"I'm. . . five foot eight?"
"Yup," cheered Tsumugi Tsukahara, my classmate. "You grew another three centimetres! It's amazing!"
I descended from the stadiometer. Tsumugi tilted her head to the side, her long, undulating blue hair draping her cheeks and shoulders. Clad in her gym uniform—a white long-sleeved t-shirt and blue sweatpants identical to mine—she jotted the dreaded number onto a clipboard before lowering it by her side.
"Five foot eight," I said, it remaining an incessant echo at the back of my mind.
"Shiina? Is something wrong? You're holding up the line."
I knew that much. The antsy footsteps of the other first year girls weren't easy to ignore. And truthfully, I had no reason to be so stupefied. If anything, I should be grateful Tsumugi was volunteering with the physical examinations today.
Could you blame me, though? I grew three centimetres! A whole inch! In the time span of six months, give or take.
Physical examinations were held annually across Japan to remain updated on the health of the students. Hoshizaki Private Academy was rather peculiar having theirs take place twice. Meaning, I was able to live in blissful ignorance about my height for half a year now.
Only to find out. . .
Furling my fingers into fists, I hurled back onto the stadiometer. I reclined against the pole.
"Measure me again."
Tsumugi gaped. "But—"
"Just once more." I pressed my eyelids shut and clasped my hands together in prayer. "There's no way I grew three centimetres. Yeah. It's a dream. A horrible, crummy, terrible dream. . ."
My pleas must've sounded like indecipherable gibberish. Nevertheless, with my vision consumed by darkness, palms rubbing fervently against one another, having my sanity questioned was inconsequential.
Following substantial hesitation, Tsumugi relented. The horizontal headpiece flattened strands of my hair, allowing my short bangs to cling to my forehead. Newfound goosebumps darted across my arms. I kept my eyelids pressed as tightly as I could, praying frenziedly as if it were New Year's Day and I'd taken a trip to the shrine with my family.
"Oh my gosh!"
My heart performed a leap in my chest.
Eyelashes fluttering, my neck snapped in her direction so fast it cracked. Hand shielding her mouth, Tsumugi stared open-mouthed at the numbers sprawled on the pole atop of my head.
"I'm sorry," she sputtered, guiltily. "I read it wrong!"
The knot in my stomach loosened, grew undone. Relief consumed me, spreading to my extremities.
I hopped off of the stadiometer. A smile tugged on my lips. I knew I hadn't grown that much! "So? How much shorter am I?"
"Oh, you ain't any shorter."
Tsumugi was yanked to the side.
Kiharu Shino'oka's brown hair was tied in its trademark ponytail. The widespread freckles scattered across her nose resembled constellations in the night sky, working as a distraction from her million-watt grin.
"See." She hoisted Tsumugi's left arm, primarily the clipboard she'd recorded my new height onto, then gestured to the pole itself. "Five foot nine on the dot."
No.
Kiharu boisterously laughed. The nearby first year girls gasped. Hasty whispers sprung between them.
YOU ARE READING
Outsider Syndrome | ✓
Teen Fiction(A Reverse Harem) Due to her above-average height, Shiina Kisaragi lives as the constant object of ridicule by her high school peers. Not a day goes by where she isn't reminded of being an outcast. With her mother having passed away a year ago, she...
