"Kindness doesn't ask for the perfect moment… it simply appears when someone needs it most." 🌧️
---
Shido stared at her for a second, and then he started to laugh. "Arrogant? Pampered? Hori, it's just a car! How can a person become evil just because they don't want their socks to get wet?"
Hori's face turned red, but this time it was from anger. She felt embarrassed that he was making fun of her family's rules. "Fine! If you think it's so funny, then don't follow me! Go find a car to ride in!"
She turned around and started walking very quickly, splashing through puddles and leaving Shido behind in the rain.
"Wait! Hori! I was just joking!" Shido yelled. He realized he had messed up. He quickly ran after her. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that! Don't be angry!"
He was running fast to catch up to her, but the ground was very slippery. His shoe hit a patch of wet mud.
"Whoa—!"
Shido's feet slipped right out from under him. He went flying forward. His umbrella flew out of his hand and landed in a corner of the road. With a loud SPLASH, Shido landed face-first on the wet ground, his legs landing right in the middle of a deep, muddy puddle.
Hori was walking away fast, her head held high. But then, she heard a loud SPLAT and the sound of something sliding across the wet pavement.
She stopped and turned around. Her eyes went wide. There was Shido, flat on the ground. He looked like a fallen frog. To keep his face from hitting the muddy water, he had quickly tucked both his hands under his chin, holding his head up at the last second.
"Shido!" Hori screamed. She didn't even think. She tossed her own umbrella to the side and ran back to him, her shoes splashing in the water. "Are you okay?! Oh my god, are you hurt?"
Shido didn't move. He kept his eyes squeezed shut.
'Please. Just let me disappear. Let the rain wash me away into the sewer. How can I be this pathetic in front of a girl? My life is over.'
"Shido! Talk to me!" Hori cried, reaching down to grab his arm.
Shido finally opened one eye. He looked at Hori, who was now getting soaked because she had thrown her umbrella away. He slowly stood up, dripping with muddy water. He wasn't really hurt, but he was a total mess. His clean school blazer was covered in brown spots, and his sleeves were soaked with dirty puddle water.
"I'm fine," Shido growled, his face turning red from embarrassment. He looked at his dirty sleeves and then yelled at the top of his lungs toward the sky. "ALRIGHT! WHO DID IT?! Whoever cursed me this morning is going to pay! I'm going to find you and I'm going to make you eat your own shoes!"
At that exact same moment, back at the Kamitani house...
The room was quiet and warm. Kento was tucked deep under his blanket, finally sleeping peacefully. Suddenly, his nose twitched.
"A-choo!"
Kento let out a tiny sneeze in his sleep. He didn't even wake up. He just rolled over and hugged his pillow tighter.
"Go away, Shido... you're too loud..." he mumbled in his sleep, a small, satisfied smile appearing on his face.
Back on the street, Hori stood there looking at Shido. He was soaking wet, covered in mud, and shaking his fist at the clouds like a crazy person.
She tried to stay serious. She really did. But then, she saw a piece of a wet leaf stuck to Shido's hair.
"Pfft—hahaha!" Hori burst out laughing. She pointed at him, clutching her stomach. "Oh my god, Shido! You look like a sad, blue-haired drowned rat! Look at your face!"
"Hey! It's not funny!" Shido snapped, trying to brush the mud off his sleeves, but only making it worse. "I have to walk all the way to Tamiko's house looking like this! People are going to think I fought a monster in the middle of the street!"
"Maybe the monster won!" Hori teased, still giggling. She went and picked up her umbrella, then Shido's umbrella, and handed his back to him. "Come on, 'Monster-Fighter.' We really have to hurry now. Tamiko is going to have a heart attack when she sees you."
Shido huffed and grabbed his umbrella, pouting like a little kid. "I'm telling you, it was a curse. Kento did this. I can feel it in my bones."
A few streets away, the smell of freshly steamed rice and salty seaweed drifted through the rain. This was the home of Tamiko Kaneri, a small, cozy shop with a wooden sign that read Grandma's Riceballs.
Tamiko was already busy. She looked beautiful even in her simple apron. Her light brown-blonde hair fell just past her shoulders, and the soft pink highlights at the ends added a touch of color to her calm look. She had neat bangs that framed her face, and her eyes always looked thoughtful, like she was solving a math problem or thinking of a new manga plot.
"Grandmother, I've finished packing the morning orders," Tamiko said, her voice gentle and steady.
Her grandmother, a small woman with a kind, wrinkled face, looked up from the counter and smiled. "You work too hard, Tamiko. You should be thinking about school, not the shop. You need to keep that number one spot in class, you know!"
Tamiko smiled back—a small, warm smile that could make anyone feel relaxed. "Helping you is more important, Grandma. Besides, I can study while the rice steams."
Tamiko's life wasn't easy. Since she lost her parents young, it had just been her and her grandmother. She worked multiple part-time jobs and did all the housework, all while staying the top student at Kami High. She hid her worries behind a calm face, but inside, she had a heart of gold.
Suddenly, the bell above the door rang—ting-aling!
Tamiko looked up, expecting a customer. Instead, she saw a very strange sight. Hori walked in first, looking tired and soaked. Behind her was Shido. He was a disaster. He was dripping wet, his blue hair was flat against his head, and his uniform was covered in brown mud.
Tamiko blinked, her calm expression breaking for a second. "Shido? Hori? Did... did you walk through a swamp to get here?"
"Tamiko! Help me!" Shido cried out dramatically, holding up his muddy sleeves. "I've been cursed! First Kento tries to skip school, then I get blinded by a scandalous scene, and then the Earth itself attacked me!"
Hori sighed and shook her head. "He tripped in a puddle because he was being a jerk, Tamiko. Don't listen to him."
Tamiko didn't laugh like Hori did. Instead, she immediately walked toward them, her eyes full of kindness and worry. She grabbed a clean towel from the counter.
"You'll catch a cold if you stay like that," Tamiko said softly. She stepped close to Shido—close enough that he could smell the faint scent of rice and sweets on her—and began to gently wipe the mud off his face with the towel.
Shido, who was usually so loud and annoying, suddenly went very quiet. His face turned a light pink as he looked down at Tamiko. She was so calm and focused on helping him, even though he looked ridiculous.
Tamiko felt her heart beat a little faster — not because Shido was handsome, but because he looked so honest and silly when he was embarrassed.
"Oh, dear!" Tamiko's grandmother hopped over, looking at Shido with wide eyes. "You poor boy! You look like you fell into a rice field! Come here, I'll get you some hot tea and a fresh riceball. You can't go to school on an empty, muddy stomach!"
"See?" Shido said, looking at Hori with a proud grin. "At least Tamiko and Grandma appreciate me!"
Hori rolled her eyes. 'He's such a baby.'
The romantic mood was perfect. Shido was staring into Tamiko's eyes, and Tamiko was gently fixing his collar. But just as Shido was about to say something cool, the kitchen door swung open with a loud BAM!
"Alright! Tea is served! And I brought the extra-salty seaweed because Shido looks like he's been crying!" Hori announced, walking in with a tray.
She stopped and saw how close Shido and Tamiko were. A mischievous grin spread across her face. "Oh? Am I interrupting a 'Main Character' moment? Should I go back into the kitchen for another ten minutes?"
Tamiko quickly stepped back, her face turning bright red as she smoothed out her apron. "N-No! I was just... cleaning the mud!"
"Cleaning the mud? Is that what the kids call it these days?" Hori teased, putting the tray on the counter. She turned to Tamiko with a serious look. "Don't let him fool you, Tamiko. Do you know why he actually tripped?"
Shido's eyes went wide. "Hori! Don't you dare!"
"He tripped because he was making fun of me!" Hori said, pointing a finger at Shido. "He said that riding in a car to school doesn't make someone pampered! He was laughing at my family rules so hard that he forgot how to use his own legs and face-planted into a puddle!"
Tamiko looked at Shido, her eyes narrowing just a little bit. "Shido... you were being mean to Hori again?"
"I-It was a joke! A harmless lawyer-style joke!" Shido stammered, sweating. 'I'm losing! I'm losing the romance points!'
Tamiko watched Shido quietly as he argued with Hori, her lips curving into a tiny smile she didn't even realize she was making — the kind that appears when your heart feels warm without you knowing why.
---
SNEAK PEEK LINES đź’¬
"He's finally become one with his bed. The pillow has accepted him as its chosen one."
"Did she swim to school today? She looks like a drowned rat."
-----
— With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya đź’«