"I have to focus…"
Kougyoku fixed her hair by putting it behind her ear in order for her to continue studying. She was a diligent student, wanting to do her best for one of her acquaintances who seemed to be one of the most popular guys at school, his name was Judar. He had high hopes for her and such and she looked up to him. Her grades were average, and she wanted to go above that. Kougyoku though, she was a lonely girl with no friends. All she had for now was her family and Judar. Her three brothers, Kouen, Koumei, Kouha, and her two cousins Hakuei and Hakuryuu. Kougyoku at times isolates herself from her own family thinking that she was an outcast. But her eldest brother Kouen and Judar acknowledges her as part of the Kou family.
It was the beginning of class for the second semester. She even planned on taking cram school just to help her. The classroom was filled with a lot of outgoing people who had a lot of friends, even in class she felt like an outcast. All that kept her occupied was her studies for now. The teacher entered the class and everyone settled down and went to their seats.
"Good Morning, class." greeted the teacher. The teacher's name was Yamuraiha, she was a genius and she'd sometimes talk with Kougyoku. They were somehow like sisters, but Kougyoku was sure they weren't really 'friends'. "Good Morning, Teacher Yamuraiha." greeted the class. "Today we have a new student. Please welcome him with hospitality and kindness." then the student came in, he was blonde, he looked about the same age as Kougyoku, and he had such kind and sincere eyes. "Nice to meet you, everyone. My name is Alibaba Saluja, some people just call me Ali or just Alibaba." he smiled. Some girls were murmuring and whispering to each other and they considered him cute while Kougyoku looked at him with a sort of blank expression. 'I wonder what girls see in guys, anyway…' she thought. Alibaba noticed Kougyoku looking at him and they made eye contact. Alibaba gave a smile to her and Kougyoku was kind of surprised for a second. The girls kind of glared at Kougyoku which made her scratch the back of her head.
"There is a free seat beside Kougyoku-chan over there." she pointed at the seat. Then Alibaba sat on the seat then brought out his notebook to take some notes. Judar was in the same class as Kougyoku and kind of glared at Alibaba, then averted his eyes from him."So let's begin with class." said Yamuraiha as she started teaching some things regarding literature. 'So her name is Kougyoku, huh?' He thought and from time to time during class he glanced at her instead of taking important notes. Kougyoku was just focusing on her studies and asking questions to the teacher at times, and Alibaba found it kind of cute.
Momentarily it was lunch time. Kougyoku would usually go out to the school gardens and it under the shade of a tree, she didn't have anyone to eat with her a lot but sometimes her cousin Hakuryuu would eat with her as an act of kindness. Her lunch was some sushi, rice, egg and bacon. And she began eating. She felt quite lonely eating on her own. "Eh? So someone else eats on trees too?" said a familiar voice. Then someone jumped off the tree. It was the new student, Alibaba. "Ah! You're that girl earlier, Kougyoku right?" he asked then Kougyoku was paralyzed in surprise that she accidentally thrown her lunchbox as he jumped down. "Well, that was a waste of lunch…" she sighed. "Indeed I am Kougyoku." she nodded her head with a neutral expression. Now her tummy rumbled because she ate only a little.
"It's nice to meet you, Kougyoku! Just call me Alibaba!" he reached out his hand to her. Kougyoku wasn't really used to handshakes, so she stuttered a bit. "I-It's nice to meet you too… Alibaba-san…" she shook his hand stiffly. "So you're hungry, huh?" Alibaba brought out his lunch and placed some sushi on a chopstick. "Say ah!" he smiled. "N-no it's okay that's your lunch! I-I could just buy some food after school, and I could just feed myself. I-I'm not some kind of baby…" Kougyoku shyly said. "It's okay, I'm full. I ate some of the apples from that tree." he nodded his head. "I insist, you can have my lunch instead. And if you really don't want me to feed you, then you can just take my lunch and feed yourself." Alibaba was really a kind person. Some girls were looking at the two. "B-but i-is it really a-alright?" she asked. "Yes!" he handed over his lunch to her. "Just in case you're saliva conscious don't worry I haven't eaten a single bite from it, so just enjoy it. No one deserves to starve while in class."
"T-thanks." she smiled, then started eating. Then Alibaba noticed Kougyoku having a bunch of flower petals and stems beside her. Was she taking love fortunes? "Hey, Kougyoku. Do you like flowers?" he asked, with his eyes sparkling. "Y-yes, why?" she threw a question back at him. "Let me teach you a neat trick! Be back in a jiffy!" he went out to gather some flowers that were pink and red to fit the girl then he came back. "Now watch me." Alibaba began making a flower crown and finished it in a jiffy. "Tada!" then he put it on the girl. "That's for you." he said, then Kougyoku slightly blushed and felt her heart skip a beat. What was this feeling? it was new to her and it made her feel a bit nervous. "T-thank you, once again, Alibaba…" girls were glaring even more at the young ruby haired girl. It made her feel uncomfortable. Alibaba was handsome and cute man, alike Judar. But Judar was more popular.
"Hey, Kougyoku. Do you think we can be friends?" he asked. "F-friends…." the idea of that made the girl quite nervous. "I-I don't really have a friend, you see… I-I mostly have to focus on my studies for an acquaintance of mine, Judar. A-and a lot of people consider me as a nerd and a loser, so… I wouldn't think someone who is popular already such as you would want to be friends with someone like me." the girl said, looking down. "But you seem like such a nice girl! So let's be friends, okay?" Alibaba brought out his pinky. "I pinky swear that I will be a great first friend for you, Kou-chan!" he already came up with a nickname for her it made her feel as if they were already close. She slowly brought out her pinky and pinky sweared with him. "I-if you insist, then…."
Judar was walking by the gardens and saw the two pink swearing. It made him kind of pissed to see such a thing occur. Will this cause some problems in the future? "Tch. To see that old hag and the new stupid blonde together makes me sick." he said and walked away.
