Chapter 3 - Dang.

Zzzzz.... Zzzzz.... Zzzzz....

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Sayano springs up with a joyful look on his face. With a huge grin, he gets ready for his morning routine.

He eagerly went on with his usual things.

After some time, Sayano and Katsu walk out of their house.

Sayano, who already has the quintessential cheerful face, looks even happier than usual. His grin was wide and his eyes were, figuratively, brighter than days before.

Katsu asks teasingly,

"Hey brother, you look happier than before!"

Sayano gets startled by his brother's observation,

"Was I?"

Sayano chuckles.

Sayano massages his face and turns into Sigma mode.

He locks in and stops smiling.

"I need to be mysterious and lowkey so that I can at least have one good thing about me."

Sayano thought to himself.

Sayano walks Katsu to his school and leaves for his too.

"What time is it..?"

Sayano asks as he checks his watch.

Still early, so he can still talk to Sakawa.

Sayano runs to his school to be even earlier.

Sayano arrives at the school gate, panting from his morning run.

For a while, Sayano remains standing there catching his breath.

With fire in his eyes, he thoughts to himself,

"If I look good enough, I might actually make Sakawa my girlfriend!"

Bruh.

Sayano, with a lack of experience, starts to get cocky.

"I'm on my way to being popular, I'm sure of it!"

Sayano proudly exclaims.

He takes his bag from his back and digs through it.

After a while of digging, he finds his SpongeGuy perfume.

"How much should I put on..."

He asks.

He shrugs.

Without thinking much, he sprays half of the bottle on his neck and other parts.

"I need to lock in and make her realize I have the charisma!"

Sayano proudly thought to himself.

The school guard springs up in his guard shack.

The guard's hair was long and messy, with small semi-dark eyebags under his black eyes.

"Hey... Why are you so early...?"

The guard asks in a tired tone, probably from lack of sleep.

"Why not!"

Sayano answers proudly.

The guard stares blankly and slumps on his table, out of view from the shack's window.

Sayano rushes to his classroom, and as usual, Sakawa is in her seat, still reading the same manga.

Sayano smiles and casually sits on his chair.

He looked past the window to see the landscape, in a cool way, of course.

"The leaves of the trees are dancing gracefully today..."

He said in a soft and low voice, just enough for Sakawa to hear it.

"Wouldn't you agree?"

He asks, and looks at Sakawa, with rizz.

To his shock, Sakawa is pinching her nose.

"You smell strong today," Sakawa said.

"In a bad way," she added.

Sayano is flabbergasted and turns his head below towards his body.

The smell... Was really, really, really strong.

Immediate regret, he felt.

"I-It'll wear off," Sayano nervously said.

Sakawa stays silent for a while.

It was a short moment, but it was long enough to scare Sayano.

"Ah, this is my end," Sayano thought.

...

...

Sakawa breaks her stoic face and giggles.

"I hope so," She said.

Sayano sighs in relief and plays tic tac toe with himself in his notebook.

Class starts, and again, yapping.

Sayano, bored out of his mind, started to daydream about him hanging out with Sakawa, platonically of course.

Or perhaps more than that... Well, it's just his fantasy anyway.

His mind wanders off, but then, all of a sudden, his teacher, Mr. Kaza, calls his name,

"Mr. Iji, answer question number 5."

Sayano's mind races, frantically turning the pages,

"Uhm sir, what was the page again?"

"Page 67," his teacher replied.

Turning pages, he reaches this part and reads the questions.

He spots question number 5 and reads it.

"Question number 5. What do you think was the reason why David chose to fight Goliath, despite the overwhelming difference in size?" Sayano read.

He was nervous, really nervous.

It was his first time being called by a teacher to answer.

He didn't think that his teacher would actually acknowledge his existence.

He quickly thinks of answers, but then he gets an idea.

He viewed this as an opportunity to increase his popularity, by being funny.

...Oh, dear...

"Because... David was trying to fanum tax Goliath so that Goliath can't edge anymore," Sayano said.

The whole classroom bursts into laughter and everyone applauds.

Sakawa hugged Sayano and said, "You're the best, Sayano!"

Sakawa kissed him on the cheek.

Mr. Kaza immediately called the principal to celebrate Sayano's incredible answer.

And then...

"Mr. Iji, be quick and answer already!" his teacher loudly exclaimed.

Sayano, looking proud, answers,

"B-because... D-David was t-trying to f-fanum tax Goliath so... uhhmmm... S-so that Goliath c-can't edge i-in Ohi-Ohio anymore."

He stuttered but was still expecting applause from the class.

Instead of a joyous celebration, he was met with overwhelming silence.

The silence was so loud that he started to get dizzy.

Everyone in the class stared blankly at him.

Everyone went silent for a while.

"Please sit down, Mr. Iji," Mr. Kaza said in a disappointed tone.

Sayano sits down in shame and looks down at his desk.

The class went normally.

Perhaps this was the most he had ever felt ashamed ever in his life...

Second only to that 'incident' he had long ago...

After a long while, lunchtime comes.

Sayano goes to the rooftop as usual.

Once he arrived on the roof, he sat down on the floor and rested his back on the wall.

"Why did I say that," Sayano asks.

Sayano curls up to a ball and sobs for a while.

After a while of sobbing, the same girl he last saw on the rooftop, was there as well.

Sayano didn't notice her, but the girl did.

The girl comes near him and sits down in front of him.

"Hey, what's wrong?" The girl calmly asked.

Sayano immediately stops his position and sits normally.

He wipes the tears on his face.

"I did something embarrassing..." He shamefully said.

The girl smiles and sits beside him.

"Was it really that bad?" She asked with a soft voice.

The kind of voice a mother would give to her crying child.

The kind of voice Sayano hasn't heard in a while.

Her voice was almost the same as his mother's.

And it was deeply comforting for him.

Sayano is just an insecure kid, who lost his mother long ago.

Sayano is unfamiliar with that kind of voice.

That's why he broke down into tears once again.

He was a lonely kid who hadn't been comforted by anyone his whole life.

(Other than his younger brother of course.)

The girl looks concerned.

The girl asked first,

"Can I hug you?"

Sayano, already having difficulty talking because of his tears and snot, replied,

"Yes, please... Please do..." He said pleadingly, like a child longing for comfort.

The girl smiled and hugged him.

The warm embrace of another person made him cry harder than before.

He hugged her tightly, crying and crying.

His face became ugly from crying too much.

The girl hugged him lightly and patted his back.

"Cry as much as you want," The girl softly said.

After a while, Sayano stops crying.

"Thank you... Thank you so much," he said in a raspy voice.

"You're welcome," she replied in a comforting tone.

Sayano stops hugging her and lets her go.

The girl stands up and walks towards the small building with stairs to go down.

Before the girl left, Sayano shouted, "Please tell me your name!"

The girl looked back at him and smiled.

Sayano couldn't see much of her face, mainly because of the sunlight glaring at his eyes and the moisture from his tears.

The girl looked beautiful.

Hauntingly beautiful.

The girl had brunette and silky hair, flowing with the wind, her skin pale, and she was kinda... Familiar?

The girl smiled softly, and replied,

"You don't need to know," she said in an oddly cheerful voice.

Sayano smiled brightly.

"Thank you..." Sayano muttered.

The girl was already gone by then.

Sayano felt comforted, knowing that there were people who would treat him nicely too.

He ate his lunch and went down to his class.

After a while, dismissal comes.

Sayano thought that he would walk with Sakawa, but he didn't because of that embarrassing answer he said.

As Sayano walked towards the school gate, his name was called out by a familiar voice.

"Sayano!" Sakawa shouted.

She ran and went beside him,

"Can you walk me home again?" she asked.

Sayano smiles brightly

"Of course!"

Sakawa smiled.

They walked together.

Once Sakawa reached her house, Sayano said his goodbyes and ran to his home.

Sayano arrives at his house,

"I'm home!" he exclaimed.

Katsu rushed to greet his brother.

"Hello!!!" Katsu said.

Sayano smiled and went inside his house.

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