Acquaintances are by far the highest form of interpersonal relationships that I've made. Surely you can say that my clubmates became a bit closer to me due to spending a good amount of time everyday but that's just it. For as long as I could remember, there's no one that considered me as their friend.
Where was I again? Ah, acquaintances. I don't know if it's only me or once you've been acquainted to someone, you'll start seeing them frequently on random locations. Maybe, it's because you now know them that you'll start acknowledging their existence, thus leading to easily identifying them even in the crowd. Of course this effect will be maximized the lesser your acquaintances are because there's no one left to stand out of the crowd if you just knew all of them.
I think you know why I'm having this internal monologue right now. Of course I'm talking Kuronuma, or much commonly known as Sadako. Ever since that day, everytime we bumped into each other, she always try to greet me with her very shaky voice. Being the usual loner that I am, I would just return the greeting by saying "Yo." to her. To my surprise, or lack thereof, her mood lightens up a bit afer every reply that I'll give to her. That only means that she rarely receives even a half-proper reply to her greetings as everytime that I saw her greeting someone else, they scream "sorry" and bolt out of her vicinity.
My train of thoughts are stopped when a teacher suddenly made a noise on the hallway, and surprisingly, it's not Hiratsuka-sensei.
"Forget about your feelings for me since I don't deal with kids."
"What? I only have my eyes for Haya-" Was that Miura?
"If I were you, go confess to someone your age. It doesn't matter if he likes you or not as his mind will be filled with thoughts about you for the entire day."
"Ha?"
"Because kids are stupid, hahahaha!" Damn that loud new teacher.
After listening to that Isshiki-style of rejecting someone who's not even asking them out in the first place, I looked at my two clubmates who's just as puzzled as I am of what transpired outside the clubroom.
"Eh, Was that Yumiko? I feel bad for her." Yuigahama started.
"To be honest, I don't really care about what happened but he sure is noisy." I added. "Who was that annoying monkey again?"
"I'm pretty sure you're the only wild animal around here, Hiki-sloth-kun." This time it's Yukinoshita.
"Yeah yeah, so who was he again?"
"He's the new homeroom teacher of class 2-C, Arai Kazuichi-sensei."
I then turned towards the other person in the club. "Yuigahama, I think your friend outside needs some friendly comfort right now as she's just been, you know, rejected. That must be too disgusting for her. "
"You're right, Hikki. I'll be back, Yukinon!" she enthusiastically said while going out to comfort the fire queen.
The club room was silent again. If only Yukinoshita and me are inside the club room, it's always a custom of us to not talk with each other, with the exception of important things such as asking permission to go out because of nature's call and such. Usually and even now, we are with our own books, enjoying the silence of the room.
God, I need MAX. "Excuse me Yukinoshita, I'll just go out a bit to get a drink."
"Is my tea not to your liking?" she put down her book and faced me.
"It's not like that, I'm just craving for something sweet."
"Okay, you have my permission."
I then went out leaving Yukinoshita alone inside the club room. During this hour, most of the students are only either those who belong in a club or a friend of theirs. With that, the hallway towards the nearest vending machine is clear from noisy normies who doesn't mind their surroundings and just screaming their lungs out.
And this is what I'm talking about earlier. Due to my limited number of acquaintances, I could instantly identify who this girl that's standing before the vending machine is. The odd thing is that she's staring above in the air. I think this is why she's rumored to be able to see ghosts.
"Uh Kuronuma-san, are you done there yet?"
Her body suddenly stiffened upon hearing my voice. At least I got my expected reaction of hers. "H-Hikigaya-san! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to block your way!"
"Don't be."
After inserting my coin and choosing my desired drink, the vending machine dropped... two MAXs? Maybe it's broken. Well whatever, broken or not, this additional can of coffee is now mine. Unfortunately, I don't feel like drinking two cans. I then turned to the girl beside me who's face lightened up after seeing the additional can that I have in my hands. Wait, is this why she's standing here for quite some time?
"Kuronuma-sa... Can I just drop the honorific and call you Kuronuma instead?" I can't really stand addressing people using honorifics.
"Yes."
"Okay Kuronuma, I think this other can is yours." I handed her the other can of coffee which she accepted with her two hands.
"Ah thank you. Actually, my money was stuck there and I don't know what to do until you came." she bowed to me repeatedly. This is embarrassing.
"Stop bowing please, it's embarrassing."
"S-Sorry."
I don't know what came into us but we started walking beside each other. Seeing her being a bit comfortable with me feels kinda relieving considering there's literally no one else here on Sobu who's willing to be with her. Thinking about her situation makes me wonder why she haven't given up on making friends yet while I already did few years ago. I know because I could definitely tell that she's trying to befriend me.
"Uh Kuronuma,"
"Yes?" She's a lot calmer now but she's still surprised everytime I call out to her.
"You don't have a club right? So why are you still inside the school?" That came out a bit... harsh.
"I was stuck on cleaning our classroom by myself."
"Don't you have a partner to do it?"
"I have, but they always run away before I could begin cleaning the room." Why did I even ask anyway? "What about you? Are you stuck on cleaning too."
"Ah no. I'm in a club so I usually stay inside the school a bit later than most students." Hearing this, she somehow looked apologetic.
"I, I'm sorry for jumping to c-conclusions!" There she is with her incessant bowing.
"You don't need to be too apologetic to me. I would only feel bad if you'd keep doing so."
"Sor... I mean yes."
After a few steps, I reached the service club room and it's there that we parted ways.
"I'll be off here, Kuronuma." Even after that coffee, my voice still sounds dry.
"Mm, see you, Hikigaya-san."
She bowed then walked slowly away from me. I watched her as slowly escaped my sight and realized that I've been doing something creepy so I immediately closed my eyes and slid the door of the club room open.
I've been always thinking about this for a while now. Whenever I'm with a loner, I feel like I could talk with easier than I am to normies, except for Komachi because she's special. Maybe, I have a soft spot for loners and 'semi-loners'because it's only to them that I could freely say what I want to say and I feel that they're also the same to me. They are of course Hiratsuka-sensei, Yukinoshita, Zaimokuza, Kawa... whatever her name is, Tsurumi Rumi from the summer camp, and the most recent addition, Kuronuma Sawako. I kinda feel bad that Yuigahama isn't one of those people that I'm comfortable talking to, obviously because she's a normie and I just can't stand normie topics. I'm also kinda sad that Totsuka isn't one of them, for obvious reasons.
But out of those loners and 'semi-loners' I've mentioned, there's one of them that I'm the most comfortable talking to and surprisingly, it's my most recent acquaintance that claimed the position.
Maybe it's because we both have the worst reputation here in Sobu that she's the one I could easily relate to, thus making our conversations a bit smoother than me to others.
Nah, there's no use thinking about my relationships with other people as I'm pretty sure I'll still end up alone in the end.