Soul for a Girlfriend?

I was just done with my English class and I was doing an assignment that Ms Tachibana gave us. I usually used to do most of my assignments in school only. Kizhashi was taunting me for being way too serious, but I didn\'t pay much attention to her.

"By the way, thanks for helping me out yesterday," I said, as she instantly stopped talking and stared at me for a few moments. Nodding her head slightly, she muttered. "Wha… yeah. Whatever."

She helped me out with something yesterday and I was quite delighted with the outcome.

"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?" I retorted in reply to her annoyed tone, as it was the second period only. Averting her eyes from me, she puffed up and said, "Shut up!"

I didn\'t say anything further, but I found that face of hers quite cute.

Shiraishi hasn\'t talked to me since the mixer. I texted her, but she didn\'t read them. It was almost like she was trying to avoid interacting with me.

Was it because of what happened with Moriko?

That night, even though Shiraishi allowed that in the heat of the moment, I knew that there was a part inside her.

A selfish part. 

A part that wanted me to stay with her. That wanted me to leave Moriko behind and walk home with her. 

Was Shiraishi really interested in me? Or was it all a facade?

Was helping Moriko really a bad decision?

I understood my circumstances really well. I was a guy who was in a relationship. Walking a drunk girl home was something anyone would recognise as an unpleasant event. Or I would be judged as a guy with ulterior motives. 

There were many complications.

But leaving Moriko on her own in that situation was something I wouldn\'t have done in my right state of mind.

Neither has Shiraishi talked with me, nor have I got the opportunity to explain to her about the event of that day. Despite my words that I gave Moriko about not revealing anything, I found myself at a position where keeping values would cost me my progress with Shiraishi.

And I wasn\'t the type of guy to stick to my values.

Well, I had no values.

As I was immersed in my thoughts, I felt my mobile vibrating inside my pocket. Taking it out, I noticed a bunch of text spams from Shiraishi. Opening that chat, it appeared like she needed my help.

I found it rather odd that she was asking for my help out of the blue. And I could feel her desperation from the texts only, so it was something serious.

Keeping my mobile back, I stood from my chair and headed towards her class. Since her class was just next to mine, it wouldn\'t have taken me much time to check on her situation.

I was standing in front of their doorway while the voice of the chatter from everyone was resonating in my ear. Taking a slight breath of relief, I walked through the door and felt a few eyes staring at me. Paying no attention to them, my eyes went straight for Shiraishi. 

It appeared to be a bunch of people gathered near her desk. I assumed it was her friend\'s circle, so I glanced around to look for Moriko, but she wasn\'t anywhere to be seen. She was sitting quietly with a bland face while staring at a dude in front of her.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I started walking towards her. As I was closing in, I could slowly make out the things they were having a conversation about. Though judging from the vibes and their expression, it felt more like they were making fun of Shiraishi.

Coming to a stop near her desk, I leaned a bit closer to her and asked in a soft tone, "Are you alright?"

"I… does it look like I\'m alright?" She said in an annoyed tone as her eyes turned towards me. Glancing towards the dude in front of her, I was slowly becoming aware of the situation. I noticed a piece of paper in his hand, and he was showing it to his friends.

"What happened?" I asked, as her lips twitched slightly, and she replied with a bit of uncertainty in her voice, "Uhh... I don\'t know? Look at that…" 

"Ayo! You her new boyfriend?" I heard an obnoxious voice which was definitely directed towards me. My eyes shifted towards the boy, as one of his friends commented while sneering, "This is the new wimp she got?"

I knew that retorting to their comments would just be a waste of time. Pointing at the paper he was holding, I asked, "What is that in your hands?"

"It\'s nothing… just the truth about your girlfriend." He replied while laughing. There were three other dudes with him who were backing him up. I evaluated the situation correctly as they were indeed bullying her.

What a shame.

"Is that so?"

"Well, didn\'t you know?" He said, clenching the paper between his fist. I gave him a vague shrug, "I didn\'t care, you can say."

"So you\'re trying to be her prince on a white horse or something?" He said, walking a bit closer to me. He was trying to assert his dominance over me. As I was not from his class, he deemed me as someone he can casually walk over.

Every class has people like these.

"Let me see that paper," I asked, trying to steer the conversation, but it ended up backfiring. The smile on his face widened as he stretched open the pieces of paper and turned towards his buddies, "Areh… let me read it out for you."

As those words left his mouth, I glanced down at Shiraishi and she had a grim expression on her face. She was hesitant to look at me. I knew that I couldn\'t do anything about the situation, so I stood there watching it unfold before my eyes.

My life did change a lot over these last few months.. But I was still the same piece of shit as I was before.