"Did something happen yesterday?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I heard the sound of something breaking in your room, yesterday, at night. Probably, a glass or something."
At that reply, she went silent. She was avoiding looking at him.
"That injury on your leg. That's probably because of the thing that broke yesterday, right?"
She still didn't speak. She seemed somewhat embarrassed.
Is hurting your leg due to broken glass pieces something to be embarrassed about? If so then Kaito didn't know about that.
She was about to head towards the elevator when "Ouch!"
She was hobbling. She was struggling to walk. And judging by her reaction, it hurt quite a bit.
Kaito had no intention of getting involved with people, more so when the person was of the opposite sex. The best choice for him would have been ignoring her and minding his own business. But he still felt the guilt of not going to check on her yesterday when he had heard the sound.
"I think you should skip school today."
"No. I will manage somehow."
She replied after remaining silent for a while.
"Do you think you can go to school on your own with that leg?"
She was in pain. That much was clear from the expression on her face. But she still wanted to go to school. She's a really....
Yes, a really stupid girl.
She was the girl who had lectured him about health and whatnot just yesterday. And here she was, clearly neglecting her own state and insisting on going to school. He had suggested her to stay at home but she had declined outright.
She was about to board the elevator. Since she was his neighbor, he couldn't just let her be. What he thought about doing was not something he would normally do but since the situation demanded, he had no other choice.
He internally heaved a sigh. He also went towards the elevator and..
"Huh?"
He took her school bag and carried it with his left hand, making the number of bags he had, two.
He took her left hand, raised it slightly, and placed it over his shoulder.
"Wh-What do you think you're doing?!"
Clearly, anyone will be flustered by these actions and she was no exception.
"You want to go to school anyhow, right?"
Kaito said that while prompting her to walk. She just nodded to his question with her eyes glued to the floor.
"But why are you helping me?"
After a short pause, she asked him.
"I didn't do it because I want to be some good guy. You're my neighbor. If something did happen to you because of this, I will feel guilty for not helping you. I am doing this just so I could have a good night's sleep without feeling guilty."
He said what he truly thought.
"Thank you…"
She spoke in a low voice, but Kaito heard her since she was leaning onto him and their faces were close. But he acted as he didn't hear her and pressed the button to the ground floor.
People were watching them and gossiping among themselves.
"Isn't the boy so generous?!"
"Yeah! Helping his girlfriend to get to school. Wow. Seeing them like this makes me want to have a boyfriend as well!!"
I am not her boyfriend. Why do people just assume whatever they want and start spouting nonsense?
Kito could hear other people gossiping as well. That was obvious given the situation they were in.
They were currently headed towards the school and Ichinose was walking slowly, struggling with the pain due to her injury. Her one arm was wrapped over his shoulders and he was supporting her to walk while carrying her bag as well.
He just ignored those comments by the passersby but Ichinose was clearly affected.
"Don't take the words by these people seriously and ignore."
"Of-Of course I am not affected by what those two ladies said earlier?!"
She quickly turned towards him and retorted, because of which she lost her footing. She was about to fall when Kaito reflexively caught her in his arms.
"Think before acting. You're injured, so don't make unnecessary movements."
"Are you hurt?"
She didn't speak anything but her face went bright red.
"I-I'm fine."
Her voice was more high-pitched than usual. They were close, to begin with, and now he was holding her quite close to him as she was about to fall. In other words, while he wasn't quite embracing her at the moment, he did have his arms coiled around her back and was holding her tightly.
"Are you sure you're fine? If the pain has worsened, depending on what you want, I will need to carry you back to home or to school?"
Actually, he really didn't want to do that. But he couldn't bring himself to leave her be after saying to her that he would help her to get to school.
"I-I think...…I can manage...somehow to go to school…"
After hearing her thin squeak of a voice, he realized quite a number of people were staring at them.
He hurriedly let go of her but only after confirming her feet were planted on the ground. He was worried slightly that the pain may surge the moment he let go.
She hung her head, her face redder than Kaito had ever seen before. An awkward silence loomed.
"Are you up to go to school?"
Kaito asked, breaking the silence.
"Yes."
She replied in a low voice. Then they resumed their earlier position and started making their way towards the school.
Upon nearing the gate, two girls came rushing to them.
"What happened Ichinose?!"
"Are you alright?!"
The two girls asked, clearly worried about her.
"No. I'm fine. Just a small injury due to my carelessness. Nothing serious to worry about."
When she replied to the girls, she had already regained her composure. It made him hard to believe that this was the same girl who was embarrassed just a while ago.
"He helped me get to school, anyways."
Upon that statement, the two girls finally turned towards Kaito.
"I just saw her staggering on my way to school and helped her. That's all."
Saying that he handed her bag to the two girls and made his way inside the school. He didn't want them to know that they were living next door. Ichinose was a beautiful girl and just observing her for a day was enough to reach the conclusion that she was trusted by her friends. And many boys, not from only our class, but across the school year clearly had a crush on her, judging by their soulful gazes on her. If word got out that he was living next door to the girl they liked, they will shower him with their rage and he wanted to avoid that.
Before leaving he could see her lips curl up a bit. He thought that she has realized that he wanted to keep this next-door neighbor thing a secret.
He went to his classroom. After five minutes the three girls arrived. One was supporting Ichinose to walk while the other carried her bag. After she entered, the class was in an uproar. Everyone was asking this and that to her. She just smiled and said that it was nothing serious. But one guy there still kept going on. He snatched her bag from the girl and followed her to her seat i.e. next to mine. He kept blabbering and asking her this and that. He clearly had feelings for her.
When the door opened and Fujiki-sensei entered the room, the class dropped silent. She started the homeroom and the students who were just laughing and bellowing had their mouths shut.
This again made him realize how much the students feared her.
***
The bell signaling the end of the period rang. Fujiki-sensei was preparing to leave when she spoke to Kaito.
"Kobayashi-kun, have you thought of which club to join?"
"Huh? No. I won't be joining any clubs."
He didn't want to spend more time at school.
"But even so, you should at least visit the clubs once and look around the school. You're new to this school after all."
She had a point. Although he didn't plan on joining any clubs, he wanted to check on them once.
But the problem was he didn't know where the clubs were. Ichinose may have volunteered to help him with that but given her condition, she couldn't do so. And he didn't think other students were willing to help him.
Sensing his internal thoughts, Fujiki-sensei said, "If you want to visit the clubs, I can show you around. But you'll need to wait after school. Is that okay with you?"
Although he didn't want to spend much time in school, he thought of making an exception for today because he had wanted to visit the clubs here.
Internally thanking for her consideration, he nodded in reply.
"Ok. Then wait for me after school in the classroom."
With that parting remark, she left the classroom and the classroom got noisy again.