The next day came all too quickly for Taiki's liking. She'd fallen asleep early the night before and had totally missed supper. When she woke up the next morning, her stomach let out a loud grumble telling her the obvious.

She slowly sat up in her bed just as a wicked headache hit her, obviously caused by her lack of eating. She was thankful that her mom had already left for work or else she would have been in for a long lecture about missing supper the night before.

She debated about going downstairs and eating something but her teeth felt extremely sore after all of the purging she'd done recently so she decided she'd try and fast today, that way she wouldn't have to chew anything or consume any calories. Sure she was only trading one bad habit for another but in her mind it all made sense.

She quickly took a shower and changed into her uniform so that she wouldn't be late and headed off on her walk to school. It was extremely chilly outside and she shivered frequently, wishing she'd brought a jacket with her.

By the time she got to school she was feeling rather light headed and felt like she needed to sit down right away. She told herself it was because she'd had a long walk and it was freezing outside but deep down she knew it was because of the way she'd been eating.

She took a quick 5 minute rest on one of the benches in the hallway before forcing herself to get up and continue on. She walked over to her locker, and robotically went through the motions of unlocking it, opening it, grabbing her binder, shutting the door and locking it back up.

She walked over to her math class, entering quietly and taking a seat at her table before opening her binder and setting everything up for when class began. She could feel a headache coming on so she silently prayed that that blonde would be sick today and she wouldn't have to deal with her again.

The class started and Taiki breathed a sigh of relief when she realized the blonde wasn't there. Her head was still pounding and her vision was a little blurry but she was able to jot the notes down that were on the board without a problem.

Then all of a sudden, 20 minutes into the class there was a knock on the door. Taiki crossed her fingers as Mrs. Aki walked over to the door, that it wouldn't be Haruka. The door opened and there stood the cocky blonde, an apologetic smirk on her face as Mrs. Aki gave her another warning about being late.

Haruka shrugged it off and marched on over to her seat beside Taiki. Before she could even sit down the brunette had already passed her her notes without a word. The blonde attempted to thank her but Taiki only glared at her in return. Haruka cocked an eyebrow at her but quickly copied down the notes while Taiki tore a new sheet of paper out of her binder so that she wouldn't fall behind.

The class eventually finished and Taiki quickly gathered up her stuff to try and avoid any confrontations. She made it into the hallway before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see the blonde standing there, appearing as if she wanted to say something.

"I wanted to apologize for how I acted yesterday." she began, offering her a simple smile. She started to say more but Taiki wasn't paying attention. She was seeing little black spots all over the place and she felt like she was going to pass out. She took one step back but it was too late. "I should have realized you were uncomfortable an-" Haruka was cut off when the brunette collapsed, blacking out in the middle of the hallway.

/

When Taiki woke up she was in a small white room, on what appeared to be an examination table like what you'd see in a doctor's office. She slowly sat up and moaned when her headache came back full force, hitting her before she had the chance to even grasp what was happening.

"Daijoubu?"

The brunette looked over to see the other girl sitting there, watching her with a concerned look on her face.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have class?"

"Well, I was trying to talk to you and you fainted. People were starting to gather around you and so I scooped you up and took you to the nurse's office, which is where we currently are."

"That answers one of my questions, but-"

"I have a spare right now, it's fine. I wanted to make sure you were ok."

Taiki stared at her for a minute, trying to figure out if this was some kind of prank. "Arigatou." she said hesitantly.

"Listen what I was trying to say earlier is I wanted to apologize for how I acted yesterday. You looked lonely and I thought you could use a friend, and when you pushed me away I blew up at you and I apologize. I shouldn't have acted like that, I should have respected the fact that you were uncomfortable."

"It's alright, you were just trying to be friendly and I wasn't reciprocating. I'm not really a social person, I tend to stick by myself most of the time." she said, just as the door opened.

In walked the school nurse who smiled when she saw that Taiki was up. "Ah Taiki, I'm glad you're awake. I'm Mrs. Okada, the school nurse here. Your friend over there brought you here earlier, she said you fainted."

The brunette nodded. "Hai, I've been fighting a cold and I didn't have time to eat this morning so that's probably why." she lied.

The nurse walked over to one of her cupboards and pulled out a granola bar. "Here. Eat this. We keep a stash of emergency food in case a student needs it." she said, as she handed the bar over.

Taiki took one look at it and groaned internally. She had planned to fast all day but one little granola bar wasn't going to make her fat was it? She took note of the calories on the back and promised that she'd write it down in her notebook when she had the chance. She unwrapped it and took a bite, as Haruka stood up from her chair.

"I think the bell just went, I have class now." she said to Mrs. Okada. "Taiki, I'll see you in class tomorrow. If you need anything you know where to find me." she said before exiting.

She quickly finished her granola bar before tossing the wrapper away. She had already missed one class and she didn't want to be late for another.

"Stay safe Taiki." Mrs. Okada said sweetly, as the young student walked away.

As Taiki walked her thoughts flooded her mind, maybe she was wrong about Haruka. Maybe it wouldn't hurt her to have one person she could talk to. A small but genuine smile crossed her face as she realized she might actually make a real genuine friend.