20

[EDITED]

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"So... Are you gonna do it or nah?"

Baji brushed both of his sweating palms together to ease his nervousness. He felt a little bit bad because it seems like Chifuyu's patience is getting shorter and shorter.

"I don't know man... Maybe I should not—"

"Oi, Baji-san. We've been standing here for almost an hour, you're just gonna congratulate her for winning the election, right?" yep. He's getting pissed of.

Baji sighed and closed his eyes for a second to hype himself up. Just walk straight to her then its done!

He finally decided to take his chance. Heart's beating fast, hands sweating cold.

"Senpai!" He stood up beside the locker with a big smile on his face. Is my hair cleanly fixed? How about my glasses? It doesn't look weird right? Do I stink though? There's that last minute insecurities.

This is the first time he got the courage to talk to her after a year of being classmates and almost a decade of knowing her but unfortunately she does not. She also seem like didn't know that they're classmates in their previous year since he's not a good student that attends their class everyday, which made him repeat a year and met Chifuyu.

"Oh... Hi." she seem flustered by his presence.

"Uhm... I just wanted to congratulate you for winning the election." he said, wiping the sweat he had on his forehead using his handkerchief.

"Oh that... Yeah. Thanks, I guess." she's not making any eye contact with him, but it's okay. He's not forcing her to.

Eichi closed her shoe locker and turned her head to him." Uhm... I'm going now. "she said and pursed her lips before walking away.

Baji released his breath like he was been chained up because of the tension he's battling between nervousness and anxiousness. He felt a hand tapped his right shoulder.

"That's a nice try,Baji-san."Chifuyu said.

"Nah, dude. I'm not satisfied." He said back and untie his hair, unbuttoned his coat cause it's starting to get hot and remove his glasses. "I'll try again tomorrow."

"What do you mean?"

"Just watch."

The very next day, he went to Eichi's house. Just standing in front of it, wearing his uniform. It may look like he's waiting for her but yeah, he actually is hoped that he can go to school together with her.

He didn't notice that someone opened the door and surprisingly it's her. Wearing her glasses, hair's down and complete uniform. He's really surprised that he didn't know what to do instead of raising his hand to say hi but then fortune's not on his side, she didn't notice him walked passed by him.

Oh, I guess she didn't remember me at all. 

-

[It's her first day of duty. She's assigned to the gate.]

His sleepy eyes widened after reading the text message from Chifuyu, early in the morning.

He immediately got out of his bed and rushed outside to take his bath. Baji didn't have a plan to attend school today but knowing Eichi's first day of duty as part of the council and she's assigned to the front gate? Damn, this must be captured.

After taking a bath he changed into his uniform. He's the type of student that does not bring anything before but since he swore to his mom that he'll gonna do better this year, he started to bring one now. Though he's not quite sure to himself if bringing a bag could help him do better.

Holding his bag alongside with his bike's key, wallet and a polaroid, Baji run down to the stairs to the front door to wear his rubber shoes and left their house without having a breakfast.

"Don't forget our school's policy about the dress code!"

The moment he arrived in front of the gate, he saw Eichi standing beside the gate with two other guys. Three of then are wearing the red armband that indicates that they're from the council.

What?! Two guys?! Isn't there too many girls at the council? Why is she with two other guys?

He can't stop himself from being jealous. That he even felt of urge wanting to punch the two guys but he suddenly remembered that he wanted to create a nice image for Eichi.

He sighed then walked towards the gate.

"Hey you, long haired guy! Come here for a sec." He turned his head after being called by the other guy. He's the same height as Baji and he looked like a jerk.

"What is it?" he asked coldly.

" Nothing just giving you some penalty. "The guy said and picked up a piece of paper," Name? "

" Penalty? What validation did I validate, huh? "

The guy raised him a brow after he said that to an irritating tone. Well, he intended to do that. What now huh? You wanna fight? Come on, let's have a fight! His mind is being excited but he composed himself, reminding that Eichi is just a few inches away. Fighting in front of her might result to an unwanted image that he didn't plan.

"Validation for having a long hair." Eichi, who's watching them quietly, spoke instead. She crossed her arms and began scanning Baji from head to toe.

"And Incomplete uniform during Monday." she added and without a warning she raised both side of his hair like she's looking for something." That's all, luckily you have no piercings. Good for you. "she speaks so seriously now like she's not giving a single fuck to every body.

A different version of the Eichi he just congratulated last week. Woah, Did she really has this kind of side?

"Alright..."the guy followed what Eichi said and wrote it on the piece of paper he's holding." Name again? "

Once again, he didn't answer. Eichi's getting anxious because it's taking too long to get his name," You know what, just let it pass for today." she said to the Kohai council member.

" You. "she pointed at him." Get out of here, the assembly's gonna start soon. Just remember that this is your first and last warning." she added.

Baji can't stop smiling like an idiot. This is the first time they talked to each other and sheesh, she's now looking at his eyes for contact.

" Thanks." he said and started walking but then he suddenly remembers the reason why he bought a polaroid camera.

" Uhm... Senpai. Can we take a picture? "he hurried back and asked. Eichi's brow furrowed.

" What for? "

"I'm creating a scrap book for my middle school days to remember and since I got my first validation today, I might as well documented it." he obviously lied just to get a picture with her.

He didn't wait for her response and immediately snap a shoot between the both of them." Okay! That's all, thanks! " he ran after that. Smiling and holding the camera and the polaroid.

He smiled after seeing the photo.

Phew. Did I just created a friendly image to her? Or is it too much? Oh well, there's nothing to worry about. She'll eventually will remember me.

-

"The new president? You mean Yamada Eichi from year 3 class 3?"Mitsuya asked him in surprise.

" Yes. The one and only. "

" Then, what about her? Why do you want me to make her something? Do you take a liking towards her?"Mitsuya asked again but right now it's too many to answer. He shifted his seat.

" Well, you could say that. "I mean, yeah I like her but I wanted to appear as a friendly dude first. Baji thought, nibbling his nails.

Mitsuya suddenly sighed and stood up from his seat. Holding a tape measure on his hand then approached one of his club members.

"Get Yamada-san, say we have something to discuss." he said to his member and smirked, turned his head to Baji. "Well, buddy you owe me one."

-

"Huh? What? Me? To HE club?" Eichi asked confusedly when one student suddenly approached her when she's about to leave for home.

"Yes. Yamada-san, Mitsuya senpai personally asked for you to come."Mitsuya? Is that their club President?

" What for?"

"About that... He didn't said anything but it seems like it's very important since he's the one who asked directly to us." woah? Is that Mitsuya guy some mighty being that being called by him is treated like an urgent matter? Eichi thought.

"Alright." In the end, she agreed to come with her.

They walked for about a minute until they arrived inside the Home Economics club. She's clueless why someone asked for her from here, as far as she remember, based from the school calendar their adviser gave her, she still got no business with the HE club until the school's festival.

So it's quite unusual for her to be called her.

"Senpai, Yamada-san is already here." The girl announced once they've arrived. There's not much people inside but it catches her eye.

"You? What are you doing here?" she asked, frowning. After she saw the long haired handsome guy who just randomly took a photo with her. I must take that photo away from him!

"Hello, senpai!" he said instead of answering. He even waved his hand to her. That made her feeling mocked on. She clench her jaw. There's something about the guy that made her pissed off.

"Yamada-san? Hi, it's Mitsuya Takashi. President of HE club." A silver haired guy stood in between then and lend his hand on her for a handshake.

"Yamada Eichi." She briefly introduced. "What's the matter? Is there something you want from me?"

"I'm going straight to the point." Mitsuya clasped both of his hands, she nodded as a response, "Well , as you can see. The HE club will be joining a beauty pageant where in the contest will only focused on the dresses that the contestant will wear."

"So it's basically like a runaway with a lot of twists. And yeah, the HE club picked you to be our model at the same time to represent our school's name for the twist pageant." what?

She got confused by what he just said. Like what? A pageant? And she's the model? Wait.. isn't pageants are made for ladies with beauty and brains? What are they talking about?

Before she could even asked him those questions in her head, two girls approached her with tape measures on their hands and began measuring her. 

The guys is just watching her, the long haired guy is smiling at her. Why is he smiling like that? It's annoying.

"Here, senpai." One of the girls handed Mitsuya a paper where all the measurements are written.

"Thanks."

"Wait wait..." she interfered." I'm getting confused here, okay?" Eichi fixed her uniform, "I'm not interested in that said pageant. So sorry to say but there's no way I'm joining that."

"Why not?" The long haired guy said. "You're beautiful and kinda tall. You're also smart and over all you're the new SC President. Isn't that great? that would make the pageant more interesting."

What is he saying?

"Shut up. There's no way I would join that pageant, I'm a busy person so if you excuse me, gentlemen? I got too many responsibilities to take care." And with that, feeling irritated for that long haired annoyingly handsome guy, she left the club room and head straight for home.

Oh fuck this.. I forgot about the photo.

-

"Phew. That's some attitude she got there." Mitsuya smirked and looked at him, " No wonder you took a liking towards her." 

"Sheesh, dude. That's not the reason whole reason that I like her." Its even deeper than that. Baji thought. 

"Well, now at least we got her measurements. All that's left is the clothe itself."Mitsuya said.

"That's some trick you got there, dude." He smiled at his friend and stood up. He actually straight up lied to Eichi just to get her measurements. "Well then, I'll be going. " Baji said his goodbye then left the clubroom.

"Uhm..senpai. Do we actually have that pageant to join?" Nari, Mitsuya's kohai asked. HE chuckled and patted her head.

"No. It's a lie for a friend who asked a favor."

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:)