The Summer When We Met

Chapter 3; Camp? Camp!

Erza POV

I waited in the middle of Crocus for Mira. She said to meet at 10am but it's already 11!

"She's late." I mumbled when suddenly..

"Erza! Erza! Oh my mavis- I cant- oh I haven't run for 22 years and I'm only 20," Mira panted while resting her palm on her knees.

Beads of perspiration rolled down her forehead but she quickly stood up and smiled at me. "Ah good morning." She greeted.

She was holding onto a black bag filled of the flyers I assume. She opened the bag and handed me half the stack. "Be back by 1pm! Then we can have lunch together." She said before running off again.

"Bye Mira!" I said, even though she was far gone already.

I hugged the flyer just like I did with my school books and began walking around Crocus. I didn't know handing out flyers would be so difficult. People kept ignoring me when I tried to approach them and I felt quite..annoyed.

"Excuse me-" a girl squealed.

I turned my head swiftly around and felt something fast bashed against my body. I fall backwards and landed with a huge 'thud'.

"Oh my mavis gomen!" The petite girl exclaimed.

She got up and brushed her orange skirt and offered me a hand. I rubbed my—probably bruised—head and took her hand.

I saw her holding onto a basket filled with cut fruits. She was really small and short. She had blue wavy hair and her fringe was pulled back with an orange bandana—like thing. She wore a simple long sleeved orange dress and red strapped sandals. Her hand had plasters and bandages wrapped around them, as if she cut herself multiple times.

"I wasn't looking where I was going." She said.

Both of us looked down and realise that the flyers and sliced fruits were scattered all over the floor.

She quickly bent down and scooped all the flyer swiftly up. "Gomen gomen!" She kept exclaiming.

She seemed like she was in a hurry, as if she was pressured to be somewhere and she looks stressed just by the way she speaks.

I kneeled beside her and placed my hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

She looked at me and her eyes soften. Her tensed shoulders dropped and she took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm fine."

She's lying, she didn't even want to look at me in the eye. I took my hand away from her shoulder and stared at her. "Are you sure?" I asked again.

The girl looked at me with trembling lips. As if she wanted to say something but thought better of it. "You couldn't help me even if you knew." She whispered.

She stood up and handed me the flyers. "Again. Gomenasai." She quickly sprinted off.

"Wait!" I yelled and surprisingly, she stopped.

I ran beside her. "Maybe if you'd tell me I could help you."

I know how it felt to beg for help but no one coming to your aid. Though she's a stranger, I don't want her to suffer.

She hunched her back and covered her eyes with her hands. I saw tears slipping through her trembling fingers. "My mom is dying. I don't know what to do. I wanted to drop my studies and take care of her but she told me not to." The girl cried.

People began looking at us in a weird manner so I gently pulled her arm towards an abandoned alley.

"Well then..what are you planning to do?" I asked.