Facade

Alone Again

And finally, said in a very not enthusiastic way, the winter break ended and school started. Only two days passed after the 'date' disaster. Saito arrived at school on time, which he didn't do that often. He started doing it after Yui's little break down, but there were still maybe one day in a month where he would just forget.

He saw Mitsuki brightly talking to Yui. Well, at least the two of them stayed in pretty good friendship. Saito asked Yui how Mitsuki handled the rejection. Turns out that she took it like a man. She didn't cry or show sadness, she showed quite the understanding towards Yui. Its not her fault she doesn't like her back, as she quoted her.

As much as Saito wished he could be in similar friendships, he took the other way to class, avoiding contact with her. Its not that he was bad, he just didn't wanna talk to her. It would be just plain awkward and... painful. Stop acting like a pussy, he mentally scolded himself.

He walked into class and saw Yoko talking to a group of people. She was louder than most of them, and it was quite clear she was annoying them. She didn't seem to care though. One of the people she was talking to was Hitomi. As he looked at her they accidentally made eye contact. She immediately grinned and walked next to him.

"How's the heart break holding up?" she asked brightly.

He ignored her and angrily put his stuff on his desk. He sat down and crossed his arms, looking straight in front of him. He kept quiet, which nobody found weird.

The only person he usually talked to in class was Hitomi, and occasionally Yoko. But those were usually only bickering and fights. As for communication with other people... Well, they had to approach him first.

"Can ya hear me?" she waved a hand in front of him.

Saito didn't even blink. He continued to stare in front of him.

"Ah, I see. You're giving me the cold shoulder." Hitomi grinned and sat on his desk.

She poked him, he didn't budge. She was trying to provoke him into talking, he knew that.

"Quit being stubborn." She whined and smacked his head.

He looked very pissed now. He looked at her with very threatening eyes. She was getting close. They stared at each other, as if it was a blinking competition all over again, but this time it was far less innocent. Hitomi came closer and just flicked the bridge of his nose, causing him to blink.

"JUST GET AWAY!" Saito yelled in frustration.

Everyone in class just stared at them. His yell was pretty loud and there was nobody that didn't hear him. He was way too angry to care though. She grinned. She got what she wanted.

"Ah, you talked to me!" she said innocently.

He looked like he was gonna yell something again, but he closed his mouth and crossed his arms. He ignored her again.

"Ignoring your problems won't help you, Sai-Chan." She cooed in her sweet voice.

Finally, the school bell rang. Thank goodness she went away to her seat. But another annoyance came instead. In front of him sat Yoko.

"Rage quitting, are we, Akiyama?" she asked as she turned around on her chair a bit.

"She just pissed me off..." Saito mumbled and looked at the floor.

"Well, I don't know why you're pissed as fuck, but knowing her, you probably have a reason." Yoko said pretty nonchalantly.

Yoko was quite the chatty person. She even talked to Saito out of desperation for communication, even though she made it quite clear she disliked him.

Class went by pretty blandly. Yui was the only one that knew any of the answers. Everyone else in class was looking bored. Saito was sleeping, Yoko was drawing in her notebook. Hitomi was just entertaining the class.

Lunch break came pretty soon. He couldn't quite go to their usual lunch place at the cafeteria, so he just went to his long not visited place, under the tree outside school. As he approached it, he realized something. He was left friendless again.

He went to this tree for a whole year since he didn't have any friends. Now, he thought, he technically lost them all. Saito felt depressed. No matter how much he didn't wanna admit it, he considered Hitomi a friend, but he could never forgive her after what she did. The whole set up was horribly wrong of her, and he couldn't hang out with her knowing she did that. She didn't deserve his company.

He couldn't really hang out with Yui, Mitsuki, Toshiki or Yoko either. He couldn't face Mitsuki out of pure fear. It wasn't logical, but he was just afraid to talk to her. He felt alone again.

He stared at the floor as he ate lunch. Usually, this would be relaxing, but he got used to being with them during lunch. He got used to Hitomi's teasing, having arguments with Yoko, Mitsuki's crazy ideas, Yui's nagging and Toshiki's weird robot voice. He even missed Haru's stupid bragging about his idiotic scarf and his desperate flirting with his sister.

"Someone's lonely."

Saito for a second felt happy that Hitomi came. But he had to force himself to be angry.

"Go away." Was the only thing he said.

Why was she so annoying? Can't she find anyone else to fuck with? Why couldn't she just leave him alone?

"Hello to you too." She plopped down next to him.

"I said, go away." He demanded, now more angrily.

"My day's been fine. Thanks for asking." Hitomi continued happily.

"Why are you so fucking annoying?!" he snapped at her.

"Cause I'm bored. I want you to talk to me." She answered nonchalantly.

Did she not understand that what she did was wrong? Does she not understand that he's angry at her? Or does she only hear what she wants to hear?

"Find someone else to fuck with." He got even angrier.

He wanted to move away, but this was his spot. He wanted her to understand that she couldn't get what she wanted.

"But I want you." She answered innocently.

He wanted to punch her in the face. He just calmed down a bit and looked straight ahead. He shouldn't react. That's what she wants.

"Ignoring me again? That won't help you one bit."

He rolled his eyes. When will her huge mouth just shut itself? Hitomi stopped grinning and gave a pout. She wasn't getting what she wanted.

"What do I need to do to get you to talk to me?" Hitomi asked, sounding quite genuine.

She's lying. She isn't genuine. He repeated that in his head.

Just then the bell rang. Saito stood up and started walking off.

"Fine, fine. What I did wasn't right." She said, obviously not even interested in what she was saying.

Saito just gave her one last glare before walking away.