Apologise

A girl sat on Helia's desk as if they were close friends as soon as break started. "That was cool."

"What was cool?" Helia looked up from her note and asked. The girl on the desk had two girls on her sides like a sidekick and blocked the view of Helia, who was copy notes off the board.

"Ms Hara. She's such an annoying b*tch." The girl on the desk replied. She had long brown hair, which was obviously dyed against school rules and was also curled. Even though the girl applied some oil and treatment to her hair, it couldn't hide the damaged ends.

Helia didn't hide the fact that she was trying to see the board and had no interest in the three. "Oh, is that so?"

"Yeah!" Because Helia answered her, she then began bad-mouthing people she hated.

The girl seemed to get more excited about talking behind their backs, and the amount of spit she spat on Helia's note increased as minutes passed by.

A video of an angry llama spitting on a woman came to Helia's mind and made her chuckle silently. Also, the reaction of Vesper when she showed the video. He also chuckled lightly before he asked what if the old woman was him. She answered that she'd run away from him from disgust. Which Vesper replied that he'd chase right after her and smudge the spit on her jokingly. Good old days...

"...And that's why she is so jealous of me. How pathetic." While Helia was deep in her thoughts, the girl on the desk seemed to have carried on with the conversation, half of which was about how beautiful she was. "I mean I get why she is jealous of me, but still, she needs to know her limit."

"That's right." Girl on the left with a very short bob that ended at eye level agreed. Her hair was very much like a poisonous mushroom and Helia promised herself to refer to that girl as the mushroom girl in her mind.

"I mean, I can't believe that she tried to seduce your boyfriend. You two are a match made in heaven! So cute." The other girl with a messed-up wolf cut flattered the heck out of the desk girl.

The desk girl flipped her hair and hit Helia's face without care. "Ooh, stop it!" She also moved her flat butt to a better position and ended up sitting on half of Helia's notebook.

'Self-control, Helia. Self-control.'

Helia inhaled a big gulp of air and looked at the girls with a business smile. "Ahh, that must be nice. Now could you guys move? I want to copy notes."

The desk girl just giggled and said, "Those things are unnecessary. You don't need to copy them, sweetheart."

'Maybe for you but not for me.' Helia replied silently in her thoughts. "I'm the type of a person who writes everything from the board."

"Then stop it. You are wasting your time. Besides, these things are easy." The desk girl's jaw pointed the board to the mushroom girl and wordlessly ordered her to erase the board. "There. Stop wasting your time and hang out with us."

'B*tch, what the f*ck?!' Helia blinked a couple of times to understand what was going on. What was wrong with these b*tches? Why the heck did they do that?!

"Let's go. I'll show you around the school." The desk girl hopped off the desk with a thud and, once again, flipped her damaged hair. Half of Helia's book was crumbled and had lines.

Helia took a second to compose herself before saying, "No thank you. I have other things I have to do."

The desk girl whined and stumped her feet, "Come on! Are you going to reject my offer?" The question didn't sound so playful anymore. She acted as if she ruled the world and she could do anything she wanted.

Helia looked up and showed her business smile again. One thing she promised her parents was not to cause any trouble, especially on the first day.

"I'm saying that because there's only five minutes left until the lesson begins. Maybe next time."

The desk girl grabbed Helia's wrist and checked the time roughly. "It is indeed time. I'll let you go this time but you'll be with me from tomorrow."

'I hope not.' Helia commented internally and chuckled on the surface.

----

Helia did a three-sixty turn in the middle of the canteen to find the girl called Takanashi in the busy canteen full of hungry students at lunchtime.

Many people were looking at her funny, but that was the last of her concern. She had a mission to return the red ribbon in her lunch bag to her.

Helia waited in the same position for twenty minutes but there was no shadow of her so she decided to sit in the same spot on the corner of the canteen she met her on Friday.

As she slowly approached the spot, she saw the small back along with perfectly cut black bob hair from behind.

"Hi." The girl was obviously shocked that someone spoke to her and looked at Helia in horror.

"...hi." Takanashi greeted back.

"I wanted to give you this." Helia removed the red ribbon from her bag and held it in front of the girl.

The girl bowed in thanks but she didn't get to get it since Helia withdrew her hand. "What's your name? I'm Helia Knight by the way."

"...Takanashi." The girl answered.

Helia frowned and twirled the ribbon. "And your given name?"

"It's Kyohi." Her voice sounded sweet and childish. Probably the vocal codes hadn't hit puberty yet.

After being satisfied with the answer, Helia gave back the ribbon. "What's the kanji for your name?" She asked as she removed her lunch box from her bag.

Kyohi looked up and down at the girl in front of her like an alien seeing what she was doing.

"'Kyo' as in today and 'hi' as fire?" Helia opened the lid of the container and smirked at the components inside.

Kyohi hesitated before she answered, "No. It's written as dawn's gentle sunlight. 'Kyo' as in dawn, 'u' as in gentle or kind, and 'hi' as in sun or day."

Helia removed her phone and looked up the characters Kyohi described. "Three characters, huh? Must be hard to write all that strokes."

"It is." Kyohi fidgeted in her seat and took a bite of her food. Same as the last time, her food looked like it was straight out of the movies where they made perfect food.

Helia smiled at her and brought out her water bottle. "Today, I brought my own water."

The girl smiled back.

"Are the characters for 'Taka' as in tall and 'nashi' as in pear correct?" Helia took a bite of her grandmother's food and leaned back in her seat. It was too good. She wanted to eat that forever.

"My family name is spelt as playing with a little bird."

Helia blinked a couple of times after taking another bite, "I'm sorry?"

"Playing with a little bird in the gentle light of the dawn is the direct translation of my name."

"Holy sh*t! And you read as Takanashi?" She asked excitedly with a smile. The girl nodded shyly. "Classy. I like it. It fits you."

"...Thanks."

Helia smiled and remembered "My grandparents family name is like yours too. It's written as chestnut, flower, fall and guess how to read them."

Kyohi thought for a while and answered, "Kuribanaochiru?"

"Wrong. I don't think that's even a name." She teased the bob girl joyfully and continued. "It's read as Tsuyuiri. Weird, right?"

"It is weird." Kyohi agreed and reciprocated the smile. She was slowly getting comfortable with Helia.

"But do you like it?"

The girl pushed up her glasses and nodded.

"By the way, who makes your food? It looks straight out of home dramas."

Kyohi blushed deeply until her neck and ears were all red. "I did."

"Are you serious?"

"Mn."

Helia shook her head and out her fingers at the temples. "I only know how to make instant noodles."

The girl looked down at her food and spoke softly, "At least you can do that. My mum can't do anything." She had a tiny smile, but she didn't sound or looked happy.

Because of how Kyohi looked when she said those words, Helia didn't dig deeper into the topic. It seemed sensitive and dark.

So she purposely said in a cheerful tone, "When do you wake to make these then?"

"Five."

"And you also make breakfast at the same time?" The girl nodded and ate a small tomato. "You are very hardworking. I admire that."

The girl choked on the tomato from hearing the direct compliment from Helia.

"You alright?" Helia handed water in a flash and waited for the girl's cough to die out.

"...Yes..."

It took some while for Kyohi to get back to normal and continue eating while chatting randomly. One thing Kyohi noticed about Helia was that she was a very charming and funny person. She had the power to make people feel safe and relaxed.

"What are you looking at?" Helia paused and asked Kyohi, who had been staring at her without blinking for a long time.

"Nothing. Sorry." The girl apologised and looked down immediately.

"It's fine. You don't need to apologise." Helia chuckled and tilted her head, "Should I call you Kyohi or I give you a nickname."

Kyohi looked up and smiled cheekily. This was the first time someone was asking that, and it made her feel excited. "Whichever you want."

"I guess everyone call you by your given name so I'll give you a nickname." Helia smiled with genuine enjoyment that affected the girl to smile too.

But the fun time came to an end when a voice neither Helia nor Kyohi wanted to hear interrupted, "Her name should be mushroom. A poisonous one to be specific."

Helia's smile vanished. She slowly turned up her face at the person who said those words to find the desk girl along with her wolf-cut girl and mushroom girl approaching them arrogantly. "Excuse me?"

Did the desk girl take a good look at the human mushroom standing next to her? And why would anyone call Kyohi mushroom?

"Newcomer, take my words. Stay with us." The desk girl whispered into Helia's ear. She then crossed her arms proudly in front of her non-existent boobs and showed her disgust at Kyohi.

Helia chuckled coldly and questioned, "First of all, who are you? Second of all, what makes you think I'd stay with you?"

"Wha-"

She put her index finger up and continued, "Also, apologise to my friend. Now."

Kyohi looked up for the first time after the three girls came and watched Helia in shock.

The desk girl humped and snickered, "I can't believe you don't know me. I am-"

"How the hell am I supposed to know you." Helia once again cut off the girl with a confused and annoyed face. "Anyway, continue. You were apologising, right?"

"Helia..." Kyohi looked around her to find that most of the students in the canteen were concentrating on them, and were keenly listening to the ongoing drama. She hated being the centre of attention.

"Apologise," Helia watched the desk girl without fazing. She didn't care about the attention she was getting. No one was going to call Kyohi that way. "You are wasting our time. Hurry up."