The first day of the new semester was atrocious, all because she made that excuse. "How could she accuse me of doing such a thing?!"
While we talked with the sensei, some students inside were listening to our conversation, which led to a huge misunderstanding. Now, there were rumours everywhere that I was a creep.
"My semester is off to a great start…" I whispered to myself.
My tedious day was finally over, and I headed towards the facility's front door when I caught a glimpse of a familiar person—a girl with an ever-so-standing-out red hair. And, besides her were three girls who seemed to be from our grade as well.
She is quick at making friends, huh?
Although I never had friends, nor did I attempt to make one, I was impressed by how quickly she made friends from just one day. As I walked past the group of girls, I heard someone falling onto the concrete floor.
…?
"You think you're so pretty?"
I turned around to see that the red-hair girl was pushed onto the ground by one of the three girls. Weren't they taking their bickering a bit too far?
"What is with that red hair? You trying to stand out or something?"
With the red-hair girl slumped down on the cold ground, the three girls began laughing loudly, making fun of her. Although it was a problematic situation, I knew that I didn't have any reason to butt in since it was a problem among those girls.
"Let's just go home," I whispered to myself, and just as I was about to continue walking, I heard a shriek. When I turned back once more, the situation was completely reversed. One among the three girls was now knocked on the ground, whimpering. Before I could even ask myself, what had happened, the red-hair girl sent a kick to a girl's shin, causing her to jump in pain.
Eh, she also has a violent side.
She exclaimed loudly, full of anger, "I was going to let this one go, but you guys never take a break, huh?! Do you want to get hurt?!"
Just a second ago, the three girls were cornering the red-hair girl, but in the blink of the eye, the situation had turned around.
Mm-mmm, looking at this situation, it in her absolute right to self-defend, but wait, if she continued this any longer, wouldn't she be charged for physical abuse or something?!
As she was about to strike the girl once more, I quickly ran over and grabbed her by the arms and began, "If you go any further, you're going to be in more trouble!"
"Let me go! I need to teach her a lesson not to mess with people!" she said while struggling to free herself from my grasp.
"You idiot! Learn to hold back! You're killing these girls!" As I said that, her struggling stopped, and she was now staring directly in the eyes.
"D—do you understand me now?" I asked.
She continued staring at me with blank eyes and spoke, "So you want to get beat up too?"
"Wait, I'm not one of those girls, WAIT WAIT!"
2
My face was sore. My whole body was aching. Back at school, I tried to stop her from physically abusing others, but I got abused instead.
"Such misfortune," I whispered to myself.
"Ahhhh, I'm really sorry, I just sometimes get into the moment, you know? Ahahaha!" I wasn't sure if she was trying to apologize or try to provoke me more.
That's when I suddenly became aware of my surroundings and noticed.
I was walking together with a girl. I never even walked with another person before since I didn't have any friends. But I was with a girl—a real girl. Although she was annoying and can get violent, she would be considered one of the prettiest girls in our school—no, she could even be one of Tokyo's prettiest.
As I began to think more about the girl beside me, I felt extremely uncomfortable and awkward.
What am I even supposed to do?!
"Grandpa, I should've paid attention to that advice about girls four years ago!" I thought as I began panicking.
Reo Miyazaki! Come up with something to make it not awkward!
"So where do you live anyway, Miyazaki?"
—Eh?
While I was thinking about how to start a conversation, she was the one who reached out to me first, but she…
Knew my name…?
"How do you know my name…?"
"Huh? Well, our sensei kept calling you Miyazaki… Is that not your name…?"
"I mean, yeah…?" I replied awkwardly.
"What are you so awkward for? You look stupid." She giggled.
"Why is an idiot calling me an idiot…?" I whispered.
"What?!" She sharply stated while glaring at me.
"Nothing…" I replied as I began to sweat a little bit.
"You suck at talking to girls, aren't you?" She sighed.
This was awkward. Wait, is this supposed to be uncomfortable? Am I supposed to be this awkward right now? She knows my name; shouldn't I be asking for hers? Mustering up the courage, I finally pushed myself to ask. "W—What is your name…?
"You don't even know my name?!"
"Well, I didn't have a chance to ask."
"You're hopeless, aren't you." She looked at me as if she were staring at an idiot.
"It's Akane, Akane Tanaka."
Akane, huh? It was a pretty name, fitting for such a cute girl.
"I'm Reo Miyazaki—nice to meet ya."
I smiled at her, and she smiled back.
3
While walking, Akane suggested that we stop by the park while she called for her ride home.
Why did she even come here in the first place…?
Waiting for her to finish, I came to a nearby vending machine to get a drink for both of us. "What kind of drink does she even like?" I muttered to myself.
Akane and I became friends quickly, but I had no idea what progressed from here on. Since I had no friends my entire life, my social skills were technically at level zero.
"Having friends are too pressuring." I sighed and picked two random drinks, and made my way back to the bench where we had put our backpacks.
"Sorry, I was taking a while to choose the drinks!"
I put on an enthusiastic smile expecting Akane to be on the bench, but I was wrong. She was nowhere to be seen.
—Where did she go?
I looked around to see where she could've gone. If she was still on the call, she sure is taking her time. In the meantime, I sat on the bench, and I could see the Tokyo Skytree and the famous Tanaka Hotel, which stood as tall as the Skytree. I've heard that the Tanaka Hotel has been standing long before constructing even the famous Tokyo Tower.
My little sister Aki and I only moved to Tokyo a year ago, so we had the basic ideas of the area's layout near our apartment, but the big city was still unfamiliar.
"I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to get up to the Tokyo Skytree or stay at the luxurious Tanaka Hotel," I muttered these words as I got up impatiently.
"Wait, isn't Akane's surname Tanaka as well? Does that mean she has a relationship with the owners of the Tanaka Hotel?" I asked myself, answering my question as to why the surname Tanaka sounded so familiar.
Speaking of her, Akane was late. A phone call couldn't possibly take this long. So, I ran around the park, carrying two backpacks, in search of Akane. She was nowhere to be found in the park even though I've searched practically every part of the area.
"Where did she run off to…?"
It was already weird that she took a while to make a simple call, but now she was not here. Could she possibly be using the washroom? No, it couldn't be. A bathroom break couldn't be for this long, or at least that's what I knew as a man. Since I never interacted with girls, I had no idea what went on with them.
Just to make sure, I searched the park's outskirts, where there were dark alleyways devoid of people. The alleyway was heavily dilapidated, and its pungent smell was enough to make me tear up.
"Of course, she isn't here," I thought as I turned around to leave, then—
At that moment, I heard a loud noise just around the corner, where I haven't checked.
"Akane?"
I ran towards the source of the sound. The alley was dark. Even if the sound came from this way, there was no way Akane would be he—
I was wrong.
I could see her red hair amid the dark alleyway. Since it was so dark, she was almost unnoticeable, but her slightly visible red hair assisted in deducing that that had to be Akane.
But what was Akane doing here…?
I quickly observed the area, and amid, I noticed that Akane's left leg was on top of something, something that looked so… humanoid.
I froze in place.
At that moment, I realized: there was a man who was collapsed beneath Akane's left shoe, and he was missing...
A head.
—What is going on…?
I've got to be mistaken.
Akane…? Killing a man…?
My mind was filled with questions. With hundreds of questions flowing through my head, I lost grip of Akane's backpack, and it fell on the ground, making a loud noise.
"…!"
She quickly turned her head towards my way. Her red eyes that illuminated amid the darkness widened. Human eyes were not supposed to glow in the dark, so how was her's…? Before I could even think, she lifted her foot and kicked off of the ground, accelerating towards me. I was completely immobile. It was not that I was scared. I didn't feel such emotion.
What was this sensation?
This distant yet so familiar sensation…?
What was she doing? Who was that man under her? Why was she in a dark alleyway? Why was she coming this way? Am I just mistaken? Am I going crazy?
My eyes were focused on the red-hair girl who was ferociously approaching me. Then, that's when I heard a low-pitched groan ringing in my ears from behind.
"Grrruuuuuuhhhhh…"
My heart skipped a beat, and my stomach twisted.
"Reo! DON'T LOOK BACK!"
I felt a sudden rush of heat, and I saw a flash of bright light, which lit up the entire alleyway for just a short moment.