The sky had become overcast and was accompanied by a chilly breeze flowing through the open windows, causing a few of the students to shiver. Soon, droplets of water started to accumulate on the windows, one after another. Before anyone knew it, the overcast had transitioned into a downpour.

"Jackson, Akito, please shut the windows." Hasegawa-sensei directed the two students closest to the open windows.

The boy Hasegawa-sensei called on, Jackson, rose from his seat. He towered over all the other students being one hundred-ninety centimeters tall. A head of messy blonde hair sat on his head, and despite its unorthodox style, looked good on him.

The foreigner spoke decent Japanese in his response to Hasegawa-sensei, but just by hearing his voice, it was easy to tell he wasn’t a native speaker. Katsumi figured that he’d most likely come to Kashiwa recently in some sort of exchange program.

Katsumi’s brain idled for an hour and a half, all the way until afternoon classes had ended.

Students were splitting up with their friends and spreading across campus. Some decided to find a nice spot and chat or do homework, while others returned to their dorms. One of those that was looking for a spot was Katsumi, but he didn’t plan on chatting or doing any studying.

As he walked aimlessly through hallways, he listened to some of the meaningless chatter.

Up ahead was a decently large room, the walls almost entirely made of glass. It was one of the campus’s cafés.

This might be the spot. Katsumi thought as he claimed a table for two. As he sat however, he spotted something that dampened his already annoyed mood.

The foreigner, Jackson from his class, was there, and he seemed to have already carved out his own clique. He was surrounded by six other students, two being guys and the other four girls.

Figures…

A few of them Katsumi believed he vaguely recognized from high school—a girl with a brown pony-tail and maybe one of the guys. However, none of them stuck out… until his eyes landed on the girl sitting closest to Jackson—that girl being Akito Saki.

She was someone Katsumi unfortunately knew for the better part of a decade. She had been in the same class as him throughout middle and high school, the two being on generally good terms almost the entire time. It was only during their senior year of high school where that changed.

That year is when Katsumi befriended Nara Takagi. Nara’s bad habits and mannerisms quickly caught on with Katsumi, causing him to slip from his academic and social grace, along with leaving a negative opinion of him in almost everyone's head.

This included Saki. Especially Saki. Someone Katsumi coined as his number one hater. The core memory he had of Saki was her going around the school and ensuring everyone knew the type of delinquent he had become.

Katsumi was left with one question because of this: why? He always wondered what he did directly to her to cause this. The answer he came to time and time again was a simple moral code she held. Which he found stupid.

Jackson’s gaze drifted from the group and ended up locking eyes with Katsumi from across the café—which caused the latter to instinctively avert his. Yet Jackson’s lingered.

What the hell is this guy’s deal…? Can’t you tell I’m ignoring you, please look away.

Jackson’s prolonged gaze had the misfortune of drawing the attention of Saki. When she realized who he had been looking at, her expression soured.

Even without being able to hear their conversation, Katsumi immediately knew Saki was dumping negative details about him to her friends. They slowly, one by one, turned to take glances at Katsumi.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Alright, I’ve had enough of this public humiliation. Katsumi set his hands on the table and rose from his seat. I’m gonna go smoke… Hopefully they have somewhere no one can see me… Maybe the roof.

After a few hallways and a couple flights of stairs, Katsumi was face-to-face with the door to the roof. He put his hand on the handle and turned it.

“Didn’t expect it to be unlocked.”

Once therapeutic and rhythmic, the sound of muffled rain hitting the roof turned into an unignorable, loud wall of noise.

"At least the wind isn’t in this direction…" Katsumi poked his head out of the doorway, looking left and right before stepping out.

When he did, the rain didn’t hit him.

"Hm?" He looked up. "Ah, there’s an overhang… isn’t this my lucky day."

Katsumi pulled a carton of cigarettes out of his pants pocket along with a lighter. He put a cigarette in his mouth and cupped his hand around the front of it. The sound of rain fell away as the only thing Katsumi focused on was the repeated clicking of his lighter.

Come on, it’s too damn wet out here…

After a few more seconds of clicking a flame came out.

Finally…

The smoke rose upwards, illuminated by the light installed in the overhang.

"Got one to spare?" A voice came from the doorway.

After a moment of silence Katsumi did a double-take, finally realizing who said that.

"What? Jackson?”

“You already know my name?” He asked.

Katsumi gave an unimpressed look. “Hasegawa-sensei said it during class. And you stand out, so it’s easy to remember.”

"I suppose.” Jackson gave a smile reminiscent of someone Katsumi knew.

When did he get up here? I never heard the door open… Katsumi eyed him out of the corner of his vision. “So why’re you here instead of with your fanclub?”

“I’ve met a lot of people already, but you seem interesting, so I wanted to talk with you.” Jackson attempted to sound genuine, but Katsumi easily saw through it.

“Don’t pretend to be all philosophical with me. Why’re you here?”

“Well it’s not a complete lie, I did want to talk wi—”

Katsumi curtly cut him off. “Just tell me.”

Jackson sighed. “A girl I was sitting with wouldn’t stop complaining about you. Saying stuff like how unlucky she was that you attend this university. I’ve never seen someone get this worked up, so I had to know why.”

“Akito didn’t go on and on about what I was like during high school?”

“No, she did— wait, how did you know it was Saki?”

Katsumi shrugged. “Lucky guess.”

He brushed over Katsumi’s sarcastic remark and continued on. “The real reason I’m here is because I’d like to know if you did something to her in the past that made her hate you. She was livid back in the—”

Before he could finish though, the roof door swung open and the brown-haired Saki Akito stepped through. "Jackson! Why’re you talking with Murakami!?"

"I was just introducing myself,” Jackson responded calmly

“That’s the last thing I wanted you to do! Look at him, unkempt and gross. He’s a delinquent!”

"Yes-yes, you’re right Saki, sorry."

It’s been a few months since I’ve seen Akito, and the first thing she does is insult me? That’s so in character for her… Also Saki? First name basis already?

"You weren’t going to smoke with him, were you?" She calmed down, lowering her voice.

"Of course not. I, in fact, told Murakami that he shouldn’t be smoking.”

Saki turned her piercing gaze towards Katsumi. "See Murakami? Even people from halfway around the world agree that you shouldn’t be smoking. It’s terrible for you."

Katsumi stared back at her with dead eyes. "I’ll give you one thousand yen if you leave right now."

"I’ll gladly do it for free. I can feel my social status dropping just by being around you."

"You’re really gonna pass up on free money because of that stupid pride of yours, Akito?"

"Ah— I— Like I’d want any money from you! Besides, you can’t even make a normal expression when talking to me. You’re pathetic.”

"Who would want to look at you?"

"Amazing…” Jackson interjected. “You two are so familiar with each other. Are you ex’s?" His eyes flickered from one to the other.

Saki’s response came quickly. "Jackson, please don’t say such stupid things. We went to the same high school and junior high together. And believe it or not, he used to be an upstanding student.”

"I see… So then why are you so mean to Murakami?"

“This new girl from the countryside transferred in during our last year and turned him into the delinquent you see before you."

“Does he bother you?” Jackson still wasn’t grasping her reasoning.

"W-well, just look! He’s terrible! someone needs to tell him off because his parents clearly didn’t do that."

Jackson looked over at him, which prompted him to say, “I just reciprocate what she says to me."

"I see…" Jackson was scratching his chin as if he was trying to decipher something.

"Weren’t you going to leave, Akito?" Katsumi continued to glare at Saki.

"Y-yes, we were just about to."

"It looks like I’m going too then. See ya, Murakami."

Saki grabbed Jackson by the hand and stormed back inside.