I spent a few hours with her lunch hidden in my bag – it went without saying that I hadn’t been able to return it even though I knew where I could find her. 

Surviving four more hours without food wasn’t that much of a challenge, but it surely wasn’t the most comfortable experience either. To compensate for my mistake, I decided not to eat my lunch as well. 

I probably heard, or rather felt my stomach making some sounds, but thanks to the classroom being relatively not silent, I was sure that no one was able to hear that. 

In fact, I had forgotten about it really quickly since I had other things to worry about. 

As soon as she left, I started overthinking every decision I had made, each word I had said and the movements of my body. 

Was my posture alright? Did I stutter too much? Did she see me as an idiot? 

Was ‘Yo’ a proper greeting? I should have rather said ‘Hello’ like a normal person, right? 

Was her unusual manner of speech meant to make fun of me, or was she just such an odd person? 

The last time I had talked to a girl was back in elementary school. Was my attitude proper for sure? 

In the end though, it was she who made a suggestion to meet again. It made the situation even less understandable for me, because that would mean that she surprisingly didn’t want to get rid of me. Just as if she wanted to talk, but hardly had the courage to. 

As the bell announcing the end of the regular school day rang, people started flowing out of the classroom to either attend their club activities or go straight home. As I looked outside the window, the rain that had started a few hours ago hadn’t given up yet. 

I didn’t intend to move from my seat, though. That was because I had to meet that girl in the neighboring classroom, which was making me constantly nervous. 

Come 20 minutes after class if you want. 

As the classroom was quickly emptying, I felt more and more pressure. Probably some people shot me a quick curious gaze before leaving, but I had no way of confirming that as I was only looking through the window. 

After a moment, I heard the door being shut. That meant that I was finally left alone in the classroom. 

When you’re scared of being alone, you’re actually scared of not being alone. Usually it’s about some ghosts lurking in the shadows, but this time I was worried that someone would enter the classroom and even without approaching me, make me feel even more uneasy. 

That wasn’t even my greatest worry at the moment. It was that in about 20 minutes, I was to enter the classroom of 3-A where one person should be waiting for me. That girl was apparently named Lumiya and seemed pretty strange to me. 

So, what was supposed to be the purpose of the meeting, I wasn’t sure myself. Maybe she wanted to show me something? I mean, I did want to talk to her myself, but I didn’t know how to do that at all. 

Why was I even trying? I didn’t know. It was just like an urge. 

The scenery outside was pretty much similar to that one week ago. The sky was full of ominous clouds, the wind was strong and the rain heavy. 

I had an umbrella I had brought a few weeks ago, but I doubted that it would protect me. Anyway, after what happened on the rooftop, I was sure that I was going to wake up with at least a cough tomorrow. 

I thought that I might as well already leave the classroom, because the preparations to enter her classroom were going to take a while anyway. 

I picked up my bag and after heading for the front exit, I slowly opened the door. 

The corridor held a similar mood to that one week ago. I shut the door leaving the empty classroom behind myself. 

I was bored and stressed. Probably one of the worst combinations possible. In such a situation, I usually ended up overthinking way, way too much. 

The only sound that could be heard was the rain pounding steadily against the windows. 

I could see the closed door leading to my destination. I had no way of knowing whether somebody had been inside. I took out my phone nervously to check the time and learned that there were still almost 10 minutes left. Due to the tension I was unable to do anything to kill time like walking around the hallway or playing a game on my phone. 

I wanted those 10 minutes to already pass, but at the same time I wanted them to never come.  

Maybe it was alright to enter the classroom already? Well, maybe she needed some mental preparations, so I would have startled her if I had entered too early. I was also worried that a teacher or other staff member might appear on the hallway and ask me what I was still doing in the building. 

Assuming that she was in that classroom, she must have been feeling as restless as me right now, right? 

Leaning against the wall, I pointlessly stared outside the window, trying to calm down. 

... 

The time had somehow passed. Nobody appeared on the hallway during that time. Looking at the screen of my phone, there was only one minute to go. 

I walked away from the wall and approached the door so I was standing almost in front of it. I moved a bit aside so I wouldn’t be able to look through the small window on it nor she would be able to see me from the inside. 

Why was I even doing this, running after a random girl. 

I put the phone back into my bag and held out my hand to grip the door handle. Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and tried not to think about anything for a moment. 

Needless to say, my hand wouldn’t move. I would have looked dumb if someone had been looking from the side. 

The 20 minute mark had already passed for sure. That was when we were supposed to meet. Honestly, I wanted to run away, but after I had waited all this time it would turn out to be a waste of time. 

Should I open the door? Yeah, probably. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t run away either. What was I afraid of? I had met her two times already, hadn’t I? 

Come to think of it, a similar situation had happened earlier that day when I was standing before the rooftop entrance, but back then, I managed to open it. I’d had no certainty whether she had been inside, but now it was pretty much the same. 

... 

I closed my eyes once more and slowly took a breath. All I had to do was to slide the door. After that, everything should go smoothly. 

So I opened the sliding door. It made a sound that should have been heard if she had been inside. My eyes saw a lit classroom, pretty much the same as mine. 

Apparently, one person was still inside. In the back row right next to the window, there was a figure lying on the desk as if sleeping. 

I was only able to see her blond hair, so I had no doubts. 

•

She didn’t budge at all as I was making steps towards her. Was she perhaps sleeping? 

“Excuse me...” 

There was no one but us in that classroom. 

She leisurely turned her head, revealing her half-open blue eye without letting out a sound. 

“Hi there...” I anxiously said as I stood in a fair distance from her. 

It was possible that we were the only people in that building, or at least on the floor while the outside world was buried in the heavy rain. 

She mumbled something as she slowly raised her upper body to sit properly. I wondered if she was so tired because she hadn’t gotten to eat earlier. I brought out her lunchbox that I had stored in my bag and set it on her desk. 

“I’m sorry”, I said weakly as I backed down and accidentally stumbled upon a chair and involuntarily sat on it. 

“Kaka..., did you really think that... I can’t get by a day without food?” she said as she steadily stared at her lunchbox. 

What was the point of that act? Was she only saying that to appear tough, but in reality was too embarrassed to eat when I was there? Even though I knew that I wasn’t supposed to answer, I did so anyways to see what would happen. 

“Yeah...” 

It went without saying that during all that time my heart had been trying to leave my body, which caused me to display my nervousness. 

Unfortunately, she didn’t respond and a silence we both already knew followed. She didn’t touch the lunch either. I wanted to say “Don’t mind me”, but I couldn’t. I tried my best to catch a glimpse of her face, but I ended up averting my eyes before her blond hair was able to get into my view. 

What was she thinking about? 

I looked forward at the empty classroom. For some reason it made me recall the situation from one week ago, when I had first met this peculiar girl. 

I had fallen on her and felt her warm body. In other words, the most embarrassing moment of my life so far, and it was with the person that was sitting next to me right now. 

Come to think of it, what had she been doing that late there? 

... 

“Hey...” 

Suddenly, I heard a faint voice from my left. Surprisingly, that girl called out to me. I instinctively turned my head to her and saw her gazing outside with her lunch on the desk seemingly untouched. 

“I... I’m going... I have to go before they come”, she said stuttering a few times in between and taking the lunchbox, stood up. 

I guess by ‘they’ she meant the janitors... it was an odd way to say that, but she apparently liked to do it like that. 

It was still raining outside, but it was pointless to wait for it to stop since it was possible that it could be raining until tomorrow. 

With the corner of my eye I saw her standing there motionless with a bag hanging on her shoulder. She was waiting for me, I guess. 

I anxiously stood up and proceeded towards the door making small steps. Like I thought, she followed me. Unlike last time, I had no trouble opening the door. She went through it after me, leaving the empty classroom behind us. I took small, but steady steps on the hallway heading for the staircase. 

It felt incredibly awkward having that girl walk behind me just like that. I wasn’t able to say anything to her, and neither was she. Obviously, I couldn’t bring myself to turn around. I wondered what expression was on her face right now. 

I took step after step making barely audible sounds. 

Having finally reached the staircase, I started carefully walking down. Aside from the rain outside, I could hear her taking stairs behind me. I turned a corner a few times. 

At some point we made it to the place where we had met for the first time. It caused me and most likely her to feel uneasy, but I tried to keep my pace steady. 

We arrived at the first floor and headed for the shoe racks. I learned that her locker was not that far away from mine, which was to no surprise since she was from the neighboring class. 

She changed her shoes and so did I. I took my umbrella from the holders by the window where I had left it a few weeks ago. 

When I turned around, I saw her with the bag hanging on her shoulder attempting to leave the building. She opened the door and went through it just like that. 

Outside, it was still raining heavily and the wind seemed to be strong. The girl walked into the rain and continued to take steps forward without even covering her head with the bag. It was similar to what she had done on the rooftop. Maybe she was trying her best to get sick to avoid going to school for some time? 

Really, what was going on with her? That said, I didn’t stop her or give the umbrella to her. 

Ever since I had seen her for the first time, I knew that there was something wrong with her. Why had I never seen her before despite her being a student in this school? Why the first time we had met, she asked me to become her “servant”? What was the purpose of the eyepatch? 

What was going to happen to her now? Was she going to be alright like that? I really couldn’t answer those questions. I might have been wrong assuming she was lonely just from the looks as well. 

What did she think of me?  

Looking at her silhouette keeping a steady pace as she reached the school gate, I wondered how hard was she trying not to turn around to check on me. Probably not at all. 

Was I really going to let her go just like that? It was possible that I wouldn’t meet her again. What would await me if I decided to go after her? There was no other way of knowing than checking it out myself, but I was too reluctant to move. 

What was I afraid of? 

It was that she would reject me. 

Standing here motionless for any longer would mean that I rejected her, though. 

That’s why I took a hesitant step towards the door. I looked at the umbrella I held in my hand. All I had to do was to hand it to her and return here. I didn’t care about getting soaked myself – it looked like catching a cold was already my destiny. 

With a bag on my shoulder, I opened the door and went out into the rain. My whole body immediately felt the strong wind, which probably made the umbrella practically useless. As I stared at her in the distance, I took quick steps towards her holding the umbrella folded in my hand. 

Amidst the rain pounding against the surface, there was almost no possibility of my steps being heard till I got right next to her. At some point I started running, occasionally stepping in a puddle. It didn’t take long for me to start panting. Really, I had to work on my health a bit. 

During all this time, she kept her steady pace not noticing that I was running after her. I slowed down since otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to say anything comprehensible when I had finally reached her. 

“Lumiya!!!” I finally called out to her. 

She almost immediately turned around with a look I couldn’t catch a complete glimpse of, but seemed surprised. Having reached her, I held out the umbrella to her as I looked down short of breath. Now, what would she do? 

I wanted to look at her, but my embarrassment prevented me from doing so, so I had to rely on my other senses. Then, suddenly, I lost touch with the umbrella. It seemed like she took it from me after all. The feeling that filled me at that moment was one of relief. 

I heard a sound of it opening and soon after, the rain stopped falling on my body. This made me dumbfounded, so I slightly raised my head and saw her standing right next to me to cover both of us with the umbrella. 

I had thought that she would just go away with it, so that surprised me. I decided to raise my body, but looked away from her, which made our shoulders to nearly touch. 

“...” 

I thought I heard her letting out a mumble. 

Although relieved that I managed to give her the umbrella, I was disappointed that we had fallen in that awkward silence again. I stared at a puddle forming on the ground before me as I suddenly heard an attempt to break the silence from her. 

“U-um...” 

It made me instinctively try to look at the source of the sound, but the moment I caught a glimpse of her face, I instantly retreated. I realized that the umbrella was being held by her, so without looking I raised my hand to take it from her. 

“...” 

It looked like she lost her resolve to talk after all. As for me, there were so many questions I wanted to ask her. 

Is Lumiya your real name? 

What do you like doing in your spare time? 

Where are you from? 

What is that eyepatch for? 

And so on.  

During all this time, she was standing next to me. She wanted to go home already, didn’t she? 

“Hey...” I uttered faintly looking down at the concrete. “Isn’t the weather pretty bad lately?” 

That’s right, I decided to go with that cliche and talk about weather. It’d been raining almost every day lately, that’s why I said it was bad. 

“I like rain”, she responded me after a short pause in a quiet and mysterious tone, to my surprise. That response intrigued me. 

“Is that why you walk around in rain without an umbrella?” 

“I feel much better when it’s raining.” 

For most people it was quite the contrary. Personally, I liked looking at the rain from a warm place, but didn’t particularly like being outside during it. 

“Maybe it’s because other people run away from rain”, she continued, all in a voice barely audible over the rain. 

I didn’t know how to react to that response. I noticed how her tone turned from relatively lively when we were inside into clearly depressed right now. 

“But aren’t you afraid of catching a cold?” 

“No... it doesn’t affect me.” 

Was that true, or was it just an act again? 

“I see...” 

“...” 

I think I could say that we finally had something that could be called a conversation. That said, the tone of her voice seemed indifferent. It could have meant that she didn’t want to talk to me at all, but maybe it was out of her uneasiness at the moment. 

Luckily for us, it looked like the rain gave up a little. If she was living nearby, then she would probably be able to make it before it started raining again. Nevertheless, I intended to leave the umbrella to her just in case. That way, we were bound to meet again as soon as she wanted to return it. 

I folded the umbrella I had been holding in my right hand that became a little numb thanks to it.  

“Take it”, I said not even trying to look in her direction as I held out that hand. 

After a few seconds, I felt the item leaving my grip. The umbrella that held us together by force like handcuffs was now gone, but she didn’t seem to budge. 

I slowly and carefully turned my head in her direction. Coincidentally, she was doing the same, but I tried my best not to avert my eyes. In the end, we ended up looking at each other almost directly. 

“...” 

“...” 

Her cheeks flushed red as her blue eye gave me a reluctant glance. That look certainly was cute, but I had no time to think about that as embarrassment was taking over my mind at the moment. Right after that, we simultaneously averted our eyes from each other so we were both looking at the concrete now. If someone had been watching us from aside, we must have looked like a couple. 

Now then, since there was nothing left to do, what I was supposed to do? 

I had never been good at goodbyes. It included not being able to feel the right moment and being unsure about which words to use. I was worried that it would turn out oddly or sound either too formally or informally. Well, since she was a person I kind of already knew and was the same age as me, I didn’t have to worry about the latter. 

“Should we... call it a day?” 

“...”, she murmured affirmatively. 

“Then, you’re going to be on the rooftop at lunch break, right?” 

She only mumbled to confirm. 

“See you then”, I said as I turned around to head back to school where I’d left my bike. 

What I felt as I was slowly taking steps was a weird mixture of disappointment, satisfaction and humiliation. There were still many things that I wanted to learn about her, so I hoped that we would be able to meet again. I was glad that I managed to get just a little closer to her. 

I couldn’t wait for a day when I would finally overcome the incessant embarrassment and be able to freely spend time with her, so I would finally make a friend. 

•

The blond girl named Lumiya entered her house. 

“I’m home...” she said under her breath out of habit, because nobody had actually been home. She took off her shoes and put them neatly in the designated place. 

Carrying a bag on her right shoulder, she headed upstairs step by step where her room was located. 

Having entered the room, she put her bag on the floor and quietly sat down on the bed. 

She directed her eyes down as a slight melancholic smile appeared on her face. 

“It’s impossible...” 

megu3

Whoa, I didn't expect someone would make it here! If you want to keep reading this series, then I'm really thankful to you. It would be nice if you let me know that you're here by leaving even a meaningless comment once in a while. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I'm a really, really, really slow writer, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to release more often than once a week. Either way, have a nice day!