CRUSHED! -Ayano x Budo fanfic-

1: Falling

Ayano sat alone in that café, blankly staring outside the window. Outside, the sun shone through the window pain, the sky was blue as ever and people passed by.

Exhaling a sigh, she stood and exited the cafe, not bothering to finish her coffee.

Her head was down, her mind blank and her heart empty. Tomorrow was the start of school, not that she cared really. She blended easily into the crowd, making her way downtown, walking fast. Faces passed her, but she couldn't care, she wanted to go home.

Two blocks away from home, a gang of delinquents passed by her, they weren't the delinquents that she usually saw at school. Those delinquints we're rude, yes, but they didn't give two crowbars unless you come near them, they minded their own business.

These on the other hand, were trouble.

"Hey you!", a girl said, her face masked by a frighteningly designed mask.

Ayano passed by her, uncaring.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!", she said again, threateningly raising her baseball bat, that was designed by graffiti.

Again, Ayano ignored her and her three friends and walked away.

"Nice bag, loser", she said and grabbed Ayano's bag making her lose balance, falling to the ground, causing the delinquents to laugh. "I'm keeping this by the way"

Ayano was silent, emotionless as usual. One of the boys in the group roughly grabbed Ayano's arm.

"Ha, look she can't even fight ba-- ACH!", he was cut short as a figure shot between the two of them and punched the guy in the face. He released his grip on Ayano.

"Get back! ", the stranger shouted.

Ayano looked up to see black hair-- when she was suddenly she was pulled to the side by another stranger-- one with long orange pig tails and colorful stockings.

"This way! He'll handle him!", she said, "Come on"

Ayano stood up and immediately got dragged away by the girl. She turned around, and saw a boy chasing away the delinquents, managing to acquire a crowbar in one hand and a baseball bat in the other, he was waving them above his head in attempt to scare them. It was hilarious to look at, but despite that, he -- at least from behind-- seemed confident, like he knew exactly how to use it.

She giggled, then froze.

He made her laugh.

And then, for the first time, her heart skipped a beat.

-♡-

That night, Ayano walked towards her home, her heart pounding in her ears. She didn't know who he was, for his back was turned the whole time, but she knew it was him. It was him. He was the one.

Osana-- the girl that she had talked to awhile ago had given her bag back, and told her to be more careful before bidding her goodbye and walking away to find her friend.