The world outside was lively. All sorts of people could be seen interacting with each other―an old man yelling at a cyclist for almost crashing into him, a young boy purchasing a sweet pastry from a bakery, a couple taking a walk while holding hands.
A deep sigh could be heard from the other side of the window.
Another boring day had begun in (first name) (last name)'s boring life, she narrated inside her head as she lazily supported her head against the window of the bus to school. She tried to push in her earphones in further to avoid having to listen to any conversations around her, turning the volume up. As the current song ended, she took her phone to skip all next songs until it was getting on her nerves and she just let the one in the queue play. Even listening to my music is boring, she remarked and turned her attention to the other passengers on the bus.
"I don't love you anymore," said the man in the brown jacket before getting up and leaving the bus at the next stop. "I don't even know you," commented the woman who sat across from him, watching him go.
(first name) scoffed to herself while coming up with fake dialogues as she observed the people on the bus. This is so boring.
***
A new school day was about to begin at Karasuno Highschool. Groups of friends used the time before lessons would begin to meet up and hang out with their friends. This included the clique of (first name). For some reason, it had almost become a tradition to meet up around her desk. Not that she minded her friends, but she did like her space. Not to mention when her friends would start eating and get crumbs all over her stuff. This time the culprit was her best friend Eri who immediately put away her chocolate bar when she saw (first name)'s angry glare.
"What's up, (first name)?" she asked. "You seem crankier than usual," Eri said and finished her chocolate bar, crumpling up its packaging. "Huh, nothing," (first name) replied. "Our school days are so boring lately," she added, supporting her head on the palm of her hand. "Oh?" Eri cocked an eyebrow, then snapped her fingers.
"Wait, I have an idea!" she announced to her group of friends. "Something to spice up our ordinary school life since none of us is a delinquent or something," Eri joked before explaining her suggestion. "You!" she pointed at her best friend and started looking around when something caught her attention. "Aha! I dare you to make Kei Tsukishima cry!" Eri proposed, a wide grin on her face while nodding her head towards something―someone―behind the group of friends.
Hesitantly, (first name) turned her head and saw the person in question entering the classroom with another student, presumably his friend. "Uh, what?" she decided to ask, questioning the morality of the task given to her. "Have you lost your mind? Why in the world would you want me to do that?!"
"Huh? What, that would certainly bring some action into your oh-so boring life, no?" Eri asked innocently, a finger to her chin.
"Good idea! Why don't you hire me as an assassin while you're at it? That would surely change my whole life," (first name) commented in a highly sarcastic tone which made her friend roll her eyes.
"Okay, calm down, (first name). It's just a game! Besides, I believe that would be a real challenge which you might not even pass! Not that I know much about Tsukishima-kun, but he doesn't strike me as someone emotional," Eri observed much to her friend's distaste.
"Could you please stop staring in his direction?!"
"Whoops, you're right," she giggled. "So? What do you say?"
"Do it yourself. You're crazy," (first name) said and crossed her arms, believing this conversation was over. "(first name)," Eri sighed. "Do you want money for it? I'll give you ¥10,000* if you make it!" she stated excitedly, her group of friends staring at her in disbelief.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" (first name) could only frown. She knew her friend liked to exaggerate sometimes, but that was just cruel. "Stop frowning, you'll get wrinkles," Eri said, putting a finger on the other's eyebrow. "Why would you give me so much money for something like that?!" (first name) asked, slapping her hand away from her face.
"Well, obviously to motivate you, (first name)! So, are you going to do it?"
"This is insane, I can't believe you even came up with something like that!" (first name) scolded, but hesitantly turned her head back to check out the potential victim.
Kei Tsukishima... I know he doesn't talk much. That's about it, she observed.
"Could you please stop staring in his direction?" Eri mocked as she noticed her friend's eyes on the target. "Shut up," the other mumbled, turning her head back to face her group of friends. "I'm not doing it," she stated firmly, trying to ignore her friends' disappointed sighs. "You're all awful for wanting me to do that!" she scolded, but the others either averted their eyes or shrugged it off.
"Come on, just imagine how many manga you could buy with so much money!" Eri cooed and put a hand on her (first name)'s shoulder, speaking in a seductive voice. "Tell me, how many could you buy?" she continued to whisper.
"A-at least 10," the other replied after seconds of calculating it in her head, earning a grin from Eri. "I'm not that cheap, back off," she threatened and tried to get Eri's hand away from her. "Well, that sounds promising," Eri rubbed her hands together, distancing herself.
"I told you, I'm not doing it."
Eri let out a huge sigh. "Fine, suit yourself," she surrendered and sat back down on her seat. "Right, what were we talking about?" she asked the group that was still gathered around (first name)'s desk. After such a conversation the atmosphere was bound to be awkward. Nevertheless, the group quickly took up their previous conversation. Now (first name) let out a sigh, inconspicuously eyeing a certain classmate.
***
"You're awful, you know that?" Eri's playful voice rang next to (first name) who was still deciding what snack to get from the vending machine in front of her. "Huh?" she half-heartedly replied, not really listening. "I'm trying to hurry, give me a second," she added before finally inserting the money and pressing a button.
"You know that's not what I mean," Eri said while (first name) bent down to get her purchased snack out. "What do you mean then?"
"Aw, come on! I saw you staring at―!" Eri's words were cut short when her friend pressed a hand on her lips. "Shut up!" she scolded when she saw Eri's eyes smiling despite her mouth being covered. Angrily, (first name) opened her bag of snacks and stuffed her face with its content.
"You look like a hamster, aw!" Eri's cooed, but was shot an angry glare.
"H-hypothetically... if I accepted your dare... how would I make him cry?" (first name) asked hesitantly, making her best friend choke on her drink. "Huh?! So you accept the dare?!" she asked back excitedly.
"Are you deaf or something? It was a hypothetical question!" the other argued back. "Hey, that means you're thinking about it!"
(first name) sighed. She knew she should not have said anything.
"Okay, well, to answer your hypothetical question," Eri began, stressing the word 'hypothetical'. "That's for you to find out! That's the fun part, no? If he was a crybaby, it would be boring," she finished, taking another sip of her drink.
"And you call me awful? Yeah, right," (first name) scoffed, sighing loudly. "Well, as I already said, I'm not doing it. End of the discussion."
"That's big words for someone still thinking about it. Also, you started this discussion, not me," Eri reminded, pouting her lips. (first name) bit her lower lip. Unfortunately, Eri was right. Why exactly was she still thinking about it? She did not know. Sure, that was going to bring some excitement into her school life, but making someone cry? That went too far.
Absorbed in her thoughts, she was startled by Eri's sudden movement. "Come on, let's go back," she announced and began going back to the classroom. (first name) lazily followed her. While silently walking next to each other, (first name) could not help but notice her friend's suspicious gaze on her. "What?" she said in an annoyed tone.
"Huh? I didn't even say anything." There was a snarky tone in Eri's voice when she said that. "Oh? (first name), watch out!" Eri tried to grab her friend's arm, but it was too late―she had already bumped into someone. Embarrassed, she pulled away quickly and apologized without looking up. Eri, on the other hand, had to hide her grin behind her hand not only because it was funny, but because it was an extremely funny coincidence!
The person bumped into just chuckled. "Hey, no need to kneel to apologize," the voice said mockingly. "Oh, wait. You're not even kneeling, you're just so short."
Eri had a very hard time pressing her lips together to stop herself from laughing out loud. (first name) slowly lifted her head. "Pardon?" she asked, finally looking at the person in front of her―blond, tall, sneering expression as he walked past the two friends without any other word. (first name) watched him leave and Eri could finally let out that laugh she had been holding back. "Nice approach," she laughed, patting her friend's shoulder several times.
"Shut up, Eri!" (first name) said, the embarrassment visible on her face. "What the hell? I apologize and this is what I get?" she whined, mainly to herself, but Eri had heard her. "He seems fun," she commented, making (first name) frown at her. "You're so weird," she observed and finally left the hallway, entering her classroom.
***
After the last class for the day had ended, (first name) approached her friend's desk. Eri was still busy packing together her things, she did not even notice (first name). "Hey," she suddenly called, making Eri jump. "Could you not sneak up on me next time?!" she scolded and shook her head.
"I'll do it."
Now Eri turned her full attention to (first name). "Uh, do what?" she asked, examining her friend's determined expression. "Your dare," she reminded, making Eri's jaw fall open. "Huh?!" Her first state of surprise quickly subsided and she laughed. "Wow! All because of his comment in the hallway? You sure are resentful," she teased, nudging her in the side.
"I'm not that petty," (first name) replied, crossing her arms.
"Hm? Then what made you change your mind?" Eri asked, picking up her backpack. An answer never came, instead, (first name) avoided Eri's gaze. "Shut it," she just said, making Eri tilt her head. "I haven't said anything yet," she informed. "I could feel you wanting to speak, so I stopped you."
"Okay, whatever your reasons may be," Eri replied, sticking out her tongue at her friend. Silently, the two of them watched as the classroom became gradually emptier when Eri spotted the person she was looking for still sitting at his desk, not hurrying like everyone else. She gently nudged (first name) in the side, drawing her attention to their classmate as well. (first name) then eyed Eri, frowning at her when Eri inconspicuously pointed towards Kei with her eyes. (first name) shook her head, making the other sigh. "So you're not doing it after all?"
"I don't see the need to talk to him," (first name) replied, ready to leave Eri's side, but was stopped by Eri pulling on her arm. "Go talk to him," she ordered, her voice unusually serious.
"Wha―?!"
(first name)'s words got stuck in her throat when Eri pushed her forward, making her almost stumble over her own feet. Angrily, she turned around to question Eri, but she just innocently winked at her. She was about to go for Eri's throat when she realized the position she was in. She glanced to her side and saw a certain classmate silently judging her. At least that was how she interpreted the expression on his face.
"H-hi, Tsukishima-kun!" (first name) greeted in an attempt to cover up this awkward situation. The expression on his face did not change a bit. Before he could say anything, she spoke again, "I didn't startle you this time, did I? I came up to you while you're still seated, so we're the same height," she joked, putting herself down while doing so. Her comment made Kei smirk. "Wow, I appreciate your kindness," he replied and stood up, highlighting their height difference once again. "Well, what do you want?" he asked, the tone in his voice was different from his previously more playful one.
She did not realize it, but she must have just been standing there and staring at him as Kei was about to leave by the time she woke up from her trance. "H-hey, wait! You didn't even let me finish," she tried to sound confident, but immediately noticed she was not doing a very good job. However, she did manage to get him to stop in his tracks.
"You didn't even start anything," he reminded, making (first name) avoid his gaze. She could tell he was getting annoyed, but she was not going to give up. After all she had agreed to her Eri's stupid dare―winner and loser needed to be determined eventually, but that time has not come yet. "Right, how stupid of me," she laughed half-heartedly, putting herself down again. "Well, to get the formalities out of the way! My name is (first name) (last name) and―," she started introducing herself, but was quickly interrupted. "I know who you are. We're in the same class. You're not very smart, are you?" he teased, hiding his smirk behind his fist.
I'm going to strangle this guy, she thought, biting down on her lip as her frustration grew stronger. She figured she would not be on the same wavelength as this guy, but she had not expected him to be so difficult to talk to! She took a deep breath, getting ready to humiliate herself once again. "Haha, yeah! I'm not very smart," she forced herself to smile, the sarcasm in her voice could not be any more evident. "That's why I wanted to talk to you!" she finished, but there was no reaction from the other, making the situation even more awkward than it already was.
"Uh, yeah. I just wanted to ask you if you could help me with― u-uh― p-physics? Yeah! Physics! I was asking around if someone could help me and some guy mentioned you were good at it," (first name) explained and smiled at him expectantly. "Oh, is that so?" Kei asked back, sounding surprised. She looked up at him and nodded her head several times.
"Hmm," he hummed to himself before finally showing her a smile back to which (first name)'s eyes lit up. "No," he deadpanned, the smile still on his lips. Before the girl could comprehend what happened, her taller classmate had already left the classroom. Suddenly, she began to giggle.
"Haha... what?"
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a/n:
*¥10,000 are very roughly $100
hey lovelies, i've been editing this story for the nth time. it's so bad im sorry. i rewrote the majority of this chapter. like. im sure nothing of the original is still left. keep in mind i originally wrote this in like 2015 LMAO (cringe teenage memories <333) im so sorry. im so sorry. IM SO SORRY.
[ word count: 2561 ]
[ last edited: 9 march 2022 ]