Chapter 5: (I Just Wanted A Friend!)

When Kei left the teachers' office, it was already evening and most of the students had already gone home. As he walked through the school courtyard towards the main gate, he spotted a shadow of someone familiar.

"I thought I told you to just go home?"

"You told me not to get involved, not to go home."

There stood Chihiro Mai, whom he had sort of rescued earlier in the day. It had appeared that she was actually waiting for somebody for quite a while now.

"Well? What are you doing here?"

"Would you like to walk home with me again?" Mai asked with hopeful eyes and an expression that would make any of the other boys want to give her the world.

"Hah…"

Kei did nothing but give a small sigh before walking next to her, grabbed her bag and slung it to his shoulder, before continuing to walk in the direction that leads to his home. Mai's expression turned into a bright and happy one before she ran up next to him before matching his walking pace with her hands behind her.

"You know, if you showed your emotions and expressions more like you just did to me at school, you'd make more friends with the other girls?"

"Hmm… that may be true but… if I do that, we wouldn't be able to spend as much time together like this…" Mai let out a small blush looking on the ground while saying this.

It happened a month after they had started their classes, when Kei decided he had finally found a peaceful place where he could have lunch and get away from all the attention of his classmates he was trying to avoid. Halfway through having lunch however, he heard it.

"I think you are the most beautiful girl in this school! I need to have you before anyone else does! Please go out with me!"

'Ah… it's a confession spot…'

Kei paid no attention to what was happening as he had no interest in the affairs of other people. However, his interests were piqued when he heard the voice of the other party.

"I'm sorry, we barely know each other… and I'm not looking to get into a relationship so quickly into high school, thank you for your kindness but I cannot accept…"

Kei instantly recognized the voice that belonged to one of his classmates, Chihiro Mai. He had never interacted before but he recognized her voice from the self-introductions that they had to do during their first homeroom. He also knew of her as the class wallflower from the chatter of the boys who were often discussing girls in the classroom near him.

"Do you already like someone else?"

"No, that's not—"

"Then maybe we can start out as friends!"

"Umm…"

"How about it? Then when you finally decide you want to be in a relationship, I will be there!"

"Umm… I'm sorry but I can't do that…"

The girl started to walk away before the boy grabbed her shoulders…

"No, I can't give up like this!"

"Please let me go!"

As she struggled to get away from the stubborn suitor, it seemed he had no intentions of taking no for an answer from the start. Before he knew it, the boy felt a sudden sharp pain on his shoulder on the side where his hand was grabbing the girl's shoulder.

"Ouch! Who—"

The boy turned around to find a rather large, muscular figure looking at him with no expressions or emotions.

"I'm not sure you noticed it yet, but you're actually hurting her. Mind letting her go?"

The boy let go of Mai's shoulder before running away while shouting…

"You'll regret this!"

As he watched the boy walk away, Kei was about to turn around and start walking away. Before he could do so, he felt a small tug holding his uniform. He turned around to see the girl looking up at him with teary eyes.

"Th-thank you…"

"Mmm… Well, have a nice day."

"Umm! If you don't mind…"

"No."

Before the girl could ask 'can we have lunch together', he cut her before she could.

"Best if we stay strangers, for both our sakes…"

Kei said and started walking away back to having lunch. He thought that his troubles were behind him now. But since then, he had to step in countless times whenever Mai was in trouble when she was being confessed to at his lunch spot. He had actually tried finding a new place to have his lunch in peace, but it seemed this secluded area at the school teacher's parking area behind the school building was the only place that the other students don't frequent often.

Whenever Kei had to step in for Mai, she would always try to invite him to have lunch or try to get closer to him, only to be pushed away each time. One day, when Kei was walking along the school empty corridor back to his classroom, he was confronted by a frustrated Mai. He had decided to stay late at school to use the library for his studies, when he was walking back to his classroom, he saw Mai standing in the middle of the corridor with slightly teary eyes and a frown on her face.

"Why are you doing this…?"

Mai had rarely shown any expressions whenever she was in class. This time, she had a mixture of sadness and anger written all over her face. It was the first time that anyone had ever seen her show a different expression than the one she often wore.

"I just…"

"Chihiro-san?"

"Can you stop avoiding me?! I just wanted to have a friend!" Mai shouted at Kei and the tears that clouded her eyes earlier began to fall.

It seemed Kei was mistaken about her from the start. He had thought that Mai's advances were because she was like the other girls who tried to get his attention, so he just decided to avoid her like the others. Never did he think that all she wanted was to become his friend.

"I… don't deserve anything that nice…"

"I don't care! I just want us to be friends!"

"But… you'll just end up getting hurt for it… we both will… the girls will hate you…"

"The boys already hate you, and the girls already hate me… so what's the difference?!"

"I just don't want someone to be hurt just because they are friends with me…"

When Kei said this, Mai's face turned to a sad expression before she looked up at him. The real reason why Kei wanted to avoid everyone was because of something that happened before he entered the high school, but also because anyone close enough to become his friend often became the subject of abuse from the other females. Chihaya was the prime example of this fact.

"Is… is that a no…?" Mai looked dejected as she said this while looking up at Kei with her angelic look with teary eyes.

"Haah… fine… but we act as strangers at school alright?" Kei had finally decided to give in to Mai's request. He knew that the face Mai was making to him was practically cheating and that there was no way he was beating that expression.

"Yes!" Mai said with a beaming smile as if her world lit up.