[ Haru's POV ]

It was lunchtime. I brought lunch and I was proud of myself because it was a feast on the first day. This is what I get from watching cooking tutorials on Youtube while on break. I prepared breaded pork, stir-fried vegetables, rice, and a banana. I also brought a bottle of lemon water.

My weight hasn't been steady for the past five years. I was in my prime in the first two years. I used to be very conscious of my outer appearance back then, so I pampered myself a lot; and when I started working for real, that was when I began to neglect myself. I worked at home and I barely fix myself. I binged on food and stayed idle at home.

I regretted it a lot. I should have done better.

Before school started, I had long hair, but since I was lazy to fix myself often, I decided to cut my hair short and add straight-cut bangs. It brought my round face to the spotlight. My sister scolded me for cutting my hair short and told me that I looked ridiculous.

I came here to study not to impress people with my looks. I thought to myself.

But deep inside, I hate my look.

I was a big, fat, and pale young adult.

I usually plugged in my earphones whenever I eat lunch. It became a habit since it wasn't healthy for me to observe the crowd. It gave me peace of mind. I can watch people around me without hearing them. I am okay so long as I don't hear them.

I sat in an empty table at the far end of the canteen. I saw some of my classmates walked in groups. Some of them saw me and waved their hands at me, and I responded the same way before I began to eat.

I focused on my meal and enjoyed it a lot. I thought I was going to have a good meal when a group of students from a different department came into my table. I stopped eating and watched them settled in the table.

They didn't even say hi or excused themselves if the seats were taken.

Rude. I bit my lip and held myself from doing something that they'd misunderstand. They were a group of four, students from the Hospitality Management just took the seats in my table without a word. Three of them had seats except for one. She stood beside me and waited for me to clean up and leave.

I was totally dumbfounded. I abruptly pulled my earphones and stood up.

"What are you looking at? I was here first and I'm still eating," I explained and even pointed at my unfinished lunch. The girl looked at me with an impudent expression on her face. She had her arms crossed expecting that I'd just back out.

"It's obvious that you're not informed," One of the people seated in the table, spoke. "This table is reserved for our department, freshman."

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