4 Eps 2

She woke up early to school,like always,looking at her watch 6.30 AM. She need to be at school at eight,she got plenty of time to relax.But she can't stay put doing nothing.So she went to take a bath,and-

Gets ready to go to school."It is a little early though,,"She told herself.She lingers around her apartment studio,then decided to make her second breakfast.She made herself fried rice with Japanese style ommelete.She looked at the time 7.00 .

Since she was small, she had a habit to look at the time. How did she have this habit?

Her sister once told her that she got this trait from their father. A policeman, and he's a strict, disciplined person.

Misaki glanced at her metallic rose gold watch. It's a medium antique leather watch. Very masculine yet there a hint of feminine in the watch's design.7.05 am. Another ten more minutes, and she'll be off to school.

She finds it is a must to always be punctual. She really dislikes being unable to control something, so she always had a backup plan just in case. But what's important is everything must be perfect. There's no denial. People call her OCD, obsessive-compulsive disorder.

But she's just very precise, that's all. As she indulged in her last bite, her rose gold iPhone 7 rang. She packed her bags, making sure she brings all her books, and didn't leave anything behind. After double-checking, she grabs her studio's key as she walked out of the studio and answered the call. It's from her older sister, Michiko.

"Yes?"She answered while walking to her school. The distance from her apartment to her school is just a rock's throw away. The journey took 10 minutes to walk there. She had enough money to buy a bicycle but she prefers walking because she loved the ambiance of walking in the early morning where there are less people and it's really quiet.

"Misaki!!"Her sister greeted in a way she always does, childish. Even though her sister is 4 years more older than her, she's the immature one between them. She's currently majoring in accounting in Canada."How have you been? Have you eaten? How's your sleep? How's your day? Why haven't you answer my calls before this? I'm worried about my little sister you know!!"Then before Misaki answer her bazillion questions, she continued on."Wait are you on your way to your school? What time is it now in Japan?"Then she continued again, "Man! I forgot I thought it's night there in Japan!"She laughed a little.

"I'm fine thank you, how's my day? It's still early in the morning but I guess I'm good, I haven't answered your calls because I'm busy yesterday, you worried about me? You should worry about yourself, yes, I'm on my way to my school, and it's-"She looked at her watch at 7.18 am."It's almost 7.20" She told her in one huge breath. Her sister's bubbly personality sometimes annoyed her, but she's cute that way.

"Ah.."Her sister trailed off."Gosh, I shouldn't disturb you early in the morning"Her slightly high pitched voice soften."Well, I've banked in your monthly allowance, don't spend it on stupid things or such!"

'You're the one who did that always.' Misaki mumbled."Okay"She then looked in front. Her school, Miyazaki high, standing tall in front of her. There are some students already walked into the school, some come alone and some of them walked together with their friends."I need to go now, bye"She told her sister and her sister said goodbye.

Speaking of friends...

Misaki looked around. Usually, Ryuu would be screaming at her to wait for him.

"MISAKI!!!"A voice roared behind her.

Speaking of the devil.

She turned around to see the owner of the voice. Ryuu smiled at her widely while waving both of his hands to her. He had brown undercut hair, which had made him go to the principle's office because of his haircut. But he didn't pay any attention to the school rules and had always kept his hair that way. He's so stubborn to not change his haircut even the principal had given up on changing his hairstyle. His 180 cm height made Yua, standing beside him seems so small. Yua had long, semi-curly light brown hair, which she prefers leaving it like that. Sometimes if she had some extra time, she would braid her hair. She waved at Misaki shyly. But surprisingly or not surprisingly, she had a lot of fans and many guys crushing on her, girls even. She's smart, She's the ace of the volleyball team, she's good at English and she learned french since she's 8. And plus, she's a real jewel. She had rosy cheek which matches with her natural pink lips."Konnichiwa, Misaki-chan".

Misaki gave a slight nod for a response. Ryuu pushed her shoulders slightly from the back."Cold as always??"He grinned widely. Misaki ignored him and continued walking. He reminds her of her sister sometimes. Loud and childish.

The trio had always been together since small. Ryuu and Yua lived next to each other so they have known each other since small. Misaki went to the same kindergarten with Yua and Ryuu. She tends to be alone and play lego in the corner while the other kids play hide and seek because she didn't know how to communicate. Her parents died in an accident when she was small, and her sister, who raised her. But even then, she didn't have the time to time to play together, because she needs to work to support their monthly expenses. Even though their parents have left a wealthy heirloom, her sister refused to use the money because she said she wants to keep it for emergency purposes only. So since small, Misaki always played alone with the toys that her sister had bought for her. Sometimes when her sister works at night, she would ask their mute neighbor next door, Riri, a lovely elder woman. Her original name was Riko, but she always called her Riri. Sometimes she would bring her candies, and knitted her scarf when the winter season came. She even learned sign language from her. When she died at the age of 70, Misaki was 7 at that time and she sobbed and whimpered. She never cried before and after that. She cried because she knows she'll be alone again.

So when Ryuu asked her, who is playing lego on the corner alone, to join him to play sword fight together she was kind of glad but afraid at the same time. At that time, she saw Yua shyly looking at her, standing behind Ryuu. She was also very pretty at that time. She has always been. Misaki said yes to Ryuu's invitation. Why not?

And she's stuck with them both until now. Don't get her wrong, it's not like she hates spending time with them both. She liked them both. She's their only friend while many people avoiding her because she's really, cold, untalkative type of person. But at the same time, it doesn't mean that she needed company. She's fine on her own.

As they walked towards their class, Ryuu nudged her and then adjusting his black medium sling bag." I heard that a new kid joining our class today, a boy" He turned to both of them, Yua looking at her while Misaki continues to walk without looking at him but she's aware that he's talking."He has been expelled from his old school because of some discipline issues, Kiyose Higashi High School, you heard about the school before, right?"

Yua nodded and puts her index finger on her red rosy lips. "It's for the prosperous and elites." Then she saw Misaki is already far in front of them both, she walks faster to catch up with her. Ryuu does the same." I had wrote an application letter to the school but then was rejected by the school" She said to Ryuu with a look of disappointment in her face. She pushed strands of her brown hair back to her ear.

"No way!" Ryuu looked at her in disbelief." You got rejected? You're good at sports and academics!"He walked past Misaki and stand in front of her."Right, Misaki?"But then Misaki pushed him away slightly.

Yua looked at them both then giggled."Nah, it's not a big deal. I got to be in one school with you guys" She smiled sweetly.

Ryuu puts his right hand on his chest, making an overly dramatic face of deeply touched."Aw", he mouthed and turns his attention to Misaki."Why can't you be sweet like Yua?"

"Because it's tiring," She said simply as she opens the class's door. There are already a few students in the class, some do their homework, there are one or two people who are sleeping, but most of them are chatting with their pals.

Misaki went to her table, so does Yua and Ryuu. Ryuu sat in front of her table while Yua sat in the first row. Misaki's hand went for her phone and earphone to hear some songs. It's a whole much better than hearing the annoying chatter of her classmates. As she was about to hear a song, Ryuu turned to her "Hey mind if I borrow your maths homework yesterday?" He grinned sheepishly.

Misaki nodded and was about to give her book, but was cut off when her Suzuki sensei came into the class. And what's more, there a new student, following her from the back. Misaki stared at the newcomer, who is now standing behind sensei, and smiling to others. He had a perfect slicked-back silky dark red hair and lovely green eyes. He's about Ryuu's height, but an inch taller. He doesn't have the common Japanese features so she guessed he's a foreigner. He had a sweet, naughty smile that already had made some of the girls in her class blush. He also had a solid, fit torso. Overall, he's a good looking guy. The arrival of this new student had made the class go wild.

Ryuu whispered to her"This is the guy with discipline issues I told you before"

To be honest, he doesn't look like he would even kill a fly. He had a caring look in his eyes and a soft smile. But then she noticed there are some patches of plasters on his face and when she turned to his knuckle, she saw bruises here and there.

Suzuki sensei clapped a few times to get the class attention."Class, as you can see, we had a new student, who is joining us for the year"She smiled enthusiastically, and asked the new student to come forward.

The man bowed slightly and introduced himself to the class."Hi, my name is Charles, I like sports, playing game and such, nice to meet you, hope we can be friends" He ends his talk with a smile.

Almost half of the girl nodding, clearly falling for his allure.

Suzuki sensei smiled "Well, you can sit beside..." Her eyes searching for an empty spot, then she looked at an empty place beside Misaki."You can sit beside Misaki, Charles" She pointed towards the empty spot beside Misaki. Charles nodded and sat beside her..

He held out his hand to Misaki."Hi, hope we can be best friends"He grinned widely.

Misaki looked at him, glared at his green eyes. People like him, whose too friendly aggravated her. Charles stared at her back, shrugged, and looked at his outstretched hand, then to Misaki. His brow knitted in confusion."Are you going to leave me hanging..?"He muttered.

Misaki plainly turned away from him while keeping her face straight and reaching for her book in her bag.

Charles was dumbfounded. That was the first time someone did that, especially from a girl. But he still smiled. He tends to smile when he's angry, and most people thought it's cute. He shook it off and opened his book and turn his spotlight to the whiteboard in front of him, which is full of Suzuki's sensei messy handwriting.

...

The bell rings indicate that school was over. Suzuki sensei peeked at her watch, and then closed her textbook. She then puts her textbook on the wooden table in front of her."All right, class dismissed."She gave a subtle smile and pack her belongings. Before she goes out of the class, she remembered something."Don't forget to finish the work I told you!"She clapped and then said "Hai, Arigatou gozaimasu"

All the students bowed to her and then busy packing their belongings. The class becomes wild after Suzuki sensei walked out of their class.

Charles puts back all his utensils in his black pencil box. He hummed lightly as he does so. At times, someone will stop by at his place, introducing them and all, especially girls. But Sometimes he glanced at the stiff girl beside him, who is also putting her items back in her maroon bag. By hook or by crook, he's going to be friends with her. Nobody ever treat him harshly like how she did to him before. He's willing to do anything to be friends with this, icy girl. A hand reached his shoulder from behind that makes him startled. He turned to see a guy about his height, with an undercut haircut, grinning at him. He seems cheerful. Then he looked at another person beside him, she had fair skin and round, brown eyes with a semi curly hair. She smiled at him shyly. She's kinda small that he needs to look down at her.

"Hey there," The guy with the undercut haircut greeted him. He pointed to himself."I'm Ishida, Ishida Ryuu" And then he pointed to the girl beside her."And this is Yua Hagiwara".Yua bowed slightly as Charles bowed to her."Hajimemashite"She stuttered a little but manages a smile.

"Hajimemashite, I'm Ito, Ito Charles" He smiled to them both."But I prefer being called Charles. Hope we can be friends, Hagiwara-san and Ishida-san"

Ryuu then pulled Misaki who's still busy arranging her bag."And this rigid girl we have here is Nakada Misaki" Misaki just groaned and bowed to Charles.

Ryuu titter looking how annoyed Misaki is at him and Charles."Ah, Misaki how about we bring Charles to our glamorous cat cafe that we always go to Hokkaido?"Then to Yua."How about that? We should show Charles the beauty of Japan since he's a foreigner here!"Then he roared, feeling proud of himself.

Yua hesitate to answer but then Charles shook his head." First of all, I'm not a foreigner, I'm Japanese, I was born in Japan, my father is from Britain and my mom is Japanese."He looked at Ryuu and then to Yua."However, I speak perfect English, thanks to my father."He explained."But, I never go to Hokkaido before, and I'm actually eager to go there"

"Man, you'll be a great help for me then! You can help with my English!" Ryuu clapped happily."Anyhow, about the trip, what do you think Misaki?"He looked to Misaki, who's already walked about to walk away from there. But he pulled her again.

Misaki grunted in annoyance."Fine"

Charles chuckled looking at them both while Yua grinned at them both. Misaki is actually fun to be with. He then looked at Ryuu. And then to Misaki. He assumes that they have been friends since small because they called each other with their first names, not last names.

Yua nodded, agreeing with Ryuu.

"How about next week? We can go there by train, it won't take too long."Ryuu continued.

"Seems fine by me" Charles bobbed.

"Great!" Then he quickly reached for his handphone in his pocket."Can I have your number? I'll add you into our group chat"

" 8126537256," He said slowly so that Ryuu could catch up with him. He was kinda stunned with Ryuu. He never met someone so friendly like him before.

Ryuu showed his phone, there's his number on the phone's screen."Is this right?"He's asking for confirmation.

"Yup" He replied."Thank you for inviting me," He went on. Then his eyes trail off, he noticed that Misaki is nowhere to be seen."I guess Nakada-san not here?"He pointed to an empty space beside Ryuu. Ryuu glanced to his left and slapped his forehead."Man.."He sought.

.....

Misaki started with a walk, but then his stomach started to growl harder than before, and it's horribly painful. This is all because she ate the spicy Korean ramen the before. She then runs to the nearest toilet she saw and quickly gets in the toilet and finally, lets her stomach do the rest. She sighed.

She sighed a little as all the unwanted substances in her stomach had gone away. She regrets eating that spicy ramen before and she vowed to herself that she will never eat that again. She flushed and pulls up her skirt back to where it belongs. As she wants to open the toilet's door, she stopped when she hears someone laughing while the entity walked into the bathroom. It was from a guy, and he's alone.

Shit. She realized that she entered the male's bathroom, and not the female's. She groaned at her foolishness. She waited as he went out of the bathroom. When it becomes quiet for a while, she dared herself to go out, take a peek of the surrounding, making sure there's nobody else except herself. As she does so, a voice greeted her."Misaki?"It was Charles.

Out of all of the people in this world why must be him? Misaki grumbled and cursed softly.

"This..is the male's bathroom you know?" He said, unsure at what he had saw.

"Yes, yes I know" She growled at him as she went to the sink and wash her hand.

This girl can't be real. Charles thought."Um.."He was lost for words.

Misaki stared at him, looking very troubled."It was a mistake alright?"She sighed."Don't tell anybody or else-"

He snapped her line" or what?"He gave his well known naughty smile.

"Or else I'll punch your pretty face so bad nobody will ever recognize you anymore" She hissed.

He gave a phony face of fear."So scary, come get me then"He dared her."I'm going to tell everyone in this school that you're in the male's bathroom to stalk me."He laughed as he reached the bathroom door.

"You devil, don't you dare!" Misaki runs to him, but then slipped and fell to the floor. She lands hard headfirst and sprained her ankle. She shrieked at the sudden pain she felt.

Charles stopped and turned to Misaki."Are you okay?"He walked and then kneeled towards Misaki, a sincere worry showed on his face.

"I think I sprained my ankle" She tried to move her ankle a little but it gave a sharp pain in response. She groaned in pain."Yup, I sprained my ankle, and it was all thanks to you, you idiot"

"Hey don't blame me, I'm the innocent one"Charles answered back.

Innocent my ass. She said in her mind.

" Can you walk?" He asked.

"Do you think I can?" She asked back sarcastically. She doesn't know why but all his actions ticked her.

After hearing that, he took a deep breath, then slides his hands under her calves while the other hand on her back for support, and then carried her in a bridal way in one huge blow."Yep let's go"

Misaki shrieked, clearly shocked by his actions."Let me down!"Her face reddens while struggling to get off his strong arms.

Charles glanced at her red face, completely enjoying the moment, and laughed."Oh pardon me, you don't fancy this position?"He then changed her position and carry her like a backpack."Better?"

"No!" She replied in outrage.She groaned and hissed like a cat while punching hard Charles back for him to let her down. But that only make Charles laughed better.

"Aw, cute," He said, losing his breath. He stands beside the mirror and looked at the reflection of them both and laughed again."Now, Is your house far? Cause you're so damn heavy" He grunted as his laughter fades.

....

Along the journey, they receive many stares from the students, there are people secretly whispering behind them, but Charles gave them his lovely smile as Misaki kept punching him and ordered him to put her down.

"My God are you on your period or what? You're so angry that I helped you" He grunted silently while keeping his smile, walking straight ahead along the school corridor. The sunset light hits his face, giving a golden light on his expression. "Now can you please hush and be a good girl?"He continued."People stared at us like we're lunatic duos" He said and then bowed a little to a teacher walking by. Before the teacher was going to ask him what's wrong he told him everything, except the part where Misaki accidentally entered the male's bathroom. And then he walked again back to her house.

Along the journey, he kept asking her questions and questions about her, just to annoy her."What's your favorite color?"He asked.

She didn't reply. She's too lazy for that and she'll hope that he'll stop. But he won't.

"Oh, mine is maroon! Maroon is cool you know?"And he starts to explain more about the color maroon.

Nobody asks you, you pudding head. She cursed to herself and questions God why had God create such an annoying creature like him.

After a few minutes of Charles chattering to himself, he asked her " So we're going straight to Deluxe apartment? You stay there?" He asked for assurance while gasping for air."What do you eat, you're so heavy" He whined.

"Yes, that's where I live, and this is all muscles, I'm not fat!" She punched his back again.

"Nobody's calling you fat," He chuckled and continued walking.

....

They finally arrived at Misaki's studio apartment. He puts down Misaki slowly and carefully on the floor, Misaki bit her lips, struggling hard to deal with the pain."We're here!"He said happily.

Misaki pressed the security code on her door and the door gives a soft ding and then the door was unlocked. She turned to face Charles., who his face was red because of exhaustion."Thank you, Charles" She said, rather awkwardly.

Charles held out his right hand, without saying nothing.

Misaki looked at the hand and then looked back at him "what?" She questioned.

"You know.." Charles gave his naughty smile while shaking his right hand slightly.

"Ohh" She nodded, clearly knowing what he want. She reached for her pink small purse and took some money from it, and gave it to Charles."Here, enough?"

Charles stared at the money in disbelief, then roared with laughter.

Misaki stared at him back."What?"She sounded, puzzled at Charles."What's so funny about it?"

Charles stopped laughing, then he took Misaki's left hand, and then shake her hand."This is what I want" Then he burst into laughter, again.

"Oh," She said simply while shaking his hand.

"Nice to meet you, "

Misaki just nodded."You too"She went inside, close the door before her, leaving him in front smiling at her sweetly.

What a weird kid, she thought.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------