Maple Leaf (OHSHC x Photographer!Reader)

Ch.2 Pitiful Girl

'Mom's gonna be so mad if she found out about this!' (Y/N) internally cried at the prospect of her mother scolding her after learning of such an incident. She always hated being scolded by her parents, so she tried to hide anything that would make them do so. Doesn't mean she was a bad kid, but some things are better left unsaid.

Upon going outside, (Y/N) nearly got turned around. All the hallways looked the same with the same designs. She got out to the pond and slipped off her shoes. Setting her foot inside the cold water made her shiver immediately. 'Whatever, grin and bear it!'

'Just get this over with,' (Y/N) started picking things out of the water and setting them down onto the grass. Spreading them out so the sun's rays would dry them out. Her heart trembled at the idea of being caught, her hands worked as quickly as they could. As she did this, her mind conjured a memory where her friend and her were playing in a river.

The river was so cool on that hot summer day, the little girls giggled and splashed each other with water. Her mother yelled from the house for them to come back over, food was almost done cooking. But (Y/N) and her friend refused to stop until Raspberry slipped on some of the mossy rocks during a chase.

She immediately burst into tears and (Y/N) rushed over, tripping as well but muffling her cries as she helped her friend up. When they returned to the campsite in tears, her mother scolded them and had them change before setting their wet clothes on one of the unused benches in the sun. It took hours for them to dry.

"Hey," (Y/N) jolted at the call coming from behind her. She nearly slipped but just as she rebalanced herself, a hand grabbed her arm and helped her steady herself. "Woah, are you okay?"

"Ah, yeah. You are?" (Y/N) held a wet wallet in her hand and was just about to look inside of it to see who owned the bag. Turning her head to look at the person, she immediately noticed his blue lavender blazer, white undershirt, black tie, and black pants. (Y/N) assumed this was the boy's uniform. Unlike the girl's earlier, that was yellow and puffy.

"Fujioka... Haruhi, what about you?"

"My name is (L/N) (Y/N), it's nice to meet you, Fujioka." (Y/N) flipped open the wallet after shooting a smile to her helper. She looked at the ID in the wallet and saw the photo, then looked back up at Haruhi. "Ah... This is yours."

She handed the wallet over, it having been the last thing she needed to pick up. She quickly hopped out the water and shook her feet off. Slipping her socks and shoes on, she stood up and pointed toward the drying bunch of items. "I saw some girl throw your things out the window and thought I'd help pick them up. Sorry, I couldn't do much besides this."

"No, it's alright." Haruhi sighed and pulled out the cash they had. It was soaking wet and unusable. (Y/N) paused as she watched the scene. She swung her satchel over and pulled out her wallet. She pulled out the same amount of cash and handed it to Haruhi.

"Here, you can have it. I'll take this in return." (Y/N) took the wet money and held it in her hand. She gave Haruhi a smile and began to walk off. As she entered the building again, her shoulder bumped against another person. She noticed his height and immediately was startled. She bowed and said "I'm sorry" and rushed off. She didn't manage to catch a glimpse of what he looked like.

-

A sigh forced its way past (Y/N)'s lips.

Her first day at school wasn't so much of a mess as when she went to finalize her registration. She managed to get through her classes, saying she was present and now... She had to catch up on all the assignments for the lessons she missed. Luckily, she wouldn't have to redo the entire school year, but simply catch up to her class.

Thinking about it, she tapped her desk in the empty classroom and felt bad for the teacher. Her having to do old assignments meant more work for the teacher. (Y/N) already spoke with the woman and she seemed a bit... tired. The class was ultimately uneventful except for the stares she received from the other students.

No one spoke to her...

Just as she closed the door behind her, (Y/N) heard sobs echoing down the hall. She slipped the papers she had into her satchel and chased after the sound. Passing girls who stood by the windows, their hands covering their mouths and averting their eyes. Whispering amongst themselves, (Y/N) felt more determined to follow this weeping person. Upon turning the corner, she was met with a barren hallway.

A lone red haired girl wiping her tears away with her feeble hands. (Y/N) felt a tinge in her heart as she saw her. Then she approached and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, you okay, fire girl?" (Y/N) rubbed the crying girl's shoulder as her whole body shook with sobs. Reddie looked up at her with eyes of slight indignation.

"What did you just call me?"

In a soft voice, (Y/N) answered. Still patting the girl's shoulder. "You have red hair, it's as beautiful as fire. You looked like the embodiment of a goddess of fire when we first met. Are you okay? What happened?"

"It's none of your business..." Reddie sniffled and tried to force herself to stop crying. This would prove futile, her tears kept spilling from her eyes. She became more and more embarrassed as she realized she couldn't stop crying. (Y/N) reached into her bag and pulled out a tissue from a little plastic casing. Offering the tissue to the crying girl, she continued to remain close.

"Yeah, sure. You can say that." (Y/N) pondered for a moment. Deciding whether or not she should say what she wanted to. She did. "No matter how I see it, I really am involved. I've meddled too much here. I think I deserve to know what happened."

Reddie sniffled, hesitant to blow her nose into the tissue. Her face screwed into one of wariness, her nose scrunched up. "I don't even know you..."

"(Y/N) (L/N), a new transfer." (Y/N) handed another tissue over, eventually deciding to grab another tissue and help the girl wipe her tears that started drying now. "It's nice to meet you... uh, what's your name?"

Reddie cleared her throat and declared into the empty hall. "Ayanokoji Seika, it's shocking that someone like you has not heard of me! My father–"

"Hold it right there, missy," (Y/N) laughed and tapped the tissue to Ayanokoji's cheek. "I'm sure your father is very interesting, but you should focus on yourself right now." It was only then that she realized Ayanokoji was drenched in water. The uniform being slightly a darker color than her own. "Hey, what happened? Why is the uniform wet? Shouldn't we head to the nurse's office? You're not injured? I don't want you to get sick all of a sudden."

Ayanokoji, having been bombarded with questions, had a change in expression. Her eyebrows furrowed and she pressed her lips together. She shook her head and said, "I should return to my residence." Her hand bumped (Y/N)'s away, but the girl looked around and took hold of Ayanokoji's hand.

"Here, let's get a towel from the nurse's office. You can be on your way afterwards, okay?" (Y/N)'s lips stretched into her smile, her eyes conveying her concern for the girl she just met.

"Why are you... so nice to me?" Ayanokoji's voice trembled a bit. Her eyes were turned to the ground, inside her were waves of conflict. Even as she was tugged along, she didn't refuse.

"..." (Y/N) wondered how to respond. She turned her head, looking over her shoulder. "I like you." This was the best response she could muster. "I just want to help. I can't pretend to not see a girl crying. Come on, let's go."

Ayanokoji finally felt her tears stop. Her embarrassment and humiliation from earlier still weighed heavily on her mind. But just for a moment, holding this strange girl's hand, she felt she could breathe a bit more lightly than before.