Closely. [Kawanishi Taichi]

four.

The bell rang, signalling that it was already lunch time. After bowing and saying your thanks to the teacher, you did a bit of stretches, relaxing your tense muscles after having to sit for lessons for hours. After making sure that you had your wallet in your pocket, you made your way to Akari's classroom; only to be stopped midway by her only classmate that you know. Kawanishi looked down at you.

"Akari's gone out- and she said that you should go ahead without her," he said, still leaning against the door frame as he waited for you to, at least, say something. You averted your gaze from his face to the floor, an almost inaudible 'oh' escaped your mouth as you felt the tiniest little pang in your heart. It was odd, not spending much time with Akari as days passed. Although you do have your usual conversations, you noted that she seemed to be avoiding you somehow. Kawanishi noticed how your shoulders slightly fell, knowing fairly well that you were a bit upset.

"Come on," his voice snapped you out of your thoughts. You looked up at him, seeing that he had averted his gaze elsewhere. "Let's go the cafeteria," he said again, making his statement clearer. He walked ahead of you, but setting his pace to one that you could catch up with. Hearing your light footsteps, he stole a glance at you, noticing immediately that you were playing with your fingers. As if he knew, what was on your mind; "You're welcome," he said.

Once again, he caught sight of your flushed ears; and a small smile tugged on his lips.

Perhaps he does know.

After finishing your lunch, you both exited the cafeteria, only to meet Akari as soon as you stepped out of the place. Her face lightened up as soon as she saw you. "I'm sorry, (Y/N)!" she apologized, her eyes nothing short of pure sincerity. You pat her shoulders, reassuring her with a smile. She rushed to the cafeteria for her last minute lunch, not forgetting to thank Kawanishi before she left.

You wondered what she did that made her looked not her usual kind-of neat. Not wanting to overthink things, you shrugged it off. As you walked down the hallways, side by side with Kawanishi, you both caught sight of familiar heads. One of them seemed to detect your presence pretty quick, snapping his head around in an instant. Almost too immediately, you could literally hear Kawanishi rolling his eyes.

Tendou whistled in joy when Kawanishi pulled you along with him to get to your classes sooner. You quickened up your pace to match up with him, a little bit embarrassed to have him taking a firm hold on you. Somehow, as you struggled to match his long strides and also to prevent yourself from falling, you felt a little bit lightheaded.

It was only when you slightly tripped over your steps did Kawanishi stop. "Sorry. Are you okay?" he asked, his face indifferent, but worry was visible in his voice as it was in his eyes. "A bit dizzy, but I'm fine," you nodded, your gaze set firmly on your shoes. Kawanishi stared at you for a little while before finally realizing that he had yet to let go of your arm. Coughing a bit, he fixed his posture, all the while slowly letting go of you.

"Let's get to class," he gestured, once again making sure that he set his pace to one that you could match. Somehow, lunchtime seemed to a be tad a bit longer when you were with him.

Her strides were slower than usual. She had just waved goodbye to Ushijima, and was now heading to the dormitories. Akari was sure you were not asleep yet, already knowing at the tips of her fingers that you would always wait for her to come back. She hesitated to even turn the knob for a moment.

"I'm back," she declared softly after peeking. You lifted your gaze from your sketchbook to welcome her with your signature warm smile. As always, she would smile back at you; but something was off with it. She seemed exhausted. It was quiet then, no small chat as you silently watched her took her toiletries and left the dorm.

With the slightest bit of curiosity sparking up, you were fully determined to find out what was going on. With a new mission in your head, you lay on your bed, closing your eyes as you tried to drift yourself to sleep. Tried to.

You could not stop yourself from remembering Kawanishi's firm hold on you; in a way, it felt a bit familiar. The warmth tingled on your skin the moment it came across your mind. It even left a fuzzy feeling that you were not so used to, but despite that, it felt comfortable and relaxing.

Before you know it, you were already fast asleep.

He yanked you by your collar roughly, the fact that you are a girl seemed to not do anything with the boy as his eyes burned right into yours with rage. He was soaked from head to toe, not that you cared. In a matter of fact, you could really just splash another 10 pails of water right at him despite his height and age. You were not letting him off after seeing him physically injuring your cousin.

You coughed lightly as his grips tightened onto your collar. Someone had ran off to call for the teacher, and you wondered what took them so long. Futakuchi was doing all he could do to stop him, but even with a swift push, he was back on the ground with a thump.

Daring enough, you kicked him right at his stomach and he let go of you in an instant; only to have himself right back at you in a second. "You-!" he swung his fist, while you struggled yourself to free from his tight grasp and to get away from the blow.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the teacher scolded, his finishing blow undelivered as the teacher took good hold of his fist. He boldly glared at the teacher, rage taking the best of him. The whole hall was filled with whispers as the other students peeked at the whole commotion. Thank goodness someone had brought Futakuchi to the infirmary, was all you can think before sinking down to your knees.

"Please take her to the infirmary," the teacher said to one of students closest to the whole wreck, soon taking hold of the bully and dragging him to the office. You looked down at your hands, pretty exhausted from the situation you put yourself in; and a bit tense from the attention given all around you. It was when you were deep in thoughts that a hand held your arm.

"Come on," he said, firmly holding you as he waited for you to prop yourself back up. It took a while, but he did not complain, nor did you hear him sigh. You walked right next to him, still being held by the student whose name you did not know of. He matched his pace with yours.

His grasp was not the gentlest of grasp, but he made sure it was firm and careful as he held you. The whole walk to the infirmary was quiet, not that you bothered so much about it. You were pretty much used to the silence anyways. Finally, after quite some while, he let go of your arm, sliding the infirmary's door open and handed you into the care of the school's nurse.

You bowed your head at him, your bangs covering your eyes. "It's no big deal," he had said after a beat of silence, before he turned around to part his way with you.

You wondered why the nurse was smiling cheekily at you.