Where the Paths Take Me [COMPLETED]

Chapter 5: Allies

Megumi slipped on her shoes and tapped it on the floor as a habit. She tidied her uniform before going out of the house.

"Megumi!" Kise jumped from the side of the wall. He jumped out so suddenly that they almost collided. He stopped just in time, but they face was close to each other.

"W-What are you doing here, Kise-kun?" Megumi covered her face with her hand.

"I told you I want us to go to school together, right?" he grinned. "I also made us some bento!"

He took the two wrapped lunch boxes from his lunch bag with pride.

"You can cook?" Megumi tilted her head to the side, examining the bento boxes. Noriko and her are usually the ones cooking so she hasn't seen Kise's cooking skills before.

"Surprised? I'm a man of many talents, you know. Learned this from watching Noriko-san make my bento yesterday."

When Megumi wanted to take one of the bento from him, he pulled them away mischievously. Megumi looked confused.

"I'll help keep these. Let's have lunch together!"

"Umm.." Megumi looked uncomfortable with the idea. "But they others will.."

"I don't care about the others. Whether Megumi is a nice person or not, that's up to me to see for myself."

That made Megumi feel glad but worried at the same time. He has only been here for a week. He doesn't know the extent of what these people will do to anyone involved with her yet. Megumi watched him put away the bento as she wondered if she should tell him or not.

He's nice. But once he knows the thing about her and her family, he might hate her like the rest.

After all, even friends can betray you.

"Come on, let's go!"

"Eh.."

Kise had grabbed her hand and led the way to school. Megumi blushed.

'How can he be so casual about holding a girl's hand like this?'

"K-Kise-kun.."

"Yeah? What is it?" He looked back at her.

"Umm.. My h-han—"

"Oh, careful. There's a puddle." Kise took a big step over the puddle and helped Megumi steady as she made a little jump over it. He never let go of her hand.

'He's too casual about this.'

It made it even harder for Megumi to tell him.

- - - - - -

It was still very early when they arrived at school and no one else was there yet. The school was eerie due to the lack of human presence. The two changed into their indoor shoes and went up to their class.

Kise was surprised to see that Megumi's desk and chair was missing.

"Eh." Kise looked over at Megumi who just put on a calm face.

"Don't worry. This happens all the time," Megumi said. She just turned her back and walked off somewhere.

"Wait, you mean yesterday wasn't the first time? How long has this been happening?" Kise caught up with her.

Megumi glanced up at him, hesitant to tell him. But it was no use denying it now so she just nodded.

"I'm going to look for them. You can just stay here," Megumi told him simply.

"Nope." Kise held her hand again and led the way. "Whoever did this might still be around. It's not safe so I'm going with you. Come on."

Kise remembered how her uniform was damp when she got to class yesterday. He wasn't sure if that was because of those bullies or something else but he wasn't going to risk it.