a/n= sorry, this chapter is a little bit long. Please R&R! Reviews are appreciated !
After a long time of exhaustion and boredom, the school bell finally rang, and classes had officially ended.
The squeaks of chairs and murmurs of conversation swept around the room as the first year students slowly filling out the classroom. The teacher closed his book and was the first one to leave, probably more relieved than any other souls in the room.
Usually, Takao was the first one who jumped from his seat and weaved through the hallways, having meaningful conversation or jokes with every single people he came across. But now, the raven-haired was one of the last one to leave, because he hasn't finished the class assignment, which supposed to be due on the end of the period. The hawk-eyed teen tilted his head downwards, scribbling furiously against his already crumpled and dirty paper full of eraser marks.
His seatmate, Midorima, was slipping her textbooks inside her bag, squeezing the contents to make a space for Kerosuke. Before the green-haired female finished packing, four girls strolled towards her table. Hands on their hips, the leader of the girl spoke loudly.
"What is this?" she picked up Kerosuke and inspected it in disgust. "Why are you bringing this shit to school?"
Instead of getting worked up, Midorima answered bluntly. "It's my lucky item of the day."
The leader's friend—a blonde girl in girly pigtails—let out a high-pitched chortle. "Oh my god! You are so old fashioned! I remember you're one of those MiraGen bitches, am I right?"
Takao can't help but to shift his attention towards the commotion besides him; this was bullying. All the other students were staring at them too with terrified eyes; nobody dared to step up for Midorima. Takao wanted to help, but the thought of getting a zero in his assignment, which leaded to his parents, who will forced him to quit basketball. It sent shivers up his spine. Gritting his teeth, Takao cursed himself, feeling helpless.
"Yes I am." Midorima straightened her glasses. In spite of her situation, she looked calm and composed. "The GoM meant to harm. Now if you please let me pass."
The girls switched surprised glances to one another, dumbfounded to realize their taunts didn't affect on Midorima. The leader flashed a knowing glance to her friends, and their friends nodded, smirking and giggling. Suddenly, one of the girls yanked Kerosuke and smashed it against the floor, causing it to broke into thousand pieces.
Midorima's eyes widened, and her face torn. However, she only pursed her lips and slightly raised her voice. "What have you done?"
"Look, the bitch is trying to act all cool!" the blonde spat, rolling her eyes indignantly. "You're acting like this because you're trying to play the cool-girl scenario! You want pity from the guys! As expected of Shintaro, people said you're the weirdest of the GoM!"
"Weird!" the pink-haired girl beside the blonde let out a tongue.
"Such an old bitch."
"Disgusting."
After the girls laughed in satisfaction, they walked away from Midorima's desk and left the classroom. As they strolled out of the room, they were showered by surprised stares from the students that watched the whole commotion.
After that, nobody said anything.
Everyone expected Midorima to cry or panic, but the shooter simply kneeled down and gathered the sharp fragments. The boys looked at her in pity and shook their head, leaving the classroom. Suddenly, she winced. Fresh blood trickled slowly from her finger, and a frown flashed across her face. Tilting her head downwards to hide her expression, Midorima continued sweeping up the pieces despite the pain.
On that second, Takao couldn't stand it anymore.
Screw the last question—Takao jerked from his seat and pulled out a spare bandage and an antiseptic from his bag; his Senpai Miyaji always advised him to bring first aid kit in case of injury. Takao sunk to his knees and crawled closer to Midorima. The green-haired girl almost jerks by his presence.
"What? Are you still complaining that Scorpio brings bad luck?" Takao chuckled dryly. "Come on, give me your hand."
"This happened because you sat beside me." Midorima frowned, turning her head away from him.
Takao couldn't help but to giggle. "Stupid. Now quick, your hand."
Midorima obeyed, surrendering her bleeding fingers. Takao grimaced at the sight. Quickly, he applied the antiseptic to her wound. Midorima whimpered, biting her lip. For a second, Midorima let his gaze fell upon Midorima's vulnerable face, and he bowed his head, hiding his flustered face.
A few minutes later, Takao had finished wrapping the bandages around Midorima's fingers. He tidied up his first aid kit as Midorima stood up, opening her bag and to Takao's bewilderment, pulled out the exact replica of Kerosuke.
"You still have another one?!" Takao shrieked, shocked.
"I know something like this will happen, so I brought another one just in case." Midorima replied while contemplating on her new bandages.
Takao heaved a tired sigh. "All right then, I'm going now. See ya."
After packing his belongings including his assignment, Takao walked out of the room and slapped his face inwardly. He felt stupid to simply leave Midorima alone in the classroom. What if she cries about the recent commotion? What will happen if she goes emotional? Who will stay by her side when that happens? Finally, Takao shrugged off the thought, concluding that Midorima would be fine—she's not the type of girl who needed a man after all.
When Takao finally walked out of the classrooms, he was greeted by a bunch of high-fives and fist bumps. At first, Takao believed it was their usual-greeting thing, but his suspicion confirmed when a mischievous grin split his friends' faces. One of his tallest friends, Makoto, patted Takao's shoulder in a brotherly manner.
"Congrats Kazunari!" Makoto guffawed. "Looks you hit the love flag!"
"Yeah, with the 'miracle' girl indeed!" Daichi, who was the shortest of the bunch, winked.
Before Takao could clear up the misunderstanding, a tall girl with long-black hair approached the group, pulled in by their conversation—it was the class president, Sachika.
"Takao-kun, I know this day will come." Sachika's voice trailed in a professional manner. "Even though you had rejected half of the female population."
Takao sighed, rubbing his head sheepishly. He ran his fingers to his hair in frustration. "Aww! Come on guys! I'm just being nice! People who help others are like the Samaritan!"
"A Samaritan or a prince on a white horse?" Sachika craned her head, smiling naughtily. "Don't get me mixed up with the terms, Takao-kun."
Takao exhaled a sharp sigh as his friends' laughter played on the background. Soon, the group started to talk about other things—basketball, the recent popular TV show, and Sachika's ex-boyfriend, to Takao's guilty pleasure.
"….Then you see," Takao giggled, tears already formed in his eyes. "Kensho was saying something like 'I will conquer Sachika's heart once again just like how Germany conquer France'! Along that shit, and the teacher was super pissed!"
The whole group broke into laughter while Sachika was giggling silently, blushing. Suddenly, the class president craned her head behind Takao, and her signature naughty smirk returned to her face.
Makoto sweat dropped. Because when Sachika smiled like this, she would say something that will taunt or embarassed Takao, Daichi or even him. "Umm…Class Prez, why are you smiling like that?"
Sachika hummed, clicking her fingers. "I don't wanna interrupt, but Takao-kun, I think someone is waiting for you."
Takao was expecting Miyaji-senpai to come and punish him for whatever reason, but he was surprised to see none other than Midorima Shintaro, standing behind him, arms crossed.
"Um…. hello?" Takao's words rumbled, and his body was shaking like an earthquake.
While his friends were chuckling behind him, Midorima replied him. "You're in the basketball team right? Miyaji-senpai said today there would be no practice because the court would be used."
"Ah…I see…" a small smile tugged on the end of his lips. Finally, Takao could go home earlier and finally be able to catch up with his favorite anime series. "Wait, how do you know Miyaji-senpai?"
"I just signed up to join." Midorima replied curtly and left Takao in the dust.
Takao's jaw dropped.
"Wooo! Basketball couples!" Daichi exclaimed, jumping on the spot. "Lucky bastard Takao!"
"Why did she have to go so fast? I want to squish her cheeks!" Sachika squealed, and Makoto casted her a disgusted glare.
Takao raked his mind to find an excuse to be able to leave his crazy group. "Okay guys, I need to go home now! Mom needed me to make dinner, so bye!"
With that, Takao dashed off, leaving the campus as quickly as possible to mourn on his eventful day.
"Will Takao be alright?" Makoto turned to Daichi, concerned.
"Let him be!" Sachika exclaimed, grinning. "It's part of his youth!"
Makoto and Daichi can't help but to sweat dropped on Sachika's words.
Takao gulped—things couldn't get any worse.
It was his umpteenth time the hawk-eyed opened his GPS, making sure he was on the right track to his house. Even though his house was only a few feet away, he didn't understand the fact why Midorima was walking right behind him, tailing him like a shadow.
"Hey princess." Takao turned to her. "You should go home now. I know I'm an attractive guy and all, but you should go home before it's too late."
Takao huffed a breath of relief—finally, he could be himself right in front of this complicated girl.
"Who's following you?" Midorima's eyebrows scrunched, annoyed. "I am walking home, stupid."
The green-haired girl rushed passing Takao, and Takao hurried to keep up with her fast stride. Since it was only Midorima and him right now, the hawk eyed believed it was the right time to start up a conversation.
"So, you believe in horoscopes huh? That's weird." he shuffled his feet shyly, slightly turning to look at her eyes.
"Hm." Midorima hummed, shifting her gaze to the orange sky. "I always believe in lucky items.
Takao let out a chortle, and Midorima snapped her gaze towards the chuckling raven-haired. Narrowing her eyes, she scowled. "What are you laughing about, stupid?"
"Nah." Takao shrugged off, but he was grinning. "I find it very amusing you know. Nobody believes in it anymore anyways."
"But I do." Midorima replied curtly.
"Yeah I know!" Takao laughed it off, and slowly, his gaze met Midorima's injured hands. He frowned and stared at it longingly. Midorima noticed his gaze and turned her head away from Takao.
"I owe you one." Her voice was like a whisper.
Takao's eyes widened. Did he just hear Midorima thanking him? A faint blush brushed against his cheeks. "Yeah, it's alright."
It was silent for a moment, until Midorima's soft voice intruded.
"Thank you. Takao." She turned to him, meeting him in the eye.
Takao took a step back, now that their face were too close. He could feel Midorima's steady breath fanning against his face. Midorima's eyes remained nonchalant, but there was a faint blush on her cheeks.
Finally, Takao reached to his house. His favorite anime was calling for his presence, and Takao grinned by the thought. Just as he was about to say goodbye to the green-haired girl, Midorima disappeared to the house beside him.
Takao's jaw dropped.
He peered in to the next door's address, and his eyes widened in disbelief when he saw the name 'Midorima' written on it.
That means…they were neighbors?
Takao felt his spirit was taken away from him; he honestly have no idea what to feel right now.