…
She hasn't passed by me yet to go into the bathroom.
Mayeda stares at the black haired girl, his gaze being reciprocated.
Awkward silence.
"Aren't you gonna go to the bathroom?" The boy asks with a curious tone.
Matsui was a bit shy yet not moving, still in front of him and fidgeting with the pass.
"Well, I actually was hoping to run into you…" She shyly admits she looks up into his clear eyes.
Ah, so that's what it was. She didn't actually need to use the bathroom, she only went out with it as an excuse to see me.
So she won't see what's inside there…
He glanced back at the bathroom before looking back at her.
"Why don't we go somewhere more private? We can talk about this later, I have to make another phone call with my sister about some personal matters." Mayeda gives a polite smile and takes his phone out as a gesture.
The girl looked disappointed but nodded in compliance of his logic.
"That makes sense… where should we meet?" She softly asks, still a bit nervous but had eyes of anticipation.
Mayeda puts his phone up to his right ear.
"I'll let you know, don't worry." The black haired boy said before walking past her, seemingly heading towards the front of the school doors next to the main office.
"Ah, wait…" She trails off as she turned around to see him already walking away.
Sigh.
I could've at least given him my phone number to make it easier.
***
Mayeda opens the office door, he would be met with a front desk with computers on the flat, smooth surfaces.
Behind the front desk had a small, thin hallway down from its left side and right side.
Glancing around, he noticed that nobody was around. Must be due to printing papers, so he had little time to think.
He quickly went behind the front desk to look at the computer's Bluetooth name in the settings.
A-223 and D-098…
Quickly, he looks at his phone to see the Bluetooth connections to airdrops the videos of earlier's events in.
He already purposefully only audio recorded the moments where he didn't talk and recorded in his pants pocket.
Click, click, click.
Using the mouse, he airdrops the audio recording to both computers of the main office with the user who sent them being named an unknown person.
…
After a few seconds, he finally sees they went in and checks the audio to be sure the quality and sound were all correct and sounded intelligible.
Alright… all going smoothly so far… going far better than I expected it to… considering it was my first step of an outrageous plan and all…
The way things were going almost felt too good… maybe he was being too superstitious but he had a bad feeling.
As if he had teleportation, he deftly left the front desk and back out the door in the blink of an eye.
Phew.
He wipes his forehead after keeping quiet for so long and sneaking into an area that's not reasonable for students to be in.
To be sure, he looks up and sees the cameras were still not on yet.
Wonder what time they'll be fixed…
He walks back to the spot of the bathrooms as if nothing had happened in case of the cameras coming on at any moment before walking back to speech class.
***
For some reason, these two classes went by fast. Speech and algebra were still easing into the quarter for the first week besides introductions, but luckily he had finished all of that on the first day. Against his will.
DING-DONG!
The school bell rings to commence lunch time.
Huh? Already? That was quick as hell.
He looks up at the time while sitting in his desk, seeing the time was indeed correct for their lunch break.
Hm… maybe I could use this time to see Usui for a bit… his house is only ten minutes away.
Mayeda quietly hums to himself, his brain was still fogged with the earlier events of the fight.
Why did he fight them? It's not like he really needed to keep fighting them and just escaped through the door with all the evidence he needed already.
Mayeda closes his eyes.
Maybe it's because I wanted to fight them…
Even though they did do some insatiable things… it's still not wrong to fight others… yet I unnecessarily dragged it out…
He opens his eyes.
Maybe I was doing it for my own self pleasure… or maybe-
"Hey! You're still here!"
Matsui appears in front of his face.
"WADFAK?!!"
He went back down to earth from zoning out and balled his fist under his desk in response to a sudden surprise.
Before realizing it was her, he immediately unballed his fist and stood up straight.
"It's you again. How did you know I was here?" He quickly exclaims, a bit taken back by her presence suddenly ending up here in his moments of troubled thoughts.
"I only watched where you were going after class ended." She simply answers as if it was a normal thing.
Eh… she followed me…
Oh well.
He shrugs and takes his stuff.
"You must be here about what you wanted to talk about earlier. Since the class is empty for lunch period, we can discuss it here." Mayeda tells her with a nod and leans back on the desk.
Matsui gently placed her own book bag down on the desk next to his, her gaze shifting down on the floor before looking up at him again.
"B-but before that… I'd like to ask if your sister is doing okay…" She shyly asks him, not really looking him in the eyes.
Wow, how adorable is that?
He notices how her gray eyes was looking at anything but him. If he didn't get an understanding of her earlier, he'd probably mistake it for something bad.
"Yeah, she's doing great. Thanks for asking. I think I can go through the whole day just fine without interruptions." The black haired boy nodded with an expressionless look, speaking in a very casual manner for someone who's supposed to be relieved.
The long black haired girl looks more relieved and takes a quick breath.
"T-that's good… because there's something important I wanted to tell you, specifically you actually…" Matsui fiddles her fingers, keeping eye contact.
Damn, what is she? A baby?
His eyes grew more subtly curious and leans forward into her space.
"Go on." He tells her, now interested unconditionally.
She takes a deep breath.
He anticipates her words in silence.
…
She took another deep breath.
Damn, is she that nervous?
His interest was slowly losing grip as he was starting to think if he should just meet up with her tomorrow.
But finally.
"I want…"
***
The worried girl, Yoshikawa Manami, still had the events of earlier replaying back into her mind.
First she met up with a friend she first made that was a boy and tried to boost his confidence. Only to be met with refusal and an embarrassing response in front of the school entrance.
Second she was pulled into a bathroom and nearly had a boy forced himself onto her. Though luckily she was able to endure and defend herself until a mysterious person saved her.
Now here she was. Wanting to find Mayeda and tell her all about what happened this morning.
Where is he? I forgot about where he goes after speech class… and now it's lunch…
Usually after speech and communications class, she'd tend to cooking class. Obviously she loved cooking and hoped to be a great chef one day and open her own restaurant.
Studying in the art of cooking and pursuing her passion was something she always loved since she was little.
Of course there would be times she'd accidentally food poisoned her parents one time, but that was when she was in middle school. Now she's honed her skills and always tried her hardest.
However, if she wasn't focused, she could make some minor mistakes.
Like today.
***
"Welcome everybody to the second day of Cooking Class. Today we'll be making some Honey Garlic Chicken to gauge where everybody's levels are at currently."
The short, chubby man with black hair was speaking to the entire class, wearing an apron and a culinary hat.
"So first off I'll make it in front of everybody with instructions on the board, and after that, I'll pair you up in groups of 3 to try and make some yourselves! So first off…"
Yoshikawa was stuck in space of thought from earlier. The memories of her near physical altercation with a group of men. It was all so Bizzare.
The girl was sticking out like a sore thumb, she was sitting exactly in the middle of the class. Middle row and middle isle.
With a class that mainly had black and brown students in contrast to her silver hair, it was like a sore thumb.
Some boys would glance at her to the side, admiring her appearance while some girls were staring with two reasons.
Admiration and jealousy.
"How can someone so beautiful also be so kind and caring? Life wasn't fair?"
This was a collective thought amongst the girls.
Yoshikawa didn't seem to notice however. Given her status, none of her feelings were proud to present her beauty. She wanted to be more than that.
How can she be taken seriously if people just see her as a beautiful woman on the outside without knowing her?
She was kind to others but nobody really knew who she was outside of school despite the attraction she has.
Yoshikawa was still zoned out.
Through instructions.
Through group pickings.
Now here she was, in a white apron and hair tied up in a ponytail.
Her gaze was still blank and confused like a lost child. How was she supposed to forget such recent events?
A question stuck to her mind amongst everything.
Who was that person who saved me?
Could it have been a man? They lifted me with such ease that I felt like a feather in their hand…
Her cheeks flushed a little at the thought.
Or it could be a woman. Some girls are quite strong nowadays and it was a girl's restroom…
She placed a hand on her cheek, a bit flushed while she was unconsciously getting the ingredients gathered and sprinkling.
Regardless, I'd like to know who it was and thank them for that.
Suddenly she stopped.
"Huh? Miss Princess?" One of the boys in her group noticed her pause.
He called her a princess due to her practically to her looks.
The other group member, a girl, puts the chicken in the oven and stared at Yoshikawa who was zoned out.
"Honestly, she doesn't seem to be in the zone today. What is she possibly thinking about?" The girl sighs with a confused laugh.
Yoshikawa just remembered in her head.
Those glasses… were the same pair that Mr. Sato wears!
She blushed profusely and instinctively covered her face.
!!!?
"Yoshikawa?!" One of them exclaims.
This catches the attention of nearby classmates.
However, she was still stuck in thought.
Could it be that Mr. Sato was the one who saved me back there? I mean… those glasses were undoubtedly the same pair! But it could've been somebody else… but I've never seen anybody else have one like that before this whole time!
Yoshikawa was sunk deep into her mind before feeling a cold touch on her neck.
"EEP!" She shrieked a little and comes back to reality.
The silver haired girl looks around, surprised and confused of what just happened.
"S-sorry, I must've been stuck in thought…" She quickly apologizes and fixed herself.
But the whole class was silent.
Just staring at her.
I mean…
Her reaction was just so cute.
Probably made some guys fall for her harder.
Maybe even some girls too.
"Miss Princess… your face…" The boy points out.
Huh?
Yoshikawa turns to the side and looks at the nearest mirror on the table.
Her face was covered in honey.
Right… they were making Honey Garlic Chicken…
She was in charge of the ingredients… especially honey and garlic…
Now it's all over her face.
No need to overreact, just wash your face and move on.
Yoshikawa closed her eyes with a quiet sigh before leaning over and washing her face.
Using hot water helps getting stickiness off easier.
She dried her face with a towel and stood up straight.
"Pardon me. I was simply just getting my thoughts in order."
She simply said, now seeming to focus back on their current situation.
There's no point on having earlier events affect her present now.
She'll worry about them after. But not now.
At this moment, she was more than just a girl and a student.
Yoshikawa is a chef in the making.
Life is like cooking.
Depending on the decisions and choices you use to make yourself.
You'll either become a terrible meal. Or a 5 star course.
Her hands found the straps of the apron behind her back and tightens it.
"Give me some of the garlic and a small amount of the honey, please."
Yoshikawa said with a confident yet kind smile.