Blue Spring Tragedy | Kou Mabuchi x Reader

33: Runaway Cinderella

Word about the incident at the dojo spread around the school like wildfire. Walking down the corridor felt like walking into a cave of wolves; everyone's eyes were locked on her, she was being hunted down. (F/n) didn't know whether she was paranoid. All she knew was that she wanted to go home – but like Cinderella, she had to wait until the time came. And unlike Cinderella, she was looking forward for the clock to strike the end.

Keeping her head low as to avoid anyone's stares, (f/n) wrapped her arms around herself, trying to hide the mess splattered on her shirt. Although the girl tried to wipe it off in the bathroom, she hadn't much time and the chocolate syrup smudged into her shirt looked like... something entirely different from chocolate. Pressing her body as close as she possibly could against the wall, (f/n) wanted to blend into it, narrowly avoiding any contact with other people and pretending to look out the window to avoid eye-contact.

Change clothes and hide. That's my plan.

The moment (f/n) saw the door to the changing room, she charged towards it and wrenched it open.

Click.

It was locked.

Dammit! She had forgotten that the teachers would only unlock the door after the shifts change and other students needed to take their turn. Red flushed her cheeks in embarrassment: other students and strangers must have seen what she was trying to do. Great, she was attracting the one thing that she didn't want: attention.

In agonising silence, (f/n) speed-walked her way down the hallway, aimlessly. She didn't know where she was going. She wanted to leave. She wanted to go home. The school felt more like a prison than ever – could this be her prison escape?

Letting her feet guide her, the girl made a silent prayer that she wouldn't see anyone she knew along the way: the thought alone made her gut churn.

What was she supposed to do now – wander around in a messy shirt and puffy eyes and a red face all day? (F/n) was bound to meet them sooner or later. She couldn't just – hide away from them forever, no matter how hard she wished to.

"Breathe," she muttered quietly to herself, "breathe." The things she would do to hear that familiar soothing voice again. One that always helped her keep a level head in times of emotional crisis. A calming presence in a roaring sea of emotion. The eye of a hurricane. How she wishes she had that person with her in that moment.

Before the ache took over, two familiar voices grabbed (f/n)'s attention before it could drift away. The girl looked up. Aya and Shuuko were walking down the hallway: her immediate instinct was to run away and hide. But they had already spotted her.

Too late to go back now.

Before either one could open their mouths, the (h/c)-haired girl jumped in front of them.

"I'm trying to hide until the day's over and I need your help."

--

Ten minutes later, they were in the locked changing room. Shuuko had asked Tanaka-sensei for the keys, saying that she forgot something. While Tanaka-sensei trusted her, it was against the school rules to allow a student into a locked room without supervision, so Tanaka-sensei had to watch as the girls went inside (well, Aya stayed outside because it was the girls' changing room. And the two needed a distraction from what was going on inside).

First thing (f/n) did was grab her bag. Shuuko slung it around her shoulder as her friend looked for her change of clothes. "We owe it to Kominato-kun for coming up with such a plan, huh?" (F/n) rambled, trying to fill up the silence. She hadn't told Shuuko or Aya about why she needed their help and didn't plan on telling them anytime soon. From the way that Shuuko noticed the state of the girl, it seemed like she wasn't going to pry.