Adachi Himari wasn't a bright kid.
Her figure was small. Even in the class of 10 years old kids, she was still the smallest. Her hazel colored eyes were big and round, but because they were always casted downwards, she gave off a pitiful presence. She wasn't talkative, getting her to say more than 5 words was enough to be considered a miracle.
Because of her personality, she looked like a stranger being among us children. Sometimes, we would even forget about her in the class. The only thing that reminded us was the daily attendance the teacher took.
The only thing that leave me a deep impression about her was her cute little keychain. It was a keychain of a cat, a callico colored one. Every time I saw her walking back home, I always thought 'Ah, it is that girl with cute keychain'
With my loud personality, there's no reason to approach each other. But fate played some twist on us, and the tale begun without us knowing.
It was in the middle of autumn.
"Ah! Emiko, wipe off your snot!" the little girl with long hair backed away from me, her face was filled with disgust.
It was cold and I was practically shivering. I blew off my nose with a sleeve, and sent her a blank look. Additional creases grew on her face, her mouth was curled up.
Just like a kid I was, I raised the snot- defiled sleeve and chased her. Her scream can be heard from the hallway "You're disgusting! Stay away from me!!"
We ran around the class, several classmates laughed seeing our acts. Little kids never knew how to stop, and I continued to chase my friend untile there's only few centimeters gap between us. I was about to grab her shoulder when I suddenly bumped with something.
Books clattered on the ground, I hissed in pain as rubbing my sore butt.
"ouch..." a meek voice softly exclaimed. I lifted up my head, only to see a small girl was rubbing her arm, her face was greatly in pain.
'Oh no' I thought in panic. That impact surely wasn't small and taking my height into consideration, there's no way it'd left no harm on this small girl. My forehead was sweating nervously as I asked "Are you okay!?"
I didn't know how. But the concerned tone I played in my head wasn't delivered quite right, it became a shout - like sarcasm instead. The small girl flinched, her bob cut hair swayed in fright. I became more panicked "W..wait! I'm not angry at all!" my hands waved in the air, and I noticed the little cat keychain linked to her bag.
"Uh... Adachi, right?" I asked, my mouth broke into awkward grin "Sorry, I didn't notice you. I'm really sorry"
Himari looked a bit stunned before slowly nodded her head. She picked up her books and headed to where her desk at - the last row besides the window.
I called out "That..!"
She turned around, her gaze refused to meet me me directly in the eyes.
"Are you really okay?"
Again, she just nodded. And without saying anything, she quickly sat on her desk.
There's not much time before the teacher walked in, starting the class with his well-known gentle smile. I didn't know what he taught us, all my focus that day was directed at the small figure sitting in the back. What happened before made me curious about this little girl, and I somehow got myself scolded at the end of period.
The school finally ended. As I waved a goodbye to my friends, I caught Himari walking back home. It wasn't a peculiar sight at all. I'd always seen her few times already, it seemed our houses were on the same way. Usually, I would've just ignored her and continued to walk by myself. After all, her pacing was even slower than a snail. But god knows what I had in my mind that day. I slightly jogged, catching up to the girl in front
"Walking home?" I asked, her shoulder jolted in surprise. my mouth curved up, grinning "Let's walk together?"
She replied with her eyes averted "um..uh...yes"
We didn't talk much. This girl seemed to have kept a golden treasure inside her mouth, anything I asked would either be replied with a nod or a shake of her head. Feeling rather restless, I decided to just keep quiet. Perhaps she wasn't interested in having conversation.
We finally came to a junction, my house was on the left path and hers was on the right. I waved at her and thought that it would be the last time I ever spoke with her. As I was about to dash back home, there came a slow mutter, calling out my name.
"Um.... Gima-san"
I turned around, eyes widened in surprise. The little girl still had her gaze on the ground, but somewhat appeared a little bit more lively. Her thin straight lips curved a small smile, it was hard to notice especially for someone gloomy like Himari.
Her voice was too soft, the mosquito was even louder than her. Despite the fact, I could still make out what she was saying by the movements of her mouth.
See you tomorrow
The little figure walked away, leaving me behind dumbfounded.
When she came in the next morning, I greeted her with complete enthusiasm, standing up while shouting "Good morning, Adachi!"
Himari looked a little surprised, but quickly waved back and scuttled to her seat. I received lots of glances from the others, long haired girl was the first to ask "Since when you're that close with her?"
"why?" I raised an eyebrow "Is it wrong to be close to her?"
"I didn't mean it like that!" long haired girl was somewhat offended "It's weird because you've never talked to her before. Not even once"
That was true. Sometimes I even forgot the girl's name, so why the buddy-buddy energy? And with how Himari was always like, perhaps she remembered my name out of politeness and actually disliked my loud greeting. Then, there's no need to act close like we're actually good friends.
Despite what I said, my little self went approaching her again in the afternoon, surprised her from behind, and asked if she wanted to go home together. One time led to the second, and the second led to third. Both of us didn't say anything much, just walking along while playing thoughts in our heads. Of course, sometimes I'll crack a joke and tried to start a conversation. My effort was to no avail, the girl kept averting her eyes and only replied with one word at max.
It wasn't until the fifth day - she chuckled when I kept pouting about our teacher's harsh scolding.
She... can laugh? That's what I thought, something told me we were getting closer. From that moment onwards, I talked to her about lots of things. From the stray cat Furute from next door adopted, to why I didn't particularly like onions. Though she never replied, I knew she'd always been listening.
We were a strange pair in the school. One was incredibly loud while the other always kept her mouth sealed. No matter how you look at it, our personality clashed with each other, seemingly unfit. But as I spent more times with Himari, I actually found that she wasn't as boring as I thought. It was such a pleasant time to chat with her while munching on taiyakis in hand.
Before I knew it, Himari started thinking of me as friend.
We were walking down the road and all of sudden, I asked her "Adachi, don't you dislike me for sticking with you?"
The girl looked at me, her gaze inquiring.
I threw my gaze towards uncle Kureno's stall. His taiyaki was the best in the town "I'm loud and a bit tomboyish. Sure you don't hate me at all?"
There's a moment of silence and I really thought she actually felt a little uncomfortable being with me. I was ready to change to other topic when she replied with her usual meek voice.
"Why would I?" Finally, for the first time, she stared right into my eyes "You're my friend"
She sounded genuine. Very genuine. I blinked in surprise but then cracked a wide grin "Of course! You're my friend too!"
We'd grown closer and closer. As times passed, I'd no longer called her by 'Adachi' anymore but by a nickname.
"Hii-chan!" I slightly ran, almost stumbling off. Between heavy breathes, I raised my hands, apologizing in front the little girl "I'm sorry! The teacher took longer than expected! sorry to make you wait"
Himari paid it no mind, she shook her head, indicating that it was fine.
We walked home. My best friend and I. Our times in primary school was really the best. Kids don't have to concern themselves about anything, just go out an play with some friends, that's all what matters to them.
If only time could stay still.