Blue Spring Tragedy | Kou Mabuchi x Reader

04: Steps

He didn't expect to see her again. Especially on the first day of school.

She stepped out of the house and locked the door, giving it a good push to make sure that it was secure. Kou stopped when he saw her, and he watched as she opened and closed the tall gate that separated her home from the outside world.

When she saw him, she jumped.

Kou didn't recognise her. But when she stared at him for a few more seconds than normal, he knew that she had recognised him somehow.

And that was when he realised who she was.

She opened her mouth to speak. "Tanaka-"

"Mabuchi," he said, voice deep and cold. It was nothing like what Tanaka sounded like before. "It's Mabuchi. Not Tanaka."

"Oh," (f/n) wasn't used to the new behaviour, especially when it came from someone who looked so familiar yet so different. "I must've gotten the wrong person, then. My apologies."

Despite the strange occurrence, she couldn't help but question if he was lying or not. He was wearing the same uniform as her, looked around the same age as her, and he looked similar to the Tanaka she used to know.

But Kou was still living in Nagasaki, wasn't he?

So if this really wasn't Tanaka... then who the hell was he?

"Are you going to Sakisaka High?" She asked, observing his familiar facial features.

"Yeah." He answered nonchalantly.

Judging from his posture, (f/n) assumed that this might as well not be the Tanaka Kou she knew from middle school. The Kou she knew was less like the other boys and more like a girl. Soft, gentle and with a nice voice that sounded like the faint ringing of the bells.

Although she knew that she liked him at that time, she would never admit it.

Why? It was because she couldn't. She simply couldn't say anything about her crush for him.

Because if she did, she could never forgive herself.

Because it would break her heart.

"I'm (l/n) (f/n). Pleasure to meet you." She took out her hand for him to shake. He didn't take it.

Ignoring him, she began to walk along the path, listening to her footsteps being overthrown by the ones behind her.

They walked in an awkward silence, the girl wishing for the moment to end. She listened to her footsteps as they were light and calm. The ones behind her were slightly heavier but calm too. The ones in front of her were fast and heavy, almost as if they were running after something.

Wait, the ones in front-

Someone crashed into her. She fell to the ground.

(F/n) opened her eyes and found herself on the floor, obviously impacted by the hit.

"Ow..." She grumbled, hand coming up to soothe the pain on her forehead. "This is gonna leave a bruise for sure."

"Oh, I'm really sorry about that!" A boy stood up from his place on the floor and reached out for her. Mabuchi watched this with ease.

She took his hand and lifted herself up, patting her skirt as she stood. "It's okay, at least you apologised."

"Well, are you two going to Sakisaka Highschool?" He asked, noticing the raven-haired boy behind her.

"Yeah, we're heading there right now."

"That makes sense... So is it okay if I go with you? I got a bit lost and thought I was running late." His face flushed red. "Sorry about that."

"It's fine. No need to apologise." (F/n) nodded. "I'm (l/n) (f/n), by the way."

"Kikuchi Touma." He smiled.

From that day onward, only two of the three ever spoke to each other again.