Pain

Chapter 2

~At Lunch~

After the bell rang, I quickly grabbed my things and rushed to Tsukishima's classroom. Every once in a while, I would get a glance from another student in the hallway. I was walking really fast, so I slowed down a bit and continued to Tsuki's room. His classroom was just a few doors down from mine, so it wouldn't take long to get there either way. When I arrived, there were still a lot of students in the room.

'Wow, I got here earlier than I thought I would,' I said to myself.

As soon as everyone cleared the doorway, besides the students walking in and out, I stood there and waved with a smile on my face. It took Tsuki a few minutes to realize I was there. I chuckled when he finally did.

"Hey Tsuki," I greeted as he made his way towards me, "are you ready to go?"

He nodded and we headed towards our usual place to eat. Which is outside at the picnic tables, I picked this place out because it's quieter than the inside of the school. If the weather's bad, we can just eat in a classroom or something. Tsuki and I usually bring our own lunches, unless we plan on getting something from a convenient store before school. 

"How was the beginning of your day?" Tsuki asked.

I replied, " Well walking with you was great, 10/10. The beginning of class doesn't even get a rating, but it turned to an 8/10 when I met Hassani."

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and questioned, "Who's Hassani?"

"She's a girl in my class who warned me about a guy named Yukki. She's really nice, but also kind of chaotic. Hassani also likes to ask a lot of questions about crushes too," I concluded before taking a seat in front of Tsuki.

We were silent when we unwrapped our food, but as I took a bite, Tsukishima asked, "So, do you have a crush on anyone?"

I thought for a moment while chewing and said, "No, not right now." With a mouth still full of food.

He nodded.

I swallowed."What about you, Tsuki?"

"Hm?"

"Do you have a crush on someone?"

"No,"

I looked at him and something felt off. I'm one of the few people who can read Tsukishima. Actually, I might be the only one. Which makes me happy in a way, I have something that makes me closer to Tsuki. I have a bond that nobody has and honestly, Tsukishima probably knows me more than I do as well. After he answered the question, Tsuki seemed troubled. Like something was on his mind. Maybe he does have a crush and just doesn't want to tell me because he's scared. Or maybe he thinks it will hurt me?

'Hmmmm,' I thought. 'Tsuki isn't the one to keep secrets from me, but if it's that important then I understand.'

After taking a few more bites of our lunch in silence, Tsuki wondered, "What does this Yukki guy look like?"

'Tsuki has a lot of questions today . . .'

"Wait, why?"

"So I can tell him to stay away from you. You said he's a jerk, so he might try to pick on you and I don't want you to go through that pain again. Let me stop the suffering before it begins, Tadashi."

I forced a smile. 'Well, you're a little too late Tsuki. He and his friends already have their grasp on me.'

"That's why you're not going to tell anyone about this. Not even your friend with the glasses, because we'll get him too."

I stayed silent as my smile started to fade away after I broke the eye contact between Tsukishima and I. If I tell him then he's probably going to get hurt too. Not that I don't have faith in Tsukishima's strength, but not even our second year Tanaka could take on three other strong guys at a time. I started to feel uneasy and my palms started to sweat. Everything started to happen over and over again. The beating, Yukki supposedly wanting me, him touching me, his friends threatening to hurt Tsuki. My heart was racing, I wanted to throw up, and I felt like I was going to pass out. So, I put my head down on the table while Tsuki slightly turned his head. Then, he looked past me and I suddenly felt a hand rest on my back.