ᴊᴜsᴛ ɢᴏ ᴡɪᴛʜ ɪᴛ • [ᴅᴇɴᴋɪ ᴋᴀᴍɪɴᴀʀɪ]

Ch. 4

hanae stood in the food court of the mall, happily eating her froyo as she scrolled through her phone. the shopping trip had been mostly successful, she just need to stop at one more place to find the right socks for her uniform. as she gathered her things and started to stand, she felt a soft hand tap on her shoulder.

"hey... it's akiyama right?" hanae turned around only to find a familiar face framed with green hair. she grinned and nodded.

"tokage! i was wondering how you were doing!" both of the girls giggled and hanae couldn't help but be happy. ever since the day of the entrance exam, she had been worried about the energetic girl. she didn't get to see how the whole ordeal went down, but from what she could tell when she was carrying tokage out of the center, it wasn't pretty.

"i'm doing better now thanks to you! they told me what you did in recovery girls office. i just wanted to say thank you." hanae sent the girl a small smile, shrugging a little.

"there's no need to thank me, tokage. it's what anyone would've done." the other girl shrugged, bashfully fiddling with her fingers. when hanae looked down, she spotted a bag with the brand of the store that sells school uniforms. a small smile made its way onto her face and she quickly pointed at the bag. "did you make it into UA?"

"yeah i did," tokage blushed and beamed, nodding her head enthusiastically. the two girls talked for quite a while, hanae comforting the other girl as she mentioned not having made it to class 1-a. they walked together towards the undergarments store, making small chit chat as they went. overall, it was enjoyable for both of them, especially since they already had a friend before going into UA after the weekend. that was always something hanae seemed to struggle with. she wasn't necessarily hated by anyone at her other schools, but she also didn't have many friends. people knew her, but hardly hung out with her. sure, occasionally people would check in and ask her how she was doing or something along those lines, but she never had a true friend.

as much as she hated to admit it, she never really had someone who she could bring over to the house and have sleepovers with. she never had someone who she could text about cute boys and how she didn't understand what the teacher was talking about. she never had anyone outside of her parents care for her like a true friend typically does.

hanae was snapped out of her thoughts by a gentle hand on her shoulder. she turned and gave tokage a questioning look and watched as the other girl pointed at her phone with an amused look.

"that's like the third time it's rang, akiyama..." hanae gasped and quickly answered the phone, letting out a small groan as she heard her mother's worried and angry voice over the phone. she shot tokage an apologetic smile and wandered outside of the store, simply agreeing with her mother rather than arguing. eventually, though, her mother relaxed and told her that she needed to head home soon, or she would miss dinner.

"i take it she wasn't happy with you," tokage questioned. hanae laughed nervously and shrugged, making her way back inside the store for her stupid socks.

"what can i say?" the girls laughed and got their things, waving goodbye and heading off their separate ways. as hanae made her way out of the mall and towards the train station, she smiled. she would definitely have to make a mental note to keep in touch with tokage, even if they weren't in the same course. this was the first time she felt like she might have a genuine shot at having a sincere, funny friend that she could spend time with.