Chapter 2
Naoyuki leaves for school the next day, hoping to find the girl who helped him. I’m just telling her “thank you,” he thinks, trying to ease his nerves. I’m thanking her and asking her name. That’s it. He gulps nervously at the thought of having to talk to her at all, even if it was only a few little words. It’s no big deal.
As he approaches the school, he sees the bullies already there waiting for him, staring straight at him. Naoyuki quickly searches for an escape route. He readies himself to bolt away as the bullies approach and get ready to grab him; then, he sees the girl from the day before run up to the five bullies. “Stop it!” she yells.
The ringleader whirls around and grabs her. “You wanna play, too?” he threatens her as she screams and tries to pull away from him. The instant the ringleader lays a hand on her head, Naoyuki rushes in and leaps on to his shoulders. “Get him off me!” the ringleader screams, releasing the girl to try and grab Naoyuki’s hands. Naoyuki hits him once on the head then jumps off, takes the girl’s hand, and flees with her. They don’t stop until they run through the school doors and into the hallway.
“Hi, again,” the girl says. “Thanks for helping me.”
Naoyuki stares at her and nods slowly, but finds himself unable to speak. Just tell her “thanks,” he tells himself, and ask her name... He starts to say something when the memory comes flooding back into his mind and he finds himself running again, his feet pounding on the pavement. “Wait! Don’t leave me!” he cries, hot tears running down his face. His mother turns to face him once, then steps into the car. It drives off as he still chases it, reaching out desperately. “MAMA!!!” he screams.
“Are you okay?” the girl asks. “Why are you – ?” Before she can finish, Naoyuki bows clumsily to her and rushes off down the hallway. He ran away again. Every time he sees me, she thinks, he gives me that look...I wonder why...?
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Haruko eats her lunch silently as she sits with her chattering friends. “Go away!” Kei orders the boy across the table. “This is a Girls Only table!” After the boy slides down to the adjacent lunch table, Kei turns to Haruko and asks, “Still thinking about that boy?”
Haruko nods. “He...I tried to talk to him after he helped me earlier.”
“I thought I told you to forget about him,” Tohru says. “I guess he doesn’t appreciate your help, since he can help himself.”
Haruko stares across the next couple tables, to where she can see Naoyuki sitting all by himself. He’s always alone, she observes. It must be hard.
“His name’s Naoyuki Kondo. He’s a fifth-grader.” The slender brunette boy that Kei had yelled at earlier slides back to their table. Haruko gives him a questioning look, and he explains, “I saw you staring at him.”
“I thought we told you to move, Nomura!” Kei yells.
The boy shrugs and ignores them. “Just call me Kotaro,” he tells Haruko as he leans over the table and rests his chin on one of his hands. “Anyway, Naoyuki is in my reading class, last hour,” he explains.
“I’m Haruko Miyai. I’m in that class, too,” Haruko says.
“Even though everybody thinks he’s dumb, he’s not,” Kotaro says. “He reads in class and answers questions when the teacher calls on him, and he’s got good grades, as far as I know.”
“But he never talks to anybody!” Kei insists.
Tohru crosses her arms and huffs angrily. “I still can’t believe he can fight! He acts like he’s all helpless and gets everybody to feel sorry for him, then he goes and jumps on that guy!”
“Really?” Kotaro asks. “I heard that he wasn’t very healthy. He gets sick a lot and is absent from class. I even heard that back when he was in gym class, he passed out in the middle of a game, and they had to call for an ambulance to come pick him up.”
“That’s terrible!” Haruko cries.
“I don’t buy it after this morning!” Tohru challenges him. “You can’t tell me he’s that weak when...!”
While her friends are arguing with Kotaro, Haruko stares back over at Naoyuki. I ought to... She packs up her lunch and gets up from the table while her friends watch after her. Haruko walks down the aisles until she comes to Naoyuki’s table. “Hi, Kondo,” she greets him cheerfully as Naoyuki casts a surprised glance at her over his shoulder.
