Disclaimer: I own nothing. All things related to the original School Rumble series belongs to Jin Kobayashi.

AN: Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Update. Like I said, Sundays are cool. And, yes, I know I updated within the same week, but oh well. Don't expect something like that unless I miss a week (really likely in the future at some unpredictable point of time), so, there's your opening special, I guess. I'll try as hard as possible to get these chapters cranked out every week. It shouldn't be too difficult at this point in time, but later on it might be a problem. LET'S JUST SEE WHAT HAPPENS. I'm using up too much time making you read this, so let's just get to the story.

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Chapter 2

A Flawed Kindness?

Sou only took a single day to completely recover. The doctors said he should really rest a day before leaving, as it was a downpour outside. Sou simply turned his back to them and said, "As I long as I have these clothes on my back, then I'll be fine." He stepped through the automatic sliding doors of the hospital and stood underneath its overhang for a while.

He first looked at the sky and came to an immediate conclusion that he wouldn't need his sunglasses. He grabbed his sunglasses by the joint, swiftly took them off, and placed them inside a black glasses case. With his unhindered vision, he could easily judge that it was well before noon. He could also judge that the downpour wasn't very sudden. There were many people walking around with their umbrellas over their head.

The next thing he looked at were the people coming in without umbrellas. While those with umbrellas stayed almost completely dry, those without them arrived with their damp clothes clinging onto their skin. He sighed and mumbled, "Leather doesn't smell good when it's wet." He smiled to himself, realizing that it may have been better to just stay. There wasn't much to go home to anyways. Reluctantly, he started to walk out from the overhang.

Somewhere close by, a young high school girl was walking by the hospital when she spotted Sou getting soaked in the rain. She started to think aloud and said, "I think I know that guy..." And before either of them knew it, she was holding her umbrella over his head. "Sou Shuda, is it?"

Sou, completely set aback by this random act of kindness simply replied, "Yeah."

"I'm Eri Sawachika. I'm in your class. I sit right behind you, if I remember."

"Sorry. I don't pay too close attention to who I sit by."

"I see. Well, seeing that you don't have an umbrella, I can walk home with you so you don't get wet."

"No."

There was a slight pause in the conversation. Eri tried again, "Um, it's raining pretty hard. You'll get your jacket wet, and leather doesn't smell good when it's wet, right?"

"I said no."

Another pause filled the air as the two, surrounded by rain, felt an increasing tension pressing down on the two of them. The rain seemed to pick up speed. "C'mon! I'm trying to be nice to a fellow classmate!"

"Well I don't need your kindness!" Sou blurted out.

"What's your problem? It's a downpour, and there's nothing you're going to gain from walking home in the rain! In fact, you'll probably lose your jacket for a while."

"Then I guess I'm screwed either way."

"How's that?"

"Well, if I go with you, I lose my pride as a man."

"Ugh! You're just as incompetant as that Hige!"

"Huh? Who's Hige?" Sou asked. Eri told him that Hige was Harima.

* * *

It only took a few minutes after that statement that Sou was walking with Eri under her umbrella. He was the one who ended up holding it, due to his towering height over Eri. They both walked down the street in an awkward fashion.

Eri felt a uncomfortable wave of tension emanating from her being near him. Sou was accustomed to not talking to people he barely knew, but Eri had to talk. If she didn't, she wouldn't feel safe around another person. "So...You live on Tsugamine Road?"

"Yeah."

"That's quite a high-class neighborhood you live in."

"Yeah," Sou repeated. His words were plain and simple. However...sometimes... "Doesn't fit me, does it? I mean, a delinquent like me." ...he also wanted to continue the conversation.

"What are you saying? It doesn't matter how you look or act, you can dress like a homeless person, but be the owner of a multi-million dollar company!"

"I see. So that's what you think?"

"Of course. You don't have to look or act rich to be rich. It just depends on if you're really rich or not."

"So what you're saying is that you can never tell if someone is rich or not?"

"In simplified terms, yes."

Sou pondered on it for a while. He knew Eri was rich just by looking at her, but he wasn't that much of a dick to point that out. Instead, he just said, "Alright. I can agree with that."

"Really? Good. I don't like it when people disagree with me," she responded flatly. They walked another block in complete silence, having run out of things to say. Eri searched and searched for a topic, until she thought about her parents. "What are your parents like?"

"My parents? Well. My dad is the owner of some bigass company and he has to go to some bigass meetings over in the bigass United States every month or so. We never move because he says it's too much of a hassle."

"Oh, that must be tough."

"Eh. Not really. I don't miss him at all. He doesn't care about me. Only when I get hurt severely does he suddenly care. Just like every other parent."

Eri ignored Sou's last comment and added her part to the conversation, "My father is the same way. Although he goes to England."

"Ah."

"So...what about your mom?"

"...She's gone. She left my dad years back. She wanted to take me with her so much, but she didn't have any solid proof of neglection against my dad. Now I'm stuck with him forever, and my mom is somewhere out there, probably starving by herself."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

They were almost there, but the walk was still too far to not be talking about anything. "So...uh. Do you have anyone you like?"

"What?" Sou happened to not hear her because of the rain.

"Oh, gosh! Why did I just ask a question like THAT?! That's so rediculous! He might suspect something! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Gotta change the subject!"

"What'd you say?" Sou repeated.

"I said, 'Do you have anyone you like?'" Another pause commenced as the regular pitter-patter of the rain morphed into a chaotic drumroll. Eri's face lit up to an almost garish red hue.

"No. I don't see the need to have someone like that in my life."

"Whew! Good thing he didn't give me any weird looks!" she thought to herself, her face started to return to its normal color. "Really? What a waste."

"You think I'm wasting my life?"

"No, no! I'm just saying that...well...why spend your last year of high school without somebody there beside you?"

"It's cliché. Besides, I could ask you the exact same thing. The word that went around school is that you haven't had a boyfriend yet."

"H-How did you know that?!"

"A little birdy told me." By "birdy," Sou meant his best friend Laura.

"Anyways, what else is there to talk about?"

"Hold on a moment! This is my house." Sou pointed at the large mansion guarded by an oversized gate. The mansion was atleast five stories high and was overseen by large creatures carved from bushes.

"Oh, really?" Eri looked at the mansion that Sou resided in. It was almost as big as the one she lived in, maybe just a few rooms smaller. It was also quite a bit creepier. "Wow."

"Well, later." Sou swung the gate open and started walking towards his house. Eri was baffled as to how the gate wasn't locked.

"It was nice talking with you. Good-bye," Eri said.

"Whatever."

Sou walked up to the front door and unlocked it. Eri stood there, waiting until he got in and then left.

As she walked home, she mumbled, "Just like Hige." A few seconds later, she simply smiled.

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AN: So, the story continues. I know. There's so little amount of action that it's laughable. It's also pretty much only pushed forward with dialogue, but oh well. And the writing may be poor, but I haven't been writing in a while. I promise I'll get back in my game in a bit. The next chapter is coming out next Sunday, as promised.