"one"

It all started when he first transferred to my school.

...

"This is Chiba Ryuunosuke. He has transferred here recently so please be nice to him," the class adviser announced before the class.

Every student in the room gave the transfer student a weird look. The raven-haired boy stood casually in front with an amicable smile on his face. But what caught their attention was his long fringe covering his eyes, which they all found creepy to be exact.

Despite that, he maintained his upright stance and nonchalant façade. The class adviser, then, told him to sit on the back beside the window.

Ignoring the judging stares, he made his way to his seat when his gaze met a pair of emerald eyes that belonged to his seatmate. Unlike everyone else, the look in her eyes was indifferent with a bit of curiosity in them. After taking his seat, she gave him a brief nod before turning her head to the front whilst his other classmates remained ogling at him as if there's a knife sticking out of his head.

Thankfully, everybody averted their focus to the class upon starting. Instead of following their lead, he sneaked a glance to his right, where the girl with emerald eyes was scribbling on her notes with orange waves framing her concentrating expression.

He was mesmerized.

When lunch break had arrived, a group of three girls approached him. The one in the middle called Koizumi Ayano placed her arm on his desk. "Hey, Chiba. Why do you hide your eyes with your bangs?" she asked.

"Quit it, Koizumi. He might be uncomfortable answering your question," his seatmate, whose name he discovered to be Hayami Rinka, interjected from her seat.

Fujimoto Eri slid next to Hayami and leaned on her desk. "We just want to be friends with him, Hayami-chan," she told her.

Hayami was about to retort when Chiba thought to save her breath since, based on experience, these girls wouldn't leave him alone unless he gave them a response. Standing up, he said, "I'm sorry, but that's none of your business."

The three girls were dumbstricken. Before any of them could react, he was already striding out of the room.

"What a nerve!" Nakahara Hikaru blurted with a huff.

"Let's just go have our lunch," said Koizumi, who was likewise irked off at the transferee's rebuff.

Turning her head away from the door where he had exited, Hayami pushed herself out of the desk and brought her bento with her as she came along with them to the cafeteria.

Out of habit, he stalked his way through the second floor of the rundown building. Cracks on the walls, the colors fading, and the irons rusting, he was used to this kind of place that even the stench of something old and lacking oxygen didn't disturb his nostrils.

Although they could afford to live in a more comfortable home, they needed to change their lifestyle now and then. Leaving behind any pattern or routine would risk themselves being tracked. That's why, every year, they moved from one place to another under different identities and circumstances.

He turned the knob of the apartment door and saw a pair of grown men's shoes on the floor. This meant that his guardian – his father on paper – was back from his job.

"I'm home," he cried out, a practice they made sure to do every time they arrive to avoid being attacked by the other.

Passing by the narrow corridor, he went into the room on the left side where the TV space was, together with their futons and closet.

"Perfect timing. I need your help in cleaning the guns," said the man sitting before the TV as rifles and ammo lay across the low table. He was cleaning a gun part with a cloth in his hands.

The man's fictitious name for this year was Chiba Kin, who has once served the army. After being sent to war, he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was excused from service at the age of forty. Wanting to feel again the adrenaline during a battle, he turned to do freelance jobs – the sort that involved killing people, no questions asked.

In the past, whilst he was in the middle of work, he found 8-year-old Ryuunosuke wandering on the street in the middle of the night. The boy's face was swollen and his shirt stained with blood.

When he had taken the child in, he came to know that Ryuunosuke and his mother had been suffering from his father's verbal and physical abuse. His mother had been neglecting him, blaming him for his father's behavior, and even claiming that his eyes were those of a demon.

Then, one day, his mother suddenly stabbed his father with a knife right before his eyes. She was planning to kill her son next when Ryuunosuke fled away from the house and started moving his feet aimlessly.

With this, Kin took it upon himself to raise the boy. He has also been teaching the child the know-hows of his assassin profession, bringing him in some of his missions if the moment allowed.

After squatting down on the floor across the old man, Ryuunosuke picked up the sniper rifle and began disassembling it like it was child's play. "Are you already done with your current job?" he asked as he polished the lens, raising it to his eye-level to check if there's still any lint left.

"There are five targets this time and they all belonged in one organization. It'll take me a week or so to finish this task," Kin answered.

Then he finished cleaning the last part of the gun. "How is school, kid?"

The young boy paused, contemplating his reply. Resuming the task at hand, he finally said, "Fine, I guess."

This made Kin's eyebrow arched. "Fine? That's the first time I heard that. You'd usually either say 'It's a boring school' or 'Everything's the same'. Does this mean you find something that caught your interest this time?"

"Not something. Rather, it's someone," Ryuunosuke corrected.

With a nod, Kin put both of his hands on his knees. "That's good to hear. At least you finally found something worth passing your time. Just keep a low profile. We wouldn't want a repeat of your middle school," he said.

Ryuunosuke met his guardian's gaze, the corner of his mouth turned up. "Of course, Pops."

Several days have passed Chiba found himself following his seatmate's every move. It was her grace-like demeanor, her stoic attitude, and her sincerity that drew him in like a magnet.

She was the sole person in class who would give him a curt greeting every morning and before she left the room after dismissal. The sound of her voice would make his chest palpitate, and he would play it on repeat inside his mind for the rest of the day and night.

Even though she hanged around with Koizumi's company, it couldn't be said that she was a part of their group. They would order her around like she was their gofer that simply spectating stung him. Whenever she committed a mistake, they would make fun of her for it with their classmates joining in the ride.

There were some nights when he would dream of her fetching emerald gaze, her luscious skin and body, and her thick wavy hair that flowed so exquisitely by her shoulders. Not to mention that she would invade his thoughts every once in a while, making him restless especially when she wasn't in his sight.

Then, one morning, there was a heavy downpour. He was on his way to school when he saw her silhouette crouching on the ground, an umbrella over her. Following that, he saw her gentle, elated smile as she gawped at whatever was in the cardboard box. This rendered him in awe, finding that expression of hers, which she has never shown in school, stunningly beautiful.

He went closer until she was below him, tilting his umbrella to shield her from the rainfall. Upon taking a look, there's an abandoned kitten inside the box.

Raising her gaze at him, she said, "I can't leave this poor kitten in the rain. He will get wet."

"You can share my umbrella," he suggested, his mouth curved up.

That caught her off guard. Regaining her composure, she glanced back at the kitten that was staring up at her profusely.

"That works." Then she fixed her umbrella over the box, giving the tiny animal one last affectionate look before standing up beside Chiba.

She faced him and uttered "Thank you" with a brief nod.

As they pressed forward to school, silence ensued between them. Even so, Hayami still found it comforting accompanied by the rain that has alleviated to drizzling.

Chiba noticed a car was about to drive past a puddle. At the speed of light, he grabbed her wrist and tugged her towards him. The touch made him swoon, and when his gaze had lowered to her close-up astonished face, his heart picked up its pace.

"That was close," she said amusedly right before bursting into a giggle, in an attempt to break off the awkwardness she was feeling from the vicinity of their faces and bodies.

From then on, Chiba Ryuunosuke has formed an addiction. Towards Hayami Rinka.