𝙠𝙣𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡

14. Strangers

[name] sighed as she looked at the entrance of the school. A bitter smile appeared on her lips still, yet she knew she still had to face him in school no matter what. No matter how broken she was then, she needed to go along with life.

One could tell that she didn't sleep well for the past few days as the eyebags beneath her eyes were rather visible against her fair skin. To top it off, her eyes weren't holding the same amount of excitement she used to have whenever she was going to school.

They look dead.

[name] then took a step past the entrance, and her eyes widened when she saw Michikatsu together with Yoriichi and Hakuji. Hakuji then nudged Michikatsu and pointed to where [name] was, and his dark purple eyes soon laid upon her figure. She noticed it widened slightly as he took a good look at how she was. He noticed she looked slumped, yet the smile remained on her face.

He took a step forward and watched as she walked towards him as well. He felt his heart pounding hard against his chest, but it soon ached as [name] walked past him, not even looking at him in the eye. He noticed the she had a tight grip on her bag as she continued to walk away.

"Good morning, [name]," Hakuji called out, and [name] stopped and looked at Hakuji. His eyes widened at the smile that [name] placed upon her face as she slowly nodded her head.

"Good morning, Hakuji-senpai, Yoriichi-senpai," [name] whispered out and soon took her leave before Michikatsu could reach out to her once more. Michikatsu was about to grab hold of her, only to have her walking away quickly.

"[name]!" Michikatsu called out, but could only watch as she ran down the hallway, avoiding him at all cost. He could feel his heart twisting in pain once more as he felt a pat on his shoulder, and he turned to look at Hakuji who was trying to comfort him.

"Hey, welcome back!" Kaigaku and Ume called out as the look at [name] who had entered the classroom. [name] then smiled in response as she soon settled down in her seat which was beside Kaigaku and behind Ume, just in time before Himejima had entered.

"Ah, [name]. You're back. Welcome back, I hope you have fully recovered from the high fever that Sanemi had told me about," he spoke out, and [name] hummed in response with a smile on her face.

Kaigaku, being her desk buddy, had a close up on [name]'s face. He noticed the way her lips would tremble a little when she smiled, and the way her eyes no longer held the same excitement he used to see since middle school.

That's when he knew, she was forcing herself to be okay.

Kaigaku then watched as [name] brought out her textbook and soon flipped to the page which Himejima had requested for them to look at, and he proceeded to begin the class. Occasionally, Himejima would turn and take a look at whether the class was following his teaching, only to find Kaigaku staring at [name] the entire time.

"Kaigaku, would you please focus on the class and not stare at [name] the entire time?"

And Kaigaku blushed in embarrassment as he realized he didn't focus in class and was just being concern over [name]'s well-being. He then noticed [name] had pushed her notebook towards him, and that's when he realized that he hasn't copied any notes from the blackboard.

"Kaigaku, one more time if I catch you not paying attention, you are going to have to stand outside," Himejima spoke, and Kaigaku immediately nodded in response as he proceeded to copy the notes from [name].

Soon Himejima was done teaching the class and had issued worksheets for them to complete during the lesson period. [name] then took a look at the worksheet, and proceeded to work on it, whereas Kaigaku was still having a hard time to understand the formula. He then nudged [name]'s elbow, causing the brunette to turn and she smiled in response.