Lost in a Pursuit

"I'm a Sagittarius, by the way."

The very next day, I breezed through my Chemistry test. And so did Akashi too, I presumed. It was a piece of cake.

During lunchtime, as usual, I went with Miyano to the cafeteria to buy some food. After that, I went back to the classroom, ten minutes or so before lunchtime ended. She had gone to the washroom, so I was alone and feeling pretty bored. In a bid to ease my boredom, I glanced over at Akashi, who was using his phone. My eyes followed it. Very surprisingly, a phone strap of a yellow, little star was attached to it. What? Akashi-kun has phone straps? I never thought he would. But the star's cute.

And I was reminded of my bright yellow star keychain attached to my pencil case. It served as an lucky item for my important exams, and a memento...

The star moved a couple of centimetres to the left, then to the right, and to the left again. My eyes traced its every movement, unaware that Akashi was aware that I was staring at his phone.

"Shizuko-san, do you want this phone strap?"

"Huh?!" I jerked backwards, almost falling off my chair. I adjusted my spectacles and stared, very uptight, at him. "No, I don't want." I don't want to offend you or anything, sorry!

"Oh? You seem to have great interest in it."

"I...uh..." I was at a loss for speech. Should I tell him the real reason that I found it very out-of-character of him to own a phone strap? But I'm scared of making him angry! What should I say, dammit!

"It's nothing, really..." I said.

He looked at his phone strap and grabbed the star in between his fingers. "If you're wondering why I have this, it's due to one of my close friends. He's obsessive with horoscopes, and he'd insisted that I use this strap because it was my lucky item for today."

"Horoscope?! Your friend?" I stared at him, this time with much intent.

"Yes, although I may find this unnecessary."

"But horoscopes are always 99.99% accurate!"

He had a look of bemuse on his face. "If we constantly rely on horoscopes to bring us success, then it has no meaning."

"Well... yeah, that's true, but it's fun to read!"

Someone abruptly rested an arm on my shoulder. I turned back in an instant, scared at first but then realised it was just Miyano. "That's right! Ichi's a Taurus, I'm a Pisces, our friendship compatibility is as high as the Mount Everest!" She was back from the washroom. I sighed in relief.

"I'll be going back to my seat now, see you Ichi," Miyano announced as she walked away.

Then, Akashi let out a slight smile before detaching his star from his phone.

"Shizuko-san, you really remind me of someone."

He cast it to me. I caught it effortlessly with both my hands cupped. "Who?"

"Midorima. By the way, you can have it. It'll complement your pencil case's keychain."

"Oh, uh, thanks?" I regarded the tiny star, and noting its size, it felt really delicate. Carefully, I tucked it inside my pocket. Midorima? The very tall green-haired guy from the next class? He carries weird objects everywhere and everyday, doesn't he? "Oh and, I don't carry weird objects around everyday." Then I realised I was contradicting myself earlier. Oops. "I mean, I only read horoscopes for fun. So I don't take the lucky items seriously."

He didn't reply me. I shrugged.

"I'm a Sagittarius, by the way," was the last thing that he spoke to me today.