goes.

For some reason, it seemed like Rekka and Haruna would forever clash.

On Friday, Katsuki was able to convince Haruna to walk home with Rekka and Kazuyuki, since the four of them don't live far apart from each other. But the whole time, Haruna made sure to stay as far away from Rekka as possible and never spoke. But that didn't stop Rekka from trying to poke fun at Haruna, playfully. Haruna only spoke after Katsuki and her parted ways with the two.

"Gah, I can not stand her!" Haruna shouted when she knew they were out of earshot. "She's so flirtatious. How does she feel no shame?"

"I mean..." Katsuki grinned. "It's not like you don't get flirtatious with me every once in a while."

"That's different!" Haruna shouted. "We've known each other since middle school. And you know I'm kidding! With her, I really can't tell, and it's kinda freaky!"

Katsuki giggled. "For what it's worth, Kazuyuki says that's just the way she is. She really is a kind person at heart."

"Ugh..." Haruna slouched. "He's converting you..."

"Hm... Maybe..." Katsuki got lost in her head for a moment. Kazuyuki really was a gentle person. Katsuki figured that's why she was able to get along with him well. "Although I will say I would be having a hard time dealing with Rekka if she acted that way towards me."

Katsuki and Haruna made some small talk on the way to Katsuki's house. When they arrived, they found the house empty.

"Mom was heading to pick Dad up today!" Katsuki said as they took their shoes off. Katsuki noticed that all the shoes were missing. "Miyu must be out playing with her new friends."

"I'm surprised she made friends already!" Haruna said while following Katsuki into the living room. "She definitely didn't get the shyness that you had as a kid."