Walking is nice.

Because I always wake up late, Chiharu and I are always running to school in a hurry. I've forgotten what it's like to walk without worry. Did you know you can read manga as you walk? How cool is that?!

"Watch where you're going! You're going to trip!"

"I will not." I confidently dismissed Chiharu's concern. "I know these streets by heart. I know where I'm going."

"What if you get run over by a car?!"

"That only happens in movies."

"Are you stupid?" Chiharu looked at me like I was an idiot. 

Was that a serious question?

I don't know, maybe, I've had trouble understanding this girl since breakfast.

"Huh?" I raised my head.

As we were turning a corner, I heard hurried footsteps fastly approaching us, accompanied by a panicked voice, "I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!"

It was a girl with long, pink hair. She was also biting down on a piece of jammed bread with her eyes tightly closed, weirdly enough. 

And she was running straight towards me!

What should I do? What should I do?! She's going to ram me over!

In my frozen, panicked state, I remembered something: I can just get out of the way. 

Before we could collide, I took a step back.

"Ah!"

She tripped and fell. A piece of jammed bread fell out of her mouth.

I looked at her and said incredibly, "Oh, wow, I dodged that."

That felt kind of weird.

Was I supposed to get out of the way? Felt like I broke some kind of rule.

Chiharu looked at me oddly, I tried to ignore it as she walked past me and went to help the girl get back up. The girl's knees buckled and she fell on her bottom, she let out a cry of pain. 

"A-are you okay?" Chiharu asked.

"No!" The girl cried out with tears in her eyes, "It hurts!"

She scraped her kneecaps, she was bleeding, but just a little.

"I'm sorry, do you want us to take you to the infirmary?" I awkwardly asked, scratching the back of my head, feeling very guilty.

The girl hesitated.

"But won't you guys be late for school?"

"It's fine." I shrugged my shoulders.

As nice as it would be to make it on time for school, it wasn't my priority.

"Well, okay…" The girl meekly nodded.

"We should go to the school infirmary. Not only is it closer, but we can even make it to school on time. Two birds with one stone, you know?"

"Okay…"

"Alright!" I clapped my hands, placing the manga I was still holding into my backpack. "Chiharu, you grab her legs and I grab her arms!"

"What?!"

"I'm not a couch!"

They were both taken by surprise.

I soundly explained, "If we both hold you, we only lose half our strength. And if we combine half our strength, it becomes the strength of one person! So when we run, it'll be the speed of one person!"

"What…?" The girl failed to understand. 

"I forget how dumb you are." Chiharu covered her face in shame.

Rude.

***

After a heated discussion, I became the one having to carry the injured girl on my back. I complied only because I didn't want to waste anymore time talking. L

Our pacing had gradually decreased, but that was to be expected. I didn't run as I didn't want to risk the injured girl falling. 

After a while of silence, the injured girl spoke up.

"I'm sorry, because of me…"

"No, don't be!" Chiharu shook her head, "You're not a burden! It's fine, don't worry about it!"

"Okay…"

The injured girl then turned to me.

"I'm not heavy, am I?" She asked.

I wryly smiled.

"O-of course not! I can barely tell I'm carrying you!"

That was a lie, obviously. 

I'm sweating buckets here! How can a girl her size be so damn heavy! Why couldn't Chiharu carry her? She's stronger than I am!

Ah, whatever. We've finally made it to school anyways. A few more steps and I can finally put her down.

"Hold it right there, Kanagawa Keiichi!"

A girl wearing glasses with long black hair and sharp blue eyes stood in front of the closed gates with her arms tightly crossed. She looked like a high-level monster guarding the gates of hell.

"The bell rang three minutes ago! Three minutes you could have spent learning!"

I clicked my tongue.

Uchiyama Ayumi, she's a member of the Morals Committee, notorious for strictly enforcing school rules, specifically on boys.

She's the bane of my existence (not really).

Everytime Chiharu and I come late to school, she only ever writes me citations and only ever punishes me with cleaning duty. But she never does anything about Chiharu, or any of the other girls. I don't know why she does that, but it’s very annoying. 

To top it all off, she always hits me with her long lectures. Making me later to class than I originally was!

"Um, actually Uchiyama. I have a good reason today, I was—"

"Seriously, Kanagawa, late again? Do you think this kind of behavior will slide when you enter the workforce? No! Of course not! You need to—huh?" It was during her passionate speech that she finally noticed the girl on my back.

Uchiyama narrowed her eyes when she noticed the girl's bruised kneecaps. 

"Did you hurt her?" She coldly asked, a chill went up my spine.

"Of course not!" Chiharu defended me.

"I-I tripped and fell!" The injured girl explained.

Wow, that felt nice.

Uchiyama had a conflicted expression on her face. As much as she wanted to continue lecturing me, she knew she couldn't, morally speaking.

"S-since you're late because you were helping an injured student, I-I'll excuse your tardiness and leave you off with a warning…" She spoke through gritted teeth, opening the gate with one of her keys.

"Wow, thanks!" I couldn't help but smile.

Uchiyama clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Don't make that face again. It annoys me."

"O-okay…"

***

When we entered school, Chiharu and I parted ways, she went to her class and I went to the infirmary. The nurse had me place the girl on one of the beds so she could bandage her kneecaps. 

With that, I headed to class. I thought about staying for a little longer, especially since the girl insisted (her face was bright red, I think she caught a fever), but I really just wanted to get to class.