FicWad

Chapter Three: /Kirika-chan:/

Kirika-can would be saying goodbye to middle school soon. She wouldn't see some of her friends again. But she'd make new ones just the same.

"Good morning!" one of her classmates greeted her.

"Morning!" she said back. Kirika-chan went to school in Chijou. Tsuzuki and Anna thought it would be better for her. (She was still alive after all.) She attended Nagasaki Shiritsu Iojima Junior High. Of course, Tsuzuki had to have her in his district.

"Isn't that much?" Anna asked at the beginning of freshman year.

"No," he said. "We've kept her in Nagasaki this whole time. Why would we change now?"

"Yeah but what about high school?" she asked. "What if she wants to go to another city for school?" Tsuzuki shrugged.

"Well, we'll let her decide when she gets there."

Kirika-chan didn't mind it though. Nagasaki grew on her. Tsuzuki first took her to the city when she was four. Anna was visiting her mom in California at the time. Tsuzuki thought it would be a good bonding experience. Hisoka didn't complain for once either. Since then, Kirika-chan had grown fond of Nagasaki.

She made her way to the classroom. Some of the students were already inside. Kirika-chan looked around the room.

She spotted her in the back corner.

She smiled and made her way to the back. The girl lifted her head. Kirika-chan smiled and waved.

"Yo," she said. The other girl kind of smiled and looked down. Kirika-chan frowned.

"Aw, what's the matter?" she asked. Her friend shook her head. Kirika-chan sat down next to her.

"Problems at home?" she asked. The girl didn't answer.

"Come here," Kirika-chan said. She pulled the other girl into a hug.

"Aw, look it's the lesbians!" someone shouted. Kirika-chan and the other girl looked up. A boy with light brown hair grinned at them. Kirika-chan rolled her eyes.

"Shut up," she said. The boy chuckled aloud.

"Why don't you two just kiss already?" he asked. The other girl mumbled something under her breath. Their classmate raised his eyebrow.

"Hm? What was that?" he asked.

"I said fuck off," the girl growled. She looked ready to jump him. Kirika-chan had to hold her back. The classmate stepped back.

"Okay, okay," he said with his hands up. "Geez! I get it!" He turned and walked away. Kirika-chan's attention turned back to her friend.

"You don't have to do that, Nozomi," she said. The other girl gave her a cold look.

"He's an idiot," Nozomi said.

"Well… yeah… but…" Kirika-chan said. Her friend's cold eyes quieted her down.

"Never mind," she mumbled. They watched the rest of their classmates walk into the room.

They met in freshman year. Even then Nozomi wasn't a social person. She didn't like anyone. Kirika-chan was supposed to be no different. Everyone avoided Nozomi anyway. Always had been since grade school. Why would junior high be any different?

Kirika-chan didn't get that memo.

She was the one to make the first move.

"Hi!" Kirika-chan said on the first day of school. Nozomi clicked her tongue as she glared at her. The reaction flew over her head.

"O… Okay…" Kirika-chan said. But that didn't stop her.

For some reason, Kirika-chan didn't want to give up on Nozomi. She couldn't leave her like everyone else did. Nozomi couldn't chase her off. Kirika-chan wasn't being creepy about it either. She'd try to invite her out with her other friends. At first, Nozomi would turn her down.

"I don't get it," she finally said before winter break.

"Get what?" Kirika-chan asked at her desk. Nozomi narrowed her eyes.

"Why are you so interested in me?" she asked. "Why do you want to be my friend so much?" Kirika-chan shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. Nozomi raised her eyebrow.

"You don't know?" she asked. The other girl shook her head. Nozomi wrinkled her nose.

"You're weird," she said. Kirika-chan shrugged.

"I guess I am," she said. The other girl didn't have a comeback.

Somehow, that was all it took to start their odd relationship.

Classes began as usual. Kirika-chan moved up to her desk. No one at her school could figure out why she and Nozomi were friends at all. The girls couldn't be more different.

Kirika-chan loved to talk to people. She would be the one to go up to classmates and ask how they were doing. The teachers were fond of her. Kirika-chan was pretty much chill with everyone. She just didn't like needless conflict. The girl just got along with her classmates.

Nozomi just wanted to be left alone. Everyone in school called her creepy and weird. Even some of the teachers avoided her. Nozomi always wore black. She hid towards the back of the classroom. Some of her classmates were scared of her. Nozomi had been used to it by now. She thought it would stay that way for the rest of her school life.

There are the whispers, of course. How close were these girls? Some wondered if they were dating. No boys ever hung around them. Kirika-chan's sexual orientation was left as a mystery. She seemed to be straight. But a handful of girls noticed Kirika-chan allegedly checking them out. No one bothered to ask. How do you go up to a person and ask about their sexuality without looking like an asshole? You don't. All they could do with Kirika-chan was play the guessing game.

Nozomi didn't like people. But she seemed to tolerate Kirika-chan. No one dared to ask if she was gay or not. That classmate who teased them was lucky Kirika-chan was there. So how close were they? Who can say?

Kirika-chan turned to look back at her dear friend and smiled.