𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗲~ Toge Inumaki

Chapter 14

I was standing outside the classroom door awkwardly trying to prepare myself for whatever questions they'd throw at me when I felt an arm clinging around my shoulders. My eyes met a bright face smiling back at me happily as they looked at me. It was Yuji. His hair was a bit messy and he wore a jacketed version of our uniform. His smile was just contagious which made my mood change completely.

I felt a bit relieved and walked into the classroom with him, his arm was still around my shoulders. Everyone was looking at us now and they all looked surprised but happy. Did I really fit in with them?? I was just too overwhelmed with joy that I didn't realize I was holding Yuji's hand now. It was still atop my shoulder but I was now holding it. I turned to look at him but he didn't seem to notice as his gaze was focused on the class in front of us.

I went to my seat and managed to catch Nobara looking at me. She mouthed "are you okay?" and I simply nodded in return. It was a surprise that no one asked me anything at all because usually they'd be curious of demon encounters since they've never actually had one yet but it was a relief that they didn't question me.

I looked over at Toge expecting to see a normal dull look on his face but this time it had slight sadness but maybe I was just hallucinating.

"Hey Toge." I called out to him but it didn't seem like he heard me so I called once more.

"Pssst. Toge!" I called a bit louder then he looked at me.

"Was there any work that I missed?" I asked him in a lowered tone.

"I don't know." He responded plainly.

"What do you mean you don't know? Did you not pay attention??" I asked in confusion. At that point it wasn't shocking at all because all he did was sleep.

"How would I know when I didn't go to school either." He retorted.

"Why not? Were you sick? You look fine.." I questioned in bedazzlement.

He didn't respond and just averted his gaze from mine. Just then Yuji approached me with a smile. He had a book in his hand along with a pen. He knelt down to reach my level and handed me the book which had a bookmark at a certain page. When I opened the book to the page it had a list of names of the students of our class. They were in duos.

"What's this for?" I asked with a frown.

"Mr. Satoru assigned us a task. We had to pair up and choose a desired location to inspect." -Yuji

"You mean to scout out demons?" -Y/n

He nodded then continued, " since everyone else already has a partner, that leaves you and Toge to pair up and choose the location you wanna explore."

I felt a heavy weight fall atop my chest. Spending time with him and demons was just going to be a pain because he'd either ditch me or annoy the heck outta me and it seems as though he only treats me that way which is unfair.

"Can I change partners?" I looked at Yuji with sad eyes trying to convince him that I really wasn't ok with being together with Toge but he only frowned. I looked at Toge who was now staring intently at both of us.

"I mean...if you want to" he said. "Good can we—" I tried to continue but Toge spoke over me.

"She's just kidding, she'll be okay with her actual partner." Toge said as he let out a sly grin that later formed into a fake smile. I quickly tried to counter his words but Yuji was already convinced and handed Toge the list of places left to explore. I looked at him in defeat. No one knows how he actually is and it just had to happen to be me who he'd playfully trouble.