𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘦

unbeatable kuroi! defeated by...?

"Don't you know any shame?!" It is the incessant arguing of Kyo and Yuki that interrupts a casual supermarket scroll. This is Kyo yelling the loudest, of course.

"Yelling outside of a shop... don't you know any shame?" the calm but condescending voice of Yuki replies.

"Let's step outside, you girly type!"

"We already are outside, stupid cat!"

"Aish! Can you guys stop arguing?" I walk outside, holding shopping bags. "I thought we were supposed to be helping Tohru-kun shop? Give our ears a break, we cook for you all the time!"

"Oh, I don't mean it like that... It's fine, it's completely okay I wasn't paying attention.." Tohru says.

I look at Kyo and Yuki from the side with a menacing look before lethargically tripping over my own two feet the moment I start walking, face-first into the snow.

Well, that gets them along for the moment, as they start laughing at me and I lift myself partially to wipe my face and shake out my bangs.

"Are you okay?" someone asks. It's not Tohru, Kyo, or Yuki either but a total stranger in front of me, holding out their hand. Upon further examination, I notice it's a boy with a dark mullet and a warm smile, eyes brighter than my own.

My eyes narrow, and instead of taking his hand with my own, I point at him straight in the face. "You're the kid that ran into me on the first day of school!"

"Oh, so you remember me, huh? Sorry about that, I was in a rush..." the boy says.

"Running so fast that you clip a little girl. You knocked me over!" I stand on my own, dusting off my coat. "Could have been dangerous, ya know!"

"You're Sohma Kuroi, right?"

The damn newspaper club. "Yeah, that's right," I awkwardly reply.

"I see... you're smaller than the photos but you're really cute." The boy smiles, scribbling something on his receipt. "It's like a fun size. I'm Tomoya Kaito. Here's my number."

"Huh?" I snatch the paper from his hand, and in the process, one of my bags rip from moving so violently. All the groceries spill out while I stand there embarrassed, turning red from my head all the way down to my fingertips. My hair isn't the only strawberry... "H-h-hey, I can't accept this, we just met. Why are you giving it to me?"

He looks at me blankly before beginning to chuckle. "Why? To get to know you better, of course. Are you really the sweet dream the newspaper club chalks you up to be? I'm curious."

"It's really nice of you to hit on our little birdbrain, but we have to go..." Yuki puts a hand on my shoulder in a cool manner, picking up the dropped vegetables and putting them in less full bags. He whisks me away.

"See you at school, Kuroi!" Kaito calls.

"Don't call her so casually!" Kyo snaps.

"My hero," I mutter to Yuki.

It isn't that much later that Kyo and Yuki began arguing again.

Tohru looks dismayed as we walked along back to the house. I guess her new years wish didn't come true...

"That's it! I'll fight you with my fists, girly boy!" Kyo drops his groceries, putting up his arms against Yuki.

Yuki shoves leeks into his mouth as a defence. Then he picks up the bags lying about and heads on his way again.

"That's disgusting. Why would we eat that now?" I ask, taking the leaks from him and putting it in one of my bags.

Yuki doesn't protest, not having the chance to as he lets out a cough. Tohru and Kyo don't hear, talking among themselves and I don't have much concern for the kid anyway. If Nanami breaks into my house one more time... But I guess I'll return to the store to be safe.