Chapter 4

"I'll be on my way." Tomoko bids in a low voice as she locked her door after she finishes wearing her shoes, a can of iced coffee on the other hand. Opening it, she climbed down the stairs as she was on her way to school.

The brunette walks down the sidewalk to her destination, the slightly cold air bites her cheeks. Grey clouds cover the sky as she resumes her walks, halting every few minutes to pet every cat and dog she meets on her way.

She then continued her walk till she reached her school. She entered to see a lot of students chatting lively amongst each other, some holding onto books while others were playing games.

The atmosphere was calm despite the heavy grey clouds above, but not too peaceful either, there was something that felt so different about today. She shrugs it off though, thinking she's just imagining things.

After reaching the classroom, she made her way toward her usual seat, the very first seat beside the window, avoiding her classmates who were having a playful fight with each other. Tomoko sits down and waits for class to start, her green eyes looking out the window, seeing the birds flitter around and students and teachers running their errands.

As Tomoko continued staring outside, she felt the side of her neck throb. A hand reached for it and fell around for any bruise but found nothing causing her brows to furrow.

'I don't feel like I got a bruise on me... Maybe I'm just imagining things?'

The girl thinks before letting her head fall on her table with a soft thud. She closed her eyes, waiting for class to start. However, it wasn't until she felt someone nudging her arm that she finally opened her eyes again, knowing who it was.

"Morning Tomo." A familiar voice greets her. Tomoko looked at the person before returning her gaze back at the window, mumbling.

"...Morning..." Her voice was low, but it was still audible enough for the blonde to hear causing a chuckle to leave his lips as take a seat at the empty chair beside her. She didn't pay attention to him and instead continues watching out the window, the same spot where the bird used to sit.

"Are you okay, Tomo?" The blonde ask when he notice how she was not responding to him and looking outside the window, instead.

"You're acting weird." He adds making her scoff softly.

"I'm fine." That was all Tomoko said as she sit up properly when the school chime went off. The blonde raise a brow and was about to question her when the door opened and the teacher entered the room.

He sighs before turning his attention to the teacher who just walked in as she begins the lesson.

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The morning classes went by fast as Tomoko couldn't really concentrate on anything other than that pain in her neck, but somehow was able to write down some notes and god know-how.

As soon as the last bell rang for the lunch break, Tomoko packed her things and quickly made her way to the nurse's office, ignoring the voice calling out to her.

After getting an examination from the nurse she was finally able to get an explanation for the pain in the side of her neck.

"Don't worry, you're fine. It's just a little scratch." The nurse smiled.

'Then, why does it hurt so much?'

"But if the pain still pesters, come back here and I'll prescribe you some pain killer." She added.

"I understand, thank you." Tomoko gives her a bow before standing up and walking toward the door and leaving the infirmary room.

"Tomo!" Tomoko stops abruptly upon hearing the loud voice call out her name and turns around and saw the blonde running towards her.

"What's wrong? Why were you at the infirmary?" The blonde asked, genuine concern lacing his voice causing Tomoko's heart to be tugged and sudden guilt washed over her.

'He's so kind to you, yet here you are, getting angry at him for not being able to return your feelings back. How disgusting.'

"Tomo?" The brunette snap out of her thoughts when she heard her voice calling her name again. The latter blinks and shakes her head, attempting to rid her mind of those negative thoughts as she replies, trying to look like everything is normal even though it isn't.

"I'm fine, just a little sick, that's all." Tomoko says, her face completely poker-faced.

"Really? You should've told me earlier." The blonde frowned.

"Oh... yeah, sorry." Tomoko apologized, head turned to the side.

"It's okay, just make sure you take care of yourself, okay? And I'm sorry, I won't be able to eat lunch with you. Heck, I don't even know if I will be able to eat lunch." The blonde sighed, looking clearly exhausted.

"Why?" Tomoko asks, tilting her head to the side a little.

"Too much work to do at the student council office." The blonde replied before giving her a small smile and waving his hand.

"Well, see ya later, eat well." He bid as he reached out and pat her head causing the brunette to blush slightly but immediately hide it.

"Mh-hm, see you later." Tomoko waves back and watched as the blonde walks away. Once the blonde was out of sight, Tomoko takes a shaky deep breath, clutching her hands together over her chest.

'See? He's so kind to you and wants you to be happy, yet you, on the other hand, cannot seem to accept that he likes someone else. Can you really call yourself a friend when you're being so selfish? Hah, what a disgustingly self-centred person you are. How disgusting.'

Tomoko bit her lower lips as her hands starts to tremble she felt a pang in her heart. It was starting to become painful as she closes her eyes tight and feels tears forming in the corner of them.

'You really are such a horrible person, aren't you, Tomoko? You should feel ashamed of yourself.'

Turning around on her heels, she starts to walk away but that walk soon turns into a sprint as she headed for the nearest bathroom, feeling a heavy weight on her, oblivious to the pair of brown eyes watching her.

'Tomoko-senpaii seems down... I wonder what happened.'

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