Amajiki x Reader: Blossoming Romance

Chapter 6: The Origins of Squid Girl

You hustled through the school courtyard Monday morning, running a bit later than usual because you had taken two more showers to try and get the smell out. A breeze blew a few flower petals across your path, withered and brown. Honestly, they probably weren't even Tamaki's petals, but it made you sad all the same. The whole class was already sitting in their seats when you walked in the door.

"Are the lunch ladies making sushi today?!" Someone emphasized.

'Dang, that was fast.' There was no way they even had time to smell you before that comment was fired.

"Hey, look! If it isn't squid girl!" One of the boys said. Tamaki felt his heart break, knowing he was fully responsible for the cruelty you would surely endure for the foreseeable future.

"Hah! SQUID GIRL!" You heard again. You noted Amajiki sitting in his seat, receiving no negative attention from the buffoons teasing you. He looked pained by the ridicule, but you could only assume, since he wasn't receiving it himself, that he was simply just empathizing strongly with your plight. Mirio had been right. All of this was much easier to endure when you knew you were taking it for someone else. The laughing and pointing escalated when you neared your desk, but while you were still in front of the class you smirked wide, opening your arms wide with a confident:

"Recognize!" Mirio smiled at this as you strutted back to your seat. You stopped on the way, looking down at the boy who switched the tallies. "Hey, dude. Did you hear? I heard the principle is taking that whole Homecoming prank thing so seriously, that if the culprits get caught, they wont stand a CHANCE of getting into a top high school." You jerked your eyebrows upward, shit-eating grin adorning your features. The boy in front of you opened his mouth, but no words came out. Before he could say anything, you turned around. "What do you think of that, Izabel?" Mirio bit down on his fist, muffling a laugh at how beautifully you called her out. You were definitely playing the part even better than he anticipated. Izabel raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"I think that they completely deserve that. What happened to you was cruel and heartbreaking to watch."

'Yeah, that's why you were smiling the whole time, bitch...' You thought it, but held your tongue, knowing a better opportunity would come. You sat back in your seat with a satisfied little smirk. You made sure to hold the gazes of all four guilty culprits during class. They knew that you knew...

Amajiki, on the other hand, wouldn't look at you for anything. He avoided your gaze like the plague, certain you hated him for this. He was sure you would take your actions back if you could; that you were in pain despite how amazing you were at hiding it. 'I didn't listen to her... and because of that she has to endure all of this... Not only what happened that night, but for every day that will follow... I don't even know how long this will haunt her...' He grimaced at his desk, knowing he was entirely to blame for your humiliation. 'I'm so so sorry!'

Lunchtime rolled around and Hado stopped to talk to you. However, she refused to sit with you, seeing as the smell was still a factor.

"Nejire, you're killing me!" You hollered melodramatically as she deserted you, but didn't actually harbor any hard feelings. You hadn't noticed Tamaki observing you from afar.

'She's even sitting alone now... this is so awful!'

But you weren't alone for long. Four familiar faces came up to you: the guilty ones. "Can I help you?" You asked snidely, sipping on your juice.

"You know why we're here." The leader girl said.

"You know, I'm surprised I didn't hear the sound of shackles jingling to warn me that you were coming..." They loomed over you at your threatening implications.

"Keep quiet or else!" The burly boy you spoke to earlier said.

"Oh no." You brushed his gripping hand off your shoulder. "That's not how this is gonna go down. You all are going to pay me off for my silence." You pulled out your phone. "Don't you know, the one who makes the threats has to be holding all the cards..." You held up the photo you had snapped of all four of them standing by the catapult. It was a little dark and blurry, but all of their faces were clearly identifiable. They quickly snatched your phone away. "Break it if you want." You shrugged. "Do you really think I'd be dumb enough to not back it up somewhere first?" The group all looked at each other and tossed your phone back.

"What do you want?" The other boy growled.

"Lucky for you, not much." You stood and looked into their faces with a serious aura. "I want you all to NEVER pick on Tamaki again." They eyed each other warily. "One of you does it and you ALL go down. Understand?"

"What's the catch?" One girl looked suspicious. "That can't be all you are really asking."

"Believe it or not, it is." You crossed your arms casually. They nodded at one another, appearing relieved but also a bit suspicious.

"Deal." They agreed to your terms.

"Pleasure doing business with you." You smirked as they turned. "It's not like people with shitty quirks like yours would get into a top school anyway."

"You wanna run that by me again?" The larger of the boys glared at you.

"You heard me." You really couldn't let them off without at least a shot to their egos. Just simply holding them to an honor code with Amajiki wasn't quite enough. The strong one pulled you up by the front of your shirt. One of the smarter girls tried to stop him, knowing they would be in huge trouble if they pissed you off. Honestly, you were trying to provoke them to get them in trouble.

"S-STOP!" Every eye traveled in the direction of the voice. A short distance away stood a familiar pointy-eared boy. Tamaki had seen the four of them take your phone and assumed they were picking on you. He couldn't allow himself to stand by while they threatened you. In the frozen silent stand-off between the six of you, the school bell rang, signaling lunch had ended.

You looked at the bully, who put you down, cussing under his breath as they left you alone. You wanted to thank Tamaki for trying to intervene, but when your eyes drifted over to him, you found that he had disappeared around the corner.

The same old teasing went on and on for the remainder of the day, nicknames and comments on your smell over and over. You brushed it off like all the others, figuring they would get sick of it eventually. Tamaki, on the other hand, was beside himself. He watched you take hit after hit and felt every wound with you, each one filling him with more guilt and shame. It's not like he was worth fighting for, so he couldn't figure out why you wouldn't just throw him a hateful gaze or a condemning comment. But each time he watched you ignore their cruelty as if it were nothing, as if you possessed some kind of magic shield that allowed you to deflect the piercing bullets from your peers. He found it graceful, inspiring. Amajiki felt a flicker of admiration within him, wanting to know where such a level of inner strength came from. He would ask if he could.

'Too bad she probably hates me...'