(Irina's POV)

DAY 1

Tokyo is a loud place. And I'm reminded of that fact now more than ever, trapped in a train car in the afternoon heat, sweaty from the long day at school. Now I know why Mama and Papa hate the city. I hate it too.

"Um...excuse me, i-is that seat taken?" A nimble voice asks. It belongs to a small girl who's standing before me with her head bowed. She has full cheeks and big eyes, and her hair is parted into two flappy pigtails. I recognise her from class. Splendid. Now I might have to socialise.

"No," I answer, displeased.

"Then, would it be okay if I sat next to you?" She asks softly, her eyes still downcast.

"Go ahead," I say. She's a strange one, but better her than some big, sweaty adult.

"Thank you," she whispers. She sits with her hands in her lap and her legs close together. Keeps her head down. I look away.

At least it's quiet.

DAY 6

I've become more or less accustomed to taking this cramped train home. I much prefer walking, but I simply live too far away from school. It's one of the countless downsides of living in the city.

The cute girl has been consistently sitting beside me on the ride home, but the only time she ever opens her mouth is to ask me if the next seat is taken. I wonder when she'll stop doing that.

Today, she looks restless. She keeps fiddling with her skirt and stealing glances at me. "Is there something you want to say to me?" I ask, when I finally can't take it anymore.

"Y-Yes, um," she stutters, eyes wildly darting around the space. "I just wanted to ask you...how was your day?"

She's definitely an oddball. Also a cute ball.

"It was good," I say.

She nods. "I'm glad."

"How was yours?" I ask after a brief pause.

She blinks, and without warning, her face erupts in a smile, catching me off guard. "It was good! Thank you so much for asking!"

We sit in silence until we arrive at her stop. She stands up, pigtails wagging, and turns to face me, clearly nervous. She takes a second to breathe before puffing her cheeks out, all serious. "I'm Rubi Amari! What's your name?"

"Irina Akiyama."

"It's nice to meet you, Irina!" she exclaims, her cheeks melting into that smile. "I actually already knew your name, but I didn't know how else to...ah, I'm gonna miss my stop, s-see you tomorrow!"

Cute doesn't cut it.

DAY 12

"And then Shin threw the duster at Kenji, threw it, can you believe that? Boys are so violent; if it were me, I would just stop talking to him until he apologised, you know?"

She talks so much.

"And then Shin...oh wait, did I tell you about Hana? Apparently her mother found out about her skipping school to go to that new cake shop, and now she's in a lot of trouble. I knew this would happen, she..."

I rest my head against the window behind me and watch her. I don't know who any of those people are. I don't care. She talks so much. But somehow, I don't mind.

I just like listening to her voice.

DAY 15

We hold seats for each other in the train now. It's nice.

At least there's one thing worth coming to school for.

I'd take her home with me too, if I could.

DAY 21

Rubi never hesitates to offer up her seat. Be it a frail old woman or a tired high school boy, she'll immediately stand up and move aside for anyone who looks even remotely troubled. Cutie has a bigger heart than anyone I know, and I love her for that, but sometimes I wish she would just shut up and stay with me.

Today, it's for a businessman with tremendous dark circles under his eyes. I groan under my breath as I watch her leave my side to go stand between the mob building in the centre of the train, her head bowed.

There aren't any handholds left, so she sways dangerously on her feet, constantly on the verge of knocking into someone. I stand up and stride over to her, because if she's going to knock into someone, I'd rather it be me.

"You can hold on to me," I tell her, and she nods, her round eyes radiating gratitude.

I spend the next forty five minutes standing with Rubi against my chest, and they're hands down the best forty five minutes of my life.

DAY 28

Lately, my name has a special ring to it only when you say it.

DAY 33

Rubi is extra quiet today, and it's dampening my mood. With me, she's usually goose-blah-blah, but if anyone else is around, her vocal cords start to malfunction.

I don't mind keeping her sweet words to myself, not at all, but I wish she didn't let things like this bring her down.

We're stuck with seats close to where some of our female classmates are standing in a huddle, chatting away. Some girl is showing off her new perm, and everyone else is fussing over it. I don't see what the big deal is.

"It took four whole hours to do, but it was totally worth it, right?" the girl beams. Her companions nod emphatically. She looks at us then and, for some reason, feels the need to come over.

She stops before Rubi and bends forward, as if she's about to let her in on a secret. "You should probably do something about that elementary-schooler hairstyle of yours, Rubi. You don't know it, but everyone makes fun of you behind your back because of it. You need to start paying attention to your appearance once you start middle school."

Rubi laughs weakly, her hands clenching in her lap. "You're right; maybe I should."

When she leaves, the girl shifts her attention to me, pleased with herself. "You've got nice hair! Just rub in some conditioner and—"

"You do realise that no matter what you do, in three months your hair will go back to being just as flat as your personality, don't you?"

The girl reels back, shocked. I stand up to my full height. "My Rubi is perfect the way she is, and you can never measure up to her. Never. The next time you try to say anything unnecessary to her, I won't just quietly sit by."

The next day, I show up to school in twin braids, and the glow on Rubi's face is worth more than every extra minute I spent plaiting my hair.

I like you, Rubi Amari.

I like you so, so much.

And I'm going to tell you that someday, so look forward to it.

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

RANDOM THIRD PERSON POV

"Would it be okay if I borrowed your modern Japanese notes as well?" the boy asks, lips spread in an apologetic smile.

"Sure," Rubi says, handing him a clean stack of notes. "You can take your time with them. No need to hurry," she adds politely.

"Ah, thank you so much, you're a life saver."

She laughs, shaking her head. "It's no problem."

When she walks ahead, the boy sighs. "She's so nice, dude," he tells his friend. "And cute too. Maybe I should—"

Someone pinches his arm before he can finish his sentence. "Ouch—what the?" he cries, staring at Irina in disbelief.

"That's my future girlfriend you're talking about. Have some tact."

And that's the real reason Rubi has never been hit on even once in the last five years.

───✱*.｡:｡✱*.:｡✧*.｡✰*.:｡✧*.｡:｡*.｡✱ ───

A/N

This chapter is my way of taking a break from all the angst (it was much needed ༼;'༎ຶ ۝ ༎ຶ༽) I never thought I'd end up writing anything from young-Irina's pov (this was very spontaneous) but I had so much fun coming up with this ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

Side note : In the part of the chapter that's under Irina's pov, both girls are in their first year of middle school (they're thirteen years old, as opposed to present time, where they're both almost eighteen)

Until next time (ㆁᴗㆁ✿)