"Hi!"
Sayuri jumped in her seat, almost choking on her strawberry milk as she looked at the smiling boy who suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Nakamura-kun, please don't scare me like that," she said sternly, rubbing her chest from the sudden heartburn.
Kaito laughed, taking a seat opposite her in the cafeteria table and handing her a yakisoba bun, "I got you some. It was super hard to get this okay?"
She was about to refuse but decided against it when she saw the long queue that he probably emerged from.
"Please don't get me any more food next time," she sighed. Kaito chuckled and unwrapped his own bun, "You're making a lot of requests today, Sayu-chan," he joked.
She silently cringed at his overly-friendly nickname for her but decided to push it away after she considered his outgoing personality.
He probably has similar nicknames for anyone.
"Where's your friend?" he asked, as he took a big bite of his sandwich.
"Oh, Rina-chan? She's a bit busy today with her club activities,"
"Ohhh," he muttered, mid-bite.
She looked down at her food and stared at the yakisoba bun, not eager to eat it after just finishing her bento. But because she didn't want to seem rude, she reluctantly unwrapped the sandwich and took a small bite.
"So I was meaning to ask; are you close with the basketball team, Sayu-chan?" the mauve-haired boy asked.
"Hmm, yeah kind of? I'm definitely closer to some than the rest," she explained. Kaito looked at her quizzically and she wondered why he was suddenly taking interest in her relationship with the boys.
"Why'd you ask?"
"Nothing, you just seemed very close with them the other day," he admitted.
She nodded her head and continued to chew on her bun. There was an awkward silence, the type that didn't feel comfortable and it forced Sayuri to think of other topics she could bring up.
"Oh right, congratulations on getting into the basketball team! You must be really good at it," she complimented.
He laughed, "Nahh, I'm aight," he said humbly, waving his hand in the air.
She smiled and looked back down at her barely-eaten yakisoba bun. She decided to take one last bite as she aimlessly scanned the cafeteria. She was about to shoot her attention back at the boy in front of her when she noticed fierce red-hair pop up in her peripheral vision.
She stood up abruptly, alerted by the familiarity. "Seijuro!" she called out, successfully catching the redhead's attention. She waved at him and watched as he made his way towards her with light steps.
However, the subtle smile on his lips gradually disappeared when his eyes darted to the mauve-haired boy sitting in front of her. She stared at him in confusion, unable to pinpoint the reason behind his sudden change in demeanour.
Kaito followed her line of vision and grinned widely at the boy.
"Oh? Captain!" he jeered, playfully sending Akashi a salute.
Sayuri watched as Akashi dismissed his over-enthusiastic greeting with his usual poker face, but pushed it away after realizing how much she actually missed him.
Basketball practice was definitely taking up most of his time nowadays, and she wouldn't let a chance to be with him like this pass by. Especially because he decided to leave her at Kotaro's mini party yesterday night.
"Did you eat? Come and join us," she offered, scooting to the side to make space for the redhead.
"No, it's fine. I have to complete some student council work," he turned down. His gaze lingered on Kaito for a few seconds before deciding to walk away from the two.
She could only stare at him dumbfoundedly as he retreated from the cafeteria.
He didn't even pay one glance at her.
Kaito tsk-tsked at the scene, "Damn, I thought you both were closer than that," the purple-haired boy said as he sips on his iced tea.
Sayuri didn't know why it hurt her so much to hear those words. It truly felt like a sting in all the right places.
What if he's right?
She shot him a small smile and stood up from her seat, packing the yakisoba bun inside her bag hastily. Much to her surprise, he mirrored her actions, cleaning up his wrappers and getting up shortly after her.
He noticed the confusion in her face, "Are you walking back to class? Let's walk together!"
She was about to say something but decided against it. Considering his personality, he was definitely not going to listen to her anyway.
The walk back to the class was rather silent. Her mind was filled with thoughts about Akashi and their encounter at the cafeteria, and she would be lying if she said it didn't get her worried.
To be fair, this wasn't the first time he ignored her. In fact, the Akashi from a couple of months ago wouldn't do any different. But ever that incident with Haizaki Shogo, he's been very attentive about what she feels and doing something that would obviously upset her was very unlike him.
Kaito followed closely behind her as they walked back to their classrooms. He tried to make small talk here and there but his words only exited Sayuri's other ear.
The two were about to turn a corner towards the stairs when a high-pitched voice rang across the half-empty hallway.
"Hamasaki-san, Nakamura-san, good thing you're here!" her attention shot to Akemi-sensei, her mathematics teacher, holding a pile of heavy books and papers in her arms.
"Could you both help me get these to the office please?"
Kaito hurriedly took some books from the lady's arm and she did the same. She gave her a polite smile and the three of them walked in silence to the teacher's office.
"Thank you both! Head to class straight away, okay?"
The two muttered a low 'yes' before leaving the office, making their way back down as they basked in more uncomfortable silence.
Sayuri was just about to take a step on the first flight of steps when Kaito called out to her.
"Wait! Hold on,"
She looked back at him in confusion and was surprised to see the mauve-haired boy advancing dangerously close to her. Her eyes widened as she watched him bend down right in front of her, one knee on the ground.
"Nakamura-"
"Kaito. Just call me Kaito," he said, as he looked up and smiled at her. He held both of her undone shoelaces between his fingers and began to tie a perfect knot.
Maybe it was the suddenness of his actions, or perhaps she simply just wasn't used to being treated that way. Whatever it was, it definitely got her words stuck inside her throat.
"I didn't take you as the clumsy type," he chuckled, making the final knot on her shoes.
"I-"
It was a fleeting glance, barely a second, but she swore she saw it somewhere. Before he could stand up, she couldn't help but notice the chain that slipped out from his white polo.
It was a silver-plated dog tag with carved lettering on it, too minuscule to discern. The pendant dangled from his neck as he stood up, and she couldn't explain why she was suddenly so drawn to it.
It looked familiar, too familiar, and she never felt as annoyed as she was right now to have such a bad short-term memory.
"There you go. I just saved you from tripping down the stairs. You're welcome," he boasted, as he shot her another one of his smiles.
Now that she gave it a deeper thought, his smile felt familiar too. The way the sides of his eyes crinkle slightly, the way the corners of his mouth curved upwards in a u-shaped grin, it all felt like déjà vu.
Suddenly, an unsettling feeling swirled inside her stomach.
There was no evidence, no explanation, but something told her that he was definitely bad news.