Chapter 4: When you need me

"Ah, it's nice to see you Saga-kun. How have you been?" Mr. Kuroi was one of the school counselors who were in charge of keeping track of the seniors. He called Masamune in to discuss his future plans (again), and to give Masamune a form for his parents to sign.

"I'm fine, so what did you need?"

"I called you in here to give you the "Plans after High School" sheet so you can fill it out and discuss it with your parents."

"I don't need one."

"What do you mean? Everyone has to fill one out. We're not here to judge you either Saga-kun. We just want an idea of what you're going to do after graduation. I'm sure your parents are interested in knowing as well, if you haven't told them yet."

Masamune wasn't trying to be a smart ass, or be defiant; he really just didn't see the point in filling out the paper. Masamune hadn't even thought about college yet. He had no idea what he wanted to do and sure as hell couldn't figure it out within the next few months. The second thing that kept gnawing at Masamune was the thought of getting his parents to sign the form. Not only did he think that they wouldn't care either way what he did with his life, since they haven't showed any interest so far, he knew it was going to be a pain in the ass to even catch his parents to sign the sheet because they were never home. All in all Masamune saw it as one big hassle and would rather just not do it.

"Go on, take it. Have it back to me by Monday."

Masamune took the paper and said his goodbye to Mr. Kuroi for the weekend. Masamune actually liked Mr. Kuroi. He was a laid back teacher who didn't really pry unless he really needed something done. Masamune left the staff room and made his way down the halls. He gazed out the windows at the orange-pink afternoon sky. The halls also had this warm orange color to them because of the late afternoon light. Masamune stopped for a second to lean against one of the window sills.

"I still have some time left…Maybe I could hang in there for a few minutes before heading home."

Masamune was referring to the library. That was another one of his favorite places to go instead of his own home. Nobody ever really went in there so Masamune had the quiet, peaceful room to himself most of the time, besides the librarian of course. Masamune arrived at the entrance of the library and made his way in. Of course, there wasn't anybody else in there. He breathed a sigh of relief and made his way to his usual table towards the back to put his stuff down. Now came his favorite part. Walking down the tall aisles of books in search of book he hadn't read yet. Masamune loved all types of books to be honest, but the one genre he always found himself going back to was Romance. It was mainly because relationships in books, whether it be a romantic relationship between lovers, parents, friends, they always turned out better than they did in real life. That's because the books are fictional is what Masamune would tell himself. After a while Masamune started to think how much better it would be to live in a fictional world where everything went right and everything was ok. Everyone thinks about that though, at some point in their life. Masmaune sat there staring at a page for a particularly long time until his attention snapped back when he heard the Librarian speaking to someone. He thought she might have been speaking to him but he noticed that she was speaking to someone off to her left, which was out of sight to Masamune. The librarian was really young, probably about 23 or 24. She was a pretty girl with long black hair and cutely styled bangs with clear glasses frames. She had a playful smile on her face with a cheerful voice. She was definitely the quirky type.

"Oi Onodera-kun, I'm so grateful for you helping me. Without you I would probably be swamped with all these new books."

Ritsu walked out of one of the side rooms connected to the library which acted as a storage room. Ritsu Volunteered in the library often, especially when it came to labeling and shelfing books that were new or donated. He loved doing it even if he wasn't being paid.

"Ah it's no problem Suzume-san, I love seeing all of the new books that come in." Ritsu said with a smile gathering his things.

"Thanks again. Good work today, get home safe." She said as she stepped out of the room, more than likely heading to the staff room. Ritsu was about to head home until he spotted a figure sitting towards the back of the room. He smiled when he saw the familiar face and approached Masamune.

"Hey what are you doin here?

Masamune looked up at the green-eyed first year with a blank expression

"Cooking up a French cuisine." Masamune said in a joking, sarcastic tone.

Ritsu let out a light chuckle, which surprised Masamune. Most people would've gotten mad at him for being so sarcastic, even though he was joking.

"That's not what I meant. I meant why are you here so late?"

"Oh I try to come here as much as possible and as long as possible."

Ritsu wore a half smile when he looked down at the book Masamune currently had in front of him. Leaning forward Ritsu playfully said "ooh Hazuki-sensei". Masamune quickly closed the book he was reading feeling embarrassed that Ritsu obviously knew who the other was, which meant he knew what kind of story it was. Ritsu was shocked at the sudden reaction and gave an apologetic look.

"Oh Saga-senpai I didn't mean it like that. I'm actually a big fan of Hazuki sensei's work."

Masamune looked up at Ritsu not knowing if the boy was being truthful or if he was just trying to make Masamune feel better.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've actually read that book before. I really liked all of the characters. I also like one of her previous works, the one about the girl who falls in love with that trouble making boy that she meets in detention. I thought that story was really cute."

Masamune knew he was telling the truth, because he had just recently finished that book. He got up to gather his things and put the book back. Ritsu watched Masamune do all of this. Ritsu felt as if maybe he hurt Masamune's feelings somehow and felt he needed to fix it.

"Are you heading home? Maybe we could walk together."

"You can do whatever you want, but following me might be kinda boring."

"That's fine." Ritsu said with a smile, walking with his senpai. Masamune thought the boy was strange.
Why was he always so damn cheerful? Whatever it's not like it affected him in any way, so he just let the kouhai walk alongside him. It was a weird feeling for the older boy. He'd never walked with anyone home before. He started to become extremely aware of the boy walking beside of him. He felt way too awkward not saying anything. He usually liked silence, but this was unbearable. He finally managed to croak out a question for his kohai.

"So do you work for the library or something? You seemed really close with the librarian."

"I volunteer to help her out when she gets new books to put on the shelves. Suzume san is really nice and funny, that's her name by the way." Ritsu said while looking down and smiling.

Masamune gave a slight laugh and looked straight ahead.

"It sounds like you have a crush on her or something."

Ritsu gave a very confused look and let out a loud laugh.

"Are you kidding? Not that Suzume-san isn't pretty or anything, but she's honestly like the older sister I never had but always wanted."

"You don't have any siblings?"

"No. I'm an only child"

"Aren't you lonely?" Masamune accidentally said aloud. He was thinking it but didn't intend on actually asking the younger boy the question.

"Sometimes but I have a lot of cousins so they kinda feel like siblings to me. What about you senpai? Do you have any siblings?

"No"

Ritsu looked over at his senpai, regretting asking him the question back because he didn't know if it was a touchy subject for him or not. Ritsu tried to quickly change the subject after that. That's when he remembered something he thought about earlier.

"You know that book you were reading earlier?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You actually remind me of the main girl in the story." Ritsu said with a small smile on his face. Masamune laughed a little remembering as much about the girl in the story as he could.

"What are you trying to say? Isn't she kind of a shut in?" He said in a joking tone. Ritsu laughed, throwing his head back slightly.

"Yeah she is, but that's not necessarily a bad thing is it?"

"Well according to those late night shows, being a NEET is actually quite an epidemic."

The two boys let out a laugh. Masamune couldn't even remember the last time he had this kind of laid back, casual conversation with someone. Actually he never really had conversations with people. He tried to avoid them as much as possible. Ritsu was right, Masamune was a lot like the girl in the story. The two boys soon reached a street that split up into two paths, one going right and the other continuing straight. Masamune stopped at the turn and said, "Well this is my street. I guess I'll see you around." Masamune was about to make his departure from Ritsu but he stopped.

"Wait senpai." Masamune turned around and saw the boy reaching for something in his bag. Ritsu pulled out what looked like a cell phone.

"Can I have your number?"

"What for?"

"So I can call you or text you, duh. Plus if you ever need me you can always call me too."

Ritsu stood there with his arm outstretched, waiting for Masamune to grab the phone so he could input his number. Masamune hesitantly took the phone punching in his number.

"I don't really use my phone all that much, but hey knock yourself out." Masamune said after inputting his number. He lightly tossed the phone back to Ritsu, who thankfully caught it. Ritsu smiled and put the phone in his pocket.

"Thanks senpai. I'll see you later." He said with a wave and he continued walking straight. For a few seconds Masamune watched him walk off until he realized how weird that must look and decided to continue his walk home. He walked off, again in silence. The only sound was the slight rustling of the leaves in the trees that came with the soft afternoon breeze. A few minutes after, however, Masamune could feel his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He took it out and flipped it open to see he had a new message that read:

" ~Get home safe, kay? ~"

Onodera

Masamune looked at the message and could feel his face start to heat up. He tried to shake off the feeling by putting his phone back in his pocket. The corner of his mouth started to curl up, showing the beginnings of a smile.

"What a funny kid."

Masamune walked home, basking in the feeling of actually, finally feeling like a normal teenager.

Author's Notes

Hey guys, I know it took me a while to update the chapters. I'm sorry but college is really hard to get around and find free time for anything else.

Also I wanted to apologize for the story being really angsty sometimes. I include those types of moments because I actually have depression and I remember while I was in high school I often felt like the Masamune feels in this story. Don't worry it won't always be like that I promise ;)

Anyway thanks for reading 3