Am I imagining things?
The new girl was assigned to the seat next to me, which was originally vacant, and I was told to help her out if she needed anything.
That bastard of a teacher... what's with him forcing everything onto his students?
Anyways, the girl gave me a weird look when she started to walk to her seat from the front of the classroom.
She looked as if she was hesitating about something, which intrigued me even further since I was the one she was directing the look at.
How peculiar...
Well, it's not like I don't understand.
Trying to make friends in a new school can be hard, so I'll do my best to help her out.
I turned to the side and then greeted her with an amiable smile.
"Hello, I'm Haruto Renzaki. I'll be sitting right here if you need any help," I effortlessly said.
Yes! I nailed the introduction!
No stuttering or being embarrassed here to be found.
Take that god!
However, she was silent in contrast to my expectations.
"..."
There was an expression of extreme sadness on her face, to which I could only stare silently as I waited for her to say something.
"Ah, y-yes... My name is Shizuku Shirakawa. I'll be in your care, Haruto," she calmly said.
What was that weird pause?
It seemed like she was hesitant about saying something, but ended up not saying anything.
But wow, talk about direct.
Having a beautiful girl say your first name directly to you with such good will is enough to make me feel quite embarrassed.
After this short interaction between us two, homeroom finally began.
The typical meaningless rambling of the teacher began, which resulted in me immediately tuning it out and staring at the window.
I wonder what we're going to have for dinner tonight?
I'm an only child and my parents both work a lot, which results in Sakura coming over and feeding me.
My cooking level is that of an amateur, as once said by Sakura, but it is much worse than that in my opinion.
God forbid what I would do without her.
As the teacher finished his useless and utterly boring rambling, the class began to shift and put their planners back into their backpacks.
It was time for first period to start, so the sound of shuffling feet and backpacks were no surprise to anyone.
"Well, time to go," I muttered to Sakura.
"Mhm," she agreed.
I was curious as to why the transfer student was looking at me weirdly in the morning, but my attention span was too short to keep my hooked on that one moment.
After packing my materials away, I began to walk towards the door with Sakura following closely behind me.
On the way out, I couldn't help but notice the listless look that the transfer student had on her face.
It looked like she wanted to say something to me, but was contemplating it very hard.
Jeez, you're making me look like the bad guy here.
Let's give it a guess, maybe she was worried about eating lunch alone?
Deciding that was the case, I approached her with a friendly smile plastered on my face.
"Uh... Hey, Shizuku?" I timidly said, since this was my first female interaction with someone other than Sakura in a very long while. "Would you like to eat lunch with Sakura and I later?"
The transfer student had thought I was talking to someone else at first until I had addressed her by name, so there was an initial look of confusion until she realized that I was talking to her.
Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, the transfer student's expression brightened up to a lively one compared to her previously more sullen expression.
"Yes, please! Unless I'm intruding on you two...?" She carefully asked.
There was absolutely nothing between Sakura and I, so the new girl had nothing to worry about.
"It's fine," I explained. "We just eat lunch in the open courtyard by ourselves, so you're not interrupting anything."
Delighted by my positive response, she answered my invitation with vigorous nodding.
"I would love to eat with you two!" The new girl happily said.
I was happy to have done my good deed for the day, so I turned around and waved goodbye as I left the classroom.
"I'll see you later then," I said.
Sakura had seen and heard the entire conversation unfold, so there was no need to explain the situation to her.
Surely she would be happy that I helped out a fellow classmate in need.
I was sure of it.
Then, why was there a complicated expression on her face?
"Are you okay?" I asked Sakura.
Immediately after I asked her, Sakura got flustered and started waving her hands around.
"I-it's nothing!" Sakura yelled. "I'm proud of you for standing up and helping a classmate out."
Just like I thought, something was definitely bothering her.
However, I didn't want to push the issue in fear of probing a sensitive topic so I let it slide for now.
"Okay..." I defensively said. "Let's go to first period for now."
I believed that she needed some time to collect her thoughts, so I decided to start walking to the class ahead of her.
"...Why... so... idiot..."
As I walked away, Sakura seemed to say something that didn't quite reach my ears.
"Why are you so dense, you idiot..."
If I had heard these words at this moment, I'm sure that a lot of heartache would've been prevented.
Thus began the rollercoaster that was my high school love life.