smile!

Chapter 6 : Who is she?

"Now, what is your excuse this time?"

"Umm.. I'm searching for the toile-"

"You've said that before."

"Then how about-"

The teacher just let out a heavy sigh. It's already the 5th time she did this and it seems like no matter what he says will ever stop her from repeating the same cycle of running away and getting caught in his class.

He looked at the two figures in front of him, the problematic one and the one who always dragged her back.

The short-haired one was just looking down, and not because she felt bad. She was just playing around by knocking her shoes to the floor. And the other one, he knew very well that she was one of the most diligent student and even part of the student council. Some of the teachers even predicated that she might be the next student council president, making him wonder why this girl was willing to take care of the reckless girl beside her.

From his knowledge, Inoue actually is one of his best students too. Even though her antics in and outside of his classroom often confused him, he couldn't deny the fact that she could easily pass any test with a perfect score especially on his math class, and not to mention her achievements as a member of the tennis club. This was the primary reason he didn't treat her too strictly at first when he heard whispers that she was disappearing in the middle of class, to the point he needed to ask other students to find her somewhere in this big school.

He was glad he had Moriya Akane in his class who was always willing to help him and seemed to have a close relationship with Inoue. But after a few days and repeating the same monotonous routine of asking her questions, he realized how she always tell any random lies that came out in her head at the time.

"Inoue-san."

"Yes sir?" He could clearly see the look in her eyes, still with those sparks that definitely belong somewhere else other than this boring office. His words will surely come into one ear and out the other. Making him discouraged to say anything more towards her. But still, he needs to.

"I will let you go this time. But if you try to do it again, I might consider calling your parents."

The threat seemed to work, looking at how she slowly raised her head towards him while holding her breath, albeit slightly too dramatically.

After he said a few stern words to Inoue, or to Akane more like- because he couldn't count on anyone better than her for this problem, he finally let them out of the office. The two of them bowed and immediately walked out with Akane behind Inoue as the one who closed the door.

"You should have learned your lesson this time, stop doing that you idiot," Akane stared at her with intimidating eyes, making the younger girl avert her gaze.

Honestly, Akane already knew that it would come sooner or later. Watching her best friend's weird behavior- not to mention that 'weird' was her personality from the beginning. It was only a matter of time before she got completely scolded for it.

And there was only one reason for her to act this stupidly, and that was because of Seki Yumiko.

She could see how her best friend became really attached to her lately, to the point she acted very eratically. She actually didn't really have a problem with how her best friend started to be more excited when they went to school, muttering a thousand words about one other person every time they had free time, spending her own money just to buy snacks either for that person or simply just for herself so she could wait for Seki while munching things after school. But not this time.

She might be close with a lot of teachers, and not just because of her friendly disposition but because of her accomplishments for the school. But it doesn't mean that she will be safe from getting into trouble that will cause genuine problems for her later in her school life. That's why she knew she had to drag her back even though it meant needing to carry her light body like a baby along the school hallway and scold her right after.

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Seki looked at the girl by the window in disbelief. It was Inoue skipping her third period just to stay outside of the third year classroom and waved at her from time to time when she catches her looking. It been the same routine and Seki knew that Akane should be around by now to drag Inoue back to her classroom because she was the only one who could handle the immature student.

The locations to the second and third year classrooms actually were farther than expected. They were on two different buildings that connected by a long walkway on the second floor. Even though both third year and second year are on the second floor, for the first year, their classrooms are on the first floor in the same building as the second year. It's definitely tiring to walk through the walkway between the two buildings, especially if she did it every day.

That's why sometimes she felt bad because the other girl needed to come this far just to see her- even though she had no part to play in whatever Inoue was doing, since she was doing it on her own volition, and she felt bad for Akane too because she need to keep reining her best friend in all the time.

Moreover, it's not like Seki could do anything to answer her weird behavior on the other side of the window- not to mention how she tried her best to not get noticed by the teacher in her class, walking around when it wasn't their break. She ended up just giving her a little smile, not acting too excited so she won't get noticed by the teacher too. Then went back to trying to focus on her studies even though it was difficult especially knowing by the corner of her eyes that the other girl still standing out there with her widest smile.

Not long after she gave her a smile from afar, she realized she had made the younger girl go crazy to the point where she didn't even have any idea why she was like that. Finally she noticed someone walking towards the other girl along the hallway, assuming it might be just Akane dragging her back to her classroom.

Or that's what supposed to happen, right?

But instead of the other long-haired girl that she knew always scolding her while pulling her ear while walking back to the classroom as usual, it was a new unfamiliar student that came for Inoue this time. It was a short-haired girl, with a haircut similar to Inoue's, and around 3cms taller than her. She walked towards her with a calm expression, calling her name- or that's what Seki guessed because she actually couldn't hear anything that came from outside of the classroom especially because they speak quietly so they won't bother others who still studying in the class, until Inoue finally noticed the presence of that new person beside her.

The unfamiliar girl showed up, looking at Inoue with a monotone expression, said a few things to her before turning her back to Inoue. It looked as though Inoue muttered a stupid answer while tapping the other girl's shoulder, giggling before immediately walking away followed by the mystery girl. As Inoue started to disappear from her sight, Seki could see how the other girl just walking slowly following her while looking at the cheerful girl's back.

But there was actually one thing that Seki will never forget. The small chuckle that the unfamiliar girl let out was something that only Seki knew. The gaze that came from the girl, the sincerity in her eyes that she hide the whole time when she was still talking with the girl she came for. Something that only belongs to one person that currently showing her back and walking in front of her.
The thought of it was on her mind, and won't leave her mind for a long while. And that was enough to make her feel something strange inside her chest, not in a good way. That ruined her mood for the rest of the day.

.. Who is she?

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Hello! I'm sorry for the slow update, and happy new year!🎉

Special thanks to my brother Furuyanagi_Churin for the proofreading!

enjoy🤍