The next day.

Hashimoto was sitting in class first thing in the morning before class starts. Thinking to himself "I wonder why she thinks I would spread rumors about her? Do I really look like that to her? I know I was a little cheeky but I don’t think I gave that bad of an impression. And what’s with that Shimada. I’ve barely even talked to her. Why was she so rude to me?"

“Yo, Eizan why are you spacing out man?” Sano Ome the guy sitting next to Hashimoto inquired. Sano is rather tall and slim with black hair and dark almost black eyes. He looks rather fit though, he plays on the soccer team with Hashimoto. He’s also Eizan’s closest friend and is known to be loud and rude. But Hashimoto doesn’t really mind his personality very much. Sano was the first friend he made when he moved to the city. He didn’t know anyone when he first got here. Sano happened to sit next to him in class and the two hit it off from there. To others Sano seems rude but Hashimoto knows that he’s just a little to honest and careless with his words. Coupled with him being a loud talker, it gets Sano into trouble sometimes.

“Oh ... Sorry man. I was just thinking about last night.”

“Last night? What happened?”

“I was squawked at by an angry swan.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

As the two were speaking Shimada walked in to the classroom followed by Sakurai. Shimada was staring daggers at Hashimoto. While Sakurai was looking down following closely behind her.

“What the hell did you do to Shimada Ren?” Sano whispered

“Honestly, That's the crazy swan.”

“Whaaat?”

“How did you even talk to her?”

“Well, she called me to be exact.”

“Why did she call you?”

“Um… Let’s, just say she was protecting her baby chick.”

“Sometimes I wonder what evil things you did in your last life to have such bad karma.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Quiet down everyone.” The teacher at the front of the class started the daily lessons.

“I hope everyone finished their assignment over the weekend.” The teacher looked directly at Hashimoto.

Hashimoto smiled wryly. He thought to himself "I’m glad I stayed up late last night getting everything done. I really don’t want to get reprimanded again." Morning class went on like normal Hashimoto felt his eye lids getting heavy and he was just about to fall asleep when the teacher called his name.

“Hashimoto can you come up here and solve the equation on the board?”

His eyes shot open and he looked around the classroom. Everyone was looking at him. He hadn’t really been paying attention. “Yes sensei.” He stood up and started to walk to the front of the class. He walked in front of the board and stared at the equation. It took him a few seconds because he was half asleep. Finally, he started to answer the problem.

“Correct, very good. I’m a little surprised. I didn’t think you were paying attention.”

“How could that be sensei. Your lessons are always very informative.”

“Don’t get cheeky with me boy. I know you are almost always sleeping.”

He scratched his cheek with a little embarrassment.

“Take your seat.”

As he was walking back to his seat, he could see a pair of beautiful blue eyes staring at him from the back of the class. He smiled and gave her a small wink while returning to his seat. She immediately blushed and looked down at the math book in front of her. He took his seat and went back to his obviously disinterested pose shortly after.

He thought ran wild. "Why did he do that? I was just surprised that he answered that so easily. It was a fairly hard equation. He obviously wasn’t paying attention. I can feel my cheeks burning. Why am I reacting this way? I didn’t think he would ever look at me again. Do I want him to look at me? No. no. What am I even thinking. I need to concentrate on the lessons." Sakurai looks over at Hashimoto again. "He looks so disinterested. I wonder why."

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Shortly after the lunch bell rang. Sakurai stood up with her lunch in her hand and left the classroom fairly quickly. Hashimoto watched her leave the class and stood up from his seat.

“Hey Eizan. You going to come eat lunch with us today?”

“Sorry Ome, I want to eat quickly and go find a place for a short nap.”

“Typical. Alright man I’ll see you later.”

Guess I’ll head to the library its normally quite there. Hashimoto picked up his bento and started walking towards the library. He walked into the library only to be met with the same unexpected pair of sparkling blue eyes. There she was looking down at a book while picking up what looked to be octopus sausages from her bento with chopsticks. He questioned himself "Should I apologize for what happed yesterday?"

“Sakurai”

She looked up at him a bewildered look on her face.

“Hashimoto?”

“I just wanted to apologize for my rude comments yesterday. I really didn’t mean any harm. Also, I just wanted to let you know I’m not the type to spread rumors. Sorry if I caused you any worry.”

He bowed slightly following his apology.

Sakurai waved her hands in front of her face.

“No. No. Its ok. I wasn’t really that angry.”

“...”

“Also, I’m sorry for getting Shimada involved. I shouldn’t have suspected you of anything.”

He looked away “I get it. I don’t necessarily have the best reputation.”

“…”

“I’ll stop bothering you then. Enjoy your lunch.”

Hashimoto turned around to leave.

Sakurai stared at him for a second.

“W-would you like to have lunch with me?”

Hashimoto turned back around. “Um. Sure, I guess that sounds nice.”

He sat down at the table directly across from her. They sat there in awkward silence for a few minutes. Sakurai continued to read and eat her lunch and Hashimoto opened his bento and began to eat.

He couldn't control his thoughts "Why did she stop me from leaving? What’s going on here? She’s not talking to me. She doesn’t really talk much does she. Now that I get a closer look at her, she’s really pretty isn’t she. At first glance she seems kind of plain. I think it’s just her reserved style. She seems like she follows the rules pretty much perfectly. Her uniform is within school regulations which is quite rare for girls in this school. Yes, the school has uniform regulations but they aren’t strictly enforced. As long as you don’t go overboard you probably won’t get in trouble. She’s really beautiful though. Crap I’m staring. I’ll just look out the window. I don’t want her to think I’m some kind of perverted weirdo."

She was wondering what to say "He keeps looking at me. I’m not doing something weird right? Why did I stop him anyways? This is really awkward. Thank God. He started looking out the window. Actually, now that I get a good look at him, he’s really good looking. I wouldn’t say that he’s the most handsome man at the school, but he’s definitely in the top ten. What am I even doing, I have to say something?"

Hashimoto broke the silence.

“You really like to read huh?”

“Um… yeah I guess you could say that.”

He stared at her curiously not know what to day “…”

She broke the awkward silence again “Why were you at the library the other day?”

“Well … I was bored, I guess. I like to go find a good book when I have nothing better to do.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, I would say I’m as prolific a reader I tend to read a wide variety of stuff when I have nothing better to do.”

“That reminds me. You picked up a book on Toyotomi Hideyoshi didn’t you?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Did you really not know about the assignment?”

Hashimoto rested his head on his chin. He stared directly into Sakurai’s blue eyes. “Why?” “Did you think I was lying?” He grinned.

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me.”

“If I said it was a coincidence, would you believe me?”

Sakurai glared at him. “Honestly, I don’t know you well enough to believe you 100%.”

“Hmm… I guess my answer doesn’t really matter then does it.”

“That’s true. But I’d still like to hear your answer.”

Hashimoto paused and looked out the window. “I was just interested in the title. The great unifier. The cover of the book also looked nice. I know it might be shallow but sometimes that’s how I choose what I want to read.”

“So, you were judging a book by its cover?”

“I guess you could put it that way.”

“…”

“I should be thanking you for that by the way.”

“For what?”

“I didn’t know about the assignment. I would have been in trouble with the teacher if it wasn’t for you.”

He looked up at the clock. “I guess it’s time to head back to class.”

“…”

“By the way.”

“Hmm.”

“I like the color pink.”

Sakurai’s face turned bright red. “Pervert.”

“Hahahahaha.” Hashimoto cackled as he walked away.

She puffed out her blushing cheeks angrily “Geeze, He just had to bring it up again.”