"How the hell am I late again!" the boy cried.
His hair stood on its ends, his uniform was untidy, shoes were undone, and his bag flailed about behind him. In his mouth was a piece of toast clad in jelly that hanged off at the ends of his canines. All the while, he ran along the sidewalks of a metropolitan city. Even in a city such as Magia, this would be an occasional occurrence for the average student. But for the boy, the adrenaline of doing last minute responsibilities was a daily incident.
"Damn it, why did my alarm clock run out of battery?" the boy complained
while he slowly chewed his way up his toast.
From a distance, he spotted the bus stop that would lead him towards his destination. As the bus was about to leave, he gulped down the rest of his bread that he was chewing and mustered the energy to sprint up to the bus that was about to leave.
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” the boy hollered with a raised hand.
The female bus driver sported a bun hair style under her cap, as well as a blue uniform with white accents. She suddenly stopped the bus after she caught a glimpse of the high school student on her right-wing mirror. The bus came to a stop and as soon the doors opened up, there was a loud slam of change that went into the receiver and a sweaty boy that took heavy breathers.
“Kazuma.” the bus driver greeted bluntly with a strained smile.
“How many times has this been now?”
“I’m really sorry!” Kazuma panted as he bowed respectfully.
She sighed deeply.
“Make sure you’re on time next time okay? You’re lucky I saw you just as I left.”
“Thank you, Miss Akira. It won’t happen again.”
“Yeah, yeah. Get in.”
Kazuma got in the bus and sat in the back seat as he sighed with relief.
---
Ding dong, ding dong. The school bell rang by the time Kazuma was sprinting through the empty hallways. He quickly opened the classroom door, and his female homeroom teacher, Kuroki Tomika, was already taking roll. She wore glasses and a dark blue suit with high heels. Everyone looked at Kazuma when he entered the classroom.
"You’re late, Kaz.” Tomika fixed her glasses. She clicked the pen in her hand and wrote a side note on the attendance sheet.
“Aw come on, I’m on time!” Kazuma refuted.
Tomika continued her writing before she suddenly looked at him.
“Please don’t interrupt the class any further, just go sit down.”
While Kazuma walked to the back of the classroom, he could hear some of the students that whispered to each other even after he sat down at his desk. Tomika cleared her throat, and the students directed their attention towards her.
“Now that class has begun, I assume all of you have your homework. Please pass them forward."
Everyone else had begun passing up their assignments forward while Kazuma was rummaging through his messenger bag over and over, hoping that he would find his missing homework.
(“Not here, not here, not here…”) he muttered to himself.
He scratched his head trying to remember where he had put his homework. Suddenly, it struck him that he had left his homework on his desk at home. Since he was so caught up trying to catch the bus, it never occurred to him that he had forgotten to get grab his homework.
(“No, no, no… not again…”)
Tomika instinctively knew the situation as soon as she saw Kazuma put his head down on his desk. She sighed as she grabbed the stack of papers that were being passed up to the front of the room.
Class continued as the other students were paying close attention to Tomika’s lecture. On the other hand, Kazuma was looking out the window as he spaced out. He sighed while he still thought about how this day could have turned out if he had caught the bus earlier or if he had remembered to bring his homework.
("Hey, Kazuma.") a voice whispered to him.
The murmur of his name had barely reached his ears, which caused him to snap out of his daydream. He turned around and scanned the classroom to find the source of the sound.
To his dismay, the voice came from Yusuke Makoto, who sat two empty seats over from his right. He wore a blue beanie that covered his disheveled hair and wore the same signature school uniform. Kazuma groaned at the sight of his classmate giving him a thumbs up. Meanwhile, from the seat to the right of Makoto was Akimoto Shinji. The stoic boy overshadowed Makoto and responded with a lukewarm wave at Kazuma.
---
Soon, after school came along. Everyone except for Kazuma, Makoto and Shinji had left the classroom.
"So, you didn't do homework too?" Kazuma asked as he turned to look at both of them.
Makoto snickered as he crossed his arms. With one hand, he pointed at Kazuma mischievously as he rubbed his chin with the other.
"Of course."
“Why are you saying that like you’re proud of it?” Kazuma sighed as he slumped on his desk.
Shinji got up from his seat and patted him on the shoulder empathically.
“…It’ll be okay Kazuma, you were just unlucky. Misfortunes happen.”
“But this wasn’t an accident! I really did it this time! I just forgot it at home… after I finishing it three in the morning… More importantly, why are you here Shinji? I get Makoto is here, but you’re usually the responsible one out of all of us.”
“Heh heh yeah—Hey wait a minute! What’s that supposed to mean?” Makoto argued.
The three friends then suddenly heard the door open, and Tomika cleared her throat. They stopped their discussion and turned their attention towards her.
"You three are free to go."
The students looked each other confused as they had hoped that they would have received some sort of punishment for not turning in a homework assignment.
(Why did she have to make it sound like we're being released from jail?) Kazuma expression soured as he thought to himself.
“…Sensei.” Shinji raised his hand.
“Yes Shinji?”
"…Does that mean there is no penalty this time? You’re not going to giving us remedial lessons? No after school punishment?"
(“Shinji, you dumbass! Are you crazy? Why would you ask that?”) Makoto whispered.
"Fortunately for you three, I’m not so cruel like other teachers. And because I’m in such a good mood today, I decided to give you guys a free pass. You all can turn in your homework to me tomorrow."
"Thank you! I'll work hard this time!" Makoto cheered with his arm around Kazuma’s shoulder.
““That's what you said last time.”” Shinji and Kazuma both said.
“And you better not screw it up this time either.” Kazuma added.
Tomika put her hands on her hips.
“Anyways, get out of here, before I change my mind. I'm only giving you ten seconds to leave this classroom.”
She began to count down out loud, and the three friends quickly sprinted for the door. She let out a stressful sigh as soon they were out of her sight. Just as soon as she turned around, a hand patted on her shoulder.
“Yo, Kuroki~.” Akira greeted.
“Ah. Hello Riko.” Tomika greeted back as she fixed her glasses.
“I didn’t expect you to be here this early. I thought your shift didn’t end till later.”
“Well, today my boss let me off early. So because of a day’s hard work, I decided that we should go out today.” Akira smiled.
“…I see.”
Akira stared at Tomika as she awaited the answer to her invitation. Tomika contemplated as she put her hand on her forehead.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Fine, let me go get ready first.”
---
The efforts of the three friends soon got them to the school's front entrance. The haze of the afternoon light had never felt more victorious. The three friends split off at the intersection of the road. They all said their goodbyes and the two split off from Kazuma, heading down the opposite direction. While making his way home, Kazuma’s stomach began growl. Until now, he didn't notice how hungry he was. After all, he didn't have any time this morning to pack lunch.
Conveniently, there was a convenience store that was fifteen minutes away from the school. Kazuma went in and bought a chicken sandwich and some gum with the limited money that he had in his wallet. After buying the items, he exited store with a plastic bag in hand. Kazuma hesitated as he slightly peered into his wallet.
(“I only have forty dollarks left…”) Kazuma mumbled to himself.
He sighed and then looked over at the vending machine that was in front of the convenience store.
“I think have enough for the bus. Might as well buy a soda.”
Beep. Beep. Kazuma pressed a couple of buttons and inserted ten dollarks from his cash card into the vending machine. After a brief moment of rumbling, the machine spat out a soda. As he squatted to grab his soda, Kazuma noticed a dark fabric that was on the ground. He cautiously raised his head and was face to face with a small girl that was oddly dressed and sleeping against the vending machine. It took a moment to register what he was looking at, and when he did, he jumped back.
“Wha—a girl?”
He scanned around him to see if anyone had noticed the sleeping girl, but people kept walking and minding their own business.
Kazuma turned back to the girl that was sleeping peacefully.
“You’re kidding right? How can you even sleep with all of this noise?”
He knelt on one knee and snapped to see if she would wake to the sound of his fingers.
“Hello?” Kazuma called out.
There was no response.
(Huh. Okay, time to leave while I still can.)
Just as he was about up and leave, her nose started to twitch a little bit, and seconds after, the girl was suddenly invigorated by the smell of food.
“F-food?!” The girl quickly asked as her mouth watered.
At first, Kazuma was startled by seeing her wanting gaze, but quickly held it closer to himself after he realized that she wanted food from his bag.
“S-Sorry, but I need to eat.”
He tried to get away as quickly as possible, but the girl latched on to him like a backpack and was immediately fixated on the sandwich.
“Hey! Let go of me!”
He shook his body vigorously to shake her off but she clung on to him like gum. Then suddenly, he felt a sharp piercing sting on his neck.
“Agh! Ok! Ok! I’ll give you the stupid sandwich!”
---
The girl’s eyes twinkled as she pulled out the chicken sandwich which radiated an aromatic smell of deliciousness. Afterwards, she tore open the plastic bag and scarfed it down. Meanwhile, Kazuma was rubbing the red imprint of where teeth marks had been.
(Great, there goes my lunch and part of my lifespan…) he thought to himself.
Kazuma sighed as he unwrapped the chocolate he had bought at the convenience store. As she scarfed down his lunch, he noticed that the girl was fairly young and oddly dressed. She had blond hair that fell down to her hips and wore a black and white dress, along with high knee socks, and round brown shoes.
The girl stopped eating for a moment, and looked up at Kazuma. He wondered why she was looking at him, but his stomach suddenly growled. He frowned as he held his stomach.
“I guess the candy isn’t enough…”
The blond girl held out her half eaten chicken sandwich in front of him.
“Do you want some?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“No, it’s fine. You can have it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah… just take it.” he groaned.
The girl beamed at Kazuma.
“T-thank you!”
“You’re welcome…”
(That was supposed to be my chicken sandwich, damn it…)
Kazuma stood up and looked around as the girl happily continued to eat the chicken sandwich.
(How long has she even been here? Heck, but how has no one even noticed her sleeping near the vending machine?)
“So, uh, are you lost?” Kazuma asked.
She looked around for a while and her expression seemed to tell him that she was unfamiliar with the area.
(So I guess she’s not from here then…)
“Do you at least remember your name?”
“Alice. My name is Alice.” She said as she looked up at Kazuma.
“Alice? So you’re a foreigner—”
He paused mid-sentence for a moment.
“Wait… you can understand me?” Kazuma asked as he pointed at himself.
“Of course I can.” Alice nodded her head.
“Well if you know that and you can communicate with someone like me… your English must be pretty good then. But then how’d you end up here? Anyways, I think you should get some help. Wait here.”
Just when Kazuma had turned around, Alice quickly tugged on his shirt.
“Where is this place?”
“You don’t know? It’s–”
The alarm on his phone began to buzz in his pocket.
“Oh crap! It’s this late? Sorry, I have to get to the bus stop. Otherwise, I’ll have to wait another hour for the bus. But I can’t just leave you here like this, I’d have to stay with you until we can find a police officer. But then…”
There wasn’t any time to waste. He had to decide quickly.
“Ah, screw it.” Kazuma said as he quickly grabbed her hand.
“I don’t usually let random strangers do this, but for the meantime, you can stay at my place. But you gotta leave in the morning.”
Alice withdrew her hand from his grasp.
“Are you sure?”
“What do you mean?”
Alice looked down as she twiddled with her index fingers. Kazuma needed to get to the bus stop quickly, otherwise he’d have to wait for a whole hour for the next bus. He had to decide now.
“Look, don’t mind the small details. You can stay as long as you like if you want. Now come on.”
Kazuma walked ahead of her and Alice quickly followed.
“Thank you… um…”
“Kazuma. Saitou Kazuma.”
“Thank you, Kazuma. You’re a really nice, offering food and a place to stay to a random stranger.”
Kazuma scratched his head.
“Well, who even leaves a girl alone sleeping on the street anyways?”
Alice covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Kazuma ignored her laughing, and started to leave her behind.
“Ah, hey wait up! Kazuma!”
---
The two of them made it to the bus stop on time and then they both walked the rest of the way. Kazuma’s house was a small two story building that was surrounded by brick walls and metal gate. The name plate next to the gate read ‘Saitou’. Kazuma opened the gate, unlocked the house door and took off his shoes. Alice did the same and followed him inside.
Inside the house had a large living room, a green couch with a coffee table in front of it, and a flat screen TV. Next to the living room was a small kitchen with a counter, and a dining table that could hold four people. There were also stairs that led up to the second story which had two bedrooms and a bath.
Alice looked around she beamed with happiness as she started to inspect every object in the house. Kazuma didn’t mind at all as he put his things on the dining table, went to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of water and filled it hot water and put a tea bag in it. While Kazuma was making dinner for himself, he looked over and saw Alice sitting down quietly at the couch.
“Do you want anything?”
Alice shook her head politely.
“No thank you.”
Kazuma brought his food and the cup of tea over to the living room, placed them on the coffee table and sat down next to Alice on the couch and turned on the TV. When it turned on, there was a show that displayed a motorcycle-riding superhero.
“Man, are channels showing previous episodes this late? That’s surprising.” Kazuma commented while he chewed his food.
On the other hand, Alice was mesmerized when the anime started.
“W-what is this?” she asked as if it was her first time watching television.
“Is this your first time watching TV?” Kazuma chuckled.
“What this ‘tee-vee’?”
“Are… Are you being serious right now?”
Alice nodded her head.
He disregarded that piece of conversation and the two of them both watched the episode together. In the middle of the episode, Kazuma looked up at the wall clock. It read 7:30 pm.
“Alright I think that’s enough procrastinating for one day, time to do homework.”
Kazuma quickly grabbed his empty bowls and cup from the coffee table and went to the kitchen to put it in the sink. From the dining room, Kazuma grabbed his messenger bag to take out his school work and began studying.
“Homework? What’s that?” Alice asked.
“Hm? Homework is the stuff school gives you every day.”
“…School?”
(Please tell me this is a joke…) Kazuma thought to himself while he stared at Alice.
Alice became silent and didn’t ask any more questions. She frowned and looked down at her lap while she twiddled with her fingers.
“Sorry…I don’t remember much, so it’s hard for me to keep up with the situation right now.”
“You mean… memory loss?”
She nodded.
“You could say that, but not to the point where I can’t remember anything about myself. I still remember where I was from and my name, but I just don’t remember anything about the past few months.”
“That’s weird. Do you know how you got here though?” Kazuma asked.
“That is…” Alice hesitated mid-sentence.
Kazuma scratched his head and sighed.
“It’s fine.” he said.
“Huh?”
“You don’t have to say anything. It’s not really my business to know anyways.”
He turned around and went back to the dinner table to do his homework without bothering Alice any further.
A few hours later, Kazuma had finished his homework. He yawned as he stretched his arms and back.
“Finally done.”
He looked at the clock that read 11:40 pm and then looked over at Alice, who was asleep on the couch. Kazuma put away his school things, got up from his chair and had turned off the TV.
“I guess I should go to sleep too. Ah, but before that I have to change my alarm clock batteries. Damn alarm didn’t wake me up this morning…”
From afar, there was a hooded cloaked figure that stood watch over from the roof of the next house. As he loomed over Kazuma’s front window, strands of his vert hair swayed across his canary eyes. From there, he saw Kazuma putting a blanket over Alice and turning off the lights.
“I’ve found you.” he said.