Dreams and Bonds // TBHK (Amanene)

Chapter 2: Surprising Encounter

As strange as it might seem, Nene actually felt relaxed once she was out of that damn place. She could finally breath properly feeling the tension on her shoulders relax.

Now she was sitting on an empty bench near a convenience store and it definitely was far away from Aoi's home. She was practically in a totally different area.

Though she was sure she was somewhere near to her college area.

The sudden pain on her head she felt, reminded her of the awful fall she had had. She really needed to do something about it.

Nene's head jerked up when the automatic doors of the convenience store opened, startling her thoughts. Her eyes wandered to look at the man who had stepped out.

And she froze when she recognized the familiar figure.

Then she started internally started panicking, quickly getting up, trying to escape from that place at the moment.

If he spotted her, she was sure he would inform him. And she didn't want that. For crying out loud, the main reason she left the party was because of him!

Nene quickly started to scramble away to the opposite direction, trying to cover her face as much as possible, in hopes of not getting noticed.

"Yashiro-san?"

She froze. Great. Just her luck. She mentally cursed her legs for giving her away. She knew it had to be her legs.

She slowly turned around, eyes already in pain as she faced the source of the voice. And there stood her one and only Professor, Tsuchigomori. He looked at her with shock clear in his eyes.

"Kid, what are you doing here late at night?" He asked, as he took in her appearance, noticing that something was definitely wrong. And he then looked concerned. "Don't you know it dangerous to be out at an ungodly hour?"

Nene tensed up a bit. "Um, hi! I really didn't expect to see you here Tsuchigomori-sensei! I was on my way back from Aoi's house!" She said, chuckling nervously. "I'm actually on my way to return home now so..."

Her professor only looked at her unfazed. "I know something's wrong and you're just trying to cover it, brat! Ugh... this is why I hate kids." He grumbled, and then sighed when he looked at her expression, softening a bit.

She looked back at him meekly, and bit her lips. Hopefully, he doesn't mention her state to Amane. Hopefully.

Her eyes then caught the bag in his hands.

"Tsuchigomori-sensei, you went to buy grocery?" She asked, mentally hoping he would forget about whatever he was going to ask her. She really didn't want to talk about it.

He sighed. "Seriously? Why can't I go and buy grocery?" Nene opened her mouth but he cut her off immediately. "You know what? You really don't have to answer that. I don't want to know."

Tsuchigomori looked at her holding a steady eye contact and she instantly deflated. Nene was finding it difficult to avert her eyes, so she looked back at him with no other choice.

"Are you really okay, kid?" He asked, breaking the silence.

Nene then averted her eyes to the pavement below. "No." She mumbled, hoping he didn't hear it, but he did. She couldn't lie to him. She was never a good liar anyway.

"What happened?" He demanded, his voice stern with anxiousness. He looked so concerned for her. She really didn't know why people cared about her anyway.

No one really loved her, not even the person she fell in love with. Amane would never love someone like her. Yumi was perfect. They looked so happy together. Just thinking about it wanted to make her cry all over again.