Hadzuki's POV

"Hashikawa-sensei, can I please go to the bathroom?" I asked, halting the teacher from writing. She turned to me with displeased look as she lowered her marker, putting the cap back. "I'm in the middle of a lecture though. Does it really have to be now?" She glanced at the clock hanging at the back of the classroom, squinting her eyes.

"Yes! Like really, really, really!" I pleaded, desparate to get out of this Antarctica clone. My damned classmates just love turning up the thermostat without being considerate of others. La-di-da, while they're partying, some of us are turning into ice!

"But Kazumi didn't come back yet, did she?" Hashikawa-sensei scanned the classroom looking for the silver haired girl, but alas, the said girl isn't here. I furrowed my eyebrows as I glanced at the empty seat beside mine. Biting my bottom lip, I tried shrugging the gut feeling I'm having, breathing deeply on order to release tension.

Looking dead straight into my teacher's eyes, I crossed my fingers as I unleashed my special move.

"Please, sensei! I can't hold it in!"

She deadpanned and massaged the bridge of her nose, pointing at the door and mouthing the word 'Go.' I beamed and exited the classroom in a hurry, my smile widening (if that's even possible)  when the warm air touched my skin.

I skipped and hummed as I passed through busy classrooms. Some are quiet as a library, with students either doing works or being obedient because of their teacher being terror. Some are being wild animals on the loose, screaming and jumping because their teacher is absent. It seems like they don't have any substiture teacher, so they're having the time of their lives. Turning my attention to where I'm going, I slowed my pacing and glanced at my watch. 3:24PM, so I've been here for—

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"

What?

The scream echoed through the empty hallway, but no one got out of their respective classrooms. They must be thinking that it's one of their fellows who screamed or are simply too loud to hear any noise from outside. The latter seems to be more logical, with the doors being shut tight and all. I whipped my head from side to side and tried to spot a maintenance walking by to ask for help. I searched for any sign of another person being somewhere close, but the place is utterly deserted. Deciding that this is no time to panic, I took deep breaths to calm myself. My legs moved into an amble as I brainstormed for ideas or ways on how to help this person. If I want to assist whoever this person is that is in distress, then I need to concentrate.

Judging by the volume, they, must be a girl because of the high pitch, should be somewhere close. The scream being kinda muffled must mean they must be inside something. And if I followed the hallway until the very end, there would be nothing there. There's no way that person could be inside of boxes or something, but there's one thing...

"The restroom!" I blurted out, snapping my fingers. I wasn't able to stop my legs from breaking into a sprint, the heavy feeling in my chest worsening. I can't shake the feeling that the scream felt familiar. Why? Why do I feel like my heart's going to drop? It sounds full of misery, a cry of agony. And the thought that someone I knew made that doesn't make me feel any better.

I shook my head, the door of the girl's restroom entering my view. I immediately sped up and threw open the door, almost bumping into the dispenser because I was running too close to the wall. My eyes automatically looked at the floor. There sat a figure huddled in the corner of the restroom. Her fingers gripped her tangled silver hair as she pulled at them, her knees brought up to her chest.

"Kazumi!"

The girl stopped and raised their head. With her eyes that have lost their color, she stared at me blankly. Then she blinked as if processing the occuring events. Her lips parted slowly and with difficulty, replied.

"Had...zuki??"

Her voice sounded hoarse, but it's still her normal voice, only a bit lower. The irregular rising and falling of her chest made me think she's having difficulties breathing. I made a choice to take small steps towards her, and she stayed put. She let go of her hair and they dropped lifelessly beside her, her legs straightening.

I glanced behind me, closing the door gently in order to avoid scaring her. "What happened?" I asked, turning my attention to her. She only avoided my gaze. I crouched down to see her better. Her disheveled silver locks covered almost half of her face, but she made no effort to fix them. It's like she doesn't want to... Behind her hair, I took note of her red and puffy eyes as they watched the empty stalls. I reached out to touch her but she snapped her head towards my direction, slapped my hand before stumbling into the closest stall. I heard a small click coming from it. I was left gaping at the door for a few minutes. It took me several moments before I stood up and walked to the door, knocking.

"Hey," I called out. I racked my brain for things to say. "I, uhh, just want to know what happened."

An awkward silence made me bring my hand up to my face. I tried knocking a few more times, asking the same thing. But still, I received no reply.

This won't get anywhere, I thought, my hand retracting. A team won't accomplish anything if even one member doesn't cooperate.

I let out a sigh, leaning on the side of the stall. I crossed my arms and legs as I spoke clearly, almost annoyed. "I know you're in a sensitive and fragile state right now and acting harsh will only make you feel worse..." I glanced shortly at the mirror, my reflection looking back at me. "But if you don't open the door right f*cking now, I will crawl under this door, drag you by your foot and squeeze the pain out of you."

I looked away from the mirror awkwardly. "Okay, maybe I'm not making any sense but I just wanna let you know that all you need is to call and I'll gladly pull you out of whatever despair hole you're in and kill any of your demons on our way. I've crawled out of hell once already and I'm ready to scrape my knee crawling out again."

I waited for a few moments but as expected, I didn't receive a reply. The only sound I could hear is shuffling from inside the stall, and incoherent mumbling. I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering if I should start dragging Kazumi by her foot. The silence resurfaced. I tapped my foot to relieve my boredom. I was getting impatient that I recomposed my figure. I thought of crawling under the door when I soft click brought me back to reality. I backed away from the stall as the door slowly opened, revealing Kazumi standing straight. Her head was lowered so she can't really see me.

I slowly and surely stepped towards her, patting her head gently. Her hair feels soft under my touch and I smiled sadly. "Are you gonna tell me what happened or do you just want me to be your teddy bear while you cry?"

Kazumi took small steps, like a baby trying to walk before spreading her arms and enveloping me in a hug. I did the same, caging her in my arms as she weeped, burying her face in my chest. I stroked her head to provide comfort and wrapped my other arm around her waist. "We should probably sit down since we're gonna be here awhile."

She nodded wordlessly and pulled away, sitting on her previous spot. I decided to sit down in front of her. Kazumi wiped her face dry and inhaled, closing her eyes. She breathed out and looked at me with a small sad smile. "I'm sorry. I don't want you to see me in such a state. I don't want anyone to see me being helpless.."

"If you don't want anyone to see you, you should've closed the door," I joked. She let out a snort. "Yeah, I should've done that. Stupid me."

"I'm guessing you're ready to spill your sufferings?"

Kazumi fiddled with her thumbs. "It's.. You see... My problem is kinda, uhh..."

I blinked, waiting for her patiently. Her eyes darted from left to right, perhaps finding the right words to say.

"Now that I think about it, the reason why I had a mental breakdown is pretty stupid...." she said softly, gazing at me uncertainly. "I know you've heard of this before.. You know, the feeling of being depressed and stuff. When you feel like no one can understand you and you're always alone. Always being left behind.. And you're just not good enough, no matter how hard you try."

"Eh, I don't think so," I replied, shocked to hear the words coming from Kazumi's mouth. "If I have to be honest, Kazumi, you're like, one of the most amazing people I met. You're talented and such a smart ass. Dude, you're great at chess, drawing, writing stories... Hell, you can even keep up with us when it comes to academics! What are you talking about, saying "you're not good enough"? Kazumi, you're already way beyond that! You're overqualified! The world doesn't deserve a person like you if I must say so."

She flinched and pouted, crossing her arms. "Lies."

"Dude." I deadpanned. "I know I'm a liar, but come on, I won't lie in a serious situation. My wonderful friend here is having issues with self-esteem, and you dare tell me I'm lying? Oh, puh-leaseee."

Kazumi giggled. "Alright fine. I believe you. But when you say that all of a sudden, eh... I'm not prepared."

"The heck are you on?"

"I mean I'm not used to receiving compliments!" she exclaimed, cheeks burning red. "I used to treat compliments as insults because I always think that people are just lying to quote unquote, "make me feel better". Gee, never do that again. The feeling of your heart jumping isn't good, it can cause death."

I smiled widly, throwing my hands up in the air like an idiot.

"What the hell? Are you a 5 year old?"

"Maybe," I chirped. "I'm just happy to see my friend again."

I saw a glimpse of her eyes hardening into a glare before her palm made contact with my arm. "Ouch!" I shrieked, rubbing my arm tingling with pain. "Dayum! Don't tell me you're also a volleyball player?"

"Shut up! I just told you to never do that again!!"

"Never do what?"

"T-that... Saying embarassing things out of nowhere..."

"You call being honest embarassing?"

"It depends on the degree of honesty, obviously!" She flicked my forehead and stood up, dusting her skirt. "If you just say things without being considerate of other people's feelings, then you might as well shut the hell up."

"Pfft, bodere Kazumi giving a lecture without stuttering is a rare sight," I teased, pushing myself up and taking a few steps back.

"Bodere?"

"Kinda like a tsundere. But more violent. Definitely suits you as you tend to hit people on reflex."

She puffed her cheeks and turned to the side. "Fine, sorry. There, I said it. Happy??"

"Yup."

A soft knock made us turn to the door. Through the small window, we saw the class representative, Mirai, waving at us. 'Can I come in?', she mouthed. I gave sideways glance at Kazumi who hid behind me, before nodding at Mirai.

She turned the doorknob and stepped inside, giving us a sharp look. "Hashikawa-sensei's looking for you two." She gazed at her watch before looking at us. "If you don't have a valid reason for staying out here, you'll be sent to the office for loitering."

I felt Kazumi squirm behind me, so I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. I hid her and smiled at the class representative. "Sorry about that Mirai. I forgot to take tissues and a napkin with me so I asked Kazumi to get me one but she had trouble with the dispenser." I laughed sheepishly, scratching my cheek. "She should've been back in class already if it wasn't for me! Just give us another minute, 'kay? But don't tell the teacher about my little slip-up, please. It's already embarassing enough with you two knowing."

Mirai's steady gaze made me want to dismiss the lie I came up with and just spill the beans, but thankfully, I have my fingers crossed. Just please, oh please, buy the excuse.

She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed, shaking her head. "Fine, whatever. Just don't do it again." Her eyes stared at me, but I felt uncomfortable so I looked behind me. Only then I noticed that Kazumi let go of my hand and stood behind me, meeting Mirai's eyes. Kazumi gave a closed-eyed smile as Mirai  turned around.

"I'll be heading back. You better be there." She left us with that, and I found myself releasing a lot of air.

"Good job handling the pressure. If I were you, I would've ditched the person already, no matter who the person is," Kazumi stated as she walked to the door.

"Are you sure you can go back now?"

Kazumi didn't respond. She just went out without a word, making me follow. Along the way, I noticed Kazumi walking a few steps in front of me. I opened my mouth to ask why, but she cut me off.

"Mirai's really nice, isn't she?"

The question is sudden, so I didn't know how to respond. Slowly, I answered a small 'yeah'.

"That excuse of your wouldn't work on a teacher. We're lucky that Mirai let us off."

"What are you talking about? I thought my lie is pretty good."

"Hmmm.. It's great that you were able to come up with a lie that fast and that you were able to deliver it perfectly, but the fact that your lie isn't convincing just proves that you still need practice."

I have no idea where the topic is headed, so I just let her speak without interruptions. "First, a student won't take 20 minutes trying to make a dispenser work. Just call a maintenance and then problem solved. Second, why not get it yourself? You're the one who needs it after all. Third, the what you call the elephant in the room, the dispenser is outside the restroom. Remember, we're inside when Mirai found us. Lastly, where's the tissues that you're talking about? The napkin, I can understand. But surely, you can't use a pack of tissues on one go. You don't have a cold."

"What are you, a detective?"

"Just a wanna-be. I'm a fan of Sherlock Holmes and Detective Conan, you know."

We stopped in front of the door of the classroom. I reached for the door but Kazumi grabbed my wrist, making me look at her. "Don't tell anyone about what you saw, okay? I entrust my secret with you."

Her eyes.. The sea green color is back, although they're not as bright as before. They danced with joy, but deep inside, I can see that they're screaming. A silent scream of help. Could it be... Kazumi, is it possible that you're still doubting yourself?

"Yeah.." I whisphered. "I won't tell anyone, promise.."

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We need a vote for this wonderful display of friendship. In a toxic world, true friendship is hard to find, you see.

Anyway, I want to say thank you to ljammie623 for helping me make the Hadzuki-Kazumi scene. Actually, this chapter is dedicated to her. Hope you like it by the way.

Fun fact:ljammie623 is my friend in real life, so when I have no idea how to make the Hadzuki-Kazumi scene, I turned to her. She actually made the storyboard for the scene. Hadzuki's words when she tries to make Kazumi come out of the stall is made by her, every single word of it. She's magnificent by the way so be sure to check her stories! Thanks for reading!