A girl who doesn't give up (2)

The next day started surprisingly well. Makoto wasn’t late, he even managed to eat breakfast and make lunch for school, though that didn’t mean he didn’t eat the extra one that Tomoya always brought for him. He managed to focus on classes and made pretty good notes for once. Before he noticed, he was already walking outside of the Kinishiro High’s building towards the entrance gates together with Tomoya and Nakano who were joined by the shoe lockers.

Earlier during lunch, the boys all met up at the school’s rooftop to eat together which allowed the vice-captain of the Yokai gang to once again tell the bizarre story of the meeting with the weird girl.

And now as they were leaving the school, much to Makoto’s dismay, the other two teens kept on talking about the same topic.

“You know Mako-chan, I have been thinking about this whole thing and I think I know what all of this was about,” Nakano spoke up with a visible glint in his eyes. It was “the look”, the only look he had when he thought he had everything figured out. But “thought” was always a keyword in those situations.

No matter how big of detective stories and the character of Hercules Poirot Nakano was, he was far from a great mind himself. It was always fun to see how disappointed he was about not being right on the spot with his deduction. And yet he never stopped trying.

Nakano Satoru was a genuine and very likable guy, one who was able to make connections easily. That’s why although he was one year younger than Tomoya and Makoto, he was appointed as a middleman in deals with other gangs. Unlike the captain and vice-captain, he was quite simple-looking. His eyes were black and so were his short fluffy hair. Maybe because he didn’t look special, he wasn’t as extraordinary as the top men in the Yokai Gang, many felt comfortable talking to him and sharing their secrets with him. It was hard to dislike him.

Makoto looked at him expectantly waiting for him to reveal his deductions finally.

“That girl has a crush on you.”

That was not what he expected at all. Neither did Tomoya but he was more amused than shocked as his laughter was too loud to be ignored.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Just think about it,” Nakano continued, hoping Makoto won’t stop him from explaining his crazy theory. “That girl probably thought that to get attention from a guy like you, she would need to grab your attention most uniquely,” he kept on going, sounding more and more like a madman to Makoto. “She made the whole situation unforgettable so you would keep thinking about her.”

“Wha? I don’t think -” The red-haired teen wanted to deny but then he remembered how his thoughts drifted back to the girl before going to sleep. “That’s ridiculous! There are many other ways to become memorable that would be way less embarrassing than speaking out of some fantasy world!”

Tomoya who finally managed to control his laughter suddenly decided to join in the conversation again. “I think you both may have a point.”

Both Onitsuka and Nakano turned to him shocked, though one’s shock was mixed with disgust, while the others had more pride in it.

“I heard something about teens having this grandiose delusion, so maybe that Watanabe girlie also has it which would explain why she speaks in this weird way,” Tomoya continued. “And if you think about it. Why would a girl out of school approach you for other reasons than to confess? She knew about you before, Tanaka and Yamada were talking about you so that’s why she approached them. It’s all coming together.”

“You’re getting worse than Nakano now, Tomoya”

“Hahaha, do I?” was the only response that the vice-captain decided to give to his friend.

“Hey, by the way,” Nakano once again brought their attention to himself, “was that girl quite short, with black hair tied in two braids, round glasses, and grayish blue uniform with a bowtie instead of the tie?”

“Damn Toru-kun, your deductions aren’t the best still but you’re good at remembering the details for sure!” Tomoya chuckled.

“Oh no, not at all,” he started. “I am just describing the girl that is standing in front of our school’s gate.”

“WHAT!?” Makoto yelled out, turning towards the direction Nakano was looking at.

There she was, there was no mistaking it. The girl from yesterday, Watanabe Mami, was standing in front of the school gates, leaning back against the wall and looking in the direction of the street. Or at least she was until she heard Makoto’s loud scream.

“Red Oni, what a coincidental meeting!”

“Coincidental my ass! You were clearly waiting for me to get out of the school!”

The black-haired girl’s cheeks flushed pink. “I was most definitely not,” she denied.

“Well, whatever,” Makoto snapped. “I don’t have time for your games, weirdo. I was going to spend some time with my friends so scram!”

The girl ignored the name-calling and only turned her head left and right looking confused.

“What friends?”

The red-haired teen looked around in search of Nakano and Matsumoto but they were nowhere to be seen.

Traitors, both of them. He will remember that…

Now he was in a pinch. He really wanted to get rid of this Mami girl but already experiencing her stubbornness, he knew that it wouldn’t be as easy as he wished. But suddenly, in the corner of his eye, Makoto saw a glimpse of his possible savior in this situation.

“Sakamoto-sensei,” he yelled out at his teacher who was about to leave the school. “I am assaulted by some girl from a different school, as a teacher it’s your responsibility to help me in this kind of situation, right? Right!?”

Sakamoto-sensei only looked at him with disgust but then sighed. “I guess it is my job,” she started, “though it wouldn’t have been if I left earlier…” She muttered quietly about the second part.

The teen boy’s last hope was still alive. For sure the girl would feel some sort of respect toward an adult and she would leave him alone at least for today. She may be a little wacky but he had a feeling that she wouldn’t take things too far in the presence of the authority.

Sakamoto-sensei turned to face the girl who was apparently ‘assaulting’ her student. With a split second Makoto noticed how her expression had changed from annoyed and defeated to a glimpse of hope.

“Listen here, Onitsuka,” she said as Makoto was starting to grow worried about what his teacher was about to say, “I probably should intervene and tell this girl to not bother you,” It sounded good so far, “but!” There it was, the word he did not want to hear. “I would rather let her bother you and hope that maybe her brain cells will affect yours and you will miraculously become smarter.”

Great, even his homeroom teacher has abandoned him.

“She is a Kaisei High student, make the best of it,” Sakamoto-sensei stated. “And if you’re not going to take it as an opportunity, then grow some balls and reject her.” With that, the teacher decided to walk out of the school gate leaving Makoto all on his own against Mami who was now smirking victoriously as if she had just defeated some boss in an MMO game.

“Well then, Red Oni, shall we-”

Makoto didn’t care what she wanted to say, he simply walked past her as if she was the air. Maybe ignoring the girl would be a good approach.

“Halt! I am certain I have not cast a spell that would turn me invisible. Are you ignoring my presence?”

The red-haired delinquent once again didn’t reply and instead, started walking faster, hoping that the shortie won’t be able to catch up. Unfortunately for him despite her short legs, Mami had enough stamina and speed to keep up with him, constantly poking him and saying nonsense to the point that he couldn’t stand it and snapped.

“Listen, can’t you just get a hint and-”

A loud growl from Makoto’s stomach cut him off in the most embarrassing way possible. As if being annoyed wasn’t enough, now the girl will also make fun of him.

But when he looked at her face, there was no sight of a smirk or laugh. Instead, the girl looked quite concerned.

“You should have mentioned that you are famished,” she said while she started to rummage her bag. “Here!” Mami suddenly pulled out a meat bun still neatly packaged in the transparent foil. “What kind of master would I be if I let my familiar starve to death?”

The delinquent teenager was so surprised that he wasn’t able to answer in any way. Instead, he looked at the meat bun that the girl pushed into his hand.

“I shall bid my farewell for today. Make sure to be in your best condition, I need your maximized strength to defeat our foes once the time comes!”

Saying that the girl waved at the still-dumbfounded boy and began to run in the opposite direction to the one they had been heading all this time.

Makoto slowly unpacked the bun and took a bite of the snack. This Watanabe Mami may be crazy but… She was also surprisingly considerate. He looked at the direction in which the girl had disappeared taking yet another bite lost in his thoughts.

“It’s tasty.”