Hajime woke up with a lingering stomach and instantly deduced that it was lunch break. Aside from his belly demanding foods, there were certain amounts of students lacking in the classroom most likely on their way to the cafeteria.
Some of them resided in the classroom with their lunches prepared in a box. They'd put several tables together and were having a merry old time eating and talking.
Hajime fumbled inside his backpack and pulled out a jelly-juice pack. It was a carry-on-styled meal pack for all the busy parents who had no time to make a lunch for their children.
Slurp!
In less than three seconds, Hajime finished his meal. Now wide awake, he was wondering where to spend his time to stay out of most of the school as possible, when a small paper note dropped to the floor from his pocket.
Hajime picked up the note, confused. He wondered with a sinking heart if Hiyama and his gang wanted to have another 'friendly' meeting.
But he was pleasantly surprised to find neat handwriting that said the following:
Hajime, I know you didn't bring proper lunch.
I've brought one for you as well as mine, meet me on the rooftop.
XOXOX Kaori
.P.S. I'm sorry for what happened in the morning. Perhaps we can talk about it if you're alright with it.
Hajime stuffed the note into his pocket.
He didn't blame Kaori for what happened. It was less her fault than any other student in his class. At least she cared for him, didn't she? She even brought lunch for him!
Still, Hajime was less thrilled than he would've been as he climbed up the stairway to the rooftop.
Kaito's words latched onto him as he took each step.
As brutal as his wordings were, Hajime couldn't deny his words himself.
Kaori was someone very much out of his reach; someone he could admire, but not someone who fit as his girlfriend.
With that unhealthy idea lingering in his head, Hajime arrived at the top of the staircase where Kaori was standing beside the door that opened up to the rooftop.
"Kaori-"
Kaori hurridly pressed her index finger against her lips. When Hajime caught himself in mid-sentence, she waved at him to come closer.
Only then did Hajime recognize that Kaori had her ear pressed up against the crack in the door. He could also hear a muffled voice shouting something angrily from the other side.
"What is going on?" Hajime mouthed without making a sound.
"It's Shizuku." Kaori mouthed back and indicated that they should listen.
Now, Hajime wasn't sure that was a good idea. He'd rather avoid getting smacked on the side with a kendo stick, but he doubted Kaori could ever be persuaded otherwise when her best friend was involved.
Against his better judgment, Hajime pressed his ear against the door and listened.
"-riously, you just can't come to anywhere normally, can you?" Shizuku said at the top of her voice, which startled Hajime. Since when did she raise her voice for anything?
As strict as she was, Shizuku wasn't known for her bursts of temper. On the contrary, she was famous for being cool-headed and collected even at the most tempting moments.
To find her shouting like this...it was unnerving, to say the least. Naturally, he was taken aback, even more, when the retorting voice was joyful as ever.
"You do realize that the gates were locked, right? I can't come to school normally with the entrances sealed shut." The energetic voice said.
Hajime recognized the voice from his memory. The speaker's pumping nature flowing over his words reminded him of someone that was far gone by the time he returned to this neighborhood.
He found himself pressed against the door even harder than Kaori. Shizuku was scoffing out of exasperation.
"Well, maybe if you weren't late. Even Hajime manages to come to school in time; even if all he does is sleep."
The spikes in her voice made Hajime wince.
"Since when was Hajime my material? Wasn't he on the good children's side?"
"You know that's not the point!"
"Calm down, for god's sake; you'd either blow your brain or throat out if you keep shouting like that. I think I'll go get lunch."
"Don't you dare run away from-"
Shizuku was cut off by the slightest rumbling noise of someone's stomach. Judging by the voice's snicker, it was from Shizuku.
"Take this, princess."
Shizuku swallowed a small yelp as she caught something in mid-air, and the metal door started to creak open.
Too late, Hajime jumped back, trying to drag Kaori away by the back collar of her school blouse. Sadly, his arms lacked the strength to drag an entire person more than a few inches.
The door swung open in full force, nearly knocking over the couple down the stairs. Thankfully, a pair of hands shot out and grabbed them before they did.
Before he knew it, Hajime was back on his feet with a tall man smiling down at him.
He was at least half a foot taller than he was and fairly well built. He wore a ragged blue hoodie instead of the normal school outfit required for a student, and he had old-fashioned headphones around his neck.
"Hey, it's actually you! Long time no see, He-man!"
"Uh..." Hajime tried to figure out what to say. It was much harder to do so when said man was pounding down on his back.
The man didn't seem to mind much and turned to Kaori, who was trying her best to not look alarmed at the new person.
"And, I'm not sure we're familiar..." He said, looking her up and down with little interest.
"We're not. May I ask who are you?" Kaori asked with the best fake smile she could muster at the moment.
He scratched his chin, considering for a few seconds, then shrugged.
"No, you may not. See ya!"
And then he slid down the stairway via the handrail.
Kaori gaped at his back, completely baffled by his abnormally carefree behaviors. She circled to Hajime to ask who was the man and how did they know each other, but she was interrupted by a severely irritated individual.
"What are you two doing here?" Shizuku demanded, a crumpled sandwich held tightly in her left hand.
Hajime was glad Shizuku kept her kendo stick to herself this time. He wanted to avoid having to spend lunchtime with Shizuku as well, but there was no way to wriggle out of the situation.
So there the three sat, in a semi-awkward circle with Hajime and Kaori sharing a lunchbox meant for two, while Shizuku munched down on the sandwich with murderous intent.
Kaori attempted to break the ice.
"So...who was that guy, Hajime? He seemed delighted to see you."
Hajime was considering if suffocating himself with Kaori's wonderful egg rolls was a good idea when Shizuku took the question.
"His name is Tatsuo Satoru. He, he used to be with my older sister."
"I didn't know you had a..."
Kaori's words fell short. Shizuku was staring intently at her shoes, suddenly blinking at a much faster than usual.
"...anyway, how does uh, know you?"
Hajime swallowed the last of his portion of the lunch. It was excessively good, but he didn't feel particularly uplifting at the moment.
"I...uh, used to live here in the past." He said.
Kaori frowned. She had moved into this town 3 years ago, and she distinctly remembered Hajime's family moving in only early this year.
"We had to move out temporarily because our family business got...troubled. We did manage to pull through with some help-" He glanced at Shizuku, who crumpled the wrapping paper in her pocket. "-and we made it back here."
"And now you've evolved into a slothful degenerate."
"Shizuku!"
Shizuku jumped up to her feet. She was firmly facing the outskirts of the town, determinedly not showing her face to both of them. A faint sound of people arguing was echoing up the staircase.
"I'm sorry, I have to go. Because I have responsibilities elsewhere."
Kaori tried to protest, but Shizuku's ponytail whipped behind the metal door before she ever got the first word out of her mouth.
She sat back down with a troubled sigh and turned to Hajime.
"Hajime, I'm sorry. I don't understand why Shizuku acts like that to you. She's usually kind to people."
"Yeah, I know."
Hajime stared at the tightly shut metal door of Shizuku. He wondered if he could still pry it open, just like he managed to do way back when.
Well, It would be worth a try.
Hajime asked Kaori for them to go separate ways after the school ended.
Kaori was less than enthusiastic at the idea, what with their 'classmates' having tried to harass him at every interval-namely by Hiyama and his gang, who were basically bullying at this point.
"I'm fine," Hajime said to his worrying girlfriend. "The worst thing they can do is try to rob me at an alleyway or something."
"That's not reassuring." Kaori pointed out.
However, when Hajime kept insisting on the idea she eventually gave in and waved him goodbye at the school gate before walking down her way home.
Hajime ran into the other alleyway. He was heading towards the town playground, where many elementary schoolers and kindergarteners played.
But at this time, it would likely be empty.
It's been ages since I've gone down this street.
Overflowing garbage bags were cast aside every few steps radiating a foul smell, semi-offensive graffiti coated the walls, and broken street lamps flickered feebly, barely giving any light to the dark alleys.
In short, this was the 'poorer section' of the town. Hajime couldn't understand why people wedged a division inside of the town like this, nor why didn't Shizuku's family did something about it.
Still, he quickened his step, just because the smell was getting to him more than he expected.
But as he raced by, something unexpected was caught in the corner of his eyes.
"Amazing! That's a magic trick?"
"How did you do that?"
"Can you do something else?"
A handful of kids were clustered around an old ventilator. They were clapping and shouting in delight at someone standing on the ventilator like a magician on stage.
"Hey, now. I still have to go to school tomorrow. And I don't think your families would appreciate you kids being out late as well." Kaito said to the kids with a broad smile.
They all groaned in disappointment, but slowly shuffled away. Kaito gathered the cards that were scattered on the floor.
Right as he was about to go inside, Kaito suddenly froze in his spot and spun around. Hajime managed to hide behind the corner just in time.
"Someone there?" Kaito asked. Hajime didn't make a sound.
After a few heart-pounding seconds, Hajime heard echoing footsteps go down the stairs of one of the grungy apartments.
So that just happened...
He was shocked and uneased to see the 'good side' of one of his school tormentors. Not to mention the fact that he was living here of all places.
Still, Hajime made his way to the playground. As he had suspected all along, it was empty except for one person slowly kicking herself back and forth on the swing.
"Hey," Hajime called.
Shizuku looked up only to immediately etch a scowl on her face, but Hajime didn't feel intimated at the moment. Perhaps it was because of her teary eyes.
She furiously blinked a few more times as Hajime took the swing next to her. They sat there in silence for a quite long time, long enough to watch the sun crawl over the building line.
"How did you know to come here? Or was that a fluke?" Shizuku asked.
"It wasn't a guess," Hajime paused "well, maybe a little bit. But I guessed you'd like some alone time, and this is the place where you'd go whenever you needed one."
Shizuku kicked harder.
The swing creaked as it sped up, swinging faster and higher. Her ponytail fluttered like a flag caught in the wind.
"I only came here because of you." She muttered under her breath.
"What?"
The swing went up as high as it could, and Shizuku let go of her hands at that moment.
Hajime followed her falling through the air, only to land perfectly on the sand with a grace that'll make a cat jealous.
"I only used to come here, because you were the one who always came and find me, you idiot."
"Oh."
Hajime suddenly felt hot around the neck. He was immensely glad that Kaori wasn't here to hear this, or maybe Shizuku wouldn't have said this if she was with him.
"So, you mean you-"
"Yes." Shizuku snapped. She had her back firmly turned as she wiped across her face. "Don't get any wrong ideas; I'll beat you to death if you ever think about cheating on Kaori."
"Right." Hajime swallowed. He didn't expect the conversation to turn out in this direction.
"But why me?"
Shizuku kicked a pebble. It rolled away and fell through the drain lid.
"You know, Hajime. You used to be a much more determined person."
Shizuku kicked away another pebble. It made a series of pinging sounds as it fell down the lid.
"You were someone I could look up to; someone I can rely on apart from my..."
sister. Hajime finished her sentence in his mind.
Shizuku whirled around. Her ponytail whipped across the air, and Hajime was once again taken aback to see her face filled with emotion.
"Do you remember the last conversation we had? The day before you moved away?"
Hajime's grip on the swing tightened. It was an identical situation to this one. On the brink of sunset, only the two of them being at the playground.
"If I ever run away from my family like Sayaka, would you come with me?" Shizuku asked.
Then, Hajime was young. He was certain that as a child, he never gave much deep thought to the matter when he said: "Yes."
"I believe that word, regardless of whether or not you meant it or not. I believed, I trusted that I had a sanctuary for me to be safe, for once.
And the next day, you were gone."
Shizuku sighed, and picked up her backpack from the ground.
"I don't blame you for leaving. As much as I wanted to see you again-" Whatever she was thinking tk say, she swallowed her words. "-I have no idea what happened while you were away. But I must say, you are now only a shell of what I appreciated about you, Nagumo Hajime."
And with that heavy mic drop, Yaegashi Shizuku walked away. Leaving Hajime alone at the playground, with the swing she had been on creeking indifferently.
How's that for a little back story? Too dark? Too heavy? Too complecated?
I welcome any feedbacks you guys have to offer, as long ad they are over the level of basic: "This is trash. Go die."
I know it is trash; What I don't know is 'why'.
If I'm aware of it, it'll grt fixed. So please do not hesitate.
