*Scaramouche POV*

My alarm clock rang. I decided wake up right away instead of letting Ei mercilessly open my curtains. I put on my uniform, grabbed my bag, repeated my usual routine.

I arrived downstairs, cooked some toasts. Ei wasn't here.

Did she have to go to work earlier today? Or...

Well, there was no use wondering where she went. I ate my simple breakfast, put my phone in my pocket and went to the bus stop.

There wasn't a lot of people at the bus stop and they didn't even seem to have noticed me. I wasn't interested in them anyways, so I just stood there, waiting.

The bus arrived and now it was full. It probably picked up some students on the way. I took an empty seat.

There was one last stop. Someone would probably want to sit besides me since there wasn't much place left.

"Can I sit here?"

Called it.

"Yeah sure.", I answered, but when I saw the person asking me this, I was pleasantly surprised.

It was Kazuha.

I removed my bag from the other half of the seat and he sat besides me.

He was a bit smaller than me, but the difference was almost unnoticeable.

"So you live near here, Scaramouche?", he asked.
"I'm from the stop before yours. It's pretty close from my place. You live close, too?"
"Right next to my stop. It doesn't even take a minute to go there."
"That's lucky."

He had a big smile on his face. Was he always happy?

"Oh right, I have an idea!"

Kazuha took out his phone.

"Do you want to exchange contact info?"

I felt like it would be rude to deny and even if I did say 'no', what good would it do?

"Yeah, sure."

I showed him my contact information and he did the same.

"Alright, I'll add you when we're arrived at school!", he declared, smiling.

I stayed silent for a bit. I'm not good for starting conversations. Kazuha probably figured that out and started talking.

"So, how do you like this school so far?", he asked.
"It's good, but I feel bored and sleepy during class. It's always like that for me though."
"Aha, that's understandable. Some of the teachers are annoying or just plain boring. Actually, which class do you have this morning?", he added.
"History, I think."

Kazuha seemed deep in thought and smiled brightly.

"I think we'll have the same class together!"
"That's nice."
"It really is! I would've liked for us to be in more classes together, but at least we have one in common."

The bus finally arrived at the sidewalk and the students, Kazuha and me walked out of the vehicle. Kazuha waved at me before leaving to his locker. I walked over to mine.

I unlocked it and took out my binder. I looked at my phone to see the time: there was at least 10 minutes before the start of class.

I locked the metal closet and leaned on it. I would stay there for a minute or two before going to class, couldn't risk seeing that guy again.

There was a few notifications on my previous group chat and a new contact.

It must be Kazuha.

I opened the app and looked at the request. Yeah, it looked like him.

I added him and heard a voice call out to me.

"So that's where your locker is! I'll be able to see you each morning then."
"Hello again, Kazuha."
"Hi! I really wanted to find where your locker is, that way I'll be able to see you more often."

He's quite persistent, huh. I wonder what's with him.

"I could've shown you myself."
"I was scared you wouldn't accept if I asked..."

Well, that makes much more sense.

"I can't blame you for thinking that. Well then, did you have something to tell me or...?"
"No, I was just passing by. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Alright."

Kazuha left me alone, his hair flying with every step he took. As much as I like being alone, his company wasn't too bad. I actually enjoy being with him.

And it's only been a day.

I tune in with my old group chat. Nothing new. Seems like the two idiots are still arguing about stupid things and yeah. Nothing interesting here.

My phone rang and rang and rang. Shoot, I read the messages and now they know I was here.

Anyways, it was about time for me to go to class, so I could escape from this awkward conversation with my old classmates. I walked over to the history class and entered. When I looked to see if Kazuha was there, someone waved at me.

"Hey, come over here!"

He was besides the window, at the back completely. I walked over but someone stole my place.

The girl had dark hair, almost black. It was tied in twintails. She had gray, sharp eyes. Just seeing her annoyed me, with that superior look on her face.

"Sorry, but—", started Kazuha, but the girl stopped him.
"Place is taken, go sit somewhere else.", she said rudely.

Yeah, that's enough.

"You won't leave and I'll slit your neck open. Want that?"
"Yeah right."

Well, sorry to disappoint. I already have a small blade with me everywhere I go. So I took it out and showed her.

"You sure?"
"Ugh, alright then."
"Thank you~"

As much as I didn't want to make a bad impression on Kazuha, that little attitude of hers deserved that kind of threat. Still, Kazuha didn't seem scared of me. He seemed like...

The teacher arrived in the class and the bell rang. The time has come to suffer another boring day of school.

The teacher didn't notice me, fortunately, and went on rambling. I drew on my desk for the whole class. Meanwhile, Kazuha seemed to listen attentively. Maybe he has a job he wants to do and needs the grades, or he has parental pressure or something. I shouldn't pry into his life too much.

Still, he intrigues me in some way. I wonder why.

When the teacher declared the class was done for the day and that we had to work, Kazuha invited me to do team work with him. I came over to his desk, right next to mine.

"What's the work we have to do now?", I asked Kazuha.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"You didn't listen at all, did you?"

"...not really."
"And you're not even hiding it. Well, take out your book and go to this page."

I did as he told me to do and opened the book. Kazuha already started the exercises. Meanwhile, I didn't even know what the teacher explained today.

"Don't you have anything you want to do in life? You know, you need to get good grades if you want to have a job. If you don't listen during class, you won't be able to graduate and stuff."
"Yeah, I know. I don't know what to do in life though, so I don't put much thought into it. What about you, you have something you want to do later?"

I couldn't resist asking Kazuha to talk about himself. That was the perfect opportunity to do so.

"Well, you could say that."

That was the first answer he didn't mean to tell me. I get that maybe I'm prying too much since we only just met.

Yet, it only makes me much more curious.

I tried doing the exercises at my best, with Kazuha giving me hints on the way. The bell rang and all the students went to their lockers. I was thinking of staying near my locker again, I don't feel like I really want social interactions with people at the cafeteria.

I looked over at my phone and saw that I received a ton of missed calls. They were from my old classmates.

I feel like it's a joke, but just to be sure, I looked over at our group chat.

[Why is our group falling apart]

Tortilla
Istg Scaramouche, read our messages or something

Icy Lady
@Scaramouche please come over here

And that were the messages that were basically copy pasted. Yeah, something's going on.

Angymouche
This better not be a prank or I'm blocking you two.

Tortilla
SIG HE'S HERE

Icy Lady
Pls stfu Childe, he's gonna leave if you keep saying things like that
So Scaramouche, we saw what happened at your new school yesterday

Angymouche
What

Icy Lady
You know, in the cafeteria

Angymouche
How

Tortilla

How long since you've used social media
Excluding this

Angymouche
How could I know stfu.

Tortilla
Still a boomer I see LMFAO XD

Icy Lady
Childe stfu pls
So
That thing has gone viral on social media
And um
I don't think the bully is the problem
I think it's the one who saved your back
That 'Kazuha' guy

Angymouche
What's wrong with Kazuha?

Icy Lady
He was at our previous school
Was kicked out without any meaningful reason why
But he's supposed to be really violent when he needs to

Angymouche
Well yeah, did you hear how easily he told the jock to fuck off?

Icy Lady
Okay I get that you don't trust us anymore
And that you find Kazuha a better friend than us

But pls be careful around him
If you get on his bad side, he could easily threaten you or something

Angymouche
And who says I'll listen to you two?
Kazuha's a great guy.
I don't care what you say about him.
I won't be on my guard or fake around him just because you said so.
Gotta go now.

Icy Lady
Istg that boy will never control his emotions or impulses

Tortilla
Like you LMFAOO

Icy Lady
I'm gonna block you

Tortilla
Pls don't m'lady, I didn't mean it

I closed my phone. The bell was about to ring, I had to get to my class.

I didn't trust them a second. But if what Signora said was true...

...what can I do to have this relationship work, Kazuha?

I took my binders and walked over to my class.

At lunch time, I'll do my best to get to know you well, I swear.

Hi hi people!
It's been a long time, I had a writer's block. I'm so sorry I didn't write, I even wanted to do a Valentine's Day special. Guess I'll have to rush my writing or something.

I have a TON of ideas for the later chapters though, so look forward to it!

Anyways, I'll keep on writing after I'm done with school, so maybe I'll be able to do a double post or something.

Have a good day fellow authors and readers!

-Author-chan

14th of February, 2022
(1800 words)