Chapter 1: The wallflower's path
Loneliness. It sat there along with her, always overlooked yet never forgotten. Unlike her.
But she didn't mind being forgotten, her life's always been that way and that's fine with her.
The cacophony voices, the bell ringing meant it was time for class.
She sat down in her usual seat by the window as the teacher's droning voice filled the room.
"Sena Kobayaka?" The teacher asked, taking the class register.
"Here sir." She said with much apathy.
The teacher didn't hear her and asked again.
"Sena Kobayaka?"
"Here sir." This time she raised her hand and he nodded.
The class continued as usual with the three boobs: Jyuumonji, Kuroki and Togano acting like complete fools.
Sena sighed, only a few more minutes until lunch. She stared out the window with the same bored look on her face and wished that something interesting would happen.
"Okay students class is over."
The teacher closed his book and the class room was vacated as every tried to squeeze past each other and run to lunch. Finally, she could be alone; Sena got up from her seat and zipped her bag hurriedly before walking out to her favourite place.
"Kya~ Did you hear? Akaba's going to this school now!"
Gossip. The one thing she hated. Well, that and crowds. She made her way past each student with expertise, used to this disarray. Her feet made light taps as she climbed up the steps. Light filtered from the ajar door and a small breeze made its way through.
She shivered slightly before pulling the door handle. There was already a guy here, with red hair and a pair of sun glasses lying down against the steel fence. She paid no attention to this and climbed up the ladder to sit in her usual spot by the corner. That way she wouldn't see him, and she could still feel alone.
"Fuu."
The guy sighed. Sena was surprised, that guy looked like he was sleeping.
"Is someone there?"
No answer. Weird, he swore he heard the door open. He brushed it off assuming it to be the wind.
This year he'd been bombarded with paparazzi at his door, so he wasn't surprised if there was any here. He sighed again; he'd have to call his manager about that.
Sena appreciated the silence. When the bell had ringed, she waited for him to take his leave before climbing down the ladder. With her feet against the rungs she thought to herself:
"What if I'd answer him?"
She paid no attention to this and proceeded to continue climbing down. School was still boring.
No matter, she only has a year to go before college then she could finally leave that family.
Sena was adopted at the age of 3 when her parents died in an unfortunate car accident.
Her parents left money for her college tuition fees and she would use that to finally get away.
Yes, away from all this, she would like that. She smiled, she would seldom smile, and this actually made the people next to her aware she was present.
Sena denies this but she looked cute when she smiled. In fact, the boys would sneak glances towards her when she did.
Her short hair slightly ruffled; those soft chocolate brown eyes and that sweet smile on her face, it just made them feel…
Excited?
Ecstatic?
They couldn't quite put their finger on it. Togano smirked when he saw Jyuumonji staring at her. They'd bullied her for years and she never put up a fight and only this year did they decide to give up after realising that Jyuumonji liked her. Togano then proceeded to jab Kuroki in the ribs with his elbows and the two snickered as they pointing and whispering at the Juumonji and his crush. Kuroki drew something in haste and passed it to Togano.
"Sena x Jyuumonji." He read this aloud and realised this a few minutes later when the whole class stared at him.
Then at Sena and then at Jyuumonji before their irate teacher took Togano by the ear and pulled him out of class. The class giggled and stared at the supposed couple who serendipitously sat side by side.
"Hey Jyuumonji when did that happen?" The people around them stared at them with wide eyes.
"Shut up, why would I like this plain, lonely freak?" They gasped and reprimanded him.
"Sena-chan's not a freak! How could you say that?"
He tried to pretend that he wasn't interested with what they were say but in his mind he was practically slamming his head against a wall.
She didn't care what they said. Jyuumonji is just an annoying guy she would hopefully never have to see again.
He was too bold, too brash, he was the complete opposite of her and she hated people like him.
"Settle down class, we still have 30 more minutes." The teacher came back in, fuming with Togano still being dragged by his ear.
School was finally over and Sena sped down the hallways before they could ask her and before they could start gossiping about what happened in class.
She hated them.
She hated all of them.
But she hated her family more. Her aunt's family took her in when her parents died but they never paid attention to her, they would shower her cousins with gifts and she would be left with nothing.
"Sena you're home. Clean your damn room you useless child!" Her uncle was filled with rage when her aunt died when Sena was just 7. She cried her eyes out that day.
He'd take it out on her and her cousins were forced to watch. The eldest left the house promising to take her in when he was older. He never did and that was when she gave up.
What Jyuumonji says about her, what anyone said about didn't affect her and no tears would appear from her.
Crying was for those who lost something and Sena didn't have anything. She just has herself and that's all that matters.
"Yes uncle."
She got up the stairs and saw her other cousin with her boyfriend and she gave Sena a dirty look.
This girl grew up with her dad's belief that it was Sena's fault that her mum had died.
"Let's go somewhere else, it's too ugly here." Her cousin sneered and as she passed Sena, kicking her in the shin as she did so.
All of her uncle's immediate hated her so much, saying that it was Sena's fault that their mother died. It was her birthday and she was crying about not having a gift, so her aunt promised to get her a gift the next day.
Turns out her aunt had a stroke and she died as no one was there to help, she was discovered the next day on the floor paralysed for all to see.
"It's my fault."
That was her first reaction.
Sena would sing to herself whenever she was sad, all the emotions she bottled up would be let out with every single note and she felt at ease whenever she did so. But she could never sing in the house, she'd come to hate it over the past few years. Too many painful memories.
"Sena get down here!" Her uncle furiously shouted.
Great… Just great, he was drinking again and he's probably remembering her aunt's death. She got down the steps and when all of a sudden, she was hit by his belt. It stung a little, but she could take. She just closed her eyes and imagined herself free and independent.
Far, far away from them.
"Your Aunt hated you know, "he spat.
"She was pissed off when you were complaining about your gift."
Sena gulped, she knew deep down what he was saying was true and all these years she'd deny it by blaming herself. The hits began to weaken as he was getting tired.
That was it.
Sena was now tired of all of this. Staring at herself in the mirror she noticed the bumps and bruises that grew on her body.
"Sickening."
She dropped herself on the bed deciding she'll escape in the night as she set her alarm on. When darkness took over completely, she got up and began to pack her stuff. She tip-toed around the house to find her credit card that her parents prepared, along with her college tuition fees and some money she saved up. She hid these under a loose floorboard she stumbled on one day in the spare room of the house that everyone else hardly went into.
Movingly silently in the night, she slipped into the darkness and wandered for what felt like hours. The shadows seemed to swallow her form, only revealing her frame as the streetlights swept over her as she moved through the streets. The pitter patter of the rain fell much harder with each step she took.
Finally, she was around the outskirts of the city she lived in. In the distance she noticed a solitary, worn building in the direction she was headed. It was a motel named The Rest Stop.
The lights on its sign faded in and out each second. She went to the reception and paid for her room for a week when the rain started to pour down harder, almost like a waterfall. She hurriedly got to her room and looking out the window, she could just make out the colour red moving across the streets.
The very same colour she saw at the rooftop.
This person appeared to be struggling against the torrent of water hitting him when suddenly, he collapsed face down in the ground. The water pooling under him swallowed his body as he tried moving from his fallen position.
"Should I help him?"
Sena would never go out her way for anyone but she could see that he was weak and tired. So, she took pity on him and took him in. He had collapsed outside, and it took her a while before she could carry him up.
He was still soaked in grey water, his clothes didn't look as if they were willing to part with the water they had absorbed, Sena decided to try and remove his clothes and wrap him in multiple towel. It took a while and as she went to do this, her hand brushed against his still moist forehead. He was burning up. She laid him down on the bed and placed a moist hand towel on his forehead.
"Wait here," She said this as if she was actually talking to him.
She grabbed her umbrella and braved the rain as it tried to drown her city.
Sena didn't know why she was inclined to help him; maybe it was because she knew how it feels to walk blindly in the rain… metaphorically.
She chuckled to herself; she had never been this concerned for someone else so why was she starting now?
The rain stopped when she got back, tired and ready to fall as sleep.
He looked a little better after she forced the medicine to go down.
At this point her eyes felt heavy and sleep soon overcame her, her body unmoving against the frame of this flame haired man.
And for once, she felt at ease.