Unlovable

Chapter Eight

Why did those twins have to be so nosy? Walking down the hall, Kagami tried to fight off the irritation she was feeling. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? She didn't like talking to them. It made her feel like a little girl again and she was not that person anymore. She couldn't be, not if she didn't want to fall apart. If the twins would just leave her alone she would be completely fine!

As she approached the courtyard where she and Hotaru had been eating lunch Kagami slowed her steps. She needed to be calm. Hotaru had already shown that she was incredibly perceptive and Kagami didn't want her to see how disturbed her emotions were. She put her calm mask firmly in place, relaxed her posture, and then continued on to the small courtyard.

Hotaru was sitting on the bench by the hollyhock with her lunch on her lap. But instead of eating it she was playing with her chopsticks listlessly. She looked sad. Had those girls been bullying her again? As soon as she thought that, Kagami felt a surge of anger rise up inside her. Hadn't those girls learned their lesson? Maybe she should have a talk with them about what would happen if they bullied Hotaru again.

Wait, why did she care? Kagami blinked. She and Hotaru weren't even friends, they just ate lunch together. There was no reason for her to get so worked up just at the thought of Hotaru being bullied. It was probably her hatred of all bullies that had made her so mad. That had to be it. There was no way it was because she cared about Hotaru. Definitely not. Once she had this settled in her mind Kagami was able to continue walking towards Hotaru with perfect equilibrium.

As she approached, Hotaru looked up and the sad look on her face disappeared completely. Instead, a brilliant smile took its place. Placing her uneaten lunch next to her on the bench, Hotaru hopped up and almost ran towards her. Kagami was afraid for a moment that the older girl was going to try to hug her but to her relief Hotaru simply bounced up and down in excitement.

"I'm so glad you showed up!" She exclaimed. "I was starting to think that you weren't going to come because you decided that you didn't want to eat lunch with me anymore."

So she was the reason that Hotaru had looked so sad. Now Kagami was a lot more irritated with the twins than she had been earlier.

"I got held up by an annoying pair of twins." Kagami just barely kept the bitterness from her voice.

Hotaru's eyes widened. "You don't mean the Hitachiin twins do you?"

"How do you know who they are?"

"They're both in the host club so they're pretty famous."

Those two were in the host club? Kagami didn't believe it.

"And people actually go to see them?" She knew the disbelief crept into her voice but she couldn't help it.

"Yeah, they're really popular because of their displays of brotherly love." Hotaru crinkled her nose. "But I don't really like that sort of thing."

Brotherly love? That sounded really . . . disturbing. Kagami hoped that they never did anything like that in the classroom while she was there because she knew it would give her nightmares. She was also really glad that Hotaru didn't like it so that she wouldn't have to hear any detailed descriptions about what brotherly love actually entailed.

"I'm surprised anyone could like that sort of thing." she said tartly as she started walking towards the bench they sat on to eat lunch. A horrified gasp from Hotaru drew her up short.

Confused, she looked back towards the older girl and raised an eyebrow. Hotaru was staring aghast at her left leg. Oh, right. Kagami had completely forgotten that she had blood on the back of her stocking. People had noticed it when she walked into class but after she gave everyone her death glare no one had dared mention it to her, not even the twins, so it had slipped her mind.