Introductions?

The Next day, I waited for Sawako on the train station, I don't want her getting mad over me just because I arrived earlier than her twice and didn't waited twice in row.

Soon after, there she was.

"Hey!" She says as she waves to me from a distance.

"Hi, good morning" I reply.

We start our walk to the school together and moments later Sawako spoke.

"So what do think about him?"

"About who?"

I ask with a genuine confusion, I mean, are we close enough to get each other's rough and abstract references yet? Or maybe it's actually a common thing for people to understand each other like that and I am just dumb.

"About the new crazy hot transfer student of course."

Oh, she is talking about Ray Renner, the new transfer student in our class and she is also made it sound like I should have understood that reference on my own, or at least should have tried, I'll keep that mind from next time. Though, I already know where this conversation is headed, I still ask.

"What about him?"

"Seriously? I heard he aced the entrance exams, on top of that he plays volleyball and is handsome, I guess perfect guys exist after all."

She just described what we all know about Ray Renner, except the entrance exams part, which kinda seems like an exaggeration, I mean rumors are not always true, but she does have a better social standing in class than me so I usually believe in what she tells me, she also make it sound like she might be interested in Ray.

Sawako and I are not too popular with guys in our class, I myself have never had a boyfriend, Sawako on the other hand did had one in junior high, but they broke up after the end of Junior high, it seemed pretty fair to me, distance breaking relationships, that is.

"And you are sitting next him, and I thought I was lucky to sit next to Sukishima-kun." she adds.

What does she come to school for?

"So, are you interested in Renner-kun?" I ask

"I mean well, who is not, the news of a new hot transfer student spreads quickly you know." She says not denying to my assumption, but makes it sound like it's normal to be interested in good looking guys like Ray, is it though?

I mean I can't deny that Ray is indeed good looking and so far, is nice to people around him too, but still I don't know how people get invested into other people without spending much time with them, Is this what people call 'love at first sight'? or maybe I am interpreting the meaning of the term 'Interested' incorrectly, maybe the people who are 'interested' in Ray, actually want to get to know him better, in that case, I am just thinking too much.

"I see." I quietly reply believing what Sawako told me.

Rest of the way we talk about the things we need to do this semester, and other random things, this is the kind of walk we usually have while we are walking to school, so I guess it was the fault of the long semester break that resulted in yesterday's silent walk.

"Good morning Ayame-san, Nakamura-san" Yui Saito greeted us as soon as we entered the classroom.

Me and Sawako greeted her back and turned to reach our seats, usually me and Sawako would put our bags on our seats and head to chat with the other girls but as we were a bit late today, all the students were already on their seats preparing for the first period.

Suddenly a group of boys entered our classes talking and laughing loudly, it was the Hinata group, but what was different about this group today was they had a new member with them, Ray Renner, it seems like Ray would not have any problem making friends or rising up the social hierarchy of the class, well I am not even surprised.

They all entered the class with Daisuke-kun basically talking to all of them alone, they all took a last laugh before they dispersed in different directions to reach their seats.

"Good Morning." Ray said while looking at my direction as he sat down.

Was he greeting me? Not to someone else behind me? Oh god, there I go thinking nonchalantly again, one of the reasons I can't develop my communication skills.

"Oh, yeah, Good morning to you too Renner-kun." I greet him back.

"I believe we haven't officially met yet." He says still looking directly at me, which is starting to me make me nervous already.

Why in the hell am I nervous? It's not like I haven't talked to a boy before.

"Ye—Yeah we haven't, I suppose, Well, I am Arisa Ayame, nice to meet you Renner-kun." I say trying to put up my best smile to, number 1, hide my nervousness and number 2, improve my impression after yesterday.

"Nice to meet you too, Ayame-san, I hope we spend a good time together." he says while, pulling out a hand for a handshake.

Together? Together?!

Together in what sense? As classmates? As partners? As friends? Or…Arghhh! Stop getting ideas! He probably just meant it in general.

But the main issue at hand right now, what should I do? Should I shake his hand? But I don't know if my hands are sweaty or not and I really don't wanna make him uncomfortable, especially during our introduction, COME ON ARISA ITS JUST A FUCKING HANDSHAKE

"Yeah." I pull out my hand too and we shake hands, his hand is way bigger and harder than mine.

Is—is it over? The official introduction, I think it's over, I mean he doesn't have much to tell me as he already pretty much told everything we say in an introduction, yesterday, and It'll be weird if I am the only one who is talking.

Ray just smiles at me and then sits up straight in his seat to face the blackboard.

Well, I was right, the introductions are over.

I also sit up straight and shift my attention to the lecture which is about begin, I gotta study if I wanna pass out with good grades and go to a good college.

After School, as I was packing my bag to head to the art room, I hear a voice calling out to me, before I could turn to find who it was, a figure just hugs me from behind.

"Aahh!" I make a squealing sound as the figure behind me, grabs me.

"HEYYYY Arisa, you heading to the art room?" said the figure who was grabbing me from behind.

Wait, I recognize this voice.

"Yeah Sawako I am, do you need anything? And you have to stop doing that." I say, as I remembered the voice in my head.

"Come on, aren't we besties?" Sawako replies.

I know this, it's the kind of act Sawako pulls when she needs a favor from me.

I sigh and continue.

"What is it you need now, Sawako?"

"Oh, nothing much, just your English notes."

Of course, Sawako hates English, she even says we should just stick to Japanese, our native language, even though she knows that she'll require English in future a lot, she doesn't pay a lot of attention in English class, so much for making notes and by the looks of it she didn't made notes yesterday either.

I am not too good in English myself either, I just manage to get by, I know that and that's why I know I will have to work harder than others if I wanna be as good as others around me.

"But we have a test tomorrow!" I say, reminding her about the announcement our English teacher made today in class.

"Oh, then let's meet up at my house today."

"No Sawako, you need to study on your own."

"Come on, don't be a meanie."

She is persistent as hell, we continue to debate for a few more moments on if I should give her the notes, specifically my notes, for a while, which should be a decision that should be completely up to me but somehow we are debating about it, while she is still hugging me from the back.

Ray, who was also packing up his things, stopped to watch us and suddenly let out a little chuckle, hearing this little chuckle we both stopped and stared at him blankly.

Is he thinking we are crazy or something? Oh, come on he can't be, right? I bet Sawako doesn't really care about it, but I, on the other hand, am very concerned about my image and reputation in the eyes of not just Ray, but my whole class, actually, make that 'every person I know'.

"What you laughing at?" Sawako questioned him out of pure curiosity.

'Really Sawako?' I think in my head, as it's in plain sight why he is laughing at us, well to be fair, he didn't actually burst out laughing but still maybe he was holding his laugh in, this whole time, but whatever the case it should be obvious.

"Oh, no I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or anything, it's just, you guys seem very close and that reminds me of my friends back in America." He said as he resumes his bag packing.

Sawako might have asked the question out of curiosity but it's clear that even if he knows that, he doesn't wanna cause' trouble for anyone around him. Just how much of a nice guy can he be?

"Are you… lonely? Renner-kun?" asked Sawako

WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU ASKING, SAWAKO?!

Of course, he is gonna feel a little bit, if not a lot, lonely, he changed countries, that means almost all the connections he had back there would be automatically gone and the few exceptions would also disappear soon.

Sometimes, I feel Sawako is a bit more mature than me and can carry out conversations smoothly, but at times like this I doubt myself so much, I mean, the answer to her question should be obvious right? And if it's that obvious, it's even more the reason why we shouldn't ask this question to a person like Ray, especially when it's the first time you are talking to him.

"Haha, well yeah, a little bit, but I have already met a lot of nice people here, so I guess this loneliness wouldn't last right?" he says it with the same bright smile, he made on our very first interaction, but I can see an essence of unsureness behind it.

Sawako finally leaves me and approaches Ray, Ray also stands up straight, she is tiny compared to him, well same goes for me.

"Hello, Mr. Ray Renner, I go by many names, but you may call me Sawako Nakamura." she says in a childish tone as she extends a hand towards him.

Did she just make a Konosuba reference? I think she did.

I wonder how she manages to muster up the courage to throw these acts in public.

I think Ray is also thinking the same thing as me, cause' he takes a second to respond.

"Uh—Yeah Nice to meet you Nakamura-san." He finally answers accepting her handshake.

"Oh, throw that formal act out of the window, Renner-kun" she says, which I would say, is a good thing to say in this situation.

"You see this girl over here? She only likes guys who are pretty informal around her." she says as she points towards me.

"He—Hey!"

I start to oppose but Ray suddenly starts chuckling again, it seems like he is in a good mood again. It… kinda makes me warm inside.

Watching him laugh like that, somehow relieves me and the only thing or the only expression that comes to face is a small smile, which you wouldn't even notice if you weren't watching me closely, I wonder when was the last time I felt like this.

"Damn, you too are really close, huh" he says as he controls his laughter.

Which kinda brings me to my senses too, was I just creepily smiling while watching him laugh? God, I hope no one saw that and even more, I hope that Ray forgets what Sawako commented on my preferences among guys because I don't wanna force him to act in front of me, just to me feel comfortable. I actually prefer people who can be themselves in front of me, that's what I want for Ray too, that he can be himself at least when he is around me.

"Well, we are together since middle school." I say, as I believe that could be the reason why we are this close.

"We are only ones together since middle school, at least from the school we graduated." Sawako corrects me, while elaborating what I said.

"Hmm I see." Ray nods as he accepts that as a valid reason, he suddenly turns to bag (he was leaning against his desk until now to face us) and starts to speak again.

"Well, I didn't mean to but I overheard your conversation, so…" his stops and turns around with a notebook in his hand which he extends towards Sawako.

"Mind if I help you?" he adds.

Sawako accepts the notebook from Ray and opens it and gasps.

"Renner-kun, are these your English notes?" Sawako says, still flipping the pages of the notebook.

"Yup, you need these to prepare for tomorrow's test, right? You can use take mine if you want." Ray says as he leans against the desk again.

"But, what about you?" Sawako asks, concerned.

She didn't display this kind of concern while asking me for the notes.

"Oh well, I don't need them anyway, I can study the syllabus from the textbook just fine, Also, English is my first language, right?" Ray says as he stands up and picks his bag, it looks like he has already made up his mind to leave his notes with Sawako.

He really is a good guy, at least that's the impression I get from him or well, it's the impression most of the people would get, it's just been two days and I can safely say that he is one of the nicest guys I have met yet. But still, I don't want him to spoon feed Sawako each and every time, I mean, it's fine if it's emergency or something but when it's her own mistakes he should just let her deal with it on her own otherwise she'll never learn, well I can't blame him, it's his first time talking to her, so I guess it's fair..

"Thanks a lot Renner-kun, I owe you big time!" Sawako's face lit up with joy, as she closed the notebook and shoot them into the air.

She is a child inside.

"Nah, it's fin—" Ray was interrupted by a voice coming from behind us.