Observant || Oikawa Tooru ff

23. Shift

Naomi walked into the classroom with her eyes darting around. They settled on the person sitting at the very end. Ume was staring off in the distance. Naomi clutched the bag in her hands tightly. She walked with light steps.

"Um.. Nakamura san, thank you for that day." She bowed offering the bag with the blazer inside it. "I've washed the blazer thoroughly." She stuttered nervously.

Ume broke out of her daze.

"Ah? Yes. You're welcome." She extended her hand to take the bag. Naomi gasped. Ume looked up to see Naomi looking at her hands with a horrified expression.

"Nakamura san, your hands!" She gaped. Ume looked down. Her knuckles had split open. The blood had dried off since she wasn't paying attention.

Naomi took her hands into her own. She looked at Ume worriedly.

"Do you perhaps want it attended to? I have a first aid kit in my bag!"

Ume nodded. It was stinging a little.

Naomi hurried back to her desk and returned with a small box. She opened it and began to expertly tend to Ume's wounds. Ume was surprised. The other girl's movements seemed well practiced. She looked at Naomi curiously. Naomi gave a abashed smile.

"I learnt first aid when I was in middle school. My little brother often tended to get hurt so..."

Ume felt awkward. She thanked Naomi and quickly averted her eyes. Naomi finished wrapping the gauze and patted her hands.

"All done! Try not to get it wet okay?" Ume nodded like a little child. Naomi giggled and returned to her seat.

The rest of the day, Ume was feeling exceptionally hindered by the bandages. She managed to get through the day. She felt down with just the thought of going home as the final bell rang.

Her mother would be present at home. She was throwing more and more fits since that day. Ume was barely coping with her mother's tantrums. As frequent as they were becoming, she was also leaving for Tokyo more often. Ume could hazard a guess as to what she was doing there.

When she returned home, she was half relieved and half worried that her mother was going to be away for the rest of the week. Noya was coming to stay over yet again. Ume was getting the sinking feeling of burdening his family so much.

She gritted her teeth and walked into the kitchen to get dinner ready for the both of them.

Noya went ballistic when he saw the bandages on her hand. He lectured her yet again as he replaced the bandages for her before dinner.

Ume got him more blankets before going to bed. He had been mildly sniffling at dinner. He must have caught a cold. She had told him to wear more layers. But he just brushed it off as her usual nagging.

The next day she force fed him soup for his cold. He was almost in tears by the end of it. He hated it almost as much as studying, maybe even more so. She made him stay in bed with some medicine as she left for school.

The second term had their syllabus covered in a much quicker pace. The students were drowning in homework assignments even before lunch rolled around.

Ume accompanied Harada and Takahashi to the tree with their bentos. Harada noisily complained about the amount of work assigned to them.

Takahashi was telling him that he could just copy his homework when a very jittery Naomi appeared before them.

"Um...so ca-can I have lunch with you guys? I won't be a disturbance at all. I promise!" She asked timidly. Ume was very amused. Was this the same girl who used to confidently strut around the hallways just a few days ago?

"Of course. It's no bother." Takahashi replied gruffly, being the gentleman he was.

"Thanks!" She smiled cheerfully and plopped down besides Ume.

"What happened to all your hoards of friends?" Harada asked meanly.

"Well.." She looked down." I don't gossip around so much anymore. So maybe they've started to find me boring."

Harada's eyes widened in surprise. 

"Finally! Good going for you Dango!" He chirped while obnoxiously munching on his food.

"Hey don't call me that!" Naomi whined.

"But it's your surname! How else am I supposed to call you?" Harada retorted. 

Naomi looked down again. She had begun insisting that people call her by her first name because her surname was so weird. 'Dango' (dumpling)- what even? She was not used to people calling her like that. She felt disgruntled.

"It's okay." Takahashi smiled at her kindly." One step at a time."

 Naomi smiled gratefully.

"But-" Harada began to protest but was shut down by a glare from Ume.