“It’s getting dark huh.” Hashimoto sighed. "Well, I better hurry if I want to cook dinner before bed." His house was only a ten-minute walk from school. But today It felt a little longer than normal. He thought to himself "I must be exhausted from practice. It has only been a year since I started living alone. Really, I didn’t think it would be this hard." He got home to his small one room apartment. His apartment only consisted of his bed, a tv, a bookshelf and a small coffee table. A small kitchen was separated in another room down a short hallway with a bathroom along the corridor.

“I’m home.” He exclaimed in a slightly elevated voice.

He sighed internally "Not like anyone’s going to reply. I don’t really know why I even still do that. Old habits die hard, I guess." He thought back to the girl he helped today "I hope she got home alright."

Sakurai was riding her bike still thinking back to what just happened "I wonder why he helped me. Did he do that out of the kindness of his heart. Does he want something from me." Her eye brows were slightly furrowed. "I sure hope that’s not the case. Whatever, I’m sure my parents are waiting for me." She started peddling faster until she arrived in front of a fairly large house.

The next day Hashimoto woke up with a yawn. Stretching his arms above his head. He yawned “Damn I’m hungry. Time for eggs.” He rose from bed and headed to his kitchen. “Oh no, I’m out of almost everything. It has been a while since I went shopping. I’ll just get something on the way to the station."

He struggled internally "The library will probably be packed today. It’s not a problem as long as I can return the books, I borrowed last week it should be fine." He looked up at the rather large library in front of him. "It’s not as crowded as I thought it would be. Maybe people read more on their phones nowadays. I still prefer actual books though. It’s not as if I don’t read on my phone as well. I just prefer it that way." He walked up to the counter and handed the clerk the books he wanted to return.

“Let’s see I wonder what I should get today?” He said quietly as he was perusing the bookshelf in front of him.

“This should be good.” He reached for a history book he had never seen before. As he was backing away from the bookshelf, he felt himself bump into something. He heard a small crash from behind him. He turned around to see a girl lying on the ground surround by books.

“I’m so sorry I should have been paying more attention." He looked slightly confused "Sakurai?” There was the same girl he met yesterday lying on the ground in a cute blue dress with her hair tied back into a ponytail.

He extends his hand to help her up. She reached out to grab his with a slightly perturbed look on her face.

“Let me help you pick these up.” Picking books up off the floor he kept apologizing. “I really can’t apologize enough. I should really should have been watching were I was going.”

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“I-It’s alright I also shouldn’t have been carrying so much. I couldn’t really see in front of me that well.” She stammered.

“Do you need some help?”

“No. no. I should be fine.” She shyly looked at the books around her.

“Are you headed over to that desk to read.” He smiled softly at her.

“Yes” she nodded and replied.

“Alright, I’ll help you carry these over to the table.” He bent down and started gathering books, much to her confusion.

“Ok.”

Hashimoto set the books on the desk.

“Are you going to read all of these today?”

She tilted her head and replied “I’m using these to do research for our history assignment on Monday.”

“History assignment?” Hashimoto had a weird look on his face.

“Yeah.”

“Wait, what assignment.”

She giggled “You really should stop sleeping in class you know.”

“Ehh… you got me there.” He scratched the top of his head with a slight smile on his face.

He was absorbed in his own thoughts for a few seconds. "Did she just scold me? You know she’s actually kind of cute now that I get a good look at her. I wonder why I never really noticed before? Maybe it’s because she just sits quietly in the back of the classroom with her nose in a book. It’s probably more likely that I’m almost always asleep in class. I pass all my assessment tests though."

He laughed “I work a lot at night and play sports so I don’t really get the best rest.”

“Don’t your parents get mad at you for not studying.”

“Not really.”

“Is that so.”

“I always do well on tests. The teachers and my parents’ kind of just let me get away with it.”

She looked at him weirdly “That’s surprising.”

Sakurai put her hand on her chin and seemed to be thinking about something.

“Do you want to know about the assignment?”

“Sure”

She began to explain “You must pick a historical figure and write a two-page report on it.”

“Thanks, I’ll work on it after my part time job tonight. Well, Later Sakurai.”

“Later Hashimoto”

He turned and walked away. Her thoughts wandered "I wonder what he was doing here? Does he come here often? He doesn’t seem like the type to be in a library. Huh, what’s this? I don’t remember picking up this book." Sakurai looked at the book in her hand. “The great unifier - Toyotomi Hideyoshi.” She studied it for a few seconds "I wonder if this was what he picked up off the shelf?"

“Um, did I forget my book here?”

Sakurai looked up to see Hashimoto looking kind of awkward.

“A... yeah, I think this one is yours.”

“Thanks, bye again.”

Hashimoto turned and slowly walked away she wondered. "I thought he didn’t know about the assignment? Did he lie to me? Why would he do that? Maybe it’s just a coincidence. He didn’t seem to be lying, but maybe there is something to the rumors around him. I don’t know what to think. He did help me yesterday and he didn’t seem to have an ulterior motive. He’s is handsome and I see why some of the girls talk about him. That blonde hair and those hazel eyes that seem to look off into the distance as he talks to you. Almost like he’s lost in thought and not really in the moment. He must be half foreign. What am I even thinking it’s not like we will ever talk to each other again."