Chapter 9:

Knight in Shining Armor

I'm gonna confess first!


I looked around. He was nowhere to be found. I wanted to thank him for his help once more and bid him goodbye but he hadn’t come to school the previous day or today.

“Aihara-san!” Matsuda shouted from far away and moved her hand probably thinking that I was looking for them and got lost. I pushed the irritating boy to the back of my mind and decided to forget about him for the time being and have fun. That was the reason we had all tried to convince my parents anyway.

My grip on the handles of my backpack grew tighter as I felt my stomach somersaulting the closer I was to Matsuda and her friends. We had exchanged some greetings out of politeness sometimes but this was entirely different and even if Matsuda insisted on saying that the girls didn’t have a problem with me crashing their group, I couldn’t get it out of my head.

“Good morning, Matsuda-san. '' My voice quivered and I internally cursed myself. My palms were starting to get sweaty and change the colour of the fabric on my bag’s handles. I couldn’t feel the light cool air brushing my face, the fast beating of my heart sent more blood to my whole body increasing my temperature even more. “H-hello, girls” I pressed myself to say and they nodded.

I was nervous for such a simple dialogue and they didn’t even reply back! It wasn’t that they didn’t acknowledge my presence but that they didn’t mind me there. They weren’t thrilled to have me as company but they weren’t frustrated about it either, they were indifferent. That made things easier for me.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding and my hands loosened letting go of the straps.

“I can’t believe you actually made it!” Matsuda didn’t want to make me uncomfortable by bringing up the topic of my strict parents in front of the other four girls so she took me to the side before expressing her enthusiasm. Her eyes glistened and her whole face was glowing. She looked like she was barely holding in a squeal.

My heart grew warm and I could feel my cheeks getting hot as I smiled at her. She was the primary reason I was there. Well, that and my outburst but she didn’t know about that.

“Thanks again, for the help.” I said timidly. It must have been nerve-racking to meet the parents of a distant friend for the first time and have them looking at you as if they were interrogating you. I got shivers only by thinking about it. I appreciated her company and effort but I didn’t know if I would have had the guts to do the same thing for her.

“No biggie” She replied just like all the previous hundred times I had thanked her and moved her palm as if dismissing it as something small and insignificant. My feelings about that were different but I didn’t need to make it any more clear than I already had. Her expression grew serious and worried and my anxiety started echoing inside my mind like a bright red alert. “Did we cause a problem with you and your parents?” She asked, referring to her and Kajiura’s actions and played with her hands awkwardly.

I did my best to not let out a sigh of relief. I was afraid that it was going to be about something having to do with the girls but that question I could happily answer. It was my turn to move my hand like I was dismissing it.

“We did fight but…we said some things that needed to be said” Mostly me that is. I don’t even remember if I let them speak at all. Her expression was grave so I hurried to explain the situation to her. “Sure, they weren’t thrilled about me going on the trip but we started seeing eye to eye. We can only improve from this point on” I smiled brightly trying to make her understand that none of this would have happened if it wasn’t for her, in a good way.

I was about to say ‘thank you’ once again but decided that there were better ways to show how thankful I was. I took off one of my backpack’s straps and turned my bag in front of me to take something from inside of it. She watched me in query until her eyes opened wide before she stifled a chuckle.

“To show you how much you helped me, I will give you the greatest honor. You can have my bread” I said with a dramatic expression and wiggling my eyebrows before handing her a bread exactly the same as the first one she had given me. She covered her face with her hands before reaching for the bread and accepting it with a dramatic bow.

“I don’t know what to say…” She pretended to be emotional and took the bread gingerly as if it was fragile and of great value before putting it away inside her bag.

“Don’t get used to it. This type of thing only happens once a decade” I pointed my index in warning while closing my backpack and wearing it properly again. She nodded vigorously. She seemed to have forgotten about the weird atmosphere between us moments before. Good. My parents had already ruined too much, I wasn’t going to let them ruin this trip or friendship.

“Hurry, you two! They are taking absences!” Said one of her friends moving her hands like a maniac. With such movement she was more probable to signal a plane rather than two students mere meters away from her. I liked her energy, even if I felt tired simply by looking at her. I let out an inaudible sigh and took a big step forward out of my comfort zone and inside their world.

My heart stopped for a second and my lungs ached at the transition. After that, nothing really felt different. That is until I looked up from my feet. Suddenly, their faces and expressions were clearer. My insecurities stopped taking control of my perception and distorting their faces. They weren’t frightening nor judging as I suspected. They were gentle. Maybe a little disinterested but still, their expressions felt warm. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I opened my mouth to say something, anything.

“Get inside this bus over here!” One of these days I was going to kill Karuizawa-sensei! His voice overwrote mine and then everyone started marching towards the bus he was pointing at like a group of sheep. My face soured and mild irritation sat itself in my stomach but I followed. The only thing that made me feel better was the fact that we were a number for exactly three pairs of people to sit together and not only wasn’t I left alone but I was allowed to sit together with our sunshine girl, Matsuda!

My excitement started growing once again and I wanted to express it in some way. The girls hadn’t even had the chance to sit down properly and sort out their things before I let out a squeaky voice that sounded nothing like my real one.

“Who wants to play cards?!” It echoed in the silence for some torturous moments and my face grew hotter by the seconds while the hand with the cards I had lifted was shaking like crazy. They looked at me confused for a moment, apparently not understanding what I had tried to say.

“Sure, why not?” One of them saved me so casually and like it was nothing, that I was going to tear up. It would take some time before I was used to all this but I didn’t dislike it at all.

***

I had gotten lost. We had made a stop for anyone that wanted to eat something or visit the bathroom and I HAD GOTTEN LOST!

This was the sole moment I had hated myself for being a loner this much. I didn’t pay attention to many of the faces of other people, especially if they weren’t in my class. Looking at someone usually drew their attention to you and that was the opposite of what I wanted. But right now I had no idea if the people I was looking at were from my school, from a different one or simple locals strolling around.

The more I tried to look around in hopes of recognizing anything, the more dizzy I felt. Everything started turning and moving at incredible speeds. I couldn’t tell the scenery and the people apart. My ribcage was shrinking ready to crush my lungs who worked overtime to provide my organism with air. I felt like I was about to lose my consciousness when some voices dragged me from my panic attack. They had referred to a very familiar name. It wasn’t mine but if they knew his, then they were from my school and would know where we were supposed to meet the teachers.

“Have you seen that girl that’s hanging around Kajiura lately?”

“*chuckle* You mean that uggo? I wonder why he lets her ruin his image!”

No problem here. Everyone could have their opinion and I was perfectly aware of the fact that my appearance wasn’t something special. The only problem was that this made it difficult for me to ask for their help. Oh well, I could just follow them. They would return sooner or later.

“Pfft! What image? Every girl in our school hates him!”

“She’s right! I actually feel sorry for that poor girl! He might have his sights on her and she has to put up with him! Has he left any girl in the school that he hasn’t approached?”

“I heard that he even went after a teacher!” Some people say that laughter is the melody of the heart. I shouldn’t be so surprised then that theirs sounded like maniac hyenas.

I didn’t realize that my feet were already moving nor that my face was contorted and I was fuming. I raised my arm right behind them and was ready to beat them up. It’s weird, don’t you think? I didn’t give a shit when they talked about me, I didn’t feel anything. But when they dared put his name in their dirty mouths-

Two arms slid under mine and dragged me behind gently. I looked around. We were between tall bushes. It was like I was broken out of a spell. My anger started dissipating and the temperature of my body fell along with the beating of my heart.

“Your knight in shining armor will always save you” His voice whispered in my ear and in the one moment I needed to realize who it was and what he was doing, he pushed me away through the other side of the bushes.

“Wait-” I blinked and saw the girls looking at me surprised before running to me and asking so many questions that I felt dizzy all over again. Now that I remembered it, I must have slipped past those bushes. That was why I didn’t recognize anything from the other side.

“We were so worried! What happened?!” Asked pretty much every single one of them. I wore an awkward expression glancing towards the bushes for an instant before replying. He had appeared and disappeared out of thin air. I couldn’t make out his silhouette through the leaves.

“I’m sorry. I was careless and got lost” I finally replied with a weak smile. I couldn’t get my mind off him. I was still a bit frustrated and wished to meet these girls to give them a piece of my mind. It was weird though. How was he here? This was the field trip of the first-years. And not only was he in this location but in the exact place I needed him to be…

muishiki
icon-reaction-1