Refresh [Izaya X OC ff]

Chapter 1

Before I start my story between me and Izaya, I explain myself first.

I was a shy person, oddly very shy. I never liked seeing people, hence getting scared easily even by making brief contact. It was hard for me to say a word or make a smile at them.

Because of that, I didn't have a friend when I was in elementary school. My classmates didn't like me that much since I was a loner. They most likely assumed that I was too arrogant to greet and smile like everyone.

If only they know that they were so lucky to be able to communicate normally.

But despite all the loneliness, I got used to that kind of situation. I was fine with eating alone, playing alone, reading books alone, speaking to no one but my mom. I even reconsidered if I was an alien or not because human is supposed to interact as their main habits.

Even my mum was worried that I would have a hard time growing up later. I couldn't possibly keep doing it if I wanted to get a proper job. What if Mum would no longer be there beside me?

Thus, I spent three years in elementary school alone until someone important came into my life unexpectedly.

Her name is Tokugawa Azami.

She may share the same name with Tokugawa Ieyasu, but she isn't related to him. She approached me on lunch break when I was inside the class by myself. At that time, all of my classmates went out to play a game in the schoolyard but me. I chose to read the book and enjoyed the emptiness until she came in.

"Hi." She greeted me for the first time. How could she walk into the class as if she was a student there? "Why are you not playing with your classmates?"

As usual, I avoided her eye contact and continued to read my book. That was my method to avoid any communication with people. But, unlike all people that usually ran away once I ignored them, Azami kept standing in front of me, waiting for my reply.

"My name is Tokugawa Azami. You?"

I lifted my head a bit. I had no choice. "A-Asagao Keiko." I stuttered.

"Asagao as in a Morning Glory flower? Is that your family name?" I nodded. 

"That's kinda unique," Azami said bluntly. "But it has a beautiful meaning. So does your first name. You must be a graceful woman. I want to have a name like yours."

"But..." I hid my mouth behind my book. "Y-Your name is... quite interesting."

"You must be talking about my family name." Azami giggled. "But I don't like how people always think I'm from Tokugawa Ieyasu's bloodline. And, I never know the meaning of my first name. My parents said they got it from a flower. I don't get it." It's interesting how Azami was able to talk that much on our first meeting. 

Azami glanced at my classmates playing tag through the window. "Why don't you play with them?" She asked again.

"I don't want to," I answered with a weak voice. Why wouldn't she get away?

"Then..." Azami pointed at herself with her thumb, "want to play with me? I don't have friends too."

Because I didn't know what to say anymore and I couldn't refuse her offer somehow, I agreed. I couldn't remember exactly after that, but ever since that day, I formed a friendship with Azami. She was my first friend ever in my entire life.

Azami was the opposite of me. She's a cheerful and talkative person. She always smiled, laughed, and played with me like a tag and hide and seek. At first, I thought she would leave me away since I was a boring person (and probably rude as hell). But eventually, Azami succeeded in changing me. She taught me how to smile and laugh. She showed me so many fun games that I'd never played before. She never left me alone and always brought me with her every time. Azami and I were like twin sisters that couldn't be separated.

What a good time.

But what I wondered from Azami was how could a girl like her had fewer friends than I expected? I thought she was kidding when she said that she didn't have many friends, but it turned out she didn't lie. I was her only best friend, literally.

She said that not many people liked her because she was too talkative and hyperactive that people started to tired of being with her. Not to mention, Azami had a unique perspective in the way she thought so she always disagreed with people. It made Azami became sad. She told me that I was the first person who never got tired of her. I also the first one who seemed to understand the way she thinking, though the only thing I did was hearing and nodding like a robot.

But our friendship didn't last long. 

I still remember, on our last day at elementary school, I was walking to the school and expected her to wait for me by the school gate as usual. But she wasn't there.

Maybe she's already in her class, was my thought, trying to encourage myself. I felt so disappointed that she left me alone for the first time. It was so scary to walk alone at that time. People's voices were ringing in my ears. Their crowded presence kept messing up my head and thumping my heart violently. It took me a while to reach for my class.

Azami turned out to be absent. I didn't see her that whole day. Even during our graduation ceremony, she wasn't there with her parents. She looked so enthusiastic yesterday, yet why she didn't come?

Mum didn't know where she was too. From what I heard through some gossips by eavesdropping on her classmates, she moved to somewhere far from here in a sudden. No one knew where she moved to, probably to another town or another country.

I was angry. Why didn't she tell me about it? Why she left me so suddenly? What should I do in middle school without her? She'd promised me to attend the same middle school as me. How could she break the promise so easily?

Without Azami, I was back to the old me. The loner Keiko. The anti-social Keiko.

And so, the day that I'd been afraid of came so quickly. Mum was impatient enough to see me in middle school uniform so I felt bad if I didn't attend the first day just because of my cowardice.

In front of the Raira Middle School building, I felt so nervous, scared. Cold sweats ran through my forehead and my back neck. I gripped my bag so tightly that my finger went white.

What if I couldn't find a friend in this school? What if I have to be alone again as the last time? For the rest of my life?

Being friends with Azami made me realize that it's better to have a friend than none.

I never thought that I would meet a guy that will change my life.

A/N: I should have explained their name earlier. Asagao means Morning Glory flower literally while Keiko is taken from 'grace' and 'a child' kanji. Tokugawa is taken from Tokugawa Ieyasu surname (with all respect). Azami was supposedly a random Japanese name that I came up with, but after researching the meaning of it through Google Translate, it turned out it means a Thistle flower (that's a nice coincidence. Both of the OC have flowers name). But still, Azami is a fictional name. It's hard to write the kanji of it.