"Natsuki, you're WAY overcomplicating this."

"I'm not!" the girl reaffirmed. "I'm just saying that anyone who eats tomatoes must just hate themselves."

"Tomatoes don't even taste bad though." Sayori contested.

"They do! You're lying to yourself if you think otherwise!"

"But that's, like, a subjective thing."

"A subjective thing?" Natsuki asked.

"Yeah, a subjective thing, like, it's just like your opinion."

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Yes…and my opinion is based on the fact that tomatoes are terrible."

"That's not-" Sayori paused, looking past her shorter friend. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Natsuki turned to see three tall figures standing in the shoe locker area, but the bright light outside made it difficult to discern the silhouettes in front of them. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the long, unkempt hair stand out from the hairstyles of the other two boys. The long-haired boy had a short tie, with a blazer around his waist, somewhat obscuring his untucked white shirt and unkempt pants. The figure standing next to him, facing the student away from the lockers, had shorter hair, but matched it an almost comically large, red tie with navy stripes, and tan slacks with several stains. "Oh joy," she sighed. "The Shiima brothers."

"Who are they talking to?"

"Beats me," Natsuki mumbled. "Maybe it's another senior-" She paused, recognizing that there was only one Year 3 student who hung his head down, hiding his emerald green eyes from the gaze of the two brothers. "Wait, that's Kaito."

"Wait really?" Sayori asked, squinting. "I barely recognized him…how do you know him?"

"He's my science partner." Natsuki said, stopping to turn towards the confrontation. "What's he doing?" She saw Kaito's lips moving, but couldn't tell what he was saying. Upon finishing his statement, Kaito seemed to shrink back as the two brothers erupted into boisterous laughter, turning to each other.

"He can't even look us in the eye." the short-haired brother chuckled.

"Very impolite." The other brother chimed in.

"What are they talking about?" Sayori asked quietly.

"Look," Natsuki urged. She nodded towards the shoes that Kaito was holding. "They're blocking his locker so he can't put his shoes away."

"Jerks." Sayori huffed.

"We gotta do something."

"I'll go get a teacher." Sayori said, taking a few steps away.

"Hurry." Natsuki stated firmly. As Sayori hurriedly stepped away, Natsuki found herself taking a few steps towards the boys in the locker area, taking a deep breath as she did so. Guess I gotta be the hero in the meantime. "Hey, what's going on here?"

The three boys turned to face the now approaching girl. The boy with shorter hair seemed to beam with excitement, nudging his brother. "Iji, do you hear something?" the boy with short hair asked.

"Not really," the brother replied. "Oh wait, Mako, look down there."

"Oh goodness, Natsuki! I didn't see you there!" Mako jeered expressively. "Sorry, you'll need to speak up next time from down there, or someone might accidentally trip over you."

"Wow, you make that one up all by yourselves?" Natsuki scoffed. "You two have probably been waiting to use that one on me all year."

"Of course! We've been rehearsing!" Iji added.

"Yeah, and now it's time to exit stage left." Natsuki continued. "Stop messing with Kaito, and just let him get to his locker."

"Messing with him? We're not messing with him…are we?" Mako asked.

"I don't think so." Iji responded. "I think she's just jumping to conclusions."

"She's probably used to jumping for a lot of things."

Iji smiled, looking back at his brother. "Ah, very true."

"I'm not kidding." Natsuki responded sternly. "Knock it off."

"Natsuki, you've got it all wrong!" Mako continued. "We're just helping our friend out with some social skills."

"Yeah, Kaito and us go way back, isn't that right?" Iji asked.

"Please just let me get to my locker." Kaito asked quietly, seemingly exhausted. He didn't lift his head up at all.

"See what we mean?" Mako asked. "Clearly this guy needs some help. Surely you can appreciate that."

"I'd appreciate it if you'd stop trying to mess with him." Natsuki replied coldly. "He doesn't want to deal with you, and neither do I."

"My, such hurtful words!" Iji sighed.

"We're just having fun."

"Clearly he's not having fun, now will you both get lost already!"

"Well that's not our fault." Mako continued. "Why does his sense of what's fun or not fun get to override ours?"

"Mako! Iji!" a voice bellowed. Natsuki spun around to see the physical education teacher marching towards all of them, with Sayori tagging shortly behind them. "You graffitied my car again you brats!" The brothers looked at each other briefly, then immediately dashed towards the exit, laughing with every step they took. "Get back here!" the teacher rushed after them as he yelled. "When I get my hands on you, I'll have you both running laps until you graduate!" Both Natsuki and Kaito stepped to the side as the oversized man trudged past them, seeming to gain momentum with every step. Sayori stopped just next to Natsuki, and the three of them watched as all three of the figures disappeared around the corner.

"Sayo-nara!" Sayori called after them.

Natsuki breathed a sigh of relief. "Good timing Sayori."

"I have my moments." she replied smiling.

"Thank you both." Kaito seemed to whisper.

"You're welcome." Sayori replied. "Happy to help."

"You really need to not let them walk all over you like that." Natsuki replied. "They get off on the attention."

"They got in my way." Kaito continued. "They wouldn't let me past them."

"I'm just saying as a principle, it's best to avoid them."

Kaito lifted his eyes back towards the girl addressing him, a conflicted look on his face. He sighed. "Thank you, I'm sorry for the trouble."

As Natsuki met his eyes, she felt herself suddenly become embarrassed. Why is he looking at me like a sad puppy? "Look, it's fine, alright." She folded her arms, looking away. "Let's just get to class."

"Right, I'm sorry."

"I swear, if the Shiima brothers ever come near you again, they'll be sorry," Makoto grumbled as he pushed the door open for Sayori and Natsuki.

"I told you, I'm fine." Sayori placed a reassuring hand on her boyfriend's shoulder. "I was barely even there."

Natsuki couldn't help but roll her eyes slightly at the couple. Goodness, he's acting like Sayori was the one getting the short end of the stick.

"Yeah, I know." Makoto continued, looking away. "I just…I dunno."

"Come on," Sayori urged. "Say what you're thinking."

"It's just," he sighed. "I imagined a scenario where they were messing with you, and I was responding to that instead of what you told me."

"There are worse traits to have." Monika's voice chimed in as she ran up to the three of them.

"Hey Monika," Natsuki added.

"I heard about what happened with the Shiima brothers yesterday." Monika continued. "Are you two okay?"

"Oh I'm fine," Natsuki responded. "You know as well as I do I have no problem giving either of them a piece of my mind. Sayori was the one that got Mr. Pain."

"Dang, you sent Mr. Pain after them?" Makoto asked. "I doubt we'll hear from them ever again."

"I wish that was true." Natsuki responded. "I'm sure the brothers will be back on the rampage in no time though."

"Then let's celebrate the peace and quiet that we have now." Sayori urged. "You all still good to go out to lunch?"

"That's what I was planning for." Monika replied.

"Any sign of Yuri?" Makoto asked.

"Yuri told me she'd meet us there." Sayori mentioned. "Natsuki, you coming with?"

"Can't." the girl said curtly. "I got homework."

"Man, really?" Sayori asked.

"Go on and have fun, I'll catch up with you all later."

"Alright," Sayori sighed.

"Stay out of trouble, alright?" Makoto added, a sly smile donning his face.

Natsuki rolled her eyes again, this time smirking to herself. "Yeah, yeah." She watched as her friends stepped toward the shoe lockers, quickly stepping out of sight. I wish I had enough to go out to eat, She sighed to herself. But I'm not gonna force them to pay for my food. She looked around the quiet halls, with doors closed and lights glowing with a dim, yellow light. Her black school shoes made a soft clicking sound with each step. As she moved to the end of hall, she pushed the doors open, leading to a small staircase on her right, with doors right in front of her that led to the parking lot. She adjusted her skirt as she sat on the stairs, left alone with her thoughts as the sun poured through a narrow crack in the metal doors next to her.

She opened her backpack, pulling out a small, brown paper bag. She opened it, revealing an uncovered peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Next to it, there was a small bag of baby carrots. It's nice that these were on sale. She grabbed the bag, noting to herself the lack of anything besides the sandwich in the soft, paper bottom of the bag. She opened the plastic wrapping on the carrots, popping a small one into her mouth. The carrots had gone warm since the morning, but she felt satisfied as she munched on the vegetable. It's been a while since I've had these. She sighed, trying to remember the last time that Papa had gone shopping over the past two years. I can only think of one or two times that I haven't gone to the store over the weekend to buy food.

Natsuki remembered the day, a couple of years ago, when they had gone almost two and a half weeks without going shopping. She had told him to go shopping multiple times, and her dad had always brushed it off. "I don't need you on my back for stuff I already know!" he exclaimed. Eventually, over the weekend, she asked him for money to go grocery shopping. He grumbled, pulling out his wallet, handing her 4000 Yen. Natsuki tried brushing off the fight they had after that, but since that time, she had been grocery shopping almost every week for the past two years, working off that same amount weekly to buy not only food for them both, but anything else that she needed for school.

"Natsuki-"

Natsuki jumped, yelping slightly as she turned to face a familiar tall figure. Kaito stumbled slightly, almost tripping up the stairs he was currently standing on. He shot his hand out, bracing himself on the beam next to him, Natsuki glaring sternly at him. "Kaito!"

"I'm sorry!" he mumbled hurriedly. "I didn't mean to startle you!"

"Geez," she took a deep breath. "Don't ever do that again! How long have you been standing there?"

"I just got here, I walked down the stairs. I'm sorry."

"Look, it's fine. I didn't mean to yell." Natsuki relented. "What do you want?"

"I, um, brought lunch." He emphasized this with a small plastic tub, lifting it slightly so that Natsuki could clearly see the black, rectangular tub with translucent plastic lid on top.

"Good for you."

"It's, not for me," he murmured. Natsuki turned to look at him as he took a seat next to her, careful to not encroach into her personal space. He extended the plastic tub towards her. "It's for you."

Natsuki glanced down at the tub, hesitating for a moment. "That's for me?"

"Yes," Kaito placed the tub between them, sliding it closer to her skirt. "I wanted to thank you for sticking up for me the other day."

Natsuki looked away. "I didn't do all that much."

"Maybe, but I still appreciated it." He gestured slightly to the tub. "You should open it."

She glanced back at him before setting her paper bag to the side, and lifting the tub onto her lap. She pulled on the plastic lid, lifting it off to reveal a carefully arranged collection of rice balls, some grilled chicken, and sliced oranges in the upper corner of the tub. She stared at the food, stunned. "This is for me?" She then looked back over to him. "Did Ren make this?"

"No, um, I did." Kaito looked down, his cheeks turning a pale shade of red.

"You-" she looked back down at the food. "You didn't have to do that."

"That's true," he replied. "But again, I wanted to."

"I almost feel bad for eating this." Natsuki added. "It looks so…neat."

"Ren has some rice ball molds that she let me use-" he continued. "I, guess I should've brought these another day though."

She looked back towards his bright green eyes. "What do you mean?"

"You, um, have your lunch today." Kaito pointed the bag as he spoke. Natsuki looked back at the bag, and then back at the plastic tub.

"I mean, it's not-" she paused, looking back at him. "Wait a minute, how did you know that I didn't bring my lunch yesterday?" Kaito's eyes went big, and he looked away trying to hide his face. He then mumbled something to himself. Natsuki tried focusing on what he said, but failed to comprehend it. "Hey, whatever you have to say, say it to my face. Were you following me?"

Kaito looked back toward her. "No! No, I, um…" he stammered. "I mean, not really."

"Not really?"

"I was trying to find you for lunch so that I could thank you, but I noticed that you weren't in the cafeteria, so I went to look for you, and, um, found you here…without a lunch."

Natsuki relaxed her posture. "Well, how do you know I hadn't just eaten already."

Kaito looked up at her. "I didn't, but, I mean, you just, um, said you didn't."

The girl silently kicked herself mentally for the outburst. She sighed. "Well, you got me there."

"Wait, do you not bring lunch often?"

"No, I just hadn't gone shopping until after school yesterday."

"I see," he continued. "I mean, if you want to eat your lunch now, you can take the dish with you and have it for dinner." He tilted his head to the side looking away. "I mean, unless you don't like the food, then I can also take it back."

Natsuki instinctively grabbed the dish tightly with both hands. "If this food is anything like your sister's food, then you'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands."

Kaito chuckled, shaking his head as he shrugged slightly. "Fair enough."

Natsuki began actively ignoring the brown paper bag next to her, which seemed more crumpled and pathetic than it did five minutes prior. She took a bite into one of the rice balls, feeling the grains almost melt in her mouth with rich, savory flavor. She looked down at her food with eyes wide open. "Dude, this food tastes awesome!"

"Oh," Kaito blushed. "Thank you. I'm glad you like it."

"You know," she added between bites. "You're kind of a funny guy."

He looked back at her. "I am?"

"Sure," she continued as she swallowed her food. "You cook, you're into manga, and if you ignore the stalking part, you're actually a pretty nice guy."

"I wasn't stalking you!" Kaito contested.

"Relax," she lightly smacked Kaito's arm. "I'm messing with you."

"Ah, right." he smiled, nodding awkwardly. "I'm sorry."

Natsuki sighed. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"Doing what?"

"Apologizing," She began working her way through the oranges as she talked. "I swear, if I had a nickel for the amount of times you've said sorry, I'd have enough to pay for college and then some."

"Oh, I'm so-". Kaito then slammed his hand in front of his mouth. "Crap." he mumbled. Natsuki hunched over laughing out loud as Kaito hid his face in his hands. "I really left myself wide open for that."

"No, I'm sorry," Natsuki responded, regaining her composure. "I didn't mean to make fun of you."

"Well, I don't want you to think that I'm trying to annoy you."

Natsuki's expression softened. "Annoy me?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'd never want to do anything to make anyone's day worse, and, well, that includes you."

"No, what's going to annoy me is you saying sorry for no reason." Natsuki's face fell. She began to remember all the instances where she said 'sorry' to Papa, hoping that it would fix whatever happened that day. "Besides," She turned her head away from Kaito as she tried batting the thoughts away. "Sorry doesn't make the problems go away."

Kaito looked up contemplatively, remaining in silence for a moment. "You're right, it doesn't solve everything, but that doesn't change the fact that I don't want to cause problems for you."

"Kaito, you literally brought me lunch today because you didn't think I had one." She emphasized her words by lifting the plastic tub up and shaking it lightly. "I've got a lot of problems, but trust me, you're not one of them." Natsuki bit her tongue, feeling a rush of embarrassment as heat began reaching her face.

"That's very sweet of you to say." Kaito smiled as he met her eyes again.

"Well, just don't let it get to your head, alright!" Her last word left with a bit more force than she anticipated. She accented her bluster by wharfing down another rice ball.

"I think it may be a little late for that." Kaito responded. "I mean, I just had the Natsuki compliment me."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Right, as if that's something to brag about."

Kaito smiled. "Do you remember where that's from?"

"What?"

"It's from Parfait Girls." Kaito explained. "It's what Minori says when she gets a compliment from Alice after her baking competition."

Natsuki looked up. "Oh yeah, it's been a while since I've read some of those early volumes."

"Actually, that reminds me." Kaito continued. "I was trying to buy the rest of the series for Parfait Girls, but it's a little, um, expensive."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I looked it up online, and the whole series together is about 23,000 Yen."

Natsuki almost choked on her rice ball. "What?!"

"Yeah, did you by chance buy it somewhere cheaper?"

"I-" Natsuki stuttered. "I didn't buy my own set."

"Someone got it for you?"

"Yeah," she continued, her tone softening significantly. "My mom did."

"Ah, I see," Kaito nodded as he spoke. "Would you be able to ask her where she got it?"

"No," Natsuki said somberly. "She died about six years ago."

Kaito's expression fell. "I-, I didn't know, I-"

"And before you say 'sorry' again, don't worry about it. You didn't know, and I'm not upset, alright?"

"A-Alright." he uttered quietly. "But, she got you your manga?"

"Yeah," Natsuki looked down at her lunch again. "She did."

Kaito leaned in slightly, trying to meet her eyes. "You say that like you're surprised."

"I am surprised." she explained. "I got my set from her about 2 weeks before she died." Natsuki began to grip the edges of the plastic bin again. "It was cancer, she had been battling it for about eight years, but it just wouldn't go away. She quit her job, and money was really tight from what I remember in regards to treatments, but-". She took a deep breath. "She still got me these." She turned back to meet the eyes of the boy next to her. Kaito looked at her silently, his green eyes reflecting the light of the stairwell windows above them. She closed her eyes, looking away. "Stop looking at me like that!"

Kaito leaned back. "Like what?"

"Like, I dunno," she stammered. "Look, I'm over it, I just didn't know that she saved up that much money to get me something I wanted."

"Well," the boy began. "It sounds like she really cared about you."

"Yeah," Natsuki replied quietly. "She really did."

"I mean, I can see why."

Natsuki perked up, looking back at him. "What did you just say?"

Kaito blushed. "Nothing, just that, um, maybe she probably saw the person you were becoming and figured you're, um, worth the effort. I'm sorry, I feel like I made things worse…"

"No, not at all!" Natsuki exclaimed, watching Kaito meet her eyes again. "You just helped me realize something about my mom I didn't know before.". She turned away slightly, but maintained eye contact, her cheeks turning a pale shade of red. "That means a lot to me. Thank you."

Kaito's face turned even more red. "I-"

A bell suddenly sounded around them, causing both students to look up. Natsuki glanced down at her watch. "Lunch isn't over yet-" she mumbled.

"Will Kaito Ryuta please come to the front desk, Kaito Ryuta, please come to the front desk, thank you."

Kaito began packing away his lunch again. "It's probably Ren, she may have forgotten something and I need to help her pick it up." As he closed the lid, Natsuki found herself looking down at the lunchbox.

"Wait, Kaito, don't you need this?"

He looked at the lunchbox. "Don't worry, you can give it to me when you're done." He stood up, his tall figure now overshadowing the girl next to him. "Oh, one more thing, my uncle said that he left his pots in a storage unit, but he told me he would get them so we can start our project."

"That's…great." Natsuki responded softly.

"Thank you for taking the time to eat lunch with me." Kaito bowed slightly as he spoke. "And thank you for taking the time to help me as well."

"Don't worry about it."

"Maybe we could, um," Kaito stammered again. "We could, um, have lunch again…sometime. Only if you want to, of course! No pressure, I promise!"

Natsuki looked away, blushing somewhat. "Sure, but just get out of here, alright."

"Right, thank you! I'll talk to you later. Take care, Natsuki."

"You too, Kaito." Kaito made one last small bow, and then pushed the door open next to him. The door creaked as it swung behind him. Natsuki took a breath as she was once again engulfed in silence. She looked again at the light pouring through the windows above her, taking a bite from other orange in the carefully organized lunch container.

"Maybe she probably saw the person you were becoming and figured you're, um, worth the effort."

She blushed, furiously shaking her head as Kaito's voice echoed in her mind. "He really shouldn't say that sort of thing." she mumbled. "He doesn't even know me."

She continued eating her lunch in silence.

Thanks for taking the time to read this! School has been tricky for me recently, so my ability to write and upload is severely limited, so I'm sorry about that. I've been using this story to practice writing interactions, and I hope things are interesting. Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think! Have a great rest of your day!

-Paladin