One Teasing Idiot Makes A New Friend

"Thanks for showing me around."

Back at the classroom, Tomoka thanked the gang for the tour, albeit lacking any sincerity in her voice and expression.

Reina was happy to receive any thanks at all.

"Yeah, no problem. Just come to me if you need any more help with anything."

Tomoka returned to her desk, leaving the three by themselves. As he spent most of the time away from the action, Juzo asked Reina for a report.

"So, what'd you think?"

"She's not bad. Pretty cautious around me, but I think she's a good person, just needs to get comfortable. We don't know why she moved here, so she might be dealing with something at home. I wouldn't suggest trying to pry into her life, though."

They both glanced at Nikko.

"Don't look at me like that. I just wanted to have a conversation with her."

While Nikko tried to justify his intrusive behavior, two girls approached Tomoka. Juzo caught notice and alerted the others.

"Tomoka's got company."

Nikko and Reina tried to turn around, but Juzo stopped them.

"Don't look. Just be quiet and listen."

One of the girls was talking with Tomoka about her first day.

"How do you like the school so far?"

"It's smaller than my last one. Makes it easier to navigate."

"Oh, that's good. Can I ask why you changed schools?"

"Family reasons."

"Oh… alright."

The other jumped in with her question.

"What were you doing with Reina and those guys?"

"They showed me around."

"That's fine enough, but don't go and spend too much time with them. That Reina, she's slept around with a lot of her classmates. And Juzo, he's a violent thug. Nikko, well, he's kinda creepy. If you want, you can hang out with us, we're…"

"Fuck off."

The two girls froze in shock as Tomoka sat expressionless at her desk, eating a snack.

"…What?"

"Leave me alone. Go away."

"What are you talking about?"

Tomoka sighed and put her food down.

"Look, I've dealt with your kind before. I don't have the energy to waste on you and your bullshit, so leave."

The two girls had started to shake, too flustered to become angry.

"...But we'd just met you…"

"And you've immediately told me rumours about our classmates. I was just with them moments ago, and in that short time, I can tell you that the rumours you just told me are bullshit. Even if they're true, they don't act that way. Meanwhile, in the short time I've talked to you two, I can see that you're both ignorant and attention-seeking bitches. So leave me alone."

The two girls stood in place for a few moments, trying to process what just happened.

"...Come on, let's go."

As the two girls left, the trio brought their attention back to themselves. Nikko was first to comment.

"That was badass! She's probably the coolest person I've ever seen!"

Reina tried to control Nikko.

"Calm down, Nikko. You're going to draw attention to yourself. But yeah, it was pretty cool how she defended us like that."

Juzo added his thoughts.

"I think I understand her somewhat now."

Nikko didn't like the condescending way Juzo was talking.

"Shut up. Stop trying to act cool, you don't know what you're saying."

Reina saw the inevitable argument and intervened.

"Hey, stop it, both of you. We need to feign ignorance with this. I don't want Yamada to suddenly act out against us because we ended up eavesdropping on her."

Juzo nodded in agreement.

"Well, you pulled out some big words, so I'll listen to you this time."

"Okay, good. Nikko?"

Unfortunately, Nikko made a stupid expression.

"Maybe…"

Reina was becoming seriously worried.

"Oh my God, Nikko. If you ruin everything…"

Juzo swiftly landed a firm pat to her head to avert her attention.

"Reina, let him be. He doesn't have bad intentions."

Reina took a moment to mull over Juzo's words.

"Fine. Nikko, if you really want to confront Yamada and admit to eavesdropping, go ahead. But do it after-school, so me and Juzo can go home first and distance ourselves from you."

Nikko started to read between the lines of Reina's words.

"Hold on a sec, are you scared of her?"

Reina flinched at the accusation.

"I'm not going to talk to you anymore."

"Hah, I'm right! You are scared!"

Reina clenched her fists as she tried to restrain herself.

"Stop it. Come on, Juzo, let's go sit down."

Juzo was tired, and didn't want to deal with anything.

"Gotcha."

Left by himself, Nikko wandered over to his desk and started muttering to himself.

"Being scared of people? This is why I'm the only one capable of making new friends."

The bell rung to end class for the day, and it took Reina no time to grab Juzo and leave.

"Reina, is it fine if I crash at your place for a few hours?"

"Sure, but why? If you want to hang out, you could just say that."

"No, I just wanna be somewhere quiet to rest."

"Oh, okay then."

They walked down the street in silence for a few minutes. Eventually, Juzo decided to look for an answer to a question that had been bothering him.

"Why are you scared of Yamada?"

"Really? You too?"

Reina took a deep breath and collected herself.

"The way she was talking to those two girls reminded me of the way Ritsushima talked to me."

"Do you mean her tone, or like the words she was using?"

"The tone. There was just something about it that made it sound like they were talking to human trash."

"But she didn't talk like that to us."

"Yeah, you're right. But I thought she might get mad if she knew that we were eavesdropping on her."

"Well, everyone in class heard what she was saying, 'cause, you know, she was yelling."

Reina stopped in her tracks.

"Oh, she was. I've overreacted, haven't I?"

Juzo nodded. Reina buried her face into her palms and sighed.

"Sorry for troubling you with all this. I just act so stupidly sometimes."

"You mean all the time."

"Shut it."

Juzo chuckled.

"Sorry. But seriously, you were still somewhat justified with your worries. Yamada might get upset with the fact that Nikko’s bringing up the argument and how he was defended by her. You probably are dodging a bullet right now."

Reina peeked out from her hands.

"So you're saying that I'm right?"

"I guess so."

Reina started laughing.

"Wow, you really suck at cheering people up. Could you be any less direct?"

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe. I look forward to seeing how you do."

The two continued their walk home. Meanwhile, at the school, Nikko was waiting for an opportunity to talk to Tomoka. Some other students were talking to her, probably asking her if she wanted to hang out with them, typical stuff with a new student. But it seemed that Tomoka turned them all down, and Nikko's window opened up.

"Hey, Tomoka, can I ask you something?"

Tomoka looked up from packing her bag to stare annoyingly at Nikko.

"It's Yamada to you."

"Yeah, whatever. Why'd you defend me and my friends earlier?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, don't act so modest."

"I'm not."

Nikko was losing patience.

"Can you just answer my question?"

Tomoka finished packing her bag and got up to leave. She took a few steps past Nikko, but stopped.

"I don't like people who judge others based on rumours."

She continued walking out of the classroom, but Nikko took after her.

"Hey, wait a sec!"

Tomoka didn't stop for his call, so he ran up beside her.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me. I didn't do anything for you."

Her commitment to the tough loner act was cause for Nikko to start laughing. Tomoka didn't appreciate that.

"Why are you laughing? Are you mocking me or something?"

"No, I just thought that the way you're acting is pretty cute."

Tomoka was blindsided by that response, and unexpectedly blushed hard. She turned away from him to limit her embarrassment.

"...Shut up…"

Contempt with his personal victory, Nikko wrapped up the conversation.

"Fine, I'll be going now. But really, thanks for sticking up for me and friends. We really appreciate having someone take our side. Well, see ya."

Nikko took off in the opposite direction, leaving Tomoka to reflect on the encounter.

"What the hell is with that guy?"