YOUR EYES BORED INTO THE clothes hanging up in your closet. They were only three sets of the same school uniform that you always wear.
If other people saw this, would they be weirded out that I don't wear anything else? The school uniform was custom-made, arranged by your aunt. She had someone personally sow them for you.
Thinking on that now, you remembered her asking why you like wearing school uniforms.
"Hmm? Oh... It's already almost time." Time for the festival. On December 31st, you heard from Mikey that there'll be a festival for young children to celebrate growth or whatever. He invited you as an apology for dragging you into their messes, even if you got involved purely by yourself.
He had only told you that a few days ago, and you didn't had time to prepare. Would you be the weird one if you didn't wear any special outfits for the occasion?
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You walked around in the crowd, with Mr. Froppé in hand. You could feel people's eyes on you, but you kept walking and didn't look their way.
"Oh, [Last Name]-chan, over here!" Chifuyu saw and called you. "I see you wore your usual, huh?" He grinned at you. You didn't look too happy though. "...Sorry. I never came to an event like this before. I had no clothes for it."
"It's okay, we can just enjoy the festival." He glanced at Mr. Froppé. "But I see he's all dressed up, eh?"
Mr. Froppé wore a black top hat and a green tie. "He's fancy." You held him up. "Oi, Chifuyu. Who's this?" You heard a new voice. It was a guy with a pretty scary face. "This is [Last Name]-chan! You know, the one who interrupted the Toman meeting once." The blond had put a hand on your shoulder, and then used his other hand to gesture towards the other guy. "This is Peh-yan-kun. The Acting Third Division Captain!"
He leaned in close to your face, his eyes narrowing. "This chick is the one who disturbed the meeting!?"
You had to take a step back with your head hung low. Your arms gripping on your bunny friend, you glanced at Chifuyu who laughed awkwardly. "Sorry [Last Name]-san. Peh-yan-kun can be pretty aggressive, but he's a good guy. Promise."
You slowly bobbed your head in a nod, but were still wary of him. In the corner of your eyes, you saw something and you faced that direction. Only to have something smack you straight on the forehead. "What's that?" Chifuyu had the same question as you and he picked it up since it landed at his feet.
"Nooo!!" You all heard Takemichi yelling and you both turned to see him running at you. He seemed surprised to see you three together, but nonetheless, shouted at Chifuyu to give the item back.
But Chifuyu threw it backwards instead.
"You jerk! Why'd you throw it!?" He shouted as he ran after it again. "Sorry. Reflex." Chifuyu unapologetically apologized.
What unique reflexes he has... You began to walk away to actually do stuff, but somehow you got involved with chasing Takemichi down.
Once you were at the end, you saw some familiar and unfamiliar faces. You felt out of place in your normal outfit, but Mitsuya told you to just enjoy the event.
"Let's jump together, guys." You heard Mikey say, and you all counted down from ten. Though, you didn't shout like the others.
"10!"
You used an arm to hold Mr. Froppé to your stomach, bored and confused on why people get excited about a new year starting.
"9!"
"Oh, look, big bro!" You saw a little girl pointing at you. "She's holding a bunny!" Is she Mitsuya-san's sister? Your eyes glided to the even smaller girl beside. Two sisters.
"8!"
Takemichi was still trying to retrieve his item from Mikey's hand, but the latter was too busy chanting with everyone else. Which you thought was sort of sad to watch.
"7!"
You also noticed a girl with her hair tied up not far away. You scrunched your eyes and looked closer at her hair. The girl in question noticed you and raised a brow. Only when Draken smacked your head, did you snap out of it. "Ginger, not blonde." He said, and you pouted at the ground.
"6!"
Maybe because it was crowded here, that you felt a bit suffocated. Crowds were something you didn't like, but you didn't necessarily hate it either. Just... uncomfortable, you guessed.
"5!"
"Oh, shoot. Sorry!" A girl bumped into your arm, seemingly too into the chanting that she forgot her surroundings. You thought you saw her before, maybe around the places you regularly took walks. That mole on her face seems familiar.
"4!"
Your feet moved back, wanting to be further away from everyone else but only to bump into someone else instead.
"3!"
You only but apologized, sighing internally and lecturing yourself on coming to this festival that you didn't care about.
"2!"
It's just a new year. Nothing will change. You'll still be getting bullied. You'll still be being reprimanded by your teachers. You'll still be known as the weird girl who carries a bunny. Why should you bother with everyone?
"1!"
You felt someone grabbing your free arm and holding it high up in the air. Chifuyu flashed you a big grin.
"Happy New Year!!"
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Mikey had also invited you to come to their Toman meeting, as part of his apology, he said.
"Um... Glitter, papers, lots of them..." You muttered to yourself as you stepped out of the house. Chifuyu waited on his motorcycle and greeted you outside. "Hey, [Last Name]-chan!" He saw you digging your hand into your pocket. "What are you doing?"
"I'm just checking if everything's there."
"Eh? But those pockets look kinda small."
"...Magic pockets." You then spoke with passion. "Pockets are really mysterious, you know?" Chifuyu stared for a second and laughed. "Okay, okay. Hop on." You did, carefully. "Is this your first time riding a bike?" He asked, and you nodded. "Then you might wanna hold onto me if you don't mind."
Your eyebrows furrowed, but you grasped Mr. Froppé in one hand and wrapped your arms around his waist. "Like... this?"
"Ah― Yeah, that." He had to admit. He never had a girl hold him like this, so it was a bit awkward for him. "Mr. Froppé is in front, so make sure he doesn't fall off, okay?" You said to him. "But you're the one holding him." He replied as a matter-of-factly. "Still... watch him when I can't." You said.
"Sure, got it."
Then you two started moving. It was slow at first, but then it started to pick up the speed to medium. You were sure motorcycles were faster than this, right?
The wind blew on your face, adding on the chilly atmosphere in the night. It was relaxing, if you had to say.
Since you regularly took walks, whether it be day, noon or night, she doesn't question you unless you got into trouble. Right now, you hadn't told her anything about Toman. Maybe it's better if she didn't know. She'd definitely be against you hanging out with them.
Delinquents... Shibuya has a lot those. You were once beaten by a gang once, and your aunt has been pretty cautious about them ever since. As for the reason why you were beaten... They were bored.
A pretty boring reason, but some like to have fun with their sadistic tendencies.
You were glad Toman isn't like any of them. Otherwise you would've avoided them by now.