Chapter 9:

Lovestruck

Hopespring


The box full of books is waist-high, sitting in the middle of the literature club's old room. Danzo's chin barely rests on the top edge as hugs the box reaching far down until his hands can feel the bottom edge. Fumi rushes in front of Danzo to help.

"It's all good, Fumi-chan. I got it," Danzo smiles. "Just carry the paper bags instead."

"But this box looks very heavy. I'll lift it up on this side," Fumi insists.

"This is nothing. I can handle this," Danzo leans forward a little bit trying to create momentum. His feet are flat of the floor just an inch from the box and as wide apart as its width. Slowly, he straightens his legs, balancing his body and the weight of the box up without showing any sign of a struggle. "See?"

Fumi relaxes her tense shoulders. She fixes her glasses and her straight-cut bangs before reaching for the two paper bags on the floor with a few of books in them. She carries them one in each hand and chases after Danzo who's already outside the room.

"Thanks again, Abe-kun," Fumi follows behind Danzo. "You're always getting bothered to do these things and it's mostly because of me."

"Don't worry about it. The teachers would still ask me to carry this box one way or another. It's not your fault." Danzo turns to the staircase and starts climbing up. He takes his time to feel the next step with his foot before proceeding. Fumi is still behind him matching his pace. "If anything, I find it weird that they always assign you with these."

"Well, I'm a member of the literature club, after all. But there's only two of us left in the club since the upperclassmen graduated so we're not qualified to continue the club. The teachers asked us to transfer all the books to the lib--"

"Not just that. I meant generally. You're always getting asked by the teachers to do things, right?"

"Ah. Most of the time I volunteer to do it. Sometimes, it just falls on the class presidents shoulders because no one wants to do it."

"Volunteer?! Why would you do that when you know you can't do the job? Something's wrong with you," he takes the last step of the stair and takes a right towards the library. Fumi goes silent. "Uhh, sorry. I didn't mean to say that."

"No, no. It's okay. I know it is weird. But...," Her voice which is already normally soft becomes even softer. "I'm not neither smart nor athletic. There's almost no place for me in the school. At the very least, I want to be helpful and do what I can."

Danzo slides the door to the library open with his feet and squishes his way in. He drops the box a few steps in with a groan.

"You really worry too much, don't you?" He brushes the dirt off of his shirt. "You're already doing your best and that's all that matters."

Fumi stares at Danzo for a few seconds, internalizing what he just said, then smiles. "You're really nice, Abe-kun."

"You think so?" Danzo gives out a flattered smile.

They hear a set of footsteps at the door and turn to look who it is. The girl's stylishly braided hair sways in the air as she stopped. She is panting but she manages to maintain her cool composure. Her hand is against the door, keeping it open. Her eyes search the room until she finally finds what she's looking for.

"Fumi!" She sees Fumi and looks relieved. "I'm so sorry for taking so long."

"It's okay, Yonna," Fumi responds. She looks behind and catches Danzo staring at Yonna, amazed and speechless. "Oh! This is Danzo, by the way. He helped me carry the books here."

"Really?" Yonna's eyes light up as she walks toward Danzo and reaches out for a handshake. "Thanks so much for helping Fumi out! You're such a gent, Danzo-kun. I'm Migaishima Yonna. Pleased to meet you."

Danzo shakes her hand and kind of flustered. "It's nothing. The pleasure is mine."

"Is there anything else that needs to be done? I feel really bad for not being able to help out."

"I just need to put the books on the shelves."

"Great. Let me help, then. Otherwise, I won't be able to sleep properly tonight," Yonna starts taking the books from the paper bags.

"Abe-kun," Fumi turns to Danzo. "Thanks again. You've been a great help today. We can take this from here."

"Eh? Ah. Ummm. No, let me help, too. I'm already here, anyway. Might as well see it through," Danzo forces a laugh.

"You really are a reliable guy, Danzo-kun," Yonna comments before heading to the shelves carrying enough books she could carry in her arms.

"A man's gotta do what a man gotta do," Danzo strikes a smug pose and he gets a chuckle from Yonna.

The three continues to put the books onto the library shelves emptying the box little by little. Danzo and Fumi are on the other side of the library several bookshelves away from Yonna who was humming as she worked.

"Fumi-chan," Danzo whispers. "Who the hell is she? I didn't know we had a student like her in our school."

"She's been here since the first year."

"First year?! That's crazy. I would've at least seen her around by now."

"Oh, she spends most of her time in the literature club. She's also somewhat hard to approach in class."

"So she's in the same club as you?' Danzo appears to be doing complex calculations in his head. "That was so unexpected. I thought literature club members would be plain-looking like you." It takes him a few seconds to process what he just said. "Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't mean that as an insult!"

"No, I know," Fumi smiles. "Yonna is really pretty, isn't she? People think that she has a nasty attitude, but in reality, she's really nice and considerate. As far as I know, only the literature club knows this side of her."

"Why is that? Is she a shy type?"

"I don't know. She's definitely not shy. I guess she's just selective."

"And I get to see that side of her?" Danzo tries to restrain his excitement. "Today is such a great day."

"Do you like her?" Fumi laughs. "You're a really nice person so I'm sure you'll get along with her just fine. If she's showing you this side of her, that means she already considers you as a friend." Danzo gets even more twitterpated.

"Hey!" Yonna's loud voice startled Danzo. He quickly turns around holding a book on his face. "Looks like we've emptied the box, and I'm done with mine. Do you guys need help here?"

"I'm done with mine, too," Fumi responds. "How about you, Abe-kun?"

"Ah, yeah. This is the last one," Danzo slides the book he's holding onto the shelf.

"Well, then," Fumi fills the silence. "I just need to tell Kan-sensei that we're done."

"Sure, let's go together," Yonna suggests.

"I'm fine. You two can just throw the box and paper bags away," Fumi turns to Danzo and gives him a wink.

Danzo quickly gets her message. "Fumi, you...," He sheds some tears internally. "You're such a nice friend. God bless your soul twice."

"I'm going straight home after so I'll see you guys tomorrow," Fumi waves at them before walking towards the door.

"Got it," Yonna waves back at her. "Take care! Looks like it's just the two of us, Danzo-kun."

"Looks like it," Danzo scratches the back of his head and starts walking. "I'll go flatten the box."

Danzo starts flattening the big empty box while Yonna waits for him to finish, carrying her school bag and the two paper bags.

"So, Danzo-kun," She starts a conversation to fill in the silence. "Are you and Fumi close?"

"Close? Not really. We've been classmates since last year and I've been helping her out from time to time because she's the class president."

"She always worries me. She doesn't look like she has another group of friends aside from the literature club. Plus, she's always being asked to do after school errands. I wonder if she's being bullied."

"I doubt she's being bullied," Danzo lifts the flattened box with his bag on his shoulder and they leave the room. "I've also never seen her hanging out with our other classmates, but everyone gets along with her just fine."

Yonna closes the library's door behind them. "I see. That's good then. I don't want anyone taking advantage of her. As you may know, she rarely says no to favors. That girl is way too nice."

"Indeed. She's a hero," Danzo pays respect to Fumi with an imaginary salute.

"A hero?"

"Ah, no. Don't worry about it," Danzo chuckles. "How about you, Yonna-chan?"

"What about me?"

"I heard you don't usually show your friendly side to anyone. I'm pretty confident that I know every person in this school but today was the first time I've seen you."

"Ah. I tend to spend my time in the literature club's clubroom, after all."

"Fumi told me that. Are you avoiding people? Anti-social?"

"Anti-social? I don't know. Maybe, I just get easily tired when I'm interacting with other people. I like burying myself in fantasy with books instead."

"A natural introvert, huh? It's a shame. You're kind and pretty. If more people knew about you and your personality, everyone would want to be your friend." They take turns throwing their garbage in the big recycling bin. "I guess you wouldn't want that kind of attention."

Yonna gives out a soft chuckle. "I'm fine with how things are. I can read in peace and that's all that matters. Though, now that we don't have a clubroom anymore, I'll be spending my time in the library with a lot of people. I wonder how that will go."

"As long as you keep your unapproachable aura on, you should be fine."

"Right?" Yonna laughs. They exit the school on their way home, but their ways are opposite from one another. "Well, looks like we're parting ways here." They wave at each other.

Danzo's smile spans from ear to ear on his way home. Slowly, he mentally absorbs everything that just happened today. "AHHH!" He stops on his tracks. "I just... talked to her so casually! I called her Yonna-chan, too. I even called her pretty." His face is a mix of nervousness and excitement. "I can't believe that just happened," He buries his blushing face in his palms and starts making unearthly noises.

Veekeeki
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Hopespring