Akari's POV

"Aki-chan!!!! Morningg~!!"

'Ekk.... it's that girl again. She been nagging me since the day I met her, I can't believe she's so persistent.' I sighed as I stopped my track. 3....2....1 I dodged. She tried to tackled me, but she almost lost her balance when I move out of the way. I got used to it just a few days ago. Well, it's been a week since I've known her and she always tackle me every time she sees me.

I stopped near the shoe lockers and took off my shoes and wore the school shoes. Natsumi did the same too. Natsumi's locker was a bit far from mine but she came to me when she was done.

We walked to our class as Natsumi kept babbling about the new anime that was just released by her favorite voice actor in it.

"Okay okay, we're here now," I interrupted.

"Oh! You're right...," she sighed, "then I'll see you later," she waved as I nodded and waved back.

I didn't think this would happened, it was because of her nagging that I had to gave in. Starting back at the next morning after Natsumi told me she wanted to be friends with me. I was at the school campus walking into the school building.

<<<<<<<<<<<

"Akari~ Wait up!" I turned around to search for the loud voice. Natsumi was waving while running towards me. She panted heavily and spoke slowly, "G-Good... Morning."

"Y-You too......." I replied awkwardly. I wasn't used to my classmates greeting me in the morning.

Then she caught up to my pace. "What's your first class??"

"English."

"Oh, mine's History!" 'She's really peculiar....answering questions herself when I didn't even ask.' "Aki-chann~ let's eat lunch together at lunch, kay? We're friends after all."

"Listen, let me make this clear--" Just then the school bell rang.

"Ah! We're late! Let's run!!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me inside the school.

>>>>>>>>>>>

It was noon and class was dismissed. I was packing my books as the class just ended. I grabbed my lunchbox and was about to get out of the class... until, Natsumi's head popped out from behind the door and she looked around. 'Is she here to search for me??' I panicked trying to hide from her. Hah, what's the point of even hiding. She's going to see me anyway, I regretted what I did and just then Natsumi spotted me.

"There you are, Aki-chan!! Let's go eat already~ I'm hungryy!!" She wailed. Everyone gasped at us and stared. They've never seen me hangout with someone else, so it's normal that they were all surprised. I covered my face with my hands in embarrassment and ran out of the classroom, dragging Natsumi with me to the rooftop.

"Woah, wait wait...," she said between her pants. "Oh, it's the rooftop! It's such a nice view up here!" She recovered from her tired self and went from a corner to the opposite one in just a split second. How did she even get all the energy when she was just tired a few seconds ago. "Ahahah, I've only been here a few times because it was such a pain in the ass to climb all the stairs just to get up here. But I'm glad I came here the other day and met you again!" She grinned.

I shook my mat and placed it on the floor. I took out my lunchbox, and started unpacking the boxes.

"Oooo is that onigiri??" Her mouth dropped as if it's the first time seeing onigiri.

"Yeah, it is."

"Can I try one??" Her eyes sparkled.

"..Sure?" She picked up one of my onigiri and took a bite.

"OH MY GOD! What is this sorcery?! THIS IS SO GOOD!!" she gasped as she continue munching the rest of the onigiri.

"Don't tell me you've never tried an onigiri before?"

"Nope. Never before. Eliz-san don't make me these kinds of lunch," she frowned. "I really want to try these kind of food actually."

"Eliz??"

"Eliz-san takes care of me, even more than my Mom do. She's the one who cooks for me, she make delicious food but I would like to try these kind of food too. She was with me ever since I was a child and she also take cares of me."

"Ahh...." Maybe Eliz-san is like her caretaker? I picked up an onigiri and start chewing on it. She took her lunchbox out as well. I choked after I saw her lunch. I started coughing.

"Oh no. Aki-chan are you okay??" She took out a steel water bottle and hand me a cup as she poured in green tea. "Drink this, it'll help you." I blew the tea and took a sip. It was perfect for this slightly cold weather.

"Thanks." I looked at her lunch again. It was stacked in three, filled with sushi, tonkatsu, and sashimi. 'T-This is like what you'd find in rich restaurants.'

"Ah, Aki-chan you're drooling," she laughed.

"Uh..sorry," I wiped my mouth with my napkin, my eyes were still glued onto the her lunch.

"Do you want some Aki-chan?"

"Eh? Is that okay? It looks really expensive."

"It's no big deal. Here have some!" She put a tonkatsu and a sashimi in my lunchbox

"Thank you," I picked the sashimi up first and ate it right away. "YUMM!! This is so good! This soft and chewy texture is just so tasty."

"Haha as expected of Eliz-san. I'm glad you like it. But honestly your onigiri taste better."

"What are you saying? My ongiri is nothing compared to yours."

"Nahh, my lunch doesn't taste that appetizing to me," she lied down on the mat and put her arms beneath her head supporting it and closed her eyes.

"The slight smell of the rusty iron from the iron bars. The gentle and calming breeze. The cold cement floor. The delicious smell of the foods. A friend here with me. All of this feels nice," Natsumi smiled. At that moment Natsumi seemed like she was in a deep thought.

Like this, Natsumi kept nagging me every morning, break, lunch, after school we grew closer as friends. I actually talk to her normally now and we even have conversations. Apparently, we live at the same district but different streets so we meet up together at a tea shop and go to school together. We would go home together and separate our ways at the tea shop too.

>>>>>>>>>>>

It was the next day and everything was going fine as usual until lunch. In the corner of my eyes I saw the girl again. The one that asked me to eat lunch with her a few weeks ago. As she was approaching me, Natsumi popped up next to my desk in just a flash. "Aki-chan let's go eat!" She grinned and she turned around when she saw the other girl. "Ohh? Who're you? You know Aki-chan?? Come'on join us for lunch," Before she could answer Natsumi dragged both of us to the rooftop.

We all were panting when we got to the top. "Geez, you didn't have to make us run here," I glared at Natsumi.

"Heh heh," she gave a small smile. "Oh, by the way. You! What's your name?" She pointed at my classmate.

"O-Oh! H-hello, I'm Yoshino Mari! Nice to meet you," she bowed. I just averted my gaze while Natsumi was hugging her.

"Awwn! You're so cute! I'm Tachibana Natsumi from class 1-C. Nice to meet ya!!" She squeezed Yoshino-san and jumped up and down from excitement.

I sighed, pitying her as I began eating my lunch. "Aki-chan!! You're so mean! Don't start eating by yourself! Wait for us," Natsumi pouted.

"You guys are just slow and wasting my time," I answered.

"Ehh," Natsumi and Yoshino-san both unpacked her lunches and started eating with me.

"Oh, umm M-Miura-san..."

I glanced up at her, "Just call me Akari. It's weird for me if people call me by my last name. I don't like it either," I popped in a meatball in my mouth. "I'll also call you Mari so yeah."

"Umm then Akari-chan," Mari started. "I'm happy for you that you're finally hanging out with a friend. I've always wanted to be your friend but I guess Tachibana--"

"Natsumi is fine~" she interrupted.

"Oh okay, umm Natsumi-chan was your first friend, huh? Natsumi-chan, that's really cool!" She smiled.

"Natsumi wasn't my first friend though..." I mumbled.

"Huh? Oh, right! Of course you had many when you were young," she clapped her hands. "How silly of me," she stuck of tongue out and hit herself lightly on her head.

I sighed, "....Well, yeah, but I also knew someone in this school before her." I said. "We're not friends though," I stated hurriedly. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm not friends with that bastard....

"Oh really?! That's good for you Akari-chan! You're getting along with others more," Mari exclaimed.

"Oh right. I've been wanting to ask you this, Mari," I paused, "why do you keep inviting me for lunch and trying to be close with me?"

The three of us went quiet, "Eh? That, you don't remember?"

"Remember what?" My brows furrowed.

"Umm actually, it was around a week after school opened. I had a boyfriend and I actually didn't like him. I was forced to date him, you see. And he would always beat me when I make a little mistake. I hated it but then as we were at the school backyard, he was about to hit me, Akari-chan, you came and saved me. You even beat him into a pulp," she laughed. "And that's when I began to admire you and wanted to be your friend. You're always alone too and I wanted to be your friend. It's the least thing I could do to repay my gratitude to you. But when I talk to you, you always reject me :')" she sighed.

I stared at her dumbfounded. Yeah, I did remember doing that kind of thing. "Oh, sorry. I didn't remember that it was you," I apologized in a weak voice.

"Ahahahaha, it's okay! We can be friends now," she hold my hands and laughed.

"Umm, I never said that I--"

"YAYY! We're all friends now!!" Natsumi jumped in and pulled both of us in a hug.

"Yup Natsumi-chan~" Mari chuckled and agreed.

"MAN, I CAN'T BELIEVE AKARI ACTUALLY BEAT YOUR EX INTO A PULP! YOU'RE SO COOL!!!!" Natsumi squealed.

"I know right?? Akari-chan even knocked him it out! It was a K.O.!" Mari joined.

I sweatdropped. Mari actually gets along with Natsumi. Well that's not surprising though. She seems like the type who's cheerful and goes with the flow.

>>>>>>>>>>>

WIth that said, Natsumi, Mari, and I began to hang out together more often. But I noticed that Mari's friends get mad seeing us together with her. They seem to hangout with themselves now, and seem to exclude Mari. Mari and Natsumi were talking about their childhood friends, their classmates, and sharing gossips as we ate.

"Oh! What about your other friends, Maa-chan? They look really upset if they see you hanging out with us. We don't want you guys to have problems because of us, ya know," Natsumi started.

"......You're right. I don't get why they're acting like that. They're not usually like this. I feel like they've changed ever since high school started. We were together since middle school and they've never acted this way before. They already had so many boyfriends and stuff like those too. The guy that Akari saved me from was actually my first boyfriend. I'm not usually interested in stuff like that but they invited me to a triple date and they forced me to date that guy, I couldn't refuse their offer. They didn't know about him being mean either. Nowadays they even hang out without me these days. I feel like I'm the only one left behind," Mari sighed.

"Ehh? That's cruel!!" Natsumi said.

"How can you even consider them as your friends?" I asked bluntly.

"Well, we've been together since we were young so I couldn't say no to them in anything...."

"Do you want to be their friends?" I questioned furthermore.

"T-That's..... I-I don't know.."

"I'll tell you what. Friends come and go. They change. You either go your own way or continuing sticking with them. It's your choice. So what're you choosing?"

"I need time to think about this..." Mari replied with her head hung low.

"Aki-chan, have this kind of situation happened to you before...? You know a lot," Natsumi asked. I didn't answer, she stared at me for a while. "I'm glad you feel that way now Aki-chan. I was afraid you'd never open up, I guess it was worth a wait, you're slowly opening up now," Natsumi grinned.

"H-Huh?? Who's opening to who?" I turned my gaze away and folded my arms.

"You're becoming a tsundere!!" She laughed and starting hitting my back. Mari joined her and started laughed hard that they both fell to the floor and started rolling on the floor laughing. 'I really don't get why they're laughing so much. Which part of it was funny? ._.'

>>>>>>>>>>>

"Oh, Akari-chan~ Morning!" I turn to see Mari waving at me, a few meters away from me.

"...morning.." I muttered. She ran up to me and walked along me. Soon, Natsumi joined and we all strolled to our classrooms.

>>>>>>>>>>>

Classes went by really fast today. It was already break before I even knew it. The three of us strutted along the hallways, going to by some juice.

As we were in the outside intersection to the other building, I saw that idiot nearby. He's with a girl. Wait, I think I know her... I didn't realize I was staring at him until his eyes met mine. I quickly averted my gaze and listen to what the two others are talking about.

"Hey." The three of us turned around and saw Ken and the girl advancing toward us. It was the girl who spoke in the stern tone. "I'm calling you, answer," she looked at me.

"Yo elephant girl~" Ken grinned.

"Me?" I asked.

"I'm looking at you so who do you think?" She said.

"What do you want?"

"Airi-chan....," Mari said. The girl called Airi glanced at her and scoffed. Then she turn back to me.

"Lemme get to the point. You know that I'm Mari's friend, right? I'm pretty sure you see me hanging out with her alot," she started. Oh now I remember, it's that girl who was beside Mari all the time. "And because of you, I barely hang out with her and all she talks about is you and this girl," she pointed at Natsumi. "I always tell her that you're no good but she keeps on wanting to be friends with you. Ugh, seriously. And now I just saw you look at my Ken. Who do you think you are?? I'll not let you take them away from me!" She yelled.

'So troublesome. These kinds of things again.'

"Airi-chan....stop it. It's not her fault--" I stepped closer to Airi and gestured my hand to tell Mari that I'd take care of this.

"I'll only say this. You shouldn't complain to others about every little thing. Why don't you just use that time to try to make people wanna be friends with you? Maybe they'll consider being your friend if you fix that attitude," I scoffed.

Ken whistled and smirked. "Oooo," the bastard said.

"Shut up," I glared.

"Airi-chan," Mari called. All our attention went to her, "I can be with anyone I wanna be with. I'm the one who decides that, not you, Airi-chan. And I want to be with them," she pointed at us. "For me, I can be myself when I'm with them. Whenever I'm with you guys, I feel so fake and it's like I'm lying to myself. This is why it's over, Airi-chan. I'm sorry," she bowed her head.

I could see Airi clench her teeth and tightened her fists. She then let out a scream, "Ugh!! All of you!Quit screwing around and go to hell!" She exploded and ran away.

"Wow~" I heard Ken said, with his eyes widened. "I seriously don't get girls and their drama. But they sure are scary."

I let out my breath, "Why're you here?"

"Cuz I'm bored~" he winked. I cringed and ignored him.

Then Natsumi softly said, "Maa-chan, are you okay?"

I look at her carefully and saw that her body was shaking. She still hasn't lifted her head up yet. Drops of tears hit the ground as she nodded her head.

"Mari..." I called out and patted her back. "It's okay, you did the right thing. You finally said it right? The words that you've kept to yourself all along... it's alright. Don't worry, we're here for you." Just then Natsumi pulled her into a tight hug as Mari kept sobbing.

"....uhh...I'm just gonna leave you guys alone, okay?" Ken said as I glared at him again.

He forced and smile and walked away really fast. Then I went back on calming Mari down.

'It must've been tough for her...letting go of a friend. I understand how you feel, Mari.'