122 Hope
Noticing the sight of Masao, Hiro wasted no time and immediately went over to him to talk to him. However Masao who looked lost in his own world didn't even notice the sight of Hiro until he heard the voice of Hiro.
"Good morning Masao." Greeted Hiro with a warm smile on his face.
"Ahh!!" Hearing Hiro's voice which came out of nowhere, Masao was startled.
Masao then greeted him back a bit hesitantly as if something was bothering him, "Goo.. Good morning Hi... Hiro."
Looking up close, Masao's complexion seemed rather pale. And as if he hadn't slept well for a long time, beneath his black eyes, there were few dark circles.
"Are you sick Masao? Or is something bothering you?" Hiro asked straightforwardly after noticing his sickly appearance.
"Ahh no. I'm completely fine." Replied Masao while trying to hide his face.
Because of Hiro's behaviour towards him and the way he spoke with him, Masao despite being afraid of socialising felt somewhat comfortable talking to Hiro.
'He obviously doesn't look fine.' Thought Hiro after hearing Masao's response.
He knew that something was wrong with him but he didn't want to force him to say it, so Hiro slightly nodded his head and replied looking somewhat concerned, "Is it so. It just looked to me that you were sick."
"Thank you for worrying about me. But I'm completely fine." Masao replied and turned his gaze away from him, as if he was deliberately trying to avoid conversing with Hiro further.
And before Hiro could say more, Hiro was interrupted by the girl who sat at the second row, "I've been texting you but why aren't you replying Hiro?"
Silky smooth black hair, triangular face, fair-skinned, small black eyes, her name was Akane Kurimaya. She had put on a little bit of make-up on her face.
As she came closer to him, a fragrant smell of perfume lingered around his nose. Delicate, sweet aroma that is floral, herbal, and evergreen woodsy at the same time, it was the smell of lavender flower.
Not too overbearing and not too humble, Hiro found the smell pretty pleasant.
"Ahh sorry!! I don't use my account much." Replied Hiro with a pretended smile on his face. Although he quite liked the smell of her perfume, he wasn't fond of the person who was wearing that perfume.
"You don't need to apologise." She replied while sliding her medium long black hair behind her ears. "But are you free this sunday? I just happened to have two tickets to the amusement park."
As if she was trying to seduce him, she was trying her best to show her charms. However it wasn't working well on Hiro.
It wasn't the first time she tried to ask him out. The week before, she had asked him out to go to watch football match with her.
"I'm sorry. I have match that day." Hiro politely declined her offer by making up some excuses.
Just then Masato and his underlings entered the classroom, looking completely beaten. Sore and exhausted, they were having trouble walking. And unlike other days, those guys were walking separately.
As if there was somekind of farce going on between them, they looked divided.
Witnessing the appearance of Masato and his underlings, Hiro could tell that the plan he had planned was carried out without any fail.
'Thank you Imai. Thank you very much for complying to my request.' Hiro thanked Imai inside his head.
Despite looking completely beaten, Hiro wasn't a bit concerned about them at that moment, he was concerned about someone else. Turning his gaze towards Masao, he wanted to see Masao's reaction.
To his right, Masao was trying his best to avoid locking eyes with anyone. His lips tightly sealed and his gaze locked at the table, he looked pretty terrified.
'He looks pretty terrified. Well it's only natural for him to feel that way after experiencing such horrible experience.' Thought Hiro while pitying Masao.
Hiro then again shifted his gaze towards Masato and his underlings.
Entering the classroom, Masato and his underlings began to make their way towards Masao instead of their seat.
'I did ask Imai to make them apologize to Masao. But are they coming towards him to apologize? Or are they planning on assaulting him? If it's the later then I need to be prepared to do something.' Thought Hiro while clenching his fist.
"Then why don't you invite me to your match Hiro?" Akane pleaded.
Akane who was standing infront of him was speaking nonstop but still his attention was on Masato and his underlings. Thus, he was only nodding his head without even payong attention to what she was speaking.
The more they approached closer to Masao, the more he started to panic. Clenching his fist tightly and biting his lips, Masao was sweating profusely.
Masao's hands were shaking and his heartbeat was rising. And as if his heart would jump out of his throat, his heart was beating more and more faster.
Hiro too was on standby. He was prepared to take actions as fast as possible. Thus, he didn't dare take his eyes off from them, not even for a second.
Kitsu the fox faced guy was the first one to arrive at Masao's side. Standing beside Masao, he was hesitating to speak something.
Noticing Kitsu on his side, Masao who was freaked out by their appearance was about to flee. And just as he was about to rise from his seat and run away, Hiro grabbed his hands.
As if he touched an electric wire, a shiver ran down his body just as Hiro touched his hands. But Masao didn't let out a single scream.
Slowly turning his gaze towards the hand which laid atop his hand, he found the fair-skinned hand full of calluses belonging to Hiro.
Masao then slowly raised his gaze towards Hiro's face. And as he locked eyes with Hiro, Hiro slightly nodded his head.
Although he was still terrified, the determined look on Hiro's face provided him some encouragement. Just like the sight of dark clouds in a dry desert, he found some hope in Hiro's eyes.
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