A True Fan (3)

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"What are you doing?!"

I screamed as loud as I could to get her attention. The girl turned around, revealing a face full of tears. That long black hair and those red eyes behind those glasses. There's only one person I know who looks like that.

"Torimori-san!"

Mai Torimori, whom I sat beside in class and met earlier in the library, is now on top of the ledge. I rushed towards her as fast as I could.

"What's wrong, Torimori-san? Why are you standing there?"

Despite my calling out to her, she stayed silent. Tears were still dripping from her face. As I looked at her face, I saw a face full of sorrow. Sadness radiated from her. Mai's expression was filled with signs of depression. Was she depressed? About what? The clouds have fully covered the sun, and it looked like it was about to rain. But whether it would rain or not, wasn't the biggest current issue. She was in danger of falling to the ground and I needed to get her away from that ledge. As a decent human being, I was concerned for her life.

"You should get down from there."

Droplets of rain slowly started falling from the clouds. The ground was slowly being marked with tiny gray circles. Our hair both started getting slightly wet as the rain fell upon us. For a moment, she didn't say anything. Then, slowly, she began to step down. But as soon as she tried to do so, her foot slipped, to her surprise. It was probably because of the rain. Her body shifted to fall face-first in front of me.

My body sprung up, trying to catch her, and my arms stretched out. Mai began to fall to the ground, but I became a cushion for her to land on. Her small body fell onto my chest and we both fell to the ground. A thud was heard and let out a small "Ouch".

I looked at Mai, who thankfully, doesn't seem to be hurt. Mai lifted her face, and we saw eye-to-eye. Her glasses had been removed and landed on the ground. It was the first time that I had seen her without it. I didn't know that hiding inside those glasses was a face so pretty. Those red eyes, together with that long black hair, revealed a girl so stunningly beautiful. How could I not notice earlier that the silent girl in the whole classroom was the cutest girl I'd ever seen? I was star-struck and my cheeks turned a bit red.

After a brief moment of silence, we both realized what was happening. Mai quickly got off me and moved to the side.

"I-I'm sorry!" She sounded flustered.

"I-it's okay."

Both of us were red in the cheeks after what had happened. I always thought that kind of thing only happened in anime or manga. Never would I've thought that the same thing happened to me just now. To be honest, it kind of felt good. Unfortunately, the slight feeling of pleasure quickly faded as the rain poured more than earlier. If we don't get into cover fast, we're both going to be drenched.

"W-we should go. It's starting to rain."

"Y-yeah..."

Mai and I got up and rushed to the rooftop door. I opened the door, and we both went inside the building. I opened the door, and we both went inside the building. After we were inside, I closed the door behind us. I let out a sigh. Suddenly, Mai's knees collapsed. I got down to check on her.

"A-are you ok?"

"Y-yeah... I just felt a bit exhausted."

Mai wiped her tears with her handkerchief from her pocket. She seemed to have calmed down now.

"Hey, what were you doing there?"

I decided to ask her about what I had seen.

"S-sorry, I was just..."

Mai struggled to come up with an answer. Maybe she didn't want me to know. I decided to just let it go. She must have a reason as to why she can't tell me. I checked the time: 5:00 pm. It was getting late. Even though it was pouring outside, we couldn't stay in school longer. Most of the students have probably already left by now.

"It's getting late. We should go."

"Y-yeah..."

Before I could stop her, Mai got up and quickly made her way down the stairs. I tried calling out to her, but nothing escaped my mouth. She must've felt awkward after what had happened. I grabbed my bag and slowly made my way down as well.

As I passed by several floors, some students were still inside the building. When I reached the shoe lockers, plenty of people were still there. They were hoping to let the rain pass before they went out. I went to my locker. Then, I noticed Mai, who was putting back her shoes in her locker. She was in the same location as where mine was. When I reached my locker, we looked at each other.

"W-what a coincidence."

"Y-yeah, I guess..."

Both of our lockers were placed right beside each other. None of us said a thing as I was changing shoes. We didn't even try to look at each other. Mai turned around and headed for the exit, but she stopped. She frantically searches for something in her bag. Did she...

"Did you forget your umbrella?"

"Y-yeah, I guess..."

My assumption turned out to be correct. The rain showed no sign of slowing down. No one dared to brave through the large, and rain, and getting wet wasn't worth it. Everyone who was leaving had an umbrella over their heads. I hear someone talking to my right. A girl asks her girlfriend to share an umbrella and they both get out together. An idea suddenly popped up in my head.

"Hey... Wanna share an umbrella?"

"H-Hueh?!!"

In hindsight, it was an oblivious ask and severe. She reacted accordingly. If a girl asks another to share one, it would be taken as their just friends.

But if a boy asks a girl the same thing, it would seem like I have an ulterior motive. People might see it as a love confession, to share an umbrella with their crush. We weren't close. Hell, we only just talked to each other today. But I was only concerned for Mai, and, after what happened earlier.

"A-are you sure?"

"Y-yeah. I am..."

I took out the umbrella from my bag. It wasn't, and her, but it was enough for both of us to fit below.

"Shall we?"

I opened the umbrella, and so she went beside me. Our shoulders were almost touching, and we both blushed before we braced for the rain.

The pitter-patter of rain could be heard as we went outside. The pressure from the droplets wasn't severe so I was able to hold it calmly. I quickly walked towards the exit and Mai matched my pace. It would be weird if someone saw us together. Pretty soon, we were outside the campus. After we got outside, something dawned on me. I don't know where Mai lives.

"S-so, where do you live?"

Asking someone where they live was a huge breach of privacy, even more so when it's a girl you only just met. I might've sounded creepy but, surprisingly, she answered.

"I-in Koi Street..."

"Really? That's where I live."

I was somewhat relieved that I invited her and that I didn't have to walk back home. Koi Street was close to the university, and some students lived there, although not many. As we walked towards the street, we didn't look at each other. Our cheeks were red.

After a few stoplights, we reached the street. Thankfully, we didn't pass by any students. The houses all looked similar from the outside and they were all built beside each other.

"So, where's your house?"

"I live in that apartment."

She pointed to the apartment a few blocks away. It was pretty huge, yet it looked bland; lifeless. I always pass by it to and from school, but I've never seen any students near it. Workers and housewives were the only people I saw going in and out of it. I didn't know that she lives in a place where there are adults.

We reached the front of the apartment. The rain was slowly disappearing. She said she lives on the second floor so I dropped her off at the stairs where there was cover.

"Here's fine. Thank you for being so helpful."

"It's fine. I'm glad I could help."

I was concerned about her since I saw her crying on the rooftop. I completely forgot about the whole incident, as I was too nervous about being close to a girl. But I decided not to mention what I saw and let it go.

"Well then, I'll be going."

"U-umm... Wait!"

I stopped and looked back.

"Umm... Can I ask you something?"

"Hm? Uh... sure."

I thought, 'Does she want me to keep what I saw there a secret?' But I was surprised by what she asked.

"Back at the classroom, I heard you say, "Bunch of Fakes."

Wait, she heard me say that? I tried to be as silent as I could, yet she still heard me. Was it because she sat beside me...

"Ah, that... I just said that on impulse."

"Impulse?"

Hang on, if I say it was because of the reactions of our classmates, she might think I'm a fan of Ai. I don't want anybody to know that I'm a secret fan of hers. But for some reason, I feel that it's okay for me to tell her.

"Actually... I'm a fan of Ai Kyouka."