19 Why Should I Be Worried? (1)

Chapter 19: Episode 10 - Why Should I Be Worried? (1)

"I can't understand why you are in Group A!" The small fairy girl said crudely, directing her distaste for me.

'What's with this sweets spirit? She must get her attitude from Kashino.'

"That's quite rude of you to say. I entered the group fairly which is how I got here in the first place," I answered and the looks of the Sweets Princes widened in shock.

"Michiko, you can see her?" Kashino looked at me in astonishment.

The sweets spirit continued yelling out rude words towards me.

"Chocolat, please stop," Fraise popped out of my pocket.

"Fraise?" I called out and she flew over toward the other sweets spirit.

Kashino's sweet spirit looked at Fraise unbelievably, her mouth open in awe.

"This can't be… Miss Fraise?" The sweet spirit named Chocolat said in amazement. "But how…? Why…?"

"I can answer questions later but Chocolat, apologize to Keiko first! That was rude!" Fraise scolded and Chocolat bowed her head to me apologetically.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what came over me," Chocolat said regretfully but Fraise patted her head.

"It's fine, just make sure it doesn't happen again," Fraise warned and Chocolat nodded her head in understanding.

"Wait, what's Miss Fraise doing here?" Another small sweet spirit popped out from behind Andou. This sweet spirit had short straight hair the color of caramel and wore an orange dress.

'Andou, too?'

"Uwah!"

PLAK!~

Andou's sweet spirit clumsily fell onto the table, tears welling up in her eyes. "Owie… WAA-AH!" She cried and Fraise and I quickly rushed over to help her.

"Are you okay, Caramel?" Fraise asked worriedly, helping the sweet spirit up.

"Are you alright?" I asked the small sweet spirit and her hazel eyes gazed up at me and Fraise.

"Miss Fraise and Miss Michiko are so kind and pretty," Caramel complimented as we both helped her up.

"Thank you," Fraise and I gave her a warm smile and as Caramel looked at us, she immediately fainted.

"So… pretty…" Caramel muttered as she fell again.

"Guess, there's no helping this one," Andou reached for his sweet spirit and helped her up as Fraise and I were puzzled as to what just happened. Caramel got back up again and fixed herself.

"Miss Fraise is here?" A male sweet spirit popped out from behind Hanabusa.

'Hanabusa as well?'

This sweet spirit had blue hair and wore a butler like tuxedo.

"Bonjour, Miss Fraise and Miss Michiko," Hanabusa's sweet spirit greeted us politely.

"Oh, Cafe is here, too?" Fraise questioned as she gazed at the sweet spirit named Cafe.

'Just what is going on here? Why does everyone suddenly have sweets spirits and why does everyone keep referring to Fraise as "Miss" as if they look up to her?'

A ton of questions popped into my mind because I was confused as to what the situation had become.

"Hey, Group A, you're too loud over there, quiet down," the teacher walked toward our station to warn us.

For a split second, I could see her glance over at the group of sweets spirits gathered at our stations.

"Hurry and clean up," she instructed, walking away from us as if ignoring the sweets spirits.

"You don't have to worry, our teacher can't see them," Hanabusa reassured.

"The only ones that can see them are those that have the spirits," Andou explained but another thing bothered me.

'I could have sworn that she looked directly at them. Unless… I'm mistaken?'

Hanabusa and Andou turned away as they began cleaning up their stations.

"Hey, Michiko," Kashino grabbed my attention, looking dead at me once Hanabusa and Andou went away.

"You'd better not skip out on dinner this time since it'd be a pain to deal with you if you fainted again," Kashino spoke bluntly, turning his head around and focused back on cleaning up his station.

'That's right. Since I hadn't eaten a proper meal for the last couple of days, I'd fainted due to not eating enough and overworking myself. I guess I should go to the cafeteria this time.'

"Keiko, you fainted?" Fraise had heard everything and asked me with a concerned look on her face.

"Ah, yeah. I guess it's because I wasn't eating too much," I admitted and Fraise looked at me in surprise.

"That means that last night… you didn't even go back to the dorms?!" Fraise was flustered all of a sudden. "Did you even sleep?"

"I only slept a few hours but I'm fine," I confessed and the expression on Fraise's face grew angry.

"Didn't your stepmother tell you to take good care of your body while you were away? Today, we are definitely going to the cafeteria so you can eat! Also, you're going to bed early so you can rest your body up. No practicing in the cooking lab after school for today!" Fraise nagged me as I cleaned up my station.

"Alright, alright," I gave in to her bickering and lecturing as I cleaned up.

* * *

It was around 5:30 in the afternoon meaning that it was dinnertime. Once I finished my homework, Fraise wanted to make sure that I would go to the cafeteria and eat today.

We went down the large hallway and made it to the large doors of the cafeteria that had a window that you could see through.

I could already see a lot of the students sitting down at the tables, eating happily, and talking to their friends.

Before I could reach for the door handle, I hesitated and drew my hand back.

'This isn't a place where I belong…'

I stepped back, looking at the peaceful atmosphere of the lunchroom.

'Someone like me can't pretend that I fit in. I don't know enough people there who I can talk to.'

Fraise could see my hesitance and her blue eyes looked sternly at me.

"Keiko, it'll be alright. I just want you to eat so you can get your energy back. If you worry about not having friends, I'm here," Fraise gave me a kind, reassuring gaze and I nodded my head.

'That's right, Fraise is my friend. Why should I be worried?'

I felt a rush of confidence inside of me and I reached for the door handle, turning it.

As I entered the cafeteria, I could see that everybody's eyes were on me as I stood in front of the doors.

'It's too late to go back now since everybody already knows I'm here.'