“I can’t believe how much I have to deal with that guy.” Himawari was complaining about Kouji to her friends during lunch. “He’s always so pushy, how come he can’t just leave us alone?”

“Yeah, that boy sounds like a real creep.” Said one of them, her name was Mayura. The other was Asano.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets himself kicked out sooner or later.” The other girl said.

“Oh I’m sure he will.” After what she witnessed him doing just for the sake of getting Teru of all people to stop fighting. That was something else, she hated to think what he might do next. Like right at this moment.

“I’ve been looking all over for you.” Kouij approached their seats. Carrying with him, a piece of paper. “Now come with me right now.” He was glaring at her, His command was not a joke.

“And why should I give up my lunch for you?” She defied him. “It’s bad enough that I’m stuck with you during my second break.”

“Yeah, get lost you freak!” Asano insulted him. Unfortunately for him, this was becoming the norm the longer he stayed at this school.

“Fine, then I guess we’ll talk about it here.” He pushed the paper he had to her face. It was of her last test, with a pitiful score of 23 out of 100.

“Get that out of here.” She shoved it back to him, flustered. “L-let’s just go.” She didn’t want to reveal her poor grades to her other friends. So begrudgingly, she was going to have to come with him.

“That’s better.” He faked a smile to her friends, as he took her to the others he had gathered. The girls stuck out their tongues to him in return.

“I see you got some girls to pity you.” She commented on the sight of Anastasia and Waa sitting around his desk. Anastasia was eating her lunch, consisting of Kobe beef, potatoes, and a small chocolate cake on the side. Waa on the other hand, was more invested with what was on her phone, than was she had for lunch.

“But, I thought it was because he was my friend?” Anastasia always failed to understand what any of them actually meant.

“Look.” Kouji was tired of the insults, he just wanted to get his work done. “Can you please get your work out and we can run it over?”

“I’ll do my work.” She sat down, pulling out her homework. “But I can do it just fine without you.” As he thought before, that obviously wasn’t the case.

“I don’t want to do this as much as you.” He told her. “But please, let’s just get this over with, and we can move on with our lives.”

“How about this?” She gave him an offer he should’ve refused. “I do this on my own, and you can just check my work?”

“Fine.” He allowed it, mostly so he could just get to his lunch.

“What is that?” She saw what he grabbed out, her face contorted from the sight.

“It’s lunch.” He answered simply, taking a bite to show her. “I can’t afford much, so don’t bother telling me it looks terrible.”

“It hardly looks healthy.” She ignored him. “How can you even live like that?”

“I manage.” It wasn’t easy, but making sure he at least had something each day. That was going to have to do for now. “And maybe you should manage doing your homework for now.”

“For your information, I’m already done.” That was fast. Too fast.

“What the?” He scanned over the page, his face full of bewilderment.

“I know, I’m a lot smarter than you thought.” She puffed up her chest to him, with a smile.

“More like you’re dumber than I thought.” He replied. Every single question she answered was wrong. There was barely any work done here. His mouth was agape at this.

“What are you talking about? I know that-”

“Okay first off.” He interrupted. “This doesn’t go there.” It was time to try and teach this girl something. “And I don’t even understand why you did this in that order.”

“Wow.” Waa looked over his shoulder. “This really is bad.”

“Shut up!” She grabbed the paper from his hands. “Why don’t you go mind your own business?” Angry, she stomped out of the room, but before exiting. “And why can’t you just get out of my life!” She yelled at him.

“Sheesh.” He face palmed. “That girl is going to be the death of me.” No matter what, she always refused his help. But at this rate, if he wasn’t even tutoring her, then that might as well be the end for him.

“What’s up between the two of you?” Waa asked him, sitting back down at the free seat.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, why are you so familiar?” She noted the way he talked with her. He didn’t act humble towards her like a lot of people were. Technically he wasn’t that way towards any of them. But there was something about the way they talked with each other.

“I know what you mean.” Anastasia added in. “When I met him the first time. We ran into Oshiba, she acted like she knew him.”

“Well if you want to know the truth, we’ve ran into each other more times than I’d like before I transfered here.” He told them. “I live around here, so is it really a surprise?”

“Really? Then what’s up with all the arguing? Clearly those weren’t great encounters then.” Waa prodded more into him. “Come on, tell us…” She poked into his side, much to Kouji’s annoyance.

“All right fine.” He just wanted that to stop. “I’ll tell you the first time we met…”

The first time, that was on the day he moved here. With the few things he needed to set up, there was only the matter of food. Sure, the store was a better option, but the move was tiring and he wanted food now. There was a nearby fast food chain that he could easily go to. It was time to treat himself a little.

Lucky for him, there was also some pretty good deals going on that day. A rice bowl with some beef for 200 yen? That was heaven for him. Throw in some free water, and he was ready for some good food.

At least, that’s what he was hoping for. Except, as he was walking towards a spot, hidden around a corner. That was when he ran into her… Literally.

A collision between them, and there went the meal he was looking so forward to. All over her dress.

“Ugh, how could you!” She yelled at him. Himawari had her hands up in disgust, trying to avoid all the food that fell on her.

“Me? How could you!” Kouji was too distraught over the lost meal to care about her dirtied clothes. They argued for a while, getting the attention of other patrons as well.

“...I’d ask you to pay for this, but I can tell that you can hardly afford the meal as it is.” She marched off from him.

“What? Are you not going to… Never mind.” He cleaned up the mess left behind. When he was fighting with her, he didn’t know it then. But the murmurs of the people in the restaurant caught his attention.

“Why, I can’t believe he did that.”

“I know, does he not know who that is?”

“Who? Who was that girl?” He confronted the strangers. That was then, when he learned who Himawari was, along with her position within her family and the establishment he was standing in.

“That’s why you don’t like each other?” Waa was unimpressed with the story. It sounded like something she’d read in a manga. A classic run into and fall cliche. He was lucky she didn’t call him a pervert, that would’ve been icing on the cake. “Really, you were mad over 200 yen?”

“Look, it’s not much for someone like you. But that was going to be dinner for me.” He defended himself. “After that incident, I swore I’d never step foot into that place ever again.” He put his arms up in an X, to mean business.

“But, did you not also ruin her dress?” Anastasia asked.

“So what? She can just wash it. It was her fault anyway, she should’ve looked where she was going.” The truth of that matter, was more on the both of them. However, it wasn’t like he knew that, or wanted to believe that.

Though, that wasn’t the end of their encounters. The two of them had a knack for running into each other. Both figuratively, and literally. The only time they ever felt they wouldn’t see each other, was during school. Except now, they were forced to interact.

“So when you say literally, does that involve falling onto the ground?” Waa asked him. That was an odd thing for her to hone in on, but he answered anyway.

“Yeah? What about it?”

“Then, considering what that girl wears. I bet you’ve gotten a peek at her panties.” She giggled devilishly at him.

“Eh? That’s such a silly question.” Kouji didn’t look either of the girls in the eyes when he heard that.

“So you have.” She noted the lack of denial from him.

“Does that mean you have seen the panties of two girls?”

“Actually, it’s three if you count me.”

“Can we not have this conversation so loudly.” Kouji looked around in the classroom. Feeling that there may be eyes on them. “Everyone’s going to think I’m a pervert or something.”

“The girls here already think you are.” Waa informed him. “Besides, what type of boy are you? That you aren’t going to at least try to enjoy the view?”

“I’m not here for that.” Right now, there were more pressing matters to him. The biggest one right now, was finding a way to convince Himawari to accept his help. Otherwise, he might fall short of his job here.

“Don’t worry. I think I got an idea.” The look on Waa’s face. Kouji knew it wasn’t something he was going to like.