Chapter 19: Ami Kawashima #1

Ami Kawashima wanted people to see her as a simple, beautiful and sweet girl who is always kind and generous towards other. However there was a part of her which really wanted to be blunt and a bit rude to guys like these who intruded upon her while she was having lunch in the campus cafeteria.

"Is there something I can help you with?" she asked with a smile.

"No. I'm fine. Just trying to eat my lunch in silence." He said.

"Okay, I'm all about the silence."

"Good to know."

Well, that was oddly different and a bit rude. Wasn't he the one who had come and joined her for lunch, she thought back on it. Well if she was being technical, the two of them had pulled out the chairs at the same time. Only he had not looked at her, while she had gawked at him unashamedly, because she thought he was a nuisance, which was proven to be correct.

He was a rude little man. Little, wait -

"How tall are you?"

He looked at her with those rotten, disgusting looking eyes. It reminded her of a certain person. But unlike him, his eyes were brimming with annoyance. Ryuuji didn't have the same look in his eyes.

"Why do you wanna know?" He asked in return.

"Just making conversation. Being pleasant." Unlike you who is nothing but rude, she wanted to add, but didn't. She had a reputation to maintain. Be the good little girl, the idol everyone looks upto and the model who gets her picture clicked in most magazines.

"I'm about average height."

"That's not a number."

"I am bad with maths. Deal with it."

Okay, this was clearly not working. She didn't know why she wanted to know. Maybe she wanted to compare him with Ryuuji. He had the eyes down, but nothing else. But he did come and grab a seat in the same table as hers, so he definitely wanted something from her – that was her whole reasoning and it was perfectly sound.

For a second she wondered how did that others handled it. The fame which came from such an early age, the adulation of fans, the need for them to have a selfie taken with a celebrity, she really gave it some thought. Though it was not like she was ungrateful, if this guy wanted to take a photo with her, she would allow it.

That's why she was asking about his height.

"If you want to take a picture with me, you can be a bit more straightforward about it."

He looked at her and blinked. "Why would I want to take a picture with you?"

"No, I'm just saying. I get that sometimes. But I don't want the picture to look weird or anything. You know how guys are with camera angles." She tried for a hollow, fake laugh, but it didn't quite come out from her throat.

He focused on his lunch and mumbled something about airheads. Ami Kawashima thought he was right about that. She decided to throw her own views into the ring.

"You don't like airheads." She asked.

"I am reminded of their existence on a daily basis."

"And how do you deal with them?"

"I try to ignore them, but they make it hard."

The two of them went back to finishing their lunch. He took a swig from his canned beverage. She looked at the label.

"Maxx Coffee. That stuff is sweet." She added.

"Life's bitter as it is. I don't want coffee to add to that."

Now that was a cool line.

"You some kind of hardboiled detective from a black and white film noire movie?" she asked.

"Not exactly." He looked at her. "I see myself more as a faceless extra to a slice of life manga."

"Manga? Don't tell me you're an otaku?" she asked.

"Nah. I dabbled with the stuff in moderation. Doesn't make me an addict. Wonder whether they have a badge for that."

He had a complicated way of speaking. Ami Kawashima didn't quite get that.

The two of them ate the rest of their lunch in silence. When the both of them were finished and he made a move to walk away, she couldn't help but ask.

"So, you really don't know me?"

"No clue."

Ami Kawashima smiled. "I'm a popular model. I thought you were a creepy fan, who wanted to take some candid shots of me. But I saw that you never reached for your phone." Her smile faltered a little. "Sorry for judging you based on your looks."

"Looks aren't everything." He said. "I get the feeling you know that well, model-san."

"How can you tell?" she asked.

"You are beautiful." He said, unashamedly.

Ami Kawashima blushed. "Thanks, I guess."

"Don't thank me yet. I said you're beautiful. Doesn't mean you aren't anything else."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if I'm a hard boiled detective from a film noire, then you could be either a damsel in distress or a femme fatale." He gave a small knowing smirk. "Back then, characters didn't go past beyond the known archetypes. You could be one or the other. But now, times changed. You could be both."

"I thought I was beautiful." she repeated.

"In movies, they always are. In real life too." He said. "But beauty has its problems."

"And you would know?" she challenged him.

He didn't answer. Instead he replied. "My name's Hachiman Hikigaya. If you have any problems, come see me at the service club. Have a good day model-san."

Having said his piece he decided to walk away, but he was still within earshot and so, she said it.

"My name is Ami Kawashima."

"I already knew that." He had the last word.

Later she would come to know that, he was roommates with Ryuuji Takasu and he had told him about her stalker problem. She didn't know what to think. This guy, Hachiman Hikigaya had played her like a fool. But then she thought, she didn't mind it all that much.

He told her to come to the service club

Maybe she will.

A/N: This is the last chapter with this kind of one-shot writing style. From the next chapter I will write in a more flowing manner with a semblance of plot. But it will have to wait. From January, I will start writing another fic: Infinite Possibilities. It will be similar to this but different. These stories will not be connected.

Now for the options for the next chapter, SolSparda369 gave this voter list:

Option 1: Mio Akiyama – K-On

Option 2: Ayase Aragaki - Oreimo.

Option 3: Mashiro Shiina – Sakurasou.

Option 4: Tae Yamada – Zombie Land Saga.

Please pick any of the above or suggest a character in the review section.

You can also send me a voter list.

Hope everyone enjoyed reading this character.

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Won't betray your dreams.