[REMINDER] : All of the contents in this fic are purely fictional. Trigger Warnings will be tagged if I feel a chapter needs so.

“You look like you had a rough night.” Nako states, brows furrowing as she sees her best friend walk into their classroom, shoulders hunched over and eyes half-lidded.

“I was stuck doing most of the group project again.” Hitomi simply mumbles out before hanging her bag on the little hook on the side of her table and proceeding to not-so-gracefully throw herself into her seat and rest her head on her forearms.

“You know, you can just threaten them to do it themselves, right?” the shorter girl suggests, turning back to her own table to pull out a delicately wrapped piece of pastry from the tub of her table. “And, here. I brought you a cream bun. I had a feeling you weren’t gonna have the best day today.”

“Thanks.” Hitomi mutters and snatches the bread from Nako’s hands, all the while her head is still firmly planted on the arm she hadn’t used to acquire the delectable piece of dough. “And no, I can’t do that. I’d risk my own grade. I do, however, have a different way of getting back at them, though.” Hitomi finally decides to sit up, (somewhat) cheerily freeing the bun from its plastic confines.

“And that is?” Nako quirks a brow, lips inching up into a smile as she sees her best friend reenergized simply from seeing the snack she’s given her.

“I’ll be out of class patrolling when it’s time to present.”

“And?”

“How are they going to present when they don’t understand anything that’s in the presentation I made?” the taller of the two grins-- a -eating grin at that. 

Nako can only shake her head, holding back a stifling laughter at the pettiness of her best friend. Sometimes Nako genuinely wonders how Hitomi hasn’t made any enemies. Though the bread-loving girl had always had a gritty and snarky side to her-- a side which many are terrified of purely from the prospect of such a soft, cuddly looking girl being able to destroy them in one sentence-- Hitomi has never had anybody try to cross her. Well, at least after she had started showing that side of herself.

Nako vividly remembers the days when Hitomi was nothing but a meek little 6 years old, too nervous to join the other kids on the playground. Being as small and weak-looking as she is, some of the kids had decided to pick on her for not being brave enough to so much as to even walk on to the platform of the playground (to which they all thought was because she was a scaredy-cat). The bullying went on for years until Hitomi had snapped and lashed out at them with her snarky, smart-mouthed remarks that none of them could protest. Ever since then, the kids had suddenly started to consider that Hitomi was no pushover, rather, she was the silent but deadly type. 

“Ah, but presentations start first period. If you’re going to leave anyway, why did you come to class?” Nako suddenly inquires, pulling out her chromebook from her backpack, being reminded that she should probably set up for said presentations.

“I just wanted to nap on my desk for at least fifteen minutes before I have to start patrolling.” Hitomi sighs, turning to look at the clock that was hung up in front of the classroom, “But I guess that’s not happening.” 

“Sorry.” Nako hastily replies.

“It’s fine, I’ll just get some coffee from the cafeteria.” The blonde girl gets ready to make her leave, standing up to adjust her uniform before waving to her best friend before walking out of the classroom. “I’ll see you after lunch!” she calls just as she was about to shut the door.

***

The school seems rather empty (of course, most of its students should already be in class) when Hitomi begins her patrol.With first period just starting, the blonde girl had expected to come across a few strays; students who are late rushing in to get to their lockers and sprinting off to their class. What Hitomi hadn’t expected was to find a red-haired girl crouching behind a dumpster just by the back of the school, her tiny body sandwiched between the giant metal box and a slightly smaller dense bush. The girl sported an oversized beige hoodie with a raggedy looking biker style leather jacket over top, her bottoms seemed like a plaid school-issued uniform skirt that reached about her mid-thigh, her look completed with a pair of black Converse hightops. The girl was suspiciously hunched over, seemingly preoccupied with something; occasionally turning back to survey the area to see if there were any leering eyes.

‘What is she doing?’ Hitomi thinks to herself before a thought strikes her, the blood already rushing to her face and the feeling of rage came crashing in. ‘She isn’t following uniform guidelines, not even attempting to get to class on time and God knows what she’s doing right now-- she probably setting up some firecrackers to set off later!’ Blinded by her emotions and train of thought, Hitomi doesn’t realise she’s very loudly stomping towards the girl, fists clenched and eyebrows taut. 

Just as she’s about to reprimand the girl, the redhead swiftly jumps out from her spot between the dumpster and the bush to quickly grab Hitomi, a firm hand clamping over the small girl’s mouth before she’s suddenly being pulled into the spot the girl was in earlier, only this time they were both crammed into the tiny crevice with the redhead pressing her back against the dumpster.

“Shh. Give it a few more seconds and I’ll explain later.” She whispers quietly into the blonde’s ear leaving the blonde slightly red because of the amount of space the two had, or lack thereof. “Probably when we’re running.” The girl continues.

“We?” Hitomi mutters incredulously.

“Shh!” the redhead repeats once more.

Suddenly Hitomi hears rapid footsteps approaching, angry grumbles accompanying it. The blonde turns to the girl that’s basically holding her in a headlock at the moment and widens her eyes-- what on earth has this girl been doing?!

“Where did that little prick go?!” a voice from the otherside of the dumpster booms before a harsh bang to the metal behind her sounds.

“Even if we find her here we can’t do anything about it! This is a school! Let’s go.” Another voice, slightly softer and more calm reasons and not long after, Hitomi hears the soft shuffling of footsteps disappear into the distance. 

Suddenly realising the situation she’s in, Hitomi feels the rage seep into her again. She quickly (and very aggressively) grabs the hand that is now simply resting over her lips, stands up and pulls both of them out of their hiding spot.

“What the hell was that?!” she shrieks, loud enough to startle the girl but not loud enough to disrupt or alert any of the nearby classrooms. “If you just dragged a bunch of creeps or thugs into the school compound-- oh so help me, I’m going to cave your skull in.” Hitomi almost screams at the girl in her fit of rage, her small figure shaking with anger and her cheeks puffed out making her look extra soft and cuddly.

“I’ve never been threatened so adorably before.” The girl merely replies, an amused grin playing at her lips.

“Yeah, well, I’m about to adorably kick your ing arse.”

“There she is!” the voice from earlier returns and without missing a beat, Hitomi feels her wrist be grabbed once again.

“, run.”