After such an utterly meaningless, stupid and atrocious destruction of his social life, Kiruyin realised he maybe mentally ill. Or it doesn't make any sense.
Why would he say something like that in front of girls? It would have been fine if it was just the boys because they would have laughed it off. But the girls won't. Especially Ichinose. He realised that his future in this school maybe bleack from now on as he maybe bullied by the pretty girl Ichinose. Taking into consideration the things he had done to Ichinose today.
Not that he minded as long as...
He didn't finish his thoughts that was leading to dangerous direction. Wanting to distract himself, he tried to think of the reasons on what triggers that made him say that(trying not to cringe).
He was in deep thought as he reached his doom room. Fortunately, he hadn't encountered anyone from that group. They really went to that trouble some place.
After getting inside, he washed up, ate instant noodles and retired for the day. There was nothing he wanted to do. So he wanted to sleep but his brain kept replying a certain moment over and over again. It almost made him want to explode.
'Arrhg! Why did I run!?'
He could understand that he was feeling every unrestricted after coming to this closed place for some reason. Probably because somewhere in his heart, he knows he could go wild.
And that's why his mouth and mind had been aligning a lot.
He came in terms with the fact that he said something very meme worthy that could potentially destroy his social life, but that's not what bugging him at the moment.
He ran away...
He ran away like a coward. Instead of facing the moment and cementing the fact that he doesn't care and effectively leaving no room for teasing...
But in the moment of panic, he made a blunder and ran away instead.
Regret filled his heart. If he could, he would rewind time and slap the teeth out of the past him. But that is not possible and he could do nothing else other than to just burn in the flames of cringe and cry in regret while clutching his hurting chest.
Kiruyin wipped under his black in that night in shame and regret of his decision and cried himself to sleep.
:——————————:
Next morning, Kiruyin woke up and got ready for the day. The sleep wasn't as bad as he had thought. Since his brain was forcing him to watch a movie named "Oil me up and slap my ass!" In 4K Ultra HD Remastered. It was a torture but his brain was probably tired of torturing him and let him have a good sleep.
He wore comfortable clothes he bought few days ago.
On today's agenda was buying an ear phone. Wireless one.
...
... Aaaaaand... eat and come back.
'Welp. Perfect plan.'
After getting ready, he went out. His destination was Keyaki Mall. He gave up on his idea of exploration because it was too bothersome. He had thought of buying PlayStation, laptop and what not. But thinking of playing game, his motivation instantly died. He wanted to buy PlayStation because he never had one. But grinding wasn't something he was fond of.
So that idea was thrown out of the window. He would rather play what phone allows. He wasn't a game person anyway.
Kiruyin roamed around the mall after buying his ear phones. He had them on. He listened to music as he went down the escalator after eating breakfast in a restaurant.
He was reading a Webnovel when he noticed Ichinose coming in with her group of friends.
A wave of panic shook his heart. He wanted to run and avoid the girls fearing the teasing. But he reasoned that if he ran again, he will open the door for teasing even more.
'What will happen? A little teasing. Yeah. Nothing big. I can take it. I have experienced worse!'
He consoled his heart. He realised that if he got teased, it would be from a bunch of pretty girls, that's why he was feeling that intense embarrassment.
He got down and the group greeted him with giggles. His face burned with embarrassment but he greeted them back.
"Sakiho-kun! You just ran away yesterday and didn't even turn to look! Bad person!"
She said with a teasing smile. Kiruyin raise an eye brow.
'Is this the best she could do?'
He realised that Ichinose's kind and somewhat naive personality won't let her say anything offensive.
'Huh. I was worried for nothing.'
His raging heart calmed down a bit.
"Sakiho-kun. Are you here to buy oil for your... endeavour?"
Kiruyin turned to a girl with violet eyes and hair tied to twin tails. Her name was Yuki Honami or something. Her face had a small smile. Her eyes lacked enthusiasm and the energy of the group.
In other words, the fake he had spotted few days ago.
'She is one of my people.'
A smile involuntarily formed on his face as he recognised a fellow loner.
A loner knows a loner. She was just like him, both didn't particularly like interacting with people but didn't have any problems either. It was just their choice.
But the loner girl in front of him was trying to fit in with social butterflies for some reason.
Not that he was interested in knowing.
"Not quite. I can't reach my back. But do you want to help?"
He said With a smirk. Few girls gasped in shock. Getting the implication. The fake in front of him also widened her eyes a bit. Stunned probably because she didn't expect to be teased back. A small yet genuine smile appeared on her face.
"My~my~ Sakiho-kun ~. Aren't you quite a pervert. Asking a girl to indulge in your twisted... wants."
"Not at all. I just asked as a courtesy. You seem to be more concerned about my affairs than me, myself."
"Huhuhuhu~."
"Huhuhuhu~"
Both laughed in not so friendly manner. But underneath that laughter both of them were basically saying, "your not normal" and "neither are you" to each other. They had their eyes locked into an intense starting contest.
From the side, Ichinose looked back and forth between the two, feeling somewhat left out. She initially wanted to get back at Sakiho for his teasing yesterday but it wasn't very effective. Even Yuki-chan seemed to be at wedlock in this confrontation.
'He seemed like he was about to die from embarrassment but here he is, acting like the most shameless person I've ever meet.. but hmmmmm- whatever! It's fine as long as he gets along with more people!'
Ichinose gave up thinking mid way through. Smile returned to her face. She waved her hand to get their attention.
"Sakiho-kun-"
"Nope."
"But I didn't even say anything though!!"
Ichinose said in exasperation at Kiruyin's pre-emptive rejection of her proposal.
"I know what your going to say, so no."
"Mhmhmhm~!! Sakiho-kun! Your so rude! ... sigh~ So you have me figured out, huh?"
Ichinose fumed at his answer but her tone turned into that of a resignation. A sigh escaped her lips.
Kiruyin looked up and down at Ichinose from the corner of his eyes, which he didn't even try to hide. Why would he hide? He was a boy and it was natural to like a pretty girl like Ichinose. But he knew that with Ichinose's personality, he has no shot right now. So he wasn't trying anything... for now.
"Hmm~. Not yet full- No! I mean yes! Cough! Yes. I've figured out your whole personality. Ehem! Yes. That's right. Hmm! Hmm!"
Kiruyin nodded at himself several times because there was another person with same bandwidth as him. She will understand what he means just by his vibe and body language alone. Even if Ichinose and the rest doesn't understand.
Ichinose tilted her head in confusion. Wondering why he suddenly backtracked. Was he still held up by his embarrassing statement yesterday that he doesn't want to show any kind of weakness to her anymore? Doesn't seem like it.
"Heeee~? What is this Sakiho-kun ~? Looking-Looking?"
"Checking-Checking."
"Pervy-pervy!"
"No pervy! Me good! Me bye!"
"Guys! Please talk in a language we can understand!"
Ichinose couldn't take it anymore and interrupted the strange interaction between Sakiho and Yuki-chan. She felt that the topic was her but she didn't want to assume things and ruin the mood.
Kiruyin and Yuki looked at each other and smiled knowingly.
"It's Nothing!"X2
"Moo~!! Fine! Don't tell me! I don't want to listen either! But if you want to gang out with us, you can! We are going to eat in a restaurant! Hmph!"
Ichinose said with feigned anger. The girls behind her giggled and murmured something like 'Honami-chan is so cute~~!'. Which made Ichinose grumble a bit before she shot Kiruyin a sharp glare.
Kiruyin grimaced and shook his head, feeling wronged. He had a 'What did I do?' expression on his face. But he quickly composed himself.
"Cough! That's a fine offer but I just ate. Maybe next time. Bills on you."
"Wuaaaa~~ Sakiho-kun! You have more than a million points and still want to leach off of a poor pretty girl!? Don't you have any shame!?"
Yuki exclaimed from the side with dramatic expression. Like she just heard the spoilers for a drama she was watching.
Kiruyin just scoffed at her futile attempts at provoking him. She has no idea of the love he holds for free stuff.
"Well, if your gong to actually invite me to some decent place, I have no reason to refuse... but not today. Let's schedule it on some other date."
"Ohh? A date!?"
Kiruyin completely ignored Yuki which made her displeased. Ichinose just gave an awkward smile. Kiruyin felt that Ichinose was about to use her "Mend everyone Together" skill, so he effectively cut in.
"Alright you guys. Enjoy your morning. I have stuff to do. Goodbye."
"Mm. Okay. Goodbye Sakiho-kun! You better keep your promise!"
"Stuff to do? Like what? Sleep?"
Kiruyin was about walk off after he and Ichinose set the 'terms', but he was poked at by Yuki again. He felt slightly irritated. This girl wasn't following the loner code of conduct. She knew loner stuff but was deliberately exposing them to cause trouble for him.
But he was no loner! He was Kiru-Kiru the great! He won't go down without a fight. But he was in no mood for a verbal spar with a gurl in the middle of a bustling mall. That's too unmanly.
"In grammar, sleep is considered work."
He said coolly while looking over his shoulders. Then without waiting for anyone, he walked out, leaving a warning for Yuki.
'If she dared to poke at me again, it will me war! A war I tell you!!!'
He inwardly snorted.
The girls stared at his retreating back with a stunned expression.
"... I've never seen someone say something so unserious with such a serious expression."
"He is weird..."
"But funny."
"Yeah."
"Okay guys! Enough of Sakiho-kun! Aren't you guys hungry? Let's go eat! You too Yuki-chan! Let's go! The treats on me!"
"Eeee? How can that be Honami-chan!? You said you would let us treat you last time!"
"Eto... I did? Hehe~ I guess I must've forgotten. But... alright. I will let you guys treat me."
"Yay!"
Ichinose said to her friends in reluctance. They took the escalator and started to chat about what they will have. Yuki on the other hand was thinking about the black haired and blue eyed boy she just meet.
He saw through her instantly. So did she. Though she will have to admit that he was very good at the game they were playing.
Better than her.
He even managed to fool even her with his acting in the first few days. She hadn't paid any attention to him because he seemed unimpressive, socially awkward loner boy. She didn't have time for such things. Not like she would just try to bond with a boy because he was a loner.
That is not her personality. That's Ichinose's job.
If not for the fact that he exposed himself yesterday, she wouldn't have figure out that he was a loner like her. Both didn't like to interact with people much. But their way of doing things were completely different.
Sakiho didn't fear social ostracising and pretended to be a loner. But she wasn't like that. That's why she was going out of her way to roam around with bunch of people with seemingly boundless energy.
'I wish I had courage like that.'
A sigh threatened to escape her lips but she held it down. She was already too deep into her act. If she were to backtrack now, some may even take that as emotional betrayal. That is not something she wants to deal with. So letting things on fates hand is the way...