I Thought Strawberry Smells Sweet, So Why Does This One Smells Like Blood?

Chapter 10: Confrontation

🎓Nagisa🔪

It was already Thursday, and the girls are planning to have a meet-up after school.

And again, I don't know why I'm here.

"Hey, hey! Why don't we go to this cafe? It seems cute!" Kayano excitedly said and earned a few agreements. A magazine was in front of my desk and they're surrounding me.

"Oh, how about this one? They said the sweets here are delicious!" Rio butted in and again, agreements flooded around.

"Hey. Why am I even here?" I groggily asked which made their attention turn to me. Rio raised an eyebrow and answered in a-matter-of-fact tone.

"You look like a girl."

"That doesn't really explain anything!"

"Come on. We need someone to protect us. You know that it's dangerous for girls to be outside late, right?" Hanami explained.

"Then don't be outside late, jeez." I said as I eyed them. They just pouted and continued giving excuses.

"Please? Come on, Nagisa. It'll be fun!"

"We'll treat you for sushi if you want!"

I groaned and sighed. They really won't stop huh?

"U-uhm...should I really be in here, too?" I turned my gaze and saw Manami slightly nervous. I internally smiled seeing how innocent she is.

"Well, duh. You're a girl and our friend Mi-chan, so you should be here!!" Kayano said and hugged her. Everyone nodded and smiled, making the girl shyly do the same. If I remember right, she grew up without really having friends. She's been alone most of her childhood so she was a bit insecure being crowded with those she can call friends.

I'm happy for her.

"That's right. But Nagisa-kun is not a girl so he shouldn't be here." We immediately turned around and saw Karma-kun smiling with his right hand in his pockets, his bag on his left. I straightened up on my seat and tried to wait patiently.

"Eh~? But Akabane, we want Nagisa to be with us!" Rio whined and hugged me, as if I'm her teddy bear that she likes so much. I gulped and looked at Karma-kun who only smiles.

"Well, I want Nagisa too so nope. Bye bye~" And then he dragged me out. They just looked at us weirdly and I smiled awkwardly and waved. When we were outside, he was still holding my hand so I tugged his.

"Uhm...Karma-kun?" I called and he looked at me. When he saw our hands he immediately let go and mumbled a sorry.

"Haha, it's fine."

We walked down the forest in complete silence. The sounds of birds chirping and trees rustling were the only things unaffected by the awkwardness around us.

And so, I decided to be the one to end our suffering.

"So..." Eh? It seems my braveness was suddenly sucked by an invisible black hole...aaghh.

"N-Nagisa...kun." I turned to Karma-kun and hummed. He scratched his chin and slighty looked away.

"C-can we...stop to a place before going home?" He asked in a soft tone, as if he's hesitant to ask from the start. I blinked a few times and then nodded with a smile.

🎓🔪🎓🔪🎓🔪🎓🔪🎓🔪🎓🔪🎓

🎓3rd person🔪

Those who were left in the classroom stared in disbelief at the direction of the couple (wait, not ye--) before they disappeared. After a moment of silence, a murmur immediately spread out.