Tomioka pov:
I was getting dropped off by kanae for school, Shinobu close behind me.
'It's the last day of school until summer break! Finally!' Shinobu said excitedly, pulling me down so she could wrap her arm around my shoulder since she was too short to reach, of course.
'You should let me introduce you to my friends! Maybe you'll actually start liking one and finally get a girlfriend!' Shinobu continued.
'I guess..?' I said, knowing that I wasn't interested in dating anybody, especially not girls.
'Come on, come on!' Shinobu said, grabbing my hand and dragging me to her classroom.
She was a year younger than me, so she was fifteen.
'Guys- look, come meet my brother!' Shinobu yelled to a small trio that was at the end of the classroom.
Many people looked at us, making me blush and look at my feet.
'You have a brother?' A pink haired girl asked, looking over to us.
'Yeah! He is in grade ten, though!' Shinobu said with a big smile.
'Why does he look like that?' A white-haired guy asked, looking me up and down.
'Look like what?' I asked him, looking up at him.
'A girl,' he replied with a smirk plastered on his ugly face.
'Why do you look like that?' I asked him with an eyebrow raised.
'Like what?' He asked, crossing his arms while trying to look intimidating.
'A abused cutting board,' I replied, and they all laughed, except for him.
'You are such an asshole,' he said to me, all pissed off.
'You started it,' I said, pointing to him.
'Whatever!' He said, practically spitting at me.
'Anyway- my brother is chronically single. He rejects everybody!' Shinobu said with a big smile.
'Maybe he's gay,' the pink haired girl said.
'Oh my god- giyuu, are you gay?!' Shinobu asked me excitedly.
'No,' I said to her with a questioning look.
'Well, that sucks! Cause you know - and kanae would totally support you if you were gay, right?' Shinobu continued with a big smile.
'Mhmm,' I hummed in response, sighing.
'Where is makomo and sabito?' Shinobu asked me.
'I don't kno-'
'Giyuu!!' I heard sabito cut me off and run into the classroom with a big smile, jumping on me and hugging me.
'Found him,' I said while he was hugging me, makomo walking behind him.
'That looks pretty gay to me,' a guy with a pet snake said.
'He has a girlfriend,' I said, pointing to makomo, who was beside me.
'Whoa- she is short, are you sure she is of age?' The pink haired girl asked.
'Shinobu what the fuck is wrong with your friends?' Sabito asked, walking over to Shinobu and also hugging her.
'Nothing, you're just weird.' Shinobu laughed.
'I am not!' Sabito argued, breaking hug and coming back to me.
'Giyuu, she called me weird!' Sabito whined while shoving himself into my shoulder while I held my arm open for me.
'Oh no- she told the truth, how horrible' I said sarcastically.
'Makomo, they are bullying me!' Sabito went to cry to his girlfriend except she just moved away from him.
'You are embarrassing,' makomo said, going over to Shinobu, and I smiled.
'Shinobu, that thing is annoying us.'
The white-haired guy said.
'He is not annoying he is so sweet!' The pink haired girl said, walking over to sabito and patting his head.
'Damn, makomo- this stranger is a better girlfriend than you are!' Sabito said, looking at makomo with a big smile.
'Then date her' makomo replied.
'Come on giyuu- let's go to class,' makomo said, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the class.
'That was embarrassing,' I said, smiling at her, breaking our hand contact.
'You are friends with sabito, what did you expect?' Makomo laughed.
'Not much, I guess.' I laughed with her, covering my mouth with my arm.
'You still wear bandages?' She asked me.
'Yeah, of course I do,' I replied, looking at the bandages that were showing on my arms, pulling my sleeve down.
Well, that was quite the encounter.
______
Sanemis pov:
We all peeked out of the door, noticing them laughing together, tomioka covering his mouth while he laughed.
'What's that under his sleeve?' Mitsuri asked Shinobu.
'I don't know, probably his bandages,' Shinobu said, we saw tomiokas sleeve roll up more, revealing bandages all on his arm.
They were the white wrap around ones.
He pulled his sleeve down and continued talking with the girl.
When they were out of sight, we went into a corner of the classroom.
'We should make a bet,' iguro said to us.
'What kind of bet?' I asked interested.
'I bet that you can't make tomioka fall in love with you in the time it takes for the summer break!' Iguro continued, and I looked at him shocked.
'Yeah- I bet he can't.' Shinobu said.
'I bet he can, I think giyuu is gay- he is always rejecting girls!' The guy, sabito, said.
'I bet he can.' mitsuri said.
'I bet you I can!' I said, confident in my abilities.
'So you are willing to give it a try?' Iguro asked me.
'Yeah, how much are we betting?' I asked them.
'I bet $20 that you can't,' iguro said.
'I bet $30 that you can't.' Shinobu said.
'I bet $150 that sanemi can, he seems intriguing,' sabito said with a wide smile.
'I'm not into guys,' I said to him.
'$50 that sanemi can, he is very persuasive,' mitsuri said with a big smile.
'$50 that I can, and I will get him to open up to me about himself!' I said with a proud smile.
'I don't think that you can get him to open up, I don't even know the jist of it,' Shinobu said to me.
'I only know from when I met him, not before that' sabito said.
'Wait, what do you mean you don't know the jist of it?' I asked Shinobu.
'Kanae adopted giyuu when he turned 15, why?' Shinobu asked me confused.
'No wonder you guys aren't anything alike,' iguro pointed out.
'I met giyuu when he turned 13' sabito said. Suddenly, the bell rang.
'Better head to class, see you people!' Sabito said, sprinting out of the classroom, knocking down our teachers assistant.
'Oops!' We heard him yell, already halfway down the hall.
We quickly went to our seats, except I couldn't pay attention to class.
Instead, I was thinking of ways to seduce tomioka.
This was going to be difficult.
______
Tomioka pov:
Makomo and I saw sabito rush into class, and moments for the teacher came in.
'Did you have fun with the pink haired girl?' Makomo asked while glaring at sabito.
'Oh, come on, love, you know I wouldn't leave you! You are so small and perfect and cute and smart and- and-'
'You're embarrassing, except I love you,' makomo said, holding sabitos hand gently.
The teacher came in and started her short lesson.
'Okay, guys and girls, we will be having a joint party with the grade nines. Everybody will need to partner up with a grade nine and be seated within 15 minutes!' The teacher said, ending her lesson.
Everybody agreed, and the grade nines came piling in.
I looked at Shinobu except she turned to makomo.
I looked around, noticing a few of the girls coming up to me.
'Will you be my partner giyuu?'
'No- he will be my partner, right giyuu~?'
'Nuh uh!'
I sighed, looking around to see if there were any other people I could pair with.
Sabito went with iguro from shinobus small group. Maybe I could pair with mitsuri?
I saw mitsuri paired with tengen, though.
'Hey, tomioka, do you want to be my part-' sanemi came up to me.
'No! Giyuu is my partner!' One of the girls said.
I walked up to the teacher, asking if I could just go alone.
'Well, why don't you pair with young shinazugawa over there?' The teacher pointed over to the white-haired guy.
'I'd rather go with one of the girls,' I said, shrugging and grabbing a girls sleeve, pulling her to a corner.
'Giyuu, that was no way to act! Apologize to sanemi right now!' The teacher reprimanded me.
'No thank you,' I replied and started writing in my book.
'Such a troubled child,' I heard the teacher say, making me look up to her.
'Oh giyuu, I knew you would pick me! We should totally go on a date!' The girl beside me said over and over again.
'Stop calling me by my first name,' I said, looking at her.
'Should I call you dadd-?'
'Oh fuck no' I cut her off before she could finish, pushing her face away from mine.
'Omg omg he touched my face! He touched my face! I am never washing my face ever again!' The girl was bragging to her friends.
I just continued writing in my book. It was just a diary of some sorts.
________
Sanemi pov:
'Jeez, I get what you meant by how he rejects them,' I whispered to Shinobu, who was sitting beside me.
I was partnered with sabito.
He was a bit too loud and obnoxious for me.
'Yeah, see? He just pushes them away and keeps writing in that stupid book of his!' Shinobu whispered back.
'It isn't stupid. Somebody had given it to him when he was younger, remember?' Sabito said from behind us, scaring us.
'Well, he treasures it more than his own life. Have you seen how reckless he is?' Shinobu asked.
'Yeah, remember when he took that golf cart and hit a deer? How the fuck did he even survive that?' Sabito whispered to Shinobu in a questioning manner.
'Wait, what?' I asked while being confuzzled.
'Nothing, nothing.' Shinobu said.
'Remember when he tried committing by jumping off the roof of the orphanage only to land on the headmaster and break his nose?' Makomo butted in, looking over to tomioka.
'Wait, dude, what?' I asked, getting a bit more concerned for this guy's mental stability.
'It doesn't matter.' Shinobu brushed me off again.
'Sabito, makomo, Shinobu, sanemi, stop whispering over there and start talking with your partners!' The teacher yelled at us.
We quickly went back to work.
______
Tomioka pov:
'Can you stop groping me?' I asked the girl who was clinging onto my arm and trying to kiss me.
'Except you must enjoy it, right? I mean, I'm like the prettiest girl in the school!' She said with a big smile.
'No, you aren't, I would say either makomo or Shinobu is the prettiest - you look like you're allergic to peanuts,' I said to her, pushing her off of me.
'Mrs. Periwinkle! Tomioka pushed me while I was trying to read his notebook!' The girl tattled like a little bitch.
'She was groping me like I was some kind of fruit she was about to eat!' I said, the teacher looking between us.
'I am just so glad this is the last day of school,' the teacher whispered to herself.
'Somebody switch partners with giyuu!' The teacher said, instantly sabitos hand rose up.
'I can partner with the girl while giyuu partners with sanemi!' He offered with a big smile.
'Yeah, sure - just no touching! Hands to yourself!' Mrs periwinkle said.
'Ew- sabito, really?' The girl whispered and walked over to sabito while sanemi walked over to me.
'I should've just stuck with the girl,' I whispered and went back to writing in my notebook.
'Whatcha writing?' Sanemi asked, peeking over my shoulder.
I pushed him away from me.
'Just pay attention to the movie,' I said to him, and he frowned.
'I'm sorry about earlier, okay?' He said, sounding like it was really hard
For him to apologize.
'Did Shinobu pay you to be nice to me? If so, I don't care for the pity,' "I said, going back to writing.
Everything written in my journal was from when I turned into an orphan.
Tsutako had given me the notebook to help me practice writing due to my dyslexia.
I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I turned seven, I was always a brilliant student. I just had trouble reading and writing words.
It was really hard, and I used to get so frustrated that I would rip out my hair and cry into tsutakos' chest.
Then everything happened, which led to me not needing to read or write.
I was adopted by kanae a few years after everything.
Then I was put into therapy, which didn't work since I would just sit there for the hour and a half staring at the therapist.
After I was put into therapy, I had to go into a gifted kids program since I was extremely smart.
I was supposed to move up a grade, except I didn't want to leave sabito and makomo behind.
Plus I didn't want to be treated differently.
I also had to get somebody to teach me how to read and write again. It was quite expensive.
I'm glad kanae put this much effort into making sure I was well taken care of.
'Tomioka, the bell rang- hello? Why is he not replying except still writing?' I heard sanemis voice.
I looked down, seeing how I wrote about my feelings, about how my day was and what I remembered from my childhood.
'Hello? Giyuu? While he is out of it, we should take a look at his notebook!' I heard sabito say, making me look up at him and snap the book shut.
'Don't touch it,' I said, standing up.
'You just sat there through the whole movie! You didn't even get to see the big worm die due to swallowing a coronavirus molecule!' Sabito said to me.
'I'm glad I missed it, that sounds stupid,' I said, heading out of the classroom.
'It really wasn't!' I heard sanemi say, coming up beside me.
'Do you want me to pay you your money back? I can do that so you leave me alone,' I said to sanemi, stopping at my locker so I could go get ready for gym.
'I wasn't paid anything'
'Let's change that, I'll pay you $50 to leave me alone,' I said, and walked to the locker rooms.
'No- I just want to be friends!' Sanemi said to me.
'No thank you,' I said to him.
'Why not?' He asked me.
'You look like the phrase 'ladies and gents', which annoys me, go away,' I said to him.
'Don't be so cruel, giyuu. He is just trying to get to know you!' Sabito said with a big smile.
'Shut up, get ready for phys. Ed, already,' I said to him, pointing at his head and poking it.
'You can go now as well, leave,' I said, looking over to sanemi, who was just standing there.
'Do you just plan on watching us change?' I continued, my arms crossed and an irritated expression on my face.
'I mean - if you insist~' he said with a smile.
I walked over to the bathroom with my gym clothes and locked it.
I leaned against the door, my heart beating slightly faster than usual.
It irritated me, and it irritated me that I was feeling this way thanks to him out of all people.
I get that our first interaction wasn't exactly ideal except you can tell a lot about a person just by their first words to you.. right?
Whatever, I just needed to change for gym.. that was the main goal, I guess.
A/N I'm sorry it took so long to finally get a chapter out! I just kept deleting the chapters.
Like first, the setting was a bar.
Another setting was their house.
One more setting was a well-known park.
Then another bar.
Now a school, I'm glad I chose the school.