Soul for a Girlfriend?

It was the last day of school before winter vacations were going to start. I remember it was 23rd December, and the weather was dry outside but cold winds were blowing frequently.

My eyes shifted towards the clock, waiting for the last period to get over so that we could get dismissed. And eventually, the bell rang as it was 4 pm and everyone let out a clamour of relief and the sound of benches being pushed aside and people standing up filled the classroom.

Everyone in the class was pretty excited since vacations were starting, and Christmas Eve was the next day. The noise of everyone chattering among themselves was enough to depict how lively the classroom was than usual.

My friends were discussing their plans for Christmas and it appeared like I was missing out on a lot of things. I wanted to go with them but at the same time; I didn\'t. My own mind was in a pinch of dilemma, which was making me rather indecisive than usual.

Gaisen and Tsūmen approached me as usual and Kana was with them as well and they were all having conversations about their plans and other miscellaneous stuff. Soon, we were joined by Reina and Saki as well.

Reina was talking with Kizhashi while she was teasing Kana about something which I can\'t remember properly. I was just standing with them, smiling now and then to make it appear like everything was fine.

I also noticed that Seryoku grew rather close to my friends\' group in the past few weeks but to my relief, he wasn\'t in the class at that time. He also acquired quite the reputation in such a short amount of time.

He was a great-looking guy, so it was natural that girls were attracted to him. He was well aware of it and Tsūmen was talking about how he already hooked up with a junior. But it was just a rumour because knowing the personality he put in front of everyone, there was a chance that he was lying.

But then again, I knew how he actually was, so there was a good probability of him doing that sort of thing. After all he was the devil of lust.

He was fucking girls and planning to fuck me over as well.

What a douchebag.

Though we\'re done talking and they were leaving but I had to stay behind because one of my classmates needed my help with something and I decided to help him out rather than going into the hassle of making up an excuse.

It wasn\'t something major, so I was done rather quickly. Taking my bag, I walked out of the classroom and noticed that there were relatively fewer students in the hallway. Of course, it was the holiday. No one would stay behind a second more than needed after the bell rang.

I was approaching the staircase when I noticed Kizhashi standing ahead of me while talking with a few friends of hers. As I closed in on them, I realised she was talking with Uyeno and Isobe, which was quite unnatural.

"Koi, long time no see." I heard Uyeno walking next to Koi and holding her hands like they were really close friends as they startled Kizhashi for a moment and replied, "He… Hey."

I was walking rather behind her, so moved across the hallway and stood near a window while staring outside to not draw their attention towards me. But my intuitions were telling me to stay behind.

"Hey, what\'s with that gloomy look? Aren\'t you happy to see me after so long?" Isobe laughed, as Koi stepped back and replied in an uncomfortable tone, "Nah, I\'m in a hurry…"

Uyeno and Isobe were standing next to her, but looking at their demeanour, it was rather difficult to assume their intentions. But I was well aware of their garbage personality, so I knew they were scheming something against her.

"Chill out girl… Why are you so jumpy?" Uyeno asked and added, "I just wanted to talk with you."

"Huh? What is it?" Kizhashi was being every caution of them, as I could notice her trying to break free from between them, but Isobe and Uyeno were standing such that her way out was blocked.

"Nothing specific, can you come with us for a bit?" Uyeno tugged her by her arm to walk with them but Kizhashi snatched her arm out of Uyeno\'s grip and sighed, "Come on, don\'t… if you have something to say then do it here."

"It\'s a bit personal, you know…"

"Whisper it in my ear."

"Come on, girl, don\'t be so uptight. We are being nice here." Isobe said, putting her hand on Kizhashi\'s shoulder. I could notice the tension building up between them.

"It\'s not like that… I just have something important to attend to."

I won\'t have to look out for her if nothing goes wrong and Uyeno indeed has something to tell her that she can do in this hallway as well. But that girl definitely had ulterior motives, as she was trying to corner Kizhashi.

"Important than this conversation."

"Yes."

"I won\'t take much of your time, let\'s visit the washroom real…" Uyeno held her arm and Isobe put her hands on Kizhashi\'s shoulder to push her towards the washroom while making it seem like a friendly exchange between girls.

I knew something weird was going to happen.

"Kizhashi!" I called out her name while walking towards them, and added, "Ms. Tachibana is calling you in the teacher\'s room."

"Who are you?" Uyeno asked, but Kizhashi cut her off and got out of their hold while laughing nervously, "Ahh… see guys, I told you…"

"Hey… you? Can you wait?" Uyeno asked me but I just gave her a shrug, "I mean... it\'s not me but our homeroom teacher who is calling her."

"Am I interrupting something?" I asked, trying to sound a bit sincere instead of expressing my hostility towards them, as Isobe grabbed Uyeno\'s arm and walked away with a slight smile and nod, "No… nevermind."

"See you later, Koi." They waved at her as Kizhashi returned and waved at them as well, while smiling nervously. I waited for them to turn around the staircase, and asked her, "What is wrong with you?"

"Huh?" She looked at me with a confused look on her face as I pressed, "Why didn\'t you say something to oppose them?"