mottainai | h. sakura

四

"Yaegashi?"

"Present!"

"Hiroko?"

"Present!"

"Narahashi?"

"Present!"

A plump girl with a low ponytail sat at the very back of the classroom, nervously bit her lower lip, her eyes quietly glancing to her right, expecting that her best friend would magically appear and sit down by her side. However, the spot beside her is still empty and no sign of Haruna seems to come. She has spammed her with multiple messages and phone calls but some time past ten in the morning, she stopped replying. She has already missed the entrance ceremony but that wasn't much of a big deal, to her at least. What could have caused her to miss an event? She wonders.

"Miss Habakiri" Miss Nakatsuka, a woman with olive skin and hair tied into a low ponytail calls her attention. "May I ask why are you opening the door?"

Madoka, the plump girl with a low ponytail and clad with Sacred Heart's uniform blinks her eyes twice before chuckling softly. "The air in the back is quite humid, miss!" She lies, raising a hand and fanning it against her face. "I'll leave the door open for a bit just to cool myself!"

Miss Nakatsuka stared at Madoka for a solid second before diverting her attention back to the class list. Madoka could only let out a sigh of relief, glad that her teacher has bought her lie. Sinking back down in her seat, she closes her hand into a fist before resting a hat on top her hand, slowly raising it up a little.

"Tachibana?"

"She's here, miss!" Madoka spoke, using her free hand to point at the still empty spot besides her.

Miss Nakatsuka lets out a sigh through her nostrils, her shoulders dropping to her sides. "I'm sure you know one of the rules of the school, Miss Tachibana. Hats off."

Madoka gulps what feels like a thick lump in her throat, nervously chuckling to herself. "I-It's alright, Haruna. We all do get bad hair days sometimes..."

Slowly, just as Madoka is about to remove the hat off her closed fist hand, Haruna crouched from the outside of the classroom, sliding her bag inside the parted door before sliding through the gap and to her seat. Quietly sliding her head up to fit the hat on top of her head. Sitting up straight, she removes Madoka's hat from her head and smiles at Miss Nakatsuka brightly.

"Would you at least tell me why you're late?" Madoka asks as soon as third period ends. In reeling is their fifteen minute break before fourth period commences. "When the teachers were asking me where you were during the ceremony, I lied and said that you're stuck in the bathroom with a diarrhea!"

With a pout on her lips, Haruna presses both of her palms together and hangs her head low towards Madoka.

"As an apology, let's go to Cactus after class!" Madoka beams, showing to Haruna flyer from the bakery. "Apparently, they're most popular item on the menu are their stuffed breads! Hopefully they have a yakisoba bread!"

As a response, Haruna smiles brightly and nods her head.

"HARUNA!"

Not only did Madoka and Haruna turn their head to look outside their window, but all the girls from wherever they are currently at, turned their heads towards the source of the voice. The ones who remained inside their classroom surged into the hallway to look outside the window. Slowly did the two of them went outside of their classroom and peered out the window.