Chapter 35: Bad guy
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“Ah…” He sighed in disappointment. It shouldn’t have been so hard, but Hakuta felt like a real jerk after what he told her. The boy wasn’t even trying to be mean in the slightest, but he couldn’t keep the charade up any longer. The only reason for him to be as down as he was, was due to her own reaction to it.

Why did she feel so sad about it? He would say he was not worth that reaction in the slightest. There was nothing about him that was special enough for someone else to care.

He noticed she failed to grab her bag with her when she run from the scene. Hakuta reluctantly picked it up to bring along to return back to the classroom. As awkward as it would be to talk to her again so soon after what happened. There was no way he would just leave this thing outside for her to grab for herself.

“What was that all about?” He heard a first as he picked it up. Hakuta turned around to be surprised in seeing the others all grouped up staring at him. “What did you do?”

“Were you guys watching me?” Considering the timing, there was no other explanation they were here so soon other than the fact that they were spying on the pair as they had lunch. “Where? How? Why?”

“That’s not important.” Shiuka told him, trying to keep the subject off on the specifics and reasons for them doing what they did.

“More importantly, why did you make her cry?” Asked Ituski. “I never took you as the kind of guy to make a girl cry.”

“I wasn’t trying to.” He tried to defend himself. Hakuta could feel their eyes on him. The judgment hit him hard, so he attempted to keep them from assuming he was some bad guy. “I didn’t even say anything mean. I just told her I didn’t want to be friends with her.”

“You don’t want to be friends?” Yuusen asked, acting like it was an absurd concept for someone in his position. At times, he had to wonder how well his own friends understood the type of person he was after all these years. “That doesn’t sound like something that would make someone cry about it.” Though they could understand someone getting a little upset over the matter.

“That seems a little far fetched.” Said Rouko, her face filled with doubt on his story. While they had seen the entire thing, they didn’t hear a single word. From their point of view, they appeared to just be chatting for a bit after she gave him a bite of her food. Then suddenly she got up, clearly crying even from their distance, and ran away in a rush.

“Yeah, sounds like there’s more to it than what you’re telling us.” Said Ninka. While the two gals had their suspicions on what he actually said, it wasn’t as if he had done anything so far to make others believe him to be a bad person. If things got serious, then they’d have to side with the gyaru, even if they’ve only known her for a couple of days.

“Come on guys.” He had to practically beg them to try and get them to hear out his story. “Even if I hated her, I’m not going to say anything rude.”

“Okay, you’re right.” Yuusen gave a response which didn’t fill him with confidence. “Lunch is about over, so we should all go back to class.” He joined the others on their walk back, yet the impact of their feelings towards him were felt. No one was outright saying it, but he could sense a wall between him and the others. The only exception was from Shiuka, who didn’t seem to be as upset about seeing that girl running off in tears.

When they got back to the classroom, he couldn’t help but stop her for a second to ask her the question bugging him the entire way back.

“Hey, you believe me, right?” He grabbed her shoulder, keeping them out of the room for a moment longer as the others entered. “I didn’t mean for her to get so upset. It’s just hard for me to explain why she reacted the way to it.”

“Of course.” Despite her not being mad or disappointed in him like the others. Hakuta got the feeling that she also didn’t believe his story. So why didn’t she have a problem if she didn’t think he was trying to be nice? “I guess we don’t need to worry about her if you got her that upset and she still didn’t spill the beans on us.” She made a good point about that, perhaps she was feeling relieved over that matter?

After that, they finally entered the classroom to resume class. When he got inside, he noticed Iruka had yet to get to her desk after the last time he saw her. Hakuta simply placed down her bag onto the desk and sat down. It wasn’t long before she herself got back to class and sat down on her desk.

“Thanks.” She said, knowing immediately he was the one who returned her bag. Her voice was weak, and this was probably the only time where Hakuta felt glad he sat right in front of her. At least in this position, he wouldn’t have to look at her to see what her current state was.

“It’s no big deal.” He replied quietly as class started. Even though he didn’t want to be friends didn’t mean he wanted zero interaction. Though after how things fell out between them, even he was worried if that was the way to go about it.

That was all there was for the rest of the school day. Hakuta was unhappy about how weird things had taken a turn for after lunch. Not only with Iruka, but also with his own friends.

“Where are you guys going?” He asked as the school bell rung to signal the end of their day. They had gotten up rather quickly, like they needed to be somewhere else soon. “You going to hang out somewhere?”

“Well, we were going to spend some time with the girls.” Yuusen answered. They had already decided to do this before the day had even arrived. “Hear there’s going to be some new items in at the stores in stock today.”

“That sounds nice.” Hakuta waited for the moment where they’d ask him if he wanted to come along. Even if they never planned him into things, which really was never, he knew they would at least try to pester him on joining them because it would be more fun. But it never came.

“Anyway, we’ll see you tomorrow.” Said Itsuki as they grabbed their bags and headed across the classroom.

“What?” He quietly murmured to himself as they left. His two friends really did just not invite him. Even if he normally sounded annoyed with the offer, at least he could consider it. But in this case, it was like they didn’t even want him coming along with them.

He was being isolated from the others. They weren’t mad at him with the Iruka ordeal, but at the same time there was suspicion in them. As if they couldn’t tell if they could trust him to continue to put up with their antics.

Hakuta sighed as he watched them move further away from him. Hopefully this divide between them would not last long. He prayed that to be the case as he grabbed his own bag and headed out of the school to return home. At least if Shiuka would be with them, then he could make a beeline for the house this time.

“Where’s Hakuta?” Asked Shiuka as she saw the other two boys join her and the others. “Don’t you guys normally drag him into this?”

“Uh, he had something else to do.” They lied to her. She knew immediately that they lied because she knew he had nothing else better to do at home outside of video games. And if he really would’ve ditched them just to play some games, they would’ve said that instead.

“We should get going before it gets too late.” Said Ninka. “It’s not a big deal if he misses out this one time.” Shiuka’s two friends weren’t concerned about leaving him out. After all, it wasn’t like they hadn’t already done that a good dozen times before.

“Shame he can’t come along.” Shikua played dumb and accepted their excuse. “Hmm…” As she turned towards the door to leave with them. She noticed Iruka still at her desk. “Hey.” This gave her an idea. “Iruka, are you busy today?”

“I guess not really.” She replied, not excited to be talking with the group. Were she aware that they knew what had happened with her and Hakuta, she might not consider even talking to them. It was an embarrassing display she put on.

“Then you should totally join us.” Said Rouko. “The more the merrier.”

“Hmm…” She hesitated for a moment. Iruka had to take the time to strongly consider the offer before giving her answer. “Yeah sure, I’d love to.” She put on a smile and got her stuff to join the group.

As someone who sat behind Hakuta, she saw how the boys mentioned their plans straight to his face. From her point of view, he didn’t do anything to try and join them in the outing. So it was only more confirmation that the boy made a good point that perhaps they weren’t at all compatible as friends. They really were on two different planets in how they acted.

“Ah…” Hakuta was able to get home much sooner than usual given the path he was able to take. He plopped down his things to the floor and laid out on the couch. Being alone made him be much more casual than usual and it had been a long day.

It had been a long while since he was home alone after moving in with Shiuka. This only left one question for him to ask. “What should I do?”

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