On the day of the trip, I had to wake up even earlier than normal and quickly rush to school, the bus leaving at 7:30.
“F***! Whenever I’m late, I feel like the school’s suddenly a few hundred miles away!”
After I barely arrived, the teacher made sure to shower me with a few annoying comments and scold me for my late arrival. While I stood there outside the bus while being shouted at, the driver placed my valise inside the luggage carrier, glancing at me with eyes as if saying; That’s what you get for being late, kid, making me raise an eyebrow at him.
“-and because of that, we need to be set back-… Leon are you even listening?!”
“Yes, yes. Teacher, it’s already late, why don’t we leave this for later and go already?”
“AND WHO’S FAULT YOU THINK IT IS?!”
He raged loudly and I was momentarily surprised to see such a small guy have so much energy, shouting and jumping around so lively.
“Get in! I don’t wanna see you anymore!”
“We’ll see each other for the next two days, teach-“
“GET IN!”
“Jesus Christ…”
I quickly got on the bus then walked forward in a relaxed state. The bus was filled with kids from not only my class but from other as well. Of course, I saw there a lot of familiar faces, but I couldn’t care less as I simply strolled forward in search of a free spot.
“Hey, he is Leon, right?”
“Roil? Yeah, he is. He looks like a delinquent.”
“He even made the little devil be so infuriated.”
“He truly has no fear. As expected for someone who deals with weapons all day.”
I couldn’t help but sigh as I heard dumb rumors and comments left and right, and having gazes of contempt, fear, disgust, or even of interest threw my way.
“Hey, hey, putting his background aside, isn’t he rather cute?”
“Yeah, yeah! Although he looks tough, his face isn’t ferocious but rather handsome. Such a petty for what happened!”
“To be honest… I would like to risk it.”
What the Hell am I hearing?!
Going further in, there were also many girl groups gathered in the middle of the bus, their interested gazes making me feel even more pressure than the ones from the guys. I glanced baffled at the girls that whispered just now and after seeing me look at them, they waved giggling at me.
Some people are really not aware of danger nowadays.
Although I was thinking such, I still nodded my head with a smile out of reflex, continuing on forward until I saw Alice waving at me with a free spot beside hers. I quickly went to sit there and after doing so, I still felt the stares of the others rest on me.
These people are really not getting bored of this…
“You’re quite a star, aren’t you?”
“Hurray…”
She chuckled amused and I dropped my head, already tired.
“Hey! Are you Alice’s boyfriend~?”
“?!”
From the seat in front, a girl gets up and greets me with a playful grin, surprising me greatly. Alice then turned red and pushed the chair as to punish her,
“Marina! What are you even saying?!”
“Hey, hey! So, are you?”
“No, we’re forced-friends.”
“forced… friends? What?”
She looked at me confused and even Alice was looking at me the same way. Then I continued with a miserable face while playing it the victim,
“Yes, it means that I must be Alice’s friend, or else she’ll judo-throw my ass on concrete and break my back. I barely escaped last time.”
“W-wha-? Didn’t we talk about that already?!”
“Oaah~ Alice’s so violent. Scary~.”
“I’m not!”
The girl Marina and I jokingly started teasing her, making Alice more flustered. Afterward, another person got up from the seat near Marina’s; a shy girl looking warily my way,
“Hello…”
“Yo.”
“Hey Mira~. How are you doing?”
“I’m good. How are you, Alice?”
She smiled sweetly at Alice but continued to glance my way curiously and at the same time in a rather fearful and wary way. Feeling rather annoyed by her glances, I decided to play a prank on her, putting my hand as close to the chair as possible so she won’t see them while I was also looking away, reaching further up slowly. After it reached up to her arms, I gently touched her resting arm, attracting her attention, then abruptly raised my palm upright in front of her face, shouting out urgently,
“Spider goes boo!”
“Kya~!”
She shouted scared then hid back in her seat. The shout wasn’t enough to be heard by too many people, but those around still looked at us confused. I couldn’t help laughing amused while Marina appeared surprised and confused about what happened.
“Leon! How can you be so mean? Mira it’s easily scared and she’s a rather sensible person. Please don’t bully her!”
Alice started scolding me annoyed and I simply shrugged my shoulders.
“Sorry, but I’d appreciate it if your friends won’t stare at me like at some circus freak, okay? Why do you think I’m tired of having people around me?”
“Y-yeah, but…”
I explained with an indifferent smile and Alice felt a bit troubled as she didn’t know what to say, feeling cold air from me caused by my stare and smile. Not liking the atmosphere, Marina tried to explain their behavior with a wry smile,
“H-hey~, no need to take it like that, you know~? I mean, we’ve become friends with Alice way before she came to this school through some older friends that did Judo as well. As some events happening at her family’s dojo, we got to meet her after going to cheer for our friends.”
“So?”
“So~, what I’m saying is, I’m rather amazed to see our indifferent little princess suddenly gain some interest in a guy. Of course we would stare like that.”
“Marina! That’s enough about that!”
I thought for a while then sighed and asked again,
“You say that now, but I suppose you already know who I am, right?”
“Err, yeah.“
“I just wonder how much you lot tried to convince her to stay away from me.”
“H-how did you know- Ah…”
“Ah, indeed.”
Being busted, Marina smiled wryly while scratching her cheek embarrassed. Then she lowered her head in an apologetic form then exclaimed,
“I’m sorry! It’s just-… I guess I got too influenced by the rumors…”
“Is not like I blame you or anything. I just didn’t wish to be stared at so much like I’m some kind of rare beast. Maybe you not as much, but sure enough, your little friend that’s now hiding wasn’t as sensible. Using the excuse that she’s shy won’t resolve anything either. Rudeness has no excuse.”
Hearing this, Mira twitched then she got up again, this time only half the head, with sad eyes and a shaking voice saying;
“I-I’m sorry…”
“Apology accepted.”
I nodded my head then continued on staring outside the window while Alice sighed troubled. She gently touched my head with one finger, making me grab it by reflex and turn her way,
“My God, Leon. Such a hard-headed boy you are. Can’t you just relax for once? Trips are there to relax and have a fun time~.”
She smiled at me and I gazed at her smile plainly for a moment, letting her hand go and raise an eyebrow while talking unsure,
“It may be as you say, but I can’t help it. I can relax only when I work or sleep. Other than that, I just think of what my next project should be.”
“W-work? Y-you mean, creating weapons?”
Mira asked somewhat afraid and this only made me wish to bully her some more,
“Oh, yes. Sharp swords with huge blades that could easily cut a little girly like you in half-”
As I talked, Mira’s face turned paler and paler, while I formed a more sinister smile on my face, until Alice suddenly covered my mouth, trying to calm her down with a wry smile.
“Alright, enough. Don’t mind him, Mira, he’s just joking.”
“Bwt ai’m nat.”
“You, keep quiet for a bit.”
I tried to talk with my mouth covered but Alice pressed her hand even stronger, coming closer and smiling annoyed.
–Licks–
“Kya!”
Thinking it was the perfect opportunity, I licked her palm and she quickly retreated her hand, looking at me baffled while I grinned amused,
“Punishment for touching me as you please.”
“Y-you…!”
While all of this happened, Marina stared at us with a somewhat dead-stare, Alice and I starting to feel awkward just because of her glare.
“Just get married, you stupid couple.”
“W-we’re not! Marina!”
After saying such, Marina got back down to her seat and this time Alice was the one to get up and try to talk with them, blushing from ear to ear. As she tried to resolve the misunderstanding, I looked at Alice and a feeling of guilt swirled inside me. I shook my head trying not to mind it and simply sighed then put on my earphones, looking outside the window.
On our way there, Alice wouldn’t simply let me listen to music, forcing me to play cards with them. I didn’t quite felt like it, but while at it I had a fun time bullying Alice with making her take more cards, but somehow got it all back from Mira, her having the move before me, making me and Alice always be the last to finish.
“You lil’ brat. I see you got some guts, don’t you?”
“D-don’t bully Alice!”
I grinned annoyed at Mira as she made me pull another 5 cards, but then I simply placed down another card which continued the circle with another 3 cards, now having Alice pull 8 cards in total.
“Ah!”
“Hehehe~! Good job brat. Because of you, now Alice has to pull even more cards! Serves you right.”
“A-Alice…”
I laughed like a devil at Mira who felt like crying, Marina laughing out amused while Alice only felt more troubled as she was the one to pull the short end of the stick.
“Can you two please not quarrel? No deep meanings but… I’m the one to suffer at the end of it all!”
“As always.”
She felt like crying and I couldn’t help but laugh amused as she was indeed always in the middle of a quarrel, as if she was attracting misfortune.
“Wow, and here I thought I’m the bad-luck magnet. Sad to be you, Alice.”
“Uuuuh~ Leon you’re just so mean…”
“W-wait, you won’t cry now, right?”
Seeing her watery eyes, I started wondering if I should take it easier with the teasing.
As we continued on playing, we reached our destination and it was barely 3 PM, the teachers saying that we’ll have enough time to do anything as long as it’s in the vicinity of the motel we stayed in. However, before that, we had to form groups of 3 or 4 to share the rooms.
