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The students started leaving right as the bell rang, the hustle and bustle drowning the teacher’s final words. A sunny day still awaited outside but not for long. The school gates couldn’t stop those chasing the sun, pouring out at measured, fast steps, and neither could the cold, gentle breeze. The uniforms were all black and formal. The flowers were of many colors. And yet someone, however, seemed willing to risk the sunset. Kagura Akemi was simply standing there, doing nothing of note or consequence, as if managing to simply exist- until she found Akiko Okaya’s grin looming millimeters over her shoulder. She tried to turn around, but couldn’t.
Akiko: No, no! Don’t let me getchu distracted!
Kagura: Is that you, Okaya-chan? What do you mean by that?
Akiko giggles suspiciously, with utter giddiness.
Akiko: I wanchu focused- and nervoused! Cause we gonna jump to dat pool right now! Togetha! So look!
The voice employed a mix of the Kansai dialect and- something from the dark depths of space. Delicately but firmly, Akiko grabs Kagura’s chin and points it towards a very specific point in space and time. At first, the girl meekly plays along, perhaps even hoping to be playing some sort of game- then she blinks and blinks.
Kagura: …Keiko-chan? You think I was looking at Keiko-chan!
Akiko: Saw how chummy chu got when she picked up your books- can’t hide it from me, eh! No, keep looking!
Kagura swallows a scream; realization of what’s going on has hit the poor girl like a step-father comet on crack and steroids. Those who don’t know Akiko Okaya wouldn’t understand.
Kagura: …nononoNO! That’s not it at al-
Already more than a bit flustered when Akiko turns her around by the shoulders, Kagura then sees that full, innocent smile- and swallows. So warm; it evoked something primal. Even despite Akiko’s hair and ponytail being white now, which she had already grown used to. A month had come and gone since she had bleached it with zero hesitation because a kid was being bullied for drawing manga, to look like the character he was drawing; a month later, she still has the purple contact lenses on. Akiko Okaya goes that far.
Akiko: Kagura-chan: Chu’re gonna be happy!
Hastily, Akiko buries a hand in the pocket of her blazer, finds nothing, and looks in the other pocket- then remembers it’s in the bag and takes it out. The ‘it’ that Akiko presents her, Kagura determines after some careful inspection, is a little box that says ‘Meiji Milk Chocolate’, and Meiji is an expensive brand. Realization is slow to down, gentle, and patient, but does so in full force and with no mercy. By the end of it, Kagura’s face is as twisted as if her saliva was replaced by lemon.
Kagura: -it was you. The one that’s been putting chocolate bars in Keiko’s shoe locker was you.
