The teacher walked from desk to desk, taking each student's homework to grade. She was almost done collecting the homework and not a single child didn't have it finished.
But then she got to Miu's desk.
Miu had just started going to school there about a week ago, and she had already proven to be a challenge for her teacher. She was always causing trouble, lying, and forgetting her homework. She was a very difficult case.
"Miu-san," the teacher said as nicely as possible. "where is your homework?"
"My dog ate it," said Miu.
"You have a dog?" said the teacher. "What's its name?"
"Um..." Miu bit her lip and looked around the room. "Well, it's..." Then she looked at Chika. "Well, it wasn't my dog, it was her dog."
"Huh?" said Chika. "Are you talking about me? How do you know I have a dog?"
"I have my ways," said Miu. "Anyway, blame Satake. It was his fault."
"You know his name too? Do you follow me around or something?" Chika said. Yes, this girl was definitely a problem.
"Maybe," said Miu. "Anyways, please excuse me because it wasn't my fault!" She made the cutest face she possibly could, because when you're a five year old girl, you need to put your cuteness to good use.
The teacher sighed. "You'll have to redo it for homework tonight."
"Fine," said Miu. "Whatever."
Chika glared at her. "Slacker. Stalker."
Miu winked at her, further annoying Chika.
When school was over, Chika began to walk home alone. But then she heard running footsteps behind her, and she was tackled from behind.
It was the new girl.
"Hey, back off!" said Chika, shoving her away. "What's your problem? Geez, Miu-san..."
"Let's walk home together!" said Miu.
"No, let's not," said Chika.
"Let's be friends," said Miu.
"Let's not," said Chika.
"Okay, to my house!" said Miu. "You know where I live!"
Chika sighed. "Yeah... right next to me..."
"That's right!" said Miu. "Neighbor!" Chika groaned. "You're so grouchy, Chi-chan!"
"What did you just call me?" said Chika.
"Chi-chan!" said Miu. "What, no one calls you that?"
"No, I just go by Chika," said Chika.
"Well I'll be the first one to call you that then!" said Miu. "You can call me Micchan, okay?"
"No," said Chika. "I don't want anything to do with you."
"Okay, I'll come to your house and you can give me something to eat!" said Miu. "I sure am hungry from all that learning I did today!"
"You are not coming to my house," said Chika.
"Okay, great!" said Miu. "Make it something sweet. We can share! And your Onee-chan doesn't get any." She giggled.
"How do you know I have a big sister?" asked Chika.
"I watch you from the windows in my house," said Miu. "Our bedroom windows are right next to each other, did you know that?"
"I should really get that window boarded up then," said Chika. "I don't want you spying on me."
"Aw, you're so mean it's cute!" said Miu. Chika looked away so that Miu wouldn't see her red face. "I think we're gonna be really great friends!" Miu tried to hold Chika's hand, but Chika slapped it away.
Eventually they got to Chika's house.
"Hey," said Nobue. She looked at Miu. "Who's she?"
"This is Miu-san," said Chika. "She's a new girl at school."
"Hi, Nobue-onee-chan!" said Miu happily.
Nobue looked confused. "Oh, she knows my name."
"Onee-chan, can I have Pocky?" Chika asked as she slipped her shoes off in the doorway. Miu did the same.
"Sure, whatever," said Nobue.
"I want some!" said Miu excitedly.
Soon the two had settled down in Chika's room. Miu was asking Chika a bunch of questions.
"What's your favorite color?"
"Blue."
"Where's your dog?"
"In the yard."
"How old are you?"
"Five."
"When were you born?"
"May eleventh."
"Why is your hair so short?"
"I like it that way."
"Have you ever been to a foreign country?"
"No."
"Are you-"
"Would you be quiet?" Chika said. "Cut it out with all the questions!"
"What are you reading?" Miu asked.
Chika sighed. "A manga."
"About what?"
"It's a slice-of-life," said Chika. "So it's about... well, life."
"Is it interesting?" Miu asked, trying to sneak a peek over Chika's shoulder.
"Yes," said Chika. "If it wasn't, I would've stopped reading it by now."
"Do you like to read?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
Miu sat down next to Chika. "You can ask me some questions now," she said.
"I don't really want to know anything about you," said Chika.
"We'll play a game then," said Miu.
"No," said Chika.
"It wasn't a question," said Miu. "We're gonna play now."
"You can't make me," said Chika.
"You have to do it."
"Or else what?"
Miu thought about it. "Or else..." She smiled mischievously, for a great idea had come to her. "Or else this!" Miu began to tickle Chika.
"Hey, hey, stop!" said Chika. She laughed and laughed, burying her head in the pillow. "Cut it out!"
"Oh, you sure are ticklish," said Miu. "Surrender and play with me or I won't stop!"
Chika was too busy laughing to respond. The tickling continued for quite a while before both girls fell off the bed. They laid there giggling for a while.
Then they heard a knock on the door. "Hey," said Nobue. "What are you guys doing? I heard a bang."
"Nothing!" both Chika and Miu said, and then they started giggling again. Nobue sighed and walked away.
"So," said Miu, when both of them were almost done laughing. "what's your sister like?"
"Um..." Chika thought about it. "She's kinda boring really. She slacks off a lot in school, and she never has the motivation to get anything done. She spends most of her time in her bedroom doing who knows what. Sometimes she practices smoking."
"Practices?" said Miu, confused.
"Yeah," said Chika. "Because she's really no good at it. She coughs a whole bunch."
"Isn't she a bit young to be smoking?" asked Miu.
"Yeah, I guess," said Chika. "She's thirteen. And now that she's a teenager she acts like she knows everything."
"Well she shouldn't be smoking," said Miu. "Because that's no good. Even though it looks kinda cool."
"That's what Mommy and Daddy say," said Chika. "But she doesn't really care what they think of it."
"I can understand that," said Miu. "I don't care what people think about me either."
"Hm..." said Chika. "So..." She had been staring at the ceiling for a while, but now she looked back at Miu. "what should we do now?"
"Let's play with Satake," said Miu.
"Okay," said Chika. "But seriously Micchan, you know his name how?"
Miu laughed. "It doesn't really matter... but you called me Micchan!"
Chika blushed. "So what? That's what you told me to call you and so I'm just saying it to be nice. Sheesh!"
"Aw, you're so mean!" said Miu, hugging Chika.
Chika rolled her eyes.
