Unlovable

Chapter Five

It had been a week since Kagami's mother had come home and it was the closest thing to torture Kagami had ever experienced. With every day that the director hadn't called begging her to come back, Midori's temper had increased. And just like every other time something didn't go her way, she took it out on her daughter. Unable to even escape to the quiet of her room, Kagami had been forced to endure hours of her mother's ranting.  Her mother went through the same speech of how Kagami had ruined her life over and over again and Kagami had to sit there, not even betraying a flicker of emotion. Even when her mother slapped her, she didn't allow herself to do so much as wince.

She had been keeping such a tight rein on her emotions that as a result, when Kagami walked into her classroom she looked even more unapproachable than usual. Not that it really mattered. Kagami had been so desperate to escape from her mother that she had left for school even earlier than usual. Not even the girl with messy hair, whose name she now knew was Haruhi Fujioka, had arrived yet. That was a good thing though. Now, Kagami had a chance to be alone, even if only for a few moments, and she really needed to be alone. The strain of having her mother at home for so long was starting to get to her.

The solitude didn't last long though. Almost as soon as she sat down at her desk, the sound of soft footsteps echoed outside the door. Looking up, Kagami watched as , walked into the classroom. She smiled absentmindedly in Kagami's direction and then sat down at her own desk. 

Normally Kagami would have glared at anyone who smiled at her to discourage them from doing it again, but Fujioka probably wouldn't have noticed anyway. She always seemed to be off in her own little world and never really payed attention to the people around her. Besides, deep inside her heart, Kagami actually liked Fujioka, if only just a little bit. They shared a lot of the same habits and read a lot of the same books. If Kagami hadn't known that no one wanted to be her friend, she would have tried talking to her.

Instead, Kagami just sat at her desk and waited for class to begin.

**********

By the time lunch finally came around, Kagami's dark mood had faded considerably. That didn't mean anyone besides Fujioka was brave enough to stay in the classroom for lunch though. It just meant that Kagami was back to looking unapproachable instead of like she was going to murder anyone who dared to look in her direction.

Pulling out her bento and chopsticks, Kagami prepared to eat in the silence of the classroom. However, before she could take a single bite, a soft and familiar voice made her look up.

"Uh, Hello."

Standing hesitantly in the doorway was the third year girl Kagami had helped the other day. She was looking at Kagami with a shy smile on her face, which was a bit puzzling. She had run off, practically in tears, because of what Kagami said, so it made no sense for her to be smiling like that. In fact, it made no sense that she was here at all! Kagami had been certain that she would never see that girl again!

"I've been trying to find you all week." The girl's soft voice interrupted her confused thoughts. "But, well, I realized that I ran away the other day without finding out who you were. I didn't even know which class you were in."

"Why were you looking for me?" Kagami kept her voice neutral, but she was really curious.

"I wanted to properly thank you for rescuing me." The girl blushed and looked down. "I didn't do a very good job of it the first time."

"I already told you that you didn't need to thank me." Kagami said bluntly. "I never meant to save you. Those girls were just annoying."

"Still, you really helped me out." The girl persisted.