Tales of delinquents

Chapter 1 ~ Our First Meeting

Naomi walked through the door, head held high and a warm friendly smile on his face. It was fairly obvious that he would easily make friends, even being the new kid.

*Shizouka's pov*

I walked into the lobby of the dorms. A girl, no, a boy slumped in the ugly green chair on the opposite side of the lobby. Bandages spotted his face, arms, and hands. His blond hair, hung limp, as if it hadn't been washed in months. Barely long enough to cover his eye, i could sense he was deeply troubled.

His lips were pinched into a tight line that looked like it could cut someone. I let the door close, rather loudly, behind me, causing his head to jerk up looking at me, and his hair to move from above his eyes. I continued to where I was headed, the elevator, not paying any mind to the boy as I walked, but I could feel his gaze stare a burning hole of curiosity, into my back. Reaching out to press the elevator button with my finger, I brought my other hand up to my face brushing some of my hair behind my ear. I stood for a few seconds before the elevator door opened. One foot infront of the other, I stepped into the elevator and pivoted on my heels to look out. As the doors shut, I caught a glimpse of the boy's bright, smoky blue eyes.

That was our first meeting, half a year ago, awkward and somewhat creepy. So why is this boy, laying his head on my shoulder, sleeping? Feeling the warm breath of Naomi brush against my arm made me feel at peace. I felt in control of my own life for once. I glanced away from the pages of my book sitting gently in my hands and looked at Naomi, fast asleep on my arm. The hair hanging in front of his sleeping face made him look so cute.

I still remember our first time talking.

"Everyone, This is Naomi Akagi. Please treat him well as he will be joining our class. Greet everyone," Sensei said to Naomi. He bowed slightly at the waist.

"My Name is Naomi Akagi; I have moved here from Okinawa. I hope that everyone will accept me and help learn what I have missed." He straightened, to scan the sea of faces. His troubled eyes landed on me, out of all the students.

"Go ahead and sit whereever there is an open seat, Akagi," the Sensei instructed. He made a straight b-line for the seat right next to me. He set his bag down and took his seat. I tried to ignore his persistent stare by reading my book.

" I'm Naomi Akagi, it's nice to meet you," he said. I looked at him.

"I'm Shizouka Hirabayashi, nice to meet you," I said in my monotone voice.

"Let's be friends. Can I call you Shizouka? Your last name seems hard to pronounce." He smiled at me warmly.

"No thanks," I said plainly, returning to my book. "I am not a people person, and you seem like you'd get along with anybody and everybody, so, no." He didn't bother me again, that day. For weeks he came into class and talked to me as if we were best friends, yelling 'Shizouka! Shizouka! you'll never guess what happened to me today!' He was always excited to see me and would tell me everything about his day. Like a cat he fed and now it wouldn't leave him alone. I would make remarks such as a mother would. 'well then stop feeding it and it'll go away.' He would become sympathetic and say things such as 'but it'll starve if I don't.' At first it was annoying. But after a few weeks, he started to grow on me.

One day he didn't show up to school. I was relieved. Maybe he switched classes because he knew he wasn't getting anywhere and he would be to embarrassed to come back because he failed. I didn't think much of it. One day turned in to two, then a week. I started to worry. One day after school I went to his dorm room. I sighed. what am I doing here, we aren't friends I groaned. I'm to soft, how did he grow on me? I knocked on the door rather loudly. No answer. I knocked again, nothing. I checked the door knob to find it was unlocked. Slightly opening the door, I called out his name.