I am not a Robot:
Chapter seven: Purpose
"How did you do on the test, Hajime?" Nanami asked after everyone received their test papers.
Hajime shrugged as he showed her his test paper. In red, there was the one-hundred percent. Nanami smiled at him as she passed Hajime back his paper. "You did really well on it."
Hajime sat his paper back on his desk as he looked around to make sure that no one was watching or listening...or something like that...he then looked back up at Nanami with a nervous look. Nanami wasn't sure if 'nervous' was the right word, but it looked like it at the time.
"So...what did you get...?" He asked.
Nanami blinked, but soon passed Hajime her paper. He had a look of confusion on his face. It looked like he was disgusted. He looked back up at her with a raised brow.
"How did you only get fifty-five percent?" He asked. "I thought that you were some smart person..."
Nanami shrugged. "I don't know. Math isn't really my thing...I didn't think it was important..."
Hajime shook his head. "You know, if you fail, you won't make it through the year...school for the privileged or not..."
"Oh." Nanami said. "I guess I should do something about it then, should I?"
Hajime passed back her paper. "Well, you have been here for a short time, isn't that correct?"
Nanami nodded. "Yeah, but you have been here for a shorter time than I have, so I don't really think that matters..."
Hajime sighed and leaned in closer towards her. "How about I help you out with it then? Like a tutor." He suggested.
Nanami smiled. That was the most genuine that Hajime has probably been. "Okay. That's fine."
Hajime must have realised how close he was to the girl and backed off into his seat with a faint tint of pink shaded across his cheeks. "A-And no sleeping during lessons...!"
Nanami nodded. "Sure."
Nanami was glad that Hajime offered to tutor her. She could feel like a normal person that way. She could've cheated if she wanted to, but decided against it. Even though studying could be annoying at times, it made her feel more real. She just couldn't bring herself to cheat anyway.
"Ah, good afternoon Nanami and Hajime." Said pair turned to see Sonia Nevermind smiling at them.
"Good afternoon." Nanami replied, trying to resist the urge to bow at her feet. No wonder Souda was so obsessed with her. She gave off such a good vibe.
"Mhm..." Hajime hummed.
"Say, I was wondering if you two would like to accompany me somewhere..." Sonia stated.
Nanami tilted her head. "Do we not have school tomorrow?" She asked in slight confusion.
Sonia shook her head. "Technically, yes. You see, I was going to help out an elementary school with trying to calm down the 'troublemakers'. And since you two are new, I would like to spend some quality time with you and try to get to know you better..."
Hajime rested his chin on the back of his hand. "So what you're saying is that the teachers there aren't even qualified to deal with a few kids? Is the school that desperate for workers that they just hire people off the streets?"
"How many kids do we have to look after...?" Nanami asked.
Sonia was left in thought for a moment before responding to Nanami's question. "If I am correct, four or five..."
Hajime rolled his eyes. "I don't like kids..."
Nanami turned to him. "Why not, Hajime?"
Hajime sighed. "I just don't. They want everything done their way and get snot all over your shirt...what's so appealing about that?" He grumbled.
Nanami pouted. "At least give it a try...Sonia is giving us an offer, we may as well take it..." She suggested.
Hajime looked to the side with a grunt, obviously not happy, but not wanting to argue. Nanami smiled.
"We'll go." Nanami told the princess. "Thank you."
Sonia's smile grew. "That is very kind of you two. I will show you two where we are to go tomorrow morning." With that, she left to talk to her other classmates.
Hajime looked disapprovingly at Nanami. "You are too nice..."
Nanami couldn't understand what the big deal was about this. Sure, Hajime wasn't really one to like people, but this time especially he didn't want to deal with anyone. She wondered why.
"What's so bad about it?" Nanami asked. "We can make new friends."
Hajime stiffened. "Why...?"
Nanami tilted her head. "Huh?"
Hajime narrowed his eyebrows, yet he still spoke softly. "Why would you want new friends? Isn't one enough...?"
"I don't understand..." Nanami mumbled, looking down at the ground. When she looked up, Hajime was gone. She just decided to leave him be. It wasn't like she would know how to find him either. The school was pretty big after all. "I guess I'll see him tomorrow then?"
Nanami woke up earlier than usual the next morning so then she could meet up with Sonia before school started. She wasn't sure if Hajime was even going to come considering his quiet argument with her.
"Good morning Nanami." Sonia greeted her.
"Good morning..." Nanami replied with a quiet yawn. "Have you seen Hajime yet?"
Sonia shook her head. "Unfortunately, no...I assumed that he would be walking with you..." She answered.
Nanami blinked. "Why do you think that?"
Sonia tilted her head. "Huh? Appologies, but I just thought since you two seem so close...was I wrong...?"
"Well, it's true. Hajime and I are friends. But, we don't live in the same street or anything..." Nanami stated.
"Oh...that was then...my bad..." Sonia said. "But, do you think that he will arrive...? I noticed how he didn't seem to be so...enthusiastic about this..."
"I'm not sure-"
"It's rude to talk behind another person's back..."
"Oh! Hajime! So you have decided to join us after all?" Sonia asked joyfully.
Hajime grunted. "Well, it's better than staying in that place..." He stated motioning to the school building.
There was a silence between Hajime and Nanami when they locked eyes. Nanami wanted to say something, but she didn't know what considering these kinds of situations aren't her strong point. She might end up upsetting Hajime more without even meaning to...and she didn't want that to happen...
Sonia must've sensed the tension between them and intervened. "So...shall we move along? We mustn't keep the children waiting..." She said and began to lead the pair towards the elementary school. It was silent the whole way over. Nanami was still trying to phrase her words correctly in her mind but she kept on jumbling everything up. And by the time that she did, she realised that they were already at the school. She sighed very quietly in disappointment. She'll say something to him later, she wouldn't want him to make an outburst in front of the kids after all...they were kind of here to create a good influence for them...
The three were lead by one of the staff members, who was looking like they didn't want to be here as much as Hajime. They were muttering things under their breath the whole way to the classroom, only stopping to make a good impression on the princess. Nanami couldn't understand what made him so annoyed about this. He worked here. She thought that he should just quit if that was his attitude.
They stopped in front of one of the doors and waited for the staff member to unlock the door for them. Was it really that bad that they had to lock the doors on those kids? Just what do they do?
A click came from the lock on the door and the staff member looked at the group of high school students. "There you go and good luck." He grunted, opening the door. Nanami could've sworn that Sonia sent the man a glare, but she quickly softened her expression as she lead her and Hajime inside. Was the man that bad that he was even annoying Sonia? Nanami always imagined Sonia to be a gentle and patient girl, but she guessed that even a princess could get annoyed by someone liked that. He was kind of pushing it...
The door was shut after the three were in the room. Nanami stared at the door for a moment before looking at the five kids in the room. She then noticed that odd green hair from before...
"What? So they were actually serious about this? I thought that it was just another one of those threats! Though, it never scared me: the leader!" A boy with red hair and a band-aid on his nose declared.
"D-Don't look at me...! If you stare at me for too long, your eyes will probably roll right back into your brain and make this weird gushy sound...!" A boy with a mask covering almost all of his face mumbled slowly.
"Kyaa! That would never be adorbs! You can't just imagine that! It's stuck in my brain now! I can't imagine them not being kind of adorbs!" A girl with long pink hair in pigtails squeaked.
A boy with blue hair sighed. "Calm down...they are just high school students. They aren't bad just yet. Now, quiet down a little...I still do all of the homework around here, remember..."
"Aw...Nagisa, Monaca and all the others appreciate the effort...but Monaca has a feeling that everyone just wants to have fun, meow!"
Monaca looked at Nanami for a moment before smiling. "Ah! It's Mister Komaeda's friend! Monaca thought that she would meet with you again!" She stated.
"Um...yes...I'm Nanami Chiaki." Nanami introduced.
"Oh! Okay! Monaca and everyone else will just call you Chiaki! We don't really use formalities! Address everyone by their first names, we don't mind!" Monaca stated.
"Um...okay..." Nanami replied with a small nod.
"Hey! Hey! Are we going to tell the world about the amazing leader yet?" The red-haired boy shouted.
"Yes, yes! Introductions are in order!" Monaca stated.
"As leader, it is only natural that I go first!" The boy continued. "My name is Masaru Daimon! I am known as the Lil' Ultimate PE! I can practically do anything better than anyone when I am moving!"
"That explains why I do your homework for you..." The blue-haired boy muttered.
"Hey! Leaders don't need to do 'homework'!" Daimon continued.
"Jataro, can you continue this?" The blue-haired boy asked the masked boy.
"Wha! R-Right...introductions..." The masked boy said with a jump. "Not that you will probably remember, but I am Jataro Kemuri and I am known as the Lil' Ultimate Art. I-"
"Alright, I'm going to stop Jataro right there before he babbles on!" The pink-haired girl interrupted.
"Huh...? You interrupted my big speech...! It was going to be super cool too...! Now they'll probably hate me more than they already do..." Kemuri mumbled.
"Oh please! Your speeches are always too long! Just like how some rulers are too long to fit in a smaller pencil case! It doesn't work out!" Pink-hair continued.
"Um..." Sonia began, unsure of how to resolve the ever-growing tension.
"Oh right!" Pink-hair said. "I should introduce myself!" With a bow, the girl began to speak again. "My name is Kotoko Utsugi! It's nice to meet you. I have a title of course, but it doesn't really matter. Just how like if you take a few days off school because you don't want to get out of bed. Speaking of which, isn't it the worst feeling when you finally get comfortable in bed and then you need to get up to pee! Like, totally the worst!"
Nanami was quite dumbfounded at that moment. Utsugi was a very talkative girl. Even though she had said that Kemuri talked too much. She had to try her hardest in order not to fall asleep during her introduction.
"Alright, that's enough Kotoko," Blue-hair told the talkative girl, silencing her with a sigh. "My name is Nagisa Shingetsu. I'm known as Lil' Ultimate Social Studies. That's it really. I'm not going to make a big speech about it or anything..."
Shingetsu turned to Monaca. "Monaca, it's your turn..."
Monaca seemed like she had been waiting for this moment since the beginning. "Okay! Monaca's name is Monaca. She is known as the Lil' Ultimate Homeroom. It's a pleasure to meet you three. Or should I say two? Because Monaca has already met the sleepy one."
Nanami was then showered with confused and intrigued looks from both the rest of the children and Sonia. Until a question was asked.
"So, what are the names of our new friends...?" Monaca asked.
Sonia bowed. "Greetings. My name is Sonia Nevermind. It is a pleasure."
"Hey! You're the princess, aren't you?" Daimon asked.
Sonia tilted her head. "Oh? What gave it away?"
Utsugi rolled her eyes. "Oh, the teachers went on and on about it before you came here. They told us not to touch you or anything because your country will declare war on us or something like that." She explained.
Sonia looked quite surprised at this. "Please, just treat me like how you would treat anyone else. I am confident that my country shall not declare war on you children for so little as touching me."
Nanami just figured to introduce herself before things got weird after that sentence. "I'm Nanami Chiaki. I'm a gamer...well, that's pretty much it..." She introduced as she began to dose off.
Everyone looked at the ahoge-wearer in anticipation. "Hajime." He stated simply. The kids must've figured out that he wasn't going to say anything, so they didn't bother asking about it.
"Well...now that that's over, why don't we do something?" Monaca suggested with a smile.
"Agreed. What is it that you all wish to do?" Sonia asked.
"Well..." Nanami began. "I brought some board games over. I thought we may as well do something fun while we were here."
"Oh! Now we're talking!" Daimon said excitedly as he began to fist-pump the air above him.
"I think we can all agree with that." Monaca stated.
Shingetsu sighed. "Excuse me, but I have things I need to do right now." He said as he sat down in his seat and began to write on a sheet of paper.
"Aw...! Nagisa, that's no fun!" Monaca whined.
"Sorry, but this is really important right now. I need to do this. I can't afford to play any games at the moment." Shingetsu explained.
Monaca's eyes began to water at that, and Shingetsu seemed to almost snap his head up on cue. "Ah! Sorry Monaca! I promise that I'll join in later. I just need to do some of this work, okay?" He said, trying to calm the girl down.
Monaca's eyes seemed to instantly dry up at that point. "Hehe! Okay Nagisa!"
"Oh, how cute! Nagisa's soft side for only Monaca is showing again~!" Utsugi said in a sing-song voice.
Shingetsu went red in the face. "I-It's not like that, okay?" He exclaimed.
"Mm...hm...!" Utsugi hummed sarcastically.
Hajime sighed. "I'm with that kid on this one. I'm not going to be playing any games..."
"Why not, Hajime?" Nanami asked.
Hajime grumbled something, but Nanami couldn't understand exactly what it was.
"Aw...come on big brother Hajime...you can at least join in for a little while..." Monaca insisted with her puppy-dog eyes. Hajime just glared at her with that 'that trick doesn't work on me' look, and she instantly backed off. The other kids looked like they wanted to say something to him for upsetting the green-haired girl, but they didn't in fear of him as he sat against the wall.
"Well…?" Daimon began, trying to break the ice, unsure of how to though.
Monaca's tears suddenly disappeared, as if they were never there in the first place. "Well, are we going to play some games? Big sister Chiaki brought them here, so let's not waste this op-op-oper…?" Monaca trailed off, trying to think of the word.
"Opportunity?" Sonia finished.
Monaca nodded with a big smile. "Yeah! Opportunity! Come on, let's play some games! How about Twister?"
Nanami looked down at the ground, unsure. "Well, I did bring the game, but…" She didn't know how to continue on with what she was saying as she glanced over at Monaca – well, more like Monaca's wheelchair.
Monaca must have noticed this odd look that Nanami was giving and continued to smile. "Oh! Don't worry about a miniscule detail like that! Monaca just thought that she could use the spinner and watch as you all struggle." She assured.
Nanami and Sonia looked at each-other in thought and back to Monaca. "Are you sure…?" Nanami asked, concerned.
Monaca nodded. "Yep! Monaca is happy with that!" She told them once more.
Sonia then smiled. "This shall be fun. I have never played the game, 'Twister' before. I look forward to it."
The two girls proceeded to play with the children, evident that they were all enjoying it. Nanami occasionally gave a glance to Hajime, who had that nonchalant look on his face. She wondered if he would eventually join in, but couldn't exactly figure out the answer to that question.
They all took a break from the games for a moment, as everyone was beginning to feel the after-effects of the game. Nanami had even fallen asleep at one point and crashed on top of everyone, knocking them out of their positions, not that anyone was hurt, she didn't weigh all that much even though she's mainly made out of a bunch of metal parts. Though, Monaca still had a good laugh from it all.
Nanami scooted her way over to Hajime who had looked like he was in a comfortable position on the floor, as Sonia entertained the children with stories of her country, even though they were sometimes weird or disturbing.
"Do you want to join in, Hajime?" She asked, gaining the other's attention.
Hajime blinked. "Does it look like I do? I don't see the appeal..." He answered.
Nanami sat down next to him and just stared at him. Hajime noticed this and began to stare back at her, but more in an annoyed way than a curious way.
"What?" He asked impatiently.
Nanami smiled. "Well, don't you want to know how to deal with and take care of children when you're a father...? Now is a good chance to learn, don't you think so?" She asked.
Hajime instantly turned red and turned his face away from her. "W-What makes you think that I'm going to have kids?" He stuttered.
Nanami giggled a bit at the action. "Well, it makes sense doesn't it? You will eventually find a person that you want to have kids with and take care of them. Even if you don't like them now, you might love kids later, right?" She explained. "I only wish...something like that can happen for me..."
Hajime slowly turned back to her with a confused look on his face. "What...?" He began.
Nanami shook her head. "No, it's nothing..." She told him. "Hey, you're tomato face is gone."
Hajime muttered something under his breath as his cheeks began to glow once again. Nanami couldn't help but to smile. Hajime hardly ever let his guard down, so it was fun to make him blush whenever she could. He was beginning to feel more comfortable, and she was glad for that. It was a good feeling to be able to break him out of the shell he was once in.
Hajime looked at her from the corner of his eye with the blush still on his face. "H-Hey," He began, getting back Nanami's attention. "Why did you say that earlier...? Do-Do you think that you won't be able to get a partner...? Because, well..." Hajime began to get quieter and quieter as he spoke, confusing Nanami. "...You do know that you are an...interesting person...you-you just...you're an..." He trailed off.
Nanami leaned in closer. "What are you saying Hajime? It's difficult to hear you." She told him.
"Ah! It doesn't matter! That's what you get for dozing off too much!" Hajime replied.
Nanami put her index finger on her chin in thought. "Strange, I didn't think that I was dozing off..." She said as she looked back to Hajime, noticing that his face was even redder. "Hey, can I call you tomato-chan?"
"That's not even funny!" Hajime hissed.
Sonia eventually walked over to the pair after she finished talking to the children. "Pardon the intrusion, but, would you two like to assist in baking a cake with us?" She asked.
"A cake?" Nanami asked.
Sonia nodded. "Yes, the children and I all spoke about it and thought that it was a wonderful idea."
"How do you intend to bake this 'cake' without the equipment?" Hajime asked, his 'tomato-chan' look finally gone.
Sonia pointed at another door in the room. "There are appliances in there where we will be able to bake it. Earlier, I spoke with one of the teacher's and they approved of it, giving me the key to the room." She stated, showing said key.
Nanami stood up and walked over to Sonia. "But, I don't know...I mean I've never really baked before – well, not outside of a game anyway..." She said.
Sonia shook her head. "That is quite alright! I've never done this before either! We can learn together! And if we have troubles, we have the children to help us out with it!" She explained.
Hajime rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Great...rely on toddlers to not burn the entire school building down! I don't see any problem with that...!" Hajime said sarcastically.
Sonia's eyes brightened. "I am glad that you agree Hajime!" She said sweetly. Hajime didn't even bother explaining the word 'sarcasm' to the princess.
Nanami glanced back at Hajime. "Are you going to help us with it, Hajime?" She asked.
Hajime stood up with a grunt. "I may as well. I don't feel like dying in a burning building today..." He replied.
Nanami thought about that statement and realised that if the building did burn down, she probably wouldn't survive it either. Hajime helping was definitely a good idea.
Nanami noticed that Shingetsu was also walking towards the door with the kitchen appliances inside. "Oh, Nagisa...you're joining in too?" She asked.
Shingetsu turned to face her and nodded. "I didn't want for Monaca to be upset if I didn't participate, besides, she'll probably be tempted to touch a lot of buttons and switches. I don't want for anything to happen, so I'll have to keep an eye on her along with the others." He explained.
Well, now there were two people protecting the group and school from burning down, Nanami felt even more safe with her first time baking. After they all went into the room, Nanami could see how rich this school actually was. Everything looked to be five-star products and everything looked to be very clean.
"Alright, let us begin!" Sonia declared enthusiastically.
"Yeah!" All the children aside from Shingetsu cheered. Nanami smiled. There was no doubt how good Sonia was with children, she is a princess after all.
During the process of attempting to bake the cake, Shingetsu and Hajime looked very uncomfortable, and eventually joined in to make sure that there were no mistakes on the cake. Nanami was glad that they joined in instead of just watching. It looked like they were having much more fun this way. Everyone ended up being much more relieved once the cake was finally in the oven. Hajime and Shingetsu were constantly watching the oven and clock, though.
"That was fun...!" Nanami said sweetly.
Utsugi nodded. "It's going to look totes adorbs!" She squeaked excitedly.
"Eh...I probably contaminated the whole thing and now everyone won't like me..." Kemuri mumbled soft enough for no one to hear.
"Ha ha! As leader, I declare that I shall have the first piece!" Daimon exclaimed.
"No way! You'll probably eat the whole thing, you pig!" Utsugi accused.
"What? Who told you?" Daimon questioned.
"Calm down, everyone." Shingetsu said calmly.
Nanami faced Hajime, who was fiddling with his hair. "Did you like that, Hajime?" She asked.
Hajime blinked and looked like he was in deep thought for a moment before answering. "Yeah...I-I guess I did..." He admitted.
Nanami felt really glad that Hajime was speaking to her honestly now. The whole experience seemed to do a lot for him. She would have to thank Sonia for this later.
When the cake came out of the oven, everyone rushed to get a piece – even Hajime and Shingetsu. The taste was very appealing, probably thanks to Hajime and Shingetsu.
"This is amazing...!" Sonia said, gaining many agreeing hums in reply.
That ended up being the last activity of the day, and as Nanami left with Hajime and Sonia, she had to wonder what the problem was about the children. They seemed like any normal child she had ever seen, so it really got her thinking about what the school was thinking in putting them in a class like that, all by themselves. What did their parents think of the whole thing? Then again, they didn't seem to like adults all that much. That was just the feeling that Nanami got from them.
Once the three got to a fork in the road, Sonia bowed and said her goodbyes as she headed off her own way. Hajime and Nanami were about to go their own ways too before Hajime surprisingly stopped Nanami.
"Chiaki...sorry..." He said nervously as he scratched the back of his neck.
Nanami blinked in confusion. "For what...?" She asked.
"For...earlier...I was out of line..." Hajime admitted. "I guess I just got a bit possessive...I shouldn't have said any of that."
Nanami took a moment to take in all of the new information before giving him her signature sweet smile. "Hajime, it's fine. I understand." She replied. "You just need to learn how to make new friends while still be friends with your previous ones. But, I do get what you were saying. Human beings can survive in the world without friends, but...it would be lonely. And even though having friends isn't the goal, it's still important that you believe in yourself. I think..."
Hajime blinked. "What do you mean by that?" He asked.
"You know what it is, Hajime." Nanami told him. "You just have to think about it."
Hajime looked at the ground for a moment before smiling with a slight blush across his cheeks. "Yeah...I think I get it!" He looked up and then began to run to the direction of his 'house', waving goodbye to Nanami. "Bye Chiaki!" He called.
Nanami smile grew further and she couldn't help it. She felt so happy to know that Hajime was happy. She felt as if she had truly accomplished something great that day.
And she would continue to help Hajime with being happy.
That was her current purpose, she believed.
And she was happy with that...
Author's Notes:
The chapter is finally done! Congratulate me world! Sorry that this took so long, but I was off camping and then I was visiting people and I got into a 'kids' show called Miraculous Ladybug! It's pretty popular, actually. It has like 16 episodes out and it has like...700+ stories on this site! You guys should watch it!
Also, I was quite surprised last chapter by how much you guys hated Monaca! Like, I hate her too, but wow...! I was questioning if I should've written this, but I guess I just decided to in the end because of the fluffy fluffs. FLUFFY FLUFF SCARF ACTIVATE!
Also, I'm kind of super excited for this year because Kazuichi is finally going to have his time to shine in a manga! Whoop Whoop!
So, with all of that out of the way, REVIEW PLEASE! They are so fun to read! Trust me, Monaca will not be making many appearances from now on, so don't worry! We are free of the devil child spawn! You are very welcome! REVIEW AGAIN PLEASE!