Humeji High; Alternative

Chapter 2

The day dragged on slowly. I had class, ate lunch with Na-chan on the stairs to the roof, and the boys formed an religious group centered around me. When the day ended, I decided to go to the bookstore. When I entered the store, the little bell above the door jingled to announcing my presence to the owner. “Welcome back, Kiko!” The old shop owner greeted me from the cash register. “Good evening, Miss Montoko! You're looking well today.” I replied with a smile as I stepped further into her shop. “I try.” She says, “ What made you swing by?” I picked up a book from off the shelf and read it over, “Wanted to check out the new arrivals.” She hums and goes to write something in her numbers book and I walk in the back of the store to see what books I can find.

After some moments of looking around, I finally decide on what books to get and return to the front. “I'm ready to get ringed up now, Miss Monto--” When I get up to the front, Miss Motokon is ringing up a boy with tanned skin and amber hair. “ko.”

Miss Montoko and the boy turns the heads to look at me. She giggles and says, “I'll be right with you, Kiko. Once I'm finished with Chris-kun.” I nodded my head and idled by while tended to her new customer. Once she was done with Chris, he waved goodbye before he left the store. As she was ringing me up, Miss Montoko chuckled and said, “I see you've taken a liking to Chris.” I blushed and told her that I didn't know what she was talking about. She laughed and completed the transaction.

After we said our goodbyes, I left the store and began to walk to the bus stop. When I got there, I saw Chris already standing there, reading the book that he had purchased. My face began to heat up and my heart raced as I walked over to where was standing. He noticed my presence and said hi to me and I said it back. He began to ask me questions about myself, I answered them and did the same to him. We talked for a while and soon the bus came. On the bus we sat together and talked some more, unfortunately his stop was before mine and so he said go bye and got off. The whole ride home, I couldn't stop thinking about him and how he feels. I can't believe that I'm in love with a boy I just met.