Sometimes you couldn't help but get in trouble.

Shigeko was usually the one who got in trouble, sometimes it felt like her teachers just plain didn't like her, but also sometimes it didn't since Minori got in trouble too. Those times were very rare, of course, because she was Minori. Asagiri Minori. She wore her name like a charm, like a shield, like it would protect her from anything. But names weren't charms and they couldn't keep you safe. Also sometimes people didn't care who your father was.

Even if your father was also called Asagiri.

Minori said that a lot. Things like 'wait until my father hears about this' and 'my father wouldn't like this'. Shigeko knew that her Dad would just be disappointed in her if she got in trouble at school. He wouldn't send his people down to the school to 'straighten things out'. No, Mom and Dad liked it when she solved her own problems…or maybe they didn't like it when she brought her problems home to them…or maybe she was just the problem. Shigeko didn't really know, her parents could be very complicated. It would have been nice, though, to have someone who cared when she got in trouble…not that she would ever ask them to straighten things out for her.

Not when she was the one in the wrong.

She reached into her school bag and pulled out her compact mirror. She knew that she had wiped all the makeup off but she just had to check. Minori hadn't taken her makeup off after school, no, she had tried to put even more on in the bathroom. The teachers were out after the bell rang, they stood by the gates and around the neighborhood to make sure that people weren't out causing trouble in their school uniforms, and they may have even liked catching people messing around and doing things that they weren't supposed to. Minori thought so, anyway.

And yet she still got in trouble.

Shigeko rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. She had to wait for Minori. Their teacher had caught her trying to leave with a bunch of makeup on, so now she had to take it off, and then she had to help clean up the classroom after school even though it wasn't her day. Shigeko had tried to take her punishment for her but the punishments were nontransferable, apparently, and that just wasn't fair. Not that Shigeko wanted to have to clean up the classroom or be punished but it was important to be a good friend.

Especially since, lately, she had been a pretty bad friend.

A shadow fell over her as she wiped away the last, stubborn, bits of eyeshadow around her eyes. She looked like a raccoon, or maybe like she had been in a fight, either way she didn't want to be seen by anyone. She had never had a problem with her bare face before she had started to wear makeup but now it was like whenever she looked into her mirror it turned into a magnifying glass and showed her everything that was wrong with her. Her ghostly pale skin, the permanent bags under her eyes, her bushy eyebrows, her stubby eyelashes, how spotty her skin had gotten lately. She kind of wished that she had done like Minori had said to and put on more makeup, lots more, to hide…everything. She didn't want to see herself let alone let anyone else see her bare face.

But, of course, things never worked out the way she wanted them to.

The shadow that had fallen onto her was, in fact, attached to a person. A boy person. A boy person with very shiny shoes, bright purple socks, pressed black pants, a white shirt, a purple tie, and then…well she didn't want to look up any higher. She knew that the uniform she was seeing went to another school and she knew it was far away. Therefore the person wearing the uniform went to that far away school and had come here for Minori and that she wasn't even supposed to think about the person who was here to see Minori let alone look at him.

So, yes, she would keep her eyes right here on his tie.

Or maybe this was awkward. She was staring at his tie but his tie rested on his chest…and now she was thinking about his chest. She could see his buttons, white, no…pearl. Yes, that was the color. Know your colors and know your fabrics, that was important…and that was why she was staring at his buttons now. She was staring at his buttons because she thought that pearl buttons were pretty, not because she was thinking about doing something crazy like unbuttoning them.

No, that would have been wrong.

So she kept her eyes on his buttons. Button. One specific button, the one right at the top. He buttoned his shirts all the way to the top. It wasn't fair…that someone made him do that…because it wouldn't have been comfortable. That was all. She was just thinking about his comfort and now about how his button fastened his collar together and how his collar was right there against his throat and how he had a nice neck, which was really weird because she wasn't a vampire or one of those kids who pretended to be one, and…and she had no thoughts at all about any part of him. Neck or otherwise. No, she just…liked clothes…that was all.

He looked so good in purple. He looked so good in everything.

Oh no! Something was said! What was it! She had been so busy staring at his…clothes…that she hadn't been able to focus on anything else. He had said something, she had seen the way his throat moved, and she knew that it had probably been directed at her. She was the only person still around. She had to say something back…but what? And was it even ok to say something to him without Minori being there? This wasn't her boyfriend even though she wanted…she didn't want anything…but also she wanted…she wanted…

She wanted to know what to say.

"Um…." Said Shigeko as she risked a glance up to his eyes….they were so blue and so…so…she looked back down. She stared down at his throat. That seemed better. His throat, his collar, his buttons, his…um…

"So you're doing 'um'?" asked Hanazawa. She shook her head. She should have just kept her mouth shut. Now he thought that she was an idiot and he probably wanted nothing to do with her, not that she wanted him to want anything to do with her, since she didn't want to do anything to him. With him. Nothing at all, nothing like…like things that…that she shouldn't have been thinking about!

"I'm not doing anything! I mean…um…how are you doing?" asked Shigeko quickly. He laughed. It wasn't mean, like the laughter that she was used to, it was warm. He was warm. She wanted to just be closer to him…because it was cold out. That was it. The wind whistled past her. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. Suddenly she was warm. She opened her eyes and looked up. She hadn't even realized that she had closed them.

He was sitting next to her, right there on the school steps, right next to her like it was the most natural thing in the whole world.

"I've been worse." Said Hanazawa

"Oh, ok, um…what happened?" asked Shigeko, trying her best to keep her voice normal. He was close, so close, close enough that she could even feel his body heat. That was why she was so warm now, that was all, nothing else…not that she should have been this close…but….but it wasn't like she was doing anything.

A shadow passed over her. One of those big, black, birds had flown by.

"Well, I was supposed to meet someone here and then go to the movies but it looks like I've been stood up." said Hanazawa. It sounded more like Shigeko had been the one who had been, or was supposed to be, stood up. She had been stood up once before but she hadn't even known the boy so it didn't matter. Her best friend, who always walked home with her, making plans with someone else and just not even planning on telling her…

It hurt.

But she couldn't let herself be hurt. Boyfriends were more important than regular friends. Boyfriends were the people you loved most in the world. Regular friends were just people you cared about and spent time with and thought about a lot and…and it didn't matter. Shigeko would have done the same thing…well she was supposed to do the same thing…it didn't matter what she would have done! She was a good friend and being a good friend meant that she didn't whine or complain or even feel sad when your best friend made plans without you.

She had to calm down.

"You were supposed to…to go to the movies?" asked Shigeko, catching her breath.

"Yes, the new Disney thing." Said Hanazawa

"Oh." Said Shigeko. That didn't sound like something that Minori would have agreed to. She thought that everything Disney was for babies. The princess movies, the adventure movies, anything animated, anything live action based on an animated movie, she disliked it all…so maybe he was there for someone else!

Wait, no, that wasn't a good thing either.

"She didn't seem too into it but I never miss a Disney movie. Honestly sometimes I think it's better anime than our anime." Said Teru

"Because the stories are kind of deeper, I mean less predictable. Like in Frozen, I never would have though that Hans was the bad guy. He and Anna got a song and when you get a song with someone usually it's true love but instead…sorry." Said Shigeko. She was too old to be talking about these kinds of things. She was so embarrassed even though he had brought it up.

"Sorry? About what?" asked Hanazawa

"About talking about…um…baby stuff." Said Shigeko

"I don't see what's babyish about Frozen, it's a very adult story. It's about family and friendship and-" said Hanazawa

"And about how it's never too late to change and be better and also…um…a lot of things." Said Shigeko. She was red, she could feel it, and she knew that he was looking right at her. He could clearly see how red she was. She looked down and hid her face.

She really wished that she had been wearing makeup.

"How you and her are best friends I will never know." said Hanazawa

"You mean Minori? Oh wait, of course you mean Minori. Sorry, I can just be kind of…kind of dumb sometimes." Said Shigeko. Again she got a laugh, but not a mean one, not that she knew why she would have gotten a mean one. He wasn't like that. She expected…she didn't know what she expected. She got the feeling that something wrong had happened, or was going to happen, or could happen…but nothing bad was going to happen. She wasn't going to let it happen so…so this was ok.

This was ok.

"I don't see it." Said Hanazawa

"I just said something…something dumb. I can just be kind of dumb sometimes and…and that's just the way-" said Shigeko

"You're not dumb, not at all." Said Hanazawa

"I didn't say that I was dumb, I just said that sometimes I say dumb things." Said Shigeko

"You're more cute than dumb, at least that's the way I see it." Said Hanazawa

"I-I'm not cute." Said Shigeko. He must have meant cute like a puppy or a kitten or something like that, not cute like how guys called girls cute when they wanted to go out with them. She was just seeing things that she wanted to see and hearing things that she wanted to hear. Maybe this was just another symptom of her going crazy. She had been going crazy lately.

Yes. That was it. She was just losing her mind, that was all.

"I disagree." Said Hanazawa as he reached out and-and actually-

"Minori didn't stand you up!" said Shigeko as she gathered her hair and put it behind her back. He had been reaching over like he had been about to brush it away, out of her face, like in an anime. That was what the boys in shows did before they kissed the girls they liked. But it wasn't like he had been about to…well, he shouldn't have been touching her hair, or any part of her. This was not her boyfriend and she didn't know why she kept on thinking that he was. That was why she kept on thinking about him like this, about him like this was one of those mangas that she shouldn't have been reading, about him in these boyfriend and girlfriend ways.

He wasn't her boyfriend and he never would be.

"She didn't?" asked Hanazawa, a kind of singsong pattern in his voice. She took a deep breath and tried her best to keep her heart beating like normal.

"She didn't. She got in trouble and now she's in school and…and she'll be out soon!" said Shigeko

"Well now, I do suppose that they can't keep her in there forever." Said Hanazawa

"They can't. That's imprisonment and that's a crime." Said Shigeko quickly.

"But I, unfortunately, don't have forever." Said Hanazawa as he checked his watch. Shigeko checked hers, too. It was late. She had no idea how it had gotten so late so fast. The shadows were very long too.

"I'll tell her that you were here." Said Shigeko. She was maybe just a little sad that he was going, and she was maybe just a little happy now that Minori could walk home with her like normal, but she was mostly just selfish.

Very selfish.

"Now how are you going to do that if you're coming with me?" asked Hanazawa

"I'm doing what?" asked Shigeko. She looked up and met his eyes. She had no idea how she had even agreed to that. She knew that she could be kind of dumb sometimes but this was…this was…how could she have accidentally agreed to something like this?!

"You're coming with me, of course." said Hanazawa with a smile. Shigeko nodded before stopping halfway. What had he just said? Not that she didn't want…she didn't want anything!

"I…I'm sorry, I never meant to agree to that. You're Minori's boyfriend and…and also my mom wants me to come straight home after school." Said Shigeko. Hanazawa smiled before he reached out and…and that was her hand he was reaching for and…she had a choice to make. She could either pull her hand away or let him take it. Was handholding cheating? Why was she even asking? Of course it was! She needed to do the right thing and pull her hand away even though she wanted nothing more than to see if his skin was as soft as it looked…as she had imagined it was….

She didn't pull her hand away.

Instead of taking her hand he tapped her watch face. His long nails tapped against the plastic face loudly. It nearly drowned out the pounding of her heart. She had been about to let him take her hand! Something was wrong with her. Why did she even want…why did she expect….she was losing her mind, that was all. She was completely losing her mind.

There. That was the only explanation.

"I think that ship may have sailed." Said Hanazawa. Shigeko pulled her arm away even though she really didn't want to. She wanted to ask him to take her hand, both of them, and then also to pull her close and kiss her and…and the things that came afterwards…

Not that she knew about those kinds of things.

She didn't. Well she did, but only things that she had picked up from TV and books and overhearing people talk and stuff. She had never done anything like that and she never would. She didn't know any boys…any boys aside from this one…but Hanazawa didn't even count as a boy because he was Minori's boyfriend and she was not a cheater! She was not a boyfriend thief! She was not the sort of girl who kissed her best friend's boyfriend let alone any of the things that came afterwards!

Even though sex was really fun.

"I should really go then….um…goodbye!" said Shigeko as she got up and ran away. She ran away from both him and her thoughts. Where had that even come from!? What had possessed her to think about…about any of that?! Especially the part about…about all of that…all of it being fun! She had no idea what it was like and she never would because, like Minori had said, she was weird and babyish and that was why she was going to die be a virgin until the day she died! Which was fine because that left more guys for Minori! Which she wanted because she wanted Minori to be happy!

She wanted her friend to be happy.

Her best friend. She wanted her best friend to be happy. She wanted her best friend to live happily ever after with her boyfriend who she deserved and who deserved her and who Shigeko had no thoughts about whatsoever! She ran as fast as she could, hair flying, heart pounding, shoes slipping on the sidewalk. Every step she took sent shockwaves through her body. Every breath she took tore it's way down her throat and into her lungs. Every thought she had made her run away ever faster. She ran all the way home, all the way to her room, and didn't look back even once.

She ran home alone that day…but maybe that was for the best. At least that way she didn't have any chance of getting into trouble.