childhood friends | nishimura niki

okayama vs seoul

     "play time! have fun and be kind to each other!" the teacher dismissed as the young students ran off outside to play with toys and on the playground. 

      however, bora, chose to stay inside and play with the lego blocks. bora never really had friends. it was the 2nd week of 1st grade, and everyone had already established their friend groups. 

     staring at bora, was a little boy. nishimura riki. he had just moved from okayama to tokyo, and just like bora, had noone to play with. noticing she was all alone, he wondered. does she have no friends either? but she isn't new to school... is she?

     and just like that, nishimura riki had sat down next to her and grabbed some legos from the bucket. as bora turned to look at riki, she was confused. she noticed him playing with the legos. 'does he like legos too? he doesn't talk to anyone.. maybe he like his peace and quiet?' millions of thoughts raced through bora's head. she decided to get up and walk outside to get on the scooters. as she sat on the pink one, which was a 2-seater, she felt a weight increase on the scooter. 

     confused, she turned around to see riki, sitting on the back part of the scooter. had he followed her? riki was staring at her, his face looked cold and intimidating, like a puma. bora didn't let that thought linger for too long, as she suddenly spoke softly. "hi, my name is bora."

     riki continued to stare, before looking at the ground in silence. after a minute of quiet, bora spoke again. "what's your name?". "nishimura". she smiled at him. "you're new here, right?" she questioned, starting to get more comfortable. "yeah." he coldly replied. there was clearly some work to be done to build a friendship. 

     "ooh, where did you move from?". "okayama." with these cold replies, bora knew she was getting no where. "i moved from korea a few months ago as well. this is my first year in tokyo.." bora stated to try and get a conversation from him. when riki gave no reply to her attempt, she internally sighed. 

     did he not want to be friends? maybe he just wanted to get on the scooter.. "well.. it was nice to meet you nishimura." she smiled before heading to the playground. riki looked up to see her leaving in the direction of the playground. he immediately got off the scooter and followed her to the playground. when bora went to get on the slide, she noticed a presence next to her. "oh, hi nishi.." she spoke, shocked to see him here too. he nodded, and followed her around for the rest of the day. 

     a few months later, when the class had finally began to break out of their friend groups and talk to one another, riki and bora had gotten more comfortable. riki wouldn't reply so cold anymore. 

     "nishi! wait up!" niki turned around to see bora chasing after him as he walked to class. he chuckled. "why are you chasing me? are you trying to kill me?" he yelled as he ran faster. when he finally arrived to the classroom, bora grabbed his wrist. "why did you run faster? you jerk!" bora spoke brokenly, out of breath from running. "not my fault you couldn't catch me." he smirked as the two walked into the classroom, with bora glaring at him.