The Kaijou Affairs

Encounter III: Rumors

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Encounter III: Rumors

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"Did you hear? That girl came in with Kise-kun yesterday!"

"Eh? You mean the transfer student?"

"Yeah! I'm so jealous!"

"Ehh... Well she is very pretty after all... They look pretty good together too. I wonder if they're going out..."

A pair of girls were gossiping loudly inside my classroom. I stood outside, uncomfortable and awkward, knowing that they were talking about me. I hated rumors...

I turn around, ready to head to another area to have lunch when a familiar and cheerful voice calls out to me.

"Mi-cchi!" I turn around to see Kise running towards me. I look away and head to the staircase, pretending I didn't hear him, but Kise is already tapping my shoulder by the time I am by the staircase. I turn around, waiting for him to talk. "Let's have lunch together!"

I awkwardly answer, "Yeah... Okay."

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We ended up eating in Kise's classroom and even though we were two years apart in age, news had already managed to travel to his grade as well. Girls surrounded his desk. I found it hard to eat my lunch...

"Kise-kun!" One of the girls tugs at his arm. "Is it true? Are you going out with this girl?" She nods over at me.

Really, don't mind me who is just sitting over here... It's not as if I can hear you or anything. Without looking at her, I roll my eyes.

"Eh? No way! She's older than you though, right? That's totally weird! She's a third year and you're a first year, Kise-san!" Another girl with red hair pipes in. Her reasoning irritates me. Kise just laughs it off though.

I stand up, bringing my lunch with me.

"Mi-cchi?" Kise looks up at me as I head over to the door.

"Sorry, Kise..." I say, looking back. "It's not you... Your friends are the ones being obnoxious and irritating." I glance over to the girl with red hair. "You're pretty rude and insecure, you know that? Calm down." She looks absolutely furious and at a loss for words. I leave before she can respond.

I ended up sneaking bites of my lunch in the school library---the only place I would fine silence. I was nearly caught by one of the librarians too, but he was thankfully distracted by a pile of fallen books. I quickly excused myself from the library after the incident.

When I exit the library, I see a blur of yellow pass by me---Kise. He looks as if he was searching for something. I walk over and lightly tap on his shoulder. "Hey."

As Kise whirled around, I saw the look of distress on his face become relief.

"Mi-cchi!" He says happily. I could see the invisible puppy ears and tail on him, wagging back and forth. "I finally found you!"

"More like I found you. Did you need something from me?"

"You seemed really upset when you left. So I got worried." He scratches the back of his head. "Sorry, I should have told those girls off."

I felt touched that he went to the trouble of finding me to apologize on behalf of those girls. It was sweet.

With a smile, I tell him, "It's not your fault, Kise. I just have a thing about rumors and gossip."

"I'll go clear things up with them."

"Thanks," I say, "I guess you're pretty cool after all."

Kise perks up. His eyes sparkle, matching the smile on his face. "Really? So then Mi-cchi finally thinks I'm cool?"

Kise looked so excited and happy. I couldn't help, but tease him even if it's only for a bit.

"You're still not charming though."