Thursday. I wake up quickly in the morning. Today, the weather looks very nice and sunny. Cleaning myself up, I changed into my gym clothes and went outside for a morning jog. Running around the complex as usual, I continued my morning run.
There were some neighbors who were also jogging in the morning. Some run with their pet dogs, some run while wearing headsets. I greeted them politely as I continued my run.
After 30 minutes, I was already sweating enough. Resting at a nearby park, I bought a drink from a vending machine. Tossed a coin in it and opted for an energy drink, but I got lucky. The vending machine accidentally dragged the corn hot drink next to the energy drink I wanted, and I ended up getting two drinks.
"lucky"
Carrying the drinks in my hands, I walked to the park bench and sat down. Drinking energy drinks, and giving warm corn drinks to someone passing by. After resting, I continued with some stretching, then after that I did some push-ups, sit-ups, and other light exercises. After everything was done, my body was completely sticky with sweat. Feeling tired, I ran slowly as I returned to my house.
Entering the house, I immediately took off my clothes in the bathroom and entered the bathtub. My mother is very understanding, she knows my routine and will warm the water for me to shower every morning. Really good mother.
After showering, I put on my uniform, eat breakfast, and go to school.
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On the way away, I met her again. She, with both hands holding the bag, head bowed and slow steps. Kawajima-san.
"Kawajima-san!", what a pleasant coincidence. I thought. Being able to meet in person the day after I expected it, seems like I was indeed lucky.
Kawajima-san turned her head and glanced to see if it was really someone who called her. Until her eyes finally looked at me, I waved my hand and walked towards her.
"ah! Toru-san!", Kawajima widened her eyes. It turned out that the person who greeted her in the morning was the man who had saved her, Toru-san.
"Good morning", I greeted him. Nervously, Kawajima replied back with a "good morning" in her gentle voice. Really, seeing her like this, she seemed to indeed have low self-esteem. She didn't dare to look anyone in the eye and always kept her head down. I have to fix this part of it.
"About yesterday. I forgot to ask which class you are in, Kawajima-san. You know, it's hard to meet you if I don't even know where you are" I told her about my thoughts, without hiding it one bit.
"?! Is that so?... You're right Toru-san, I haven't told you about my class yet. I'm in class 1 - A, how about you?" Kawajima told me. She, with a flushed face knowing that it seemed like Toru was really serious about wanting to be her friend.
"I see, I'm in class 1 - C. Looks like our class is a bit far huh"
Class 1-C is on the right of the second floor. Right after climbing the front steps, you just have to turn right and the words Class 1-C above the door will immediately appear. While class A is on the left. The far left corner is right next to the women's toilet. On the right side of class A is class B, then there is a staircase going down, and then on the right side again is class C.
"Umm... that seems to be the case, our classes are indeed a bit far from each other"
"It's okay. The important thing is that I now know where your class is, so I don't have to be confused anymore if I want to look for you"
"I-Is that so, thank goodness... That's good" Kawajima replied, turning her head away from me. She hide her face which was currently completely red when she heard what Toru had said earlier. His words had made her think that Toru really wanted to meet her and to be honest, it was the first time a man had said such a thing to her. She was so embarrassed that she didn't know what to say to answer him and became nervous himself.
"But, come to think of it, it seems that it would be better if we exchanged phone numbers. So we can contact each other even if we're not at school. How about exchanging numbers?"
The bombing doesn't seem like it's over yet. Toru's growing words about exchanging phone numbers made Kawajima's mind stop reacting.
's-changing numbers, d-does that mean...' Kawajima's brain was filled with various romantic events that might occur when someone exchanged phone numbers. Exchanging chats in chat, calling each other, even video calling.
'no! I can't bear this!!! ' Kawajima's face couldn't look any redder at this point. Her hands were shaking as her eyes looked all over the place. Not getting an answer from Kawajima, I'm confused as to whether Kawajima actually refused to give out his phone number. So I looked up at him, wondering. "Kawajima-san?", she looked like a clumsy little deer with her eyes wandering all over the place.
'she... What happened to her? '
Maybe hearing my voice brought her back to her senses, because after hearing it, she regained her focus to get back to talking.
"A-a-Ano! I have to go to the toilet now, so-so I'll go first. See you later!"
Kawajima quickly ran from the scene. She ran quickly to directly enter the gate and disappeared. I, left alone with such an answer, could only watch her leave with even greater confusion.
'what? Did I do something wrong? Why did she leave?... What exactly happened!! '
I was left alone. Standing in front of the school gates in even greater confusion with the recent refusal.
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(Midori POV)
'ah... I just ran away, leaving Toru-san alone. How stupid I am... '
In the women's restroom on the first floor, I held my cheeks which were still red and regretted what I had just done. I should have given him my phone number when he asked for it. Maybe now Toru-san thinks that I rejected him and starts hating me...
The more I thought about it, the more I felt regret for it. Toru-san is the only guy who doesn't look at me with a bad look. He didn't stay away from me, and even saved me once. If someone like that starts hating me... I'll hate myself.
I held back the tears that might come out at any moment. At this moment, while sitting on the toilet, with no one around, the silence made me overthink things even more.
'No, no. Midori, maybe you're just being too paranoid'
After thinking about it some more, I came to that conclusion. 'During lunch, I'll go to his class and apologize for my behavior earlier. Yosh'
With light returning to my eyes, I reached an answer. It doesn't matter if other people will stare at me later, the most important thing right now is to clear up the misunderstanding earlier.
I thought, making up my mind.