Forget to Love

Chapter 2 - The café

They both made it just in time, and the day passed like any other, except for the occasional rumbling of Hitori's stomach. Though he was glad for the hunger pangs; it helped keep his mind off of other things. During lunch, Sabishi chastised him for skipping breakfast.

"I was right! I noticed you acting differently recently, you haven't been taking good care of yourself!"

Hitori attempted to defend himself, which was difficult with his mouth full of noodles. "I jus' los' track o' time," he managed between bites. Sabishi had always teased him for little things, but this time she sounded genuinely concerned. He could only wonder why she was obsessing over him lately.

"Is that manga really so good you skipped breakfast?" she questioned with her arms crossed. Hitori almost choked.

"I uh— you saw that?" he asked, his voice hushed. He casually looked around to make sure nobody had heard. As usual, nobody was paying any attention to him. In fact, he would have been sitting alone if Sabishi hadn't insisted on sharing a table.

"I may have snuck a peak," she admitted with a smirk. "It looked pretty romantic."

He motioned for her to keep her voice down, his cheeks red. "Just don't tell anyone. I'll never hear the end of it from the guys, and all the girls will think I'm weird."

She played with the straw in her juice box. "... I don't think you're weird. I think you can enjoy whatever stories you want. Besides..." She smiled. "I like romance mangas too. They're cute."

He was shocked. Sabishi didn't seem like the type who was interested in sappy romance. In fact, he couldn't think of a time she was even interested in a boy. He couldn't recall a single time she'd confided a crush to him, or asked for advice, or seemed flustered around anyone. She was always bubbly and playful.

"I didn't know that about you. Do you really?"

Sabishi suddenly looked ashamed. "It's really not that interesting, I just read them sometimes." Her face brightened again. "But you should tell me more about you! I had no idea you were into those kinds of books!"

Hitori smiled. He opened his mouth to explain why he loved the series so much when the bell rang. Lunch was over, and he still had half a tray of food left. He looked down at his food. He'd been so focused on talking with Sabishi that he'd forgotten how hungry he was. He blinked, confused. There was a funny feeling stirring inside of his stomach that wasn't hunger.

"Hitori-kun," she called him back to reality. "We should get back to class. Finish your food silly!"

He nodded and attempted to wolf down the last of his lunch, though he caught Sabishi's eyes as she turned to walk away. She seemed upset, or sad, muttering something to herself. Why, he had no idea. But it didn't sit well with him; she had never acted upset or sad in all the years they had spent together. Was she really that embarrassed to talk about romance mangas?

A few hours later, the school day finished, and Hitori found himself walking with Sabishi. She found the others that he had noticed the day before, and introduced him. He didn't have much say in the interaction because he was totally unprepared, but he was glad to meet new people. Though, if he had known she would try to introduce him to new people, he would have worried about it the whole day.

The shorter girl with choppy blonde hair was Nozoka, who was cute in a childish way. She made fun of his messy hair and then pretended he didn't exist. The taller girl with long black hair was Yuuki, who was reading the same book as yesterday, except now she seemed to be a few hundred pages ahead. She regarded Hitori and greeted him shyly before returning to her reading. The guy who was teasing Nozoka the other day was named Kibou, and then of course there was Mitsuka, though she seemed less intimidating than the she was the day before. She smiled at him warmly.