Chapter One
You tilted your head confusedly."0
Uh, do you need something?" You raised a question, looking at the boy in front of you curiously. The two of you have been keeping awkward eye contact in the middle of the street for a while already.0
"Kelp."
You crossed your arms, tilting your head even more, "Kelp?" You asked, briefly stopping and then pointing in the direction of a nearby convenience store. "If you want to buy one, I think there's a-"
However, he shakes his head before you could even finish what you were saying. "Bonito flakes." You blinked, "That's not it?"
He nods, "Salmon, salmon."
You looked at him even more confusedly, "Your voice is nice but is your Japanese vocabulary limited to uh, some kind of food ingredients?" He nods once again, "Salmon."
"Let's see, does 'salmon' means yes?" He nods. "'Bonito flakes' is no?" He nods again.
Your eyes lightened up, nodding as well. "Then let me ask you some easy questions! Do you have something you want to tell me or something?"
"Salmon."
"You won't kidnap me or something, right? I doubt that you will do something like that but just making sure."
"Salmon, salmon."
"Are you aware that you can just type or write what want to say, right? I can't let you borrow my phone so do you have one with you right now?"
He flinched as if he had just realized the more convenient method to communicate. He put his hand in the pocket of his pants and pulled out a phone. "Salmon cod roe!" He beamed. You blinked, you weren't expecting the sudden change of mood. You chuckled, "Cute, cute." You hummed. He shook his head, unfortunately, "Bonito flakes!"
He started typing immediately, and yes, he was fast at typing. He showed you his screen.
'I'm from Tokyo Metropolitan Tech College. It was supposed to be the other first-years to pick you up but they ran into trouble halfway so I ended coming instead.'
Your lips parted momentarily before smiling, "It was not your job to do so but you did anyway, thank you very much!" He only nods after lowering his head a bit. "Salmon."
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"Hey Toge, where did you go?"
You stopped on your tracks, glancing at the field right beside the hallway you and 'Toge' were walking. There were two people, or not. Nevermind, the other one was a panda who just suddenly approached both of you. "Kelp."
The girl looked at you briefly before staring at you curiously, "You must be the new first-year then." she said. You smiled, "Yes I am. I'm sure that you are Zenin Maki-senpai, right?" your eyes lightened up, "I admire you!" you beamed.
She looked at you briefly before chuckling and elbowing the panda playfully, "Hey Panda, look. The first-year didn't ask about you first but me." She then placed her sight back at you, "It seems that you already know me and I'm honored. We have a job to do but it seems like he's doing the role of the guide right now,"
She glanced at the boy in front of you, "Toge, it'll just be me and Panda today so guide her well. If you finish early, then you can follow us if you want." she said. "Let's go, Panda." she turned around. Panda looked at you, "Well, see you later first-year." he waved. You smiled, "Yes, take care Zenin-senpai, Panda-senpai."
"Don't call me by my last name." Maki corrected, waving her farewell as well.
You looked back at Toge, "You're a second-year too, aren't you?" You asked. He nods as he started walking again after the interruption while you just followed him behind. "Salmon."
"Should I call you senpai then?" you wondered. He momentarily paused and glanced at you. "Tuna mayo?" You tilted your head, "That's a new word, what does it mean?" you asked curiously.
His expression alone showed that he was having difficulty how to explain. You stared at him briefly before smiling, "By the way, I didn't ask for your name yet. I only know that you're 'Toge'-senpai. It's kind of weird that I just followed you without even knowing your name." he paused, thinking about it for a moment.
Saying his name won't curse her, he already knows that but he still showed hesitation. He sighed, parting his lips to answer you. "Inumaki-"
You grinned teasingly, "So am I cursed to be an Inumaki now?"
Toge stopped. He looked at you. He realized what you meant. His eyes widen.
Red hues of embarrassment sprawled all over his face, taking a step back while pulling his zipped-up dark collar up to his face, even more, trying his very best to hide his flustered expression. "Bonito flakes!"
You just couldn't help but laugh, walking ahead of him. "Inumaki [First Name], that actually sounds good, senpai," you glanced at him who was still looking at you with a flustered and cautious expression.
"By the way, you could have just written what you wanted to say on your phone and show me. Though, if that's too much trouble," you focused your curse energy in your ears and pointed at it, "You can just casually talk to me!"
He flinched and took out his phone immediately. 'You knew me from the start, didn't you?'
You smiled, "I'm a big fan of you, Inumaki Toge-senpai." You continued walking, creating quite a distance from you to him. "I already know where the faculty room is, nah, I've been here before so I know where I'm supposed to go. I'll be fine on my own so you can go with Maki-senpai and Panda-senpai." You glanced back at him with a teasing smirk,
"Inumaki [First Name]'s gonna go now, Toge-senpai."
"Cod roe!"
