It was another early morning, and Naoki was making his way to school on foot, as always he was making the same route he did to school, but as he reached an intersection he had to stop in his tracks

"Oh..."

There was a work site in the alleyway he usually passed by to go to school, making it unusable. Due to that Naoki began reading the big sign put on the entrance of the alleyway since it contained a map that showed where he was

"If I go this way... *Mumbling* ... ... Haa, that's the shortest route, and yet it'll still be one long detour"

Without any other option, Naoki went back to making his way to school by taking a detour from his usual route

Some minutes later

After walking a considerable distance Naoki arrived at another intersection, since the pedestrian traffic light was still red, he then stopped and waited for the light to turn green. As he waited, a small crowd began forming as other people came and waited for the light to turn green

Then someone stopped right beside him, which made him turn his head to see who it was

"Huh? Hoshino-san?"

"Hm? ! Nozawa-kun?"

"Yes, it is me. Good morning, Hoshino-san"

"Ah! *Nods* Good morning, Nozawa-kun. This is the first time I'm seeing you here"

"Really? Do you always pass by here on your to school?"

"Yes, my house is in that direction so I always end up passing by here"

"I see"

"So what makes you come here, Nozawa-kun?"

"The alleyway I usually go through on my way to school is closed for repairs or something, so I had to make a detour through here"

"I see. Well, I suppose we'll be meeting here from now on"

"I guess, we will. Ah! The light turned green, shall we get going to school, Hoshino-san?"

"Of course, Nozawa-kun"

The two then made their way to school together, they walked most of the way in silence, but occasionally they would engage in a few small talks along the way

Eventually, they arrived at their school, changed into their indoor shoes, and went to their classroom, once there they sat down at their desks and began organizing their materials. When they finished doing that, they both went on to do their hobbies

Some time later

As time passed and the classroom filled, the two would end up having small talks with their friends

"Hey, Chihiro. Have you heard it?"

"Heard about what?"

"About Fujiwara-san, of course! I heard from a friend, who heard from her friend, that heard from a friend, that heard from a friend who's friends with Fujiwara-san, and she said that Fujiwara-san isn't going out with anyone at the moment!"

"Okay..."

Chihiro wanted to ask her friend many things, with the main one being who was Fujiwara, but seeing how her friend was now too engrossed in her delusions alongside her other friends, Chihiro decided to postpone her questions

As for Naoki, he was having a pok*mon duel with Jirou, when one of his other friends made a question to them

"Hey, do you two know about Akano-san?"

"Yes"

"No"

Naoki and his friend both gave immediate answers, but the contents were different, Naoki who wasn't interested in the life of other people, had no idea of who Akano was

"So apparently, the rumors that she was going out with Fujiwara-san were just rumors"

"Really!? Then that means I have a small chance of going out with her!"

"Nice!"

"That's right, Naoki. I'm glad you're rooting for me"

"Huh? What are you talking about? I just obliterated your pokaymon you"

"What?"

Then Jirou looked at his svitch screen and saw that he had just lost the match

"Nooooo!"

And Jirou cried from his loss, Naoki put his svitch back into its case

"Since the class is about to start, I'll be leaving, talk ya'll later"

" "See ya" "

And with that Naoki got up and went back to his desk, by the time he sat down, Chihiro's friends had also gone back to their seats, a few minutes later the teacher entered the class, and a few more minutes later the school bell rang signaling the start of the lessons of the day

"Alright, class. Before we start, the students on duty today are... Nozawa-san and Hoshino-san"

" "Here" "

"Good, now open your books on the page..."

With the teacher's instructions, the students did as he said

After School

The lessons for the day had already ended some time ago, and all of the students had left the classroom, with the exception of Naoki and Chihiro as they were in the middle of cleaning the classroom

Chihiro was wiping the desks and other furniture, while Naoki was moving them and cleaning the floor. As Chihiro wiped the desks, she noticed that Naoki was listening to music as usual as he cleaned

"..."

When he eventually ended up turning in her direction, she gestured for him to come near her, which he did so

"Is there something you want, Hoshino-san?"

"Can you put what you're listening to for both of us to listen to?"

"Just that? Sure"

With that, Naoki unplugged his earphones from his phone and put the volume on the max, then he moved one of the cleaned desks to the middle of the classroom and put his phone on top of it, and then he pressed the play button, and the music he was listening to resumed playing as he went back to clean the floor

"..."

Chihiro also went back to wiping the remaining desks as she listened to the music that was playing on Naoki's phone. As each music ended and a new one started playing, she noticed that Naoki listened to literally almost everything, as the playlist was being played at random

Some time later

"Huff! And with this, we're done"

"Yes, good job and thank you for the help, Nozawa-kun"

"*Nods* Thank you for the help as well, Hoshino-san. Now, do you want to throw out the water or take or take out the trash?"

"I don't mind doing one or the other"

"Jokenpo match to decide? The winner takes out the trash and the loser throws out the water"

"Fine by me"

"Then..."

" "Jo... Ken... Po!" "

They both made their moves and the result was... A draw, as they both chose scissors

" "..." "

They both stared in silence at the result

"Another round?"

"Yes"

"Alright"

" "Jokenpo!" "

And the result was...

"I win"

"Oh well, I guess I'll be throwing out the water then"

Chihiro's victory as she chose rock against Naoki's scissors, with the results given, Naoki picked up the bucket and left to throw the water out, while Chihiro picked up the trash bag and left to throw it in the school's dumpsters

.

.

.

After a short walk, Chihiro arrived at the back of the school, where the dumpsters was located at, and there she saw that there was someone there

The person was a very handsome guy, with prim and proper short blond hair, and green eyes. No matter how one looked, that person was the definition of a school prince, that most girls dreamed of

But Chihiro seeing that there was someone else there, simply gave the person a short and respectful bow before throwing the trash inside the dumpster, then she gave another short bow to the person before leaving

The guy looked at her in silence with a somewhat surprised face, when Chihiro turned a corner, the guy came back to his senses

"Wait!"

"Hm? Is there any problem?"

Chihiro hearing the guy about towards her, turned and slightly inclined her head to the side

"Your... May I know your name?"

"Hoshino Chihiro, a first year. And you are?"

"Ah! Sorry, about that. I am Fujiwara Haruki, by any chance does my name ring any bell?"

"Your name?..."

Chihiro made a thinking expression as she thought about his name, but nothing came to her mind, as she completely forgot about the talk she had with her friend in the morning

"Nope, I don't have any idea about it"

"I see, that's good. Anyways, sorry for taking your time"

"Don't worry about it"

And with that Chihiro turned on her heels and went back on making her way to the classroom, while Haruki stood there, he had a smile on his face, so far all of his interactions with girls were either them running away from him, or confessing to him without ever talking them before or just passing out from simply talking to him

So for him, Chihiro was the first girl that treated him normally and didn't show to be in love with him at first sight

.

.

.

Meanwhile

Naoki had just finished emptying the bucket in the outdoor water taps sinkholes, and after washing the bucket with tap water, but before he turned he noticed a hairpin on the group near the sink, so he picked it up out of curiosity

The hairpin appeared to be a quite expensive one from how elaborated the flower on it was and the material it was made of

"... I guess, I'll just put it in the lost and founds box"

With that, he put the hairpin in one of his pockets and went on his way back to the classroom. A short time later as he passed by a classroom, he noticed a girl inside crouched as she appeared to be desperately searching for something on the floor

The girl had a beautiful face and long wavy bright red hair and amber eyes. At a glance, her appearance was enough to catch the attention of many boys at first sight

Seeing her so desperate, made Naoki sigh before he called her

"Hey! Do you need help in finding whatever you lost?"

"Huh!? Ah! Y-yes... I-I lost a hairpin a-with a white flower, a-and it looks b-very elaborate..."

Her voice made it clear that she was on the verge of crying, but at hearing the description of what she lost, Naoki immediately remembered the hairpin he had just found

"Is that hairpin perhaps this one? I found it near the outdoor water taps"

"Y-Yes! That's the one!"

Naoki handed her the hairpin, and she held it carefully in her hands as small tears formed in her eyes

"Thank you for finding it, this hairpin is very important to me"

"No problem, I just happened to find it by chance. Anyways, I'll be going"

"Ah! C-can I ask your name?"

"It is Nozawa Naoki"

"I-I see, I am Akano Akemi. Thank you again for finding it"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be going now. Be more careful with your hairpin, Akano-san"

And with that Naoki turned and left the classroom, leaving only Akemi inside

"Nozawa Naoki... Hehe, he appears to be a good person. He helped me and didn't even try to confess to me"

Akemi who was confessed by many boys she didn't know, what pleased to meet a boy who treated her normally

.

.

.

" "Ah!" "

"Hoshino-san..."

"Nozawa-kun..."

"I didn't expect to arrive at the classroom at the same time as you"

"Me neither"

With that short talk, Chihiro opened the classroom door, and they both went inside. Naoki went to put the bucket inside the locker, while Hoshino went to fill in the report paper, after storing the bucket in the locker, Naoki walked towards Chihiro to help her with the report, then after doing that, they were allowed to go back home

"Well, I'll go take this to the teacher"

"Okay, so I'll be going then. See you tomorrow, Nozawa-kun"

"See ya... One moment, Hoshino-san"

"Hm?"

Hoshino turned towards Naoki as he called for her

"Wanna go part of the way home together? Since we'll be going the same way"

"Hmmm... Sure"

"Great, just wait for me at the school entrance"

The two left the classroom together, and shortly after they went in different directions, Chihiro waited for Naoki at the school entrance as agreed, and after some minutes he arrived, and with that, they both walked together until the intersection where they had met in the morning, and then went on separate ways