C IS FOR COMFORT

Serendine du Parthevia's pen hovered slightly above her research paper. It was well past class hours and the sky, instead of getting its beautiful orange glow, darkened into blurs of gray and black. Rain is coming, she thought, sighing and leaning her forehead on the cool laboratory table which was, she noted, a countertop of phenolic resin.

She waited for two hours. Two full hours of inactivity.

Maybe he forgot. Or just had something important to do. Seren slowly blinked, running her fingers through strands of strawberry short pink hair.

But she knew deep in her heart. That wasn't the case.

She bit her lip and for the nth time that day, sighing audibly. Raindrops fell from the sky and the pinkette closed her eyes in defeat.

Barbarossa.

Her thoughts ran wildly about in her head.

Did she really just get dumped?

"Umm..." the voice came from behind her and she slightly jumped in her seat. Turning around though, she was disappointed to see the unfamiliar face of a school janitress.

"Sorry, I'll be taking my leave now." she stuttered, quickly grabbing her bag and brushing past the oblivious janitress.

The girl adjusted her bag strap and blinked back tears, running through the corridors and towards the main entrance.

She mentally made a list of all that happened within the course of the two weeks.

'First, she woke up late. Second, detention for being late. Third, someone had thought how it would be fun to soak her notes in the muddy soccer field of the school. Fourth, she failed a test the following day for having to salvage, but failing, her notes.

Fifth, overthinking and having insomnia for that failed test.

Sixth, her supposed 'friend' started avoiding her for reasons unknown.

Seventh, her best friend went out with supposed friend, and also stopped talking to her.

Eight, she was getting dumped.

She tried to save her strength, she really did. But staring at the empty basket where her black umbrella was to be though, she broke down and cried.

"Kami-sama, do you hate me this much?!" she screamed, her wailing accompanied by the gushing sounds of angry winds and thunder. The girl sat on the floor, arms wrapped around her knees and face buried in the sleeves of her school uniform.

"What should I do, what should I do, what should I do?" she mumbled, rocking herself back and forth.

'Okay. Calm down, Seren. You can do this. Think of chemistry. H-bonds. Pi-bonds. Water molecules are good. Soothing. Yes, I can definitely run through the rain and absorb the glorious molecules of H2O.'

Her musings, however, were disrupted by a rather tired and monotonous tone of voice; one which she definitely couldn't mistaken for another.

"Oy Seren, you dead?"

She suddenly lifted her head to find herself face-to-face with none other than the boy who she once considered her best friend. 'Once' was the keyword.

'Sinbad.'

Flashes of him filled her thoughts and questions came in one after the other.

Why was he still in school?

Where was his usual cool and charming persona? 'He looks worse than a dead fish today,' she thought.

Where was his newest conquest ('soulmate,' he said), the girl who made Sinbad give up everything ('including me') and clung to him 24/7?

But most importantly, 'Why is he talking to me? And willingly, at that.'

Of all the questions running through her mind, she instead chose to narrow her eyes at him, bitterly saying, "Leave me alone."

The purple-haired boy's response was a mere tilt of the head and an all-too-familiar smug look gracing his very features. He got up, looking down at the girl with discriminating eyes, "Arba from class 3A took your umbrella, if that's what you're fussing about."

She stared at the ground, hearing an umbrella open, and his footsteps fading away. Asking an arch-nemesis for a favor was mortifying, she thought; and though her pride has never been a problem before, it definitely got in the way whenever it came to him.

Seren got up, straightened her skirt and decided running through the pouring the rain was better than staying the night in school. She sighed, tightened her grip on her school bag, and stepped through the front door. But before she could start running, her eyes flicked to the side of the ground.

It was a purple umbrella.

Owari