"Please go out with me!"
Ugh. Another one.
How many is that this month?
There, in front of her, stood another boy from her school. He bowed deeply to her, professing his supposedly 'deep love' for her. He had called her out during lunch period to bring her to the courtyard so that they could have a private moment.
Except it wasn't all that private, considering his group of friends were right around the corner, peeping on them and eavesdropping.
She gave a long and dragged out sigh, causing the boy in front of her to flinch. He hesitantly looked up at her, only to shiver at her cold gaze.
"Why do you want to go out with me?" She questioned.
The boy furrowed his brows. "E-Eh? Uh...well...like I said! I-I like you!"
The girl only sighed again, growing more irritated with each word. "Let me be more specific then. What do you like about me?"
The boy froze. It was the sort of question that many boyfriends had dreaded hearing from their girlfriends. However, he was not her boyfriend and it seemed especially accusatory coming from her.
"O-Oh, well...you're just my type, you know?" He laughed slightly, one hand rubbing the back of his neck as he smiled sheepishly.
"No, I don't know. Please explain." Her face hadn't changed. It was always that annoyed expression and cold glare.
The boy immediately stopped laughing, his sheepish smile slowly turning into an uncomfortable grimace. He kept silent, trying to find the words that he thought would appease her.
After a moment of nothing from him, she tiredly sighed once more. "So, you can't explain. Which means there really is nothing about me that you like other than my appearance, is there?"
She had asked that rhetorically, but the boy still tried to defend himself. "Th-That's not true!"
She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. "Really? Then how come you couldn't explain what it is about me that you like?"
The boy looked down, not having an answer for her. She sighed again. "Do we even know each other? Do you even know me?"
"O-Of course I know you! We're in the same school!" He shouted, struggling to cling onto any semblance of hope in this conversation.
"So, you know me. What's my favorite color? What are my hobbies? What kind of music do I listen to? What do I want to do in the future?" She paused her interrogation, giving him a chance.
He would have taken it if he could, but the fact is that he just couldn't. He remained silent again, staring at the ground in shame.
"You claim to know who I am. Yet, you can't even answer such basic questions? So, the only thing you liked about me really was just my appearance." She stared at him with that unrelenting, cold gaze of hers. The boy felt like he was growing smaller and smaller by the second.
"Fine. For the sake of this argument, let's say that you really do know me. Well, I certainly don't know you. I know that we go to the same school. Other than that, I know nothing about you. Not even your name. Now, tell me why I would go out with someone who is basically a complete stranger to me." Her voice was just as cold as her eyes. Calculated and ruthless. She waited a couple moments for him to respond. When he didn't, she turned on her heel.
"D-Don't you believe in things like love at first sight?!" He shouted after her.
She turned back around at him, scowling. "Do you understand just how ridiculous you sound right now? You denied that you only like me for my looks. Yet, you speak of 'love at first sight' as if that's not something somebody decides upon through appearances."
She shook her head disapprovingly at him. "You're just like the rest." She nearly spat out. She turned around with absolutely no intention of looking back.
His friends rushed out from their hiding place, quick to comfort him.
"Hey, are you alright man?! It's just like what we heard in the rumors..."
"What are you talking about?! That was way worse than the rumors. She's a stone-cold bitch!"
"You don't need her, bro! There's plenty of better girls out there!"
"Yeah, don't sweat it! She didn't deserve you anyways!"
Obviously, they all said these things loud enough for her to hear. It's not like she cared though. She had heard stuff like this and much more before. She had a reputation, after all.
The cold beauty. The icy empress.
It was always like this. Yet, she was always the one to blame. She was always the bad guy.
"Did you hear, she rejected Takahashi-kun!"
"What!? How dare she! Takahashi-kun is our angel!"
"I know, right?! What a bitch!"
"It's probably because she's already got a bunch of guys at her beck and call! Such a whore!"
The girls' whisperings didn't bother her. She was used to it. Besides, it's not like any of it was true, other than the rejection part.
It was always like this.
The stares. The whispers. The rumors.
It was all the same.
The world is dictated by appearances, and she was tired of it. Everyone flocked to her because she was deemed 'beautiful.' They only wanted to use her for their own benefit. Boys and girls were no different in that aspect.
There were countless boys that had confessed to her, and she rejected them all. They were all the same, just like poor Takahashi. They didn't know anything about her. All they wanted was to date a pretty face. To be known as the guy that somehow managed to land a 'ten.'
The girls weren't much better. Initially, they wanted to befriend her. That soon changed, however, when they realized the boys they liked always ended up liking her instead. Or rather, her beauty. The girls all turned on her, even though it wasn't her fault that the boys fell for her. It's not like she ever encouraged them or accepted any of their advances.
Yet, she was always the one to blame.
It wasn't just people her age either. Adults were no different.
It didn't help that she came from a rather disjointed but influential family. Parents who only got together because of a business standpoint with no love involved. A mother who was always abroad somewhere, hoping to distract herself from her pitiful life and capture her lost time as a youth. A father who fancied himself a bachelor, always with his arms wrapped around some new gaudy broad, hoping to free himself however much he could from these shackles called marriage.
Nobody seemed to care though. The family was influential, after all. People didn't waste a chance to take advantage of that. These people saw their daughter as a beauty. One that they hoped to bring into their own family.
An arranged marriage for the purpose of business. The very same type that brought her parents together. She had gotten those countless times before, as well.
The son of the other party had always refused at first. Had always been adamant about choosing his own partner because he didn't want to be told what to do by his parents. They always sang a different tune once they laid eyes on her though.
It was all the same.
Despicable.
She wasn't being bitter. It was just the truth. Cold, hard facts.
She saw how people treated those that they deemed 'ugly.' She would be treated the same way if she weren't considered 'beautiful.'
Oh, what she would do to just be 'average.'
She once tried being more optimistic about things. She really did, but then she learned the hard way about what it means to be 'beautiful.'
Beauty is not a blessing. It's a curse.
She saw through everyone and everything. They were all just blinded by her beauty. Just wanted a taste of it. Like how Icarus flew too close to the sun.
People want what they don't have, and they scorn the people that do.
What an upsetting reality she lived in.
She noticed that there seemed to be a pattern to the confessions. Of the numerous confessions she had received this month, Takahashi was already the seventh first-year.
It seemed like the younger boys hadn't heard much of the rumors about her. That, or they just didn't believe them...yet.
Not that it mattered. Takahashi would just be another case, filed away in her memories, soon to be forgotten.
Still, she appreciated the simplicity of his confession. It made things easier for her.
The confessions she had received before ranged from simple ones, like Takahashi's, to completely absurd ones.
A love letter. Flowers and chocolates. A serenade outside of her window. Shouts through a megaphone on the school's roof. One of those cheesy, life size teddy bears that you win at carnivals. Threats. Dangerous stunts for approval. Suicidal declarations of love. One man had even tried to blackmail her with family secrets that didn't exist.
She had seen it all.
But never, in her sixteen years of life, had Fukumoto Hitomi ever been proposed to with a popsicle stick.
"I'll give you this Garigari-kun, so please go out with me!"