A Blooming Friendship

The two girls angrily approached him. They stopped directly in front of him. One of them put her finger to his chest.

“Listen here, you shut-in. Don’t you ever talk to Minori like that again! Do you know who she is?”

“I don’t care that she’s the student council president’s girlfriend. That doesn’t put her higher than anyone else.”

The girls scoffed and looked at each other in disbelief. They turned back to Yuta. “She’s not just the student council president’s girlfriend. She’s also captain of the girls’ basketball team, and is the fastest girl in track and field. She’s more important than you ever will be!”

Shiori took a step back. She wanted to escape the scene, but she didn’t want to leave Yuta on his own.

“Those things won’t matter after high school, you know. She’s not as important as you seem to think. Are you two her friends?”

The other girl clenched her fists. “A shut-in like you has no right to talk down to her!”

Yuta rolled his eyes. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb with us, we heard what you said to her!”

“She was bullying Ozaki. I’m not going to let something like that slide.”

“How dare you–” One of the girls raised her hand to slap him, but a hand grabbed her wrist from behind. She looked behind her to see the nurse staring down at her through narrowed eyes.

“Violence is not allowed in this school. Take it outside, or don’t do it at all.” She let go of the girl’s hand.

The two girls shrunk away from Ms. Sasaki. “He started it…”

“It doesn’t matter if he made you upset. You were about to hit him. That is not allowed.”

One of the girls whispered to the other one and both ran away.

“Running in the halls isn’t allowed, either!” Ms. Sasaki sighed once they were out of sight. “Are you okay, boy?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Thanks for stepping in. It made things a whole lot easier.”

She nodded and turned to Shiori. “What about you?”

Shiori stared at the floor. “I’m fine…”

“Good. If those girls give you any trouble again, let me know.” She cracked her knuckles. “I’ll knock some sense into them for you.”

Yuta bowed. “Thank you. I’ll be sure to let you know if things escalate beyond my control.”

The nurse turned around and crossed her arms. “Kids these days…” Shaking her head, she walked away.

Shiori glanced at Yuta. “I’m sorry… for getting you into this mess…”

“You don’t have to apologize. I simply can’t stand when people pick on others.”

“Still… You got yelled at for helping me…”

“I don’t care about a couple girls getting mad at me for stopping their friend from bullying you.”

Shiori fidgeted. “C-Could you walk me home? I don’t want to run into them again…”

“Sure thing. We should get going soon if we want to get home at a decent time.”

She nodded and walked beside Yuta, staring at the floor the whole time. Outside of the school, Shiori stopped. “Ichikawa… are we friends?”

“Hm?” He halted and turned to Shiori. “Why do you ask?”

“I just thought…” She tapped her foot behind her. “That I would like you to be my friend… if that’s okay…”

“I am your tutor… But I could act as your friend.”

“No, don’t just act…” She lifted her head up to look him in the eye. “Please be my friend!”

The assertiveness Shiori was displaying took Yuta by surprise. Normally, she never asked anyone for anything, and the topic of friends was a sensitive one. ‘For her to try this hard… She must really want to be friends, but… friends take a lot of time away. I don’t have enough time for one.’  Despite the warnings in his mind, he stepped closer to her. “If that’s what you want, then I’ll be your friend.”

Shiori’s face lit up with excitement. “My first friend since the accident!” Her cheeks flushed and she took her eyes off Yuta. “S-Since we’re friends… You can call me Shiori…”

Flashbacks of Shiori’s outburst when Hitomura called her by her given name played in his mind. He shook the thought away. ‘She wants me to call her that, so she won’t blow up like before.’  He smiled at her. “Alright, Shiori. But if I’m referring to you by your given name, then you should refer to me by mine.”

“Then… Yu-Yuta…” Her face turned even more red when she said his name.

“You don’t have to force yourself if it’s too embarrassing.”

She managed to make eye contact with Yuta again. “Y-Yuta…” A look of determination crossed her face. “Yuta!”

Yuta turned around wearing a warm smile. “Let’s go, Shiori.” He started away from the school.

Shiori scrambled to Yuta’s side. “I’m happy to have a friend now…”

“You could be friends with Hitomura and Kurosawa, too. They’d be happy to be your friends.”

She shook her head. “I don’t quite feel comfortable around them… You’re the only one I feel at ease with…”

“By the way, why’d you ask to be friends now?”

“You’ve helped me through so much… I realized that… only friends would do as much as you have…”

“Tutoring you is my job, and I don’t like seeing people get bullied. I’m not doing it because it’s you, specifically.” He looked at Shiori.

She was looking at the ground with a sad smile. “Even so… You haven’t given up on me… and you’re always protecting me…”

“And I will continue doing so…”

…

Yuta arrived at Shiori’s house and waited on the sidewalk. She made her way to the door but stopped in front of it to turn around. “Thank you for walking me home… Yuta…” After saying those words, she entered her house.

To his relief, her mother wasn’t at the door. Free from the certain accusations she would throw at him, he went on his way.

Halfway to his house, he felt that someone was following him. He turned around to see Ichinose and the two girls from earlier.

Ichinose flipped her hair back. “Ichikawa, was it? There’s something we need to discuss.”