Chapter 2
Courage
Sojiro and Kanata never stopped seeing each other. Every day, they would play alone together on the playground, while the other kids just watch them. They have no idea that those two were able to interact with each other when both of them have difficult lives. Overall, Sojiro and Kanata are inseparable. For the next two weeks, Sojiro is learning more and more about Kanata when they have a spare moment together on the bench next to the playground.
He learned that she is a frail girl who gets sick easily and the doctors are doing everything they can to have her stay healthy. She couldn't even go to this school until this year because of her condition. She's feeling a bit better than she was years ago, but she still has trouble breathing, since the day he saw her breathing heavily while holding her chest tightly. And she was just going to the nurse's office to retrieve her inhaler, not because she was just ignoring him when he tried talking to her.
He felt really bad for her when she ended her story. Why would anyone not want to talk to a sickly girl who is in a bad condition? She really needed someone to be by her side and comfort her if there's hard times. So, he promised her that he will always be there for her, no matter what happens. Kanata was touched by his words and accepted his promise.
Now, the next day, after they had their promise, things weren't going well for them at all. One of the kids witnessed this touching scene and decided to tell everyone else. So, when Sojiro and Kanata come in the classroom together, everyone starts to laugh at them.
"Hey, look everyone!" one of the boys say. "The two poor people are here!"
"Look at them!" one girl says. "They just walked in like they are a married couple!"
"Ohhhhhhh," everyone else says, staring down at them.
Kanata starts to feel uneasy about this and just looks down at the floor. Sojiro takes notice and glares at the other kids.
"We're just friends," he says. "And just so you know, Kanata needed a friend since she's in a bad condition, so I gladly became her friend."
"Her only friend?" one of the boys ask.
Sojiro nods, not giving the slightest irritation. "Now if you'll excuse us, we need to get to our seats."
With that, the two simply take their seats, with Sojiro pulling out her chair for her. The other kids continue to snicker and whisper gossips to their friends about how much of a couple they are.
Though Sojiro is trying to be strong for not only for himself, but for Kanata as well, the other kids would still make fun of them, just because they have one thing in common. What is the problem with that? They are just poor kids who have families that are trying to live a good life, despite having a bad one for the start. Nevertheless, they continue to stay beside each other.
Until one day, while sitting on a bench together, one boy with short brown hair walks up to the two.
"Can we help you?" Sojiro asks.
"That girl looks cute," the boy says.
"Come again?" Sojiro says, raising an eyebrow.
"My name is Ryuu Kaji," the brown haired boy says. "And what I want is that lovely blue haired girl of yours."
"W-what?" Kanata is not sure what he's talking about, but she knows that this boy is up to no good.
Sojiro glances at Kanata and back to Ryuu. "What do you want with her?"
"Oh, I just want to have little talk with her, maybe do stuff together," the brown haired boy replies.
"Sorry, but she's already with me," Sojiro says. "Maybe next time."
Ryuu raises an eyebrow. "Next time? There won't be a next time if you're around. I suggest you leave before I rip your arms off."
Sojiro glares at him. He can't let a guy like him tell him what to do. He stands up and says, "No. I think I'll stay right here by Kanata."
Kanata brightens. "Sojiro . . ."
Ryuu rolls his eyes. "Oh, I'm so scared. So, you want to do it the hard way, eh?"
"Don't tell me or Kanata what to do," Sojiro says firmly. "Because you're not the boss of us and we can do whatever we want to."
"Oh, yeah? Tough guy?" Ryuu shoves Sojiro to the hard ground, making his knee scrape.
"Ah!" Kanata screams as she backs away a step, seeing this horrible sight. "Are you okay?"
"Now, give me Kanata or I'll kick your butt!" Ryuu demands.
Sojiro winces as he tries to get up, noticing his knee is bleeding from sliding on the hard pavement. Before Ryuu could do anything, a teacher steps in, seeing the fight between the two boys.
"Hey!" he says as he approaches the boys. "What's going on here?" He then notices Sojiro on the ground with his knee bleeding and then back at Ryuu. "Did he do this?"
Sojiro nods. "He only tried to take Kanata away from me and I don't know what he's going to do with her, so I tried to defend her, but he pushed me down."
Ryuu tries to look for an excuse when he gets nothing. When everything is over, the teacher takes Ryuu away with Sojiro sighing in relief. Just then, Kanata rushes over to his aid with a worried look in her eyes.
"Sojiro!" she cries. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he says as he glances at his knee.
Kanata gasps at this sight as it was continuing to bleed. "Oh, no! What do we do?"
Sojiro slowly gets up. "We have to go to the nurse's office." He starts to limp his way to the entrance when a small arm wraps around his shoulder to support him from falling. When he glances over his shoulder, he notices Kanata helping him out.
"Thank you . . . Kanata," he says as he smiles at her.
The blue haired girl smiles back at him. "No problem. After all, you're my only friend in the world."
And so together, the two walk towards the school building and into the nurse's office.
A/N: Short chapter again, but I promise I will expand it later on. I may have copied Yutaka's condition for Kanata's but that's all I can come up with, so I apologize if it's a little similar.
Anyways, I'm glad you're liking this story so far and thank you for the reviews, especially Simply Hiiragi, for being the first to review. Your compliments had motivated me to make another chapter, so thank you so much. :)
Feel free to give out any suggestions, questions or concerns and don't forget to review. ;)