The Goddess Needs A Break!

"I don't think that's the most sensible idea..."

"Please?! With a cherry on top?!"

Takei and Akari were currently arguing about the commute to school. Akari insisted that they walk together to school, but Takei rejected that idea immediately. He truly didn't want to be murdered on his way to school.

"Putting aside the death glares, I don't know whether I'll die from the atmosphere or the subsequent interrogations..." Takei sighed.

Akari pouted in response to Takei's excuses. "I just wanted to go to school with you though..."

Droplets of water were forming around Akari's eyes. It seemed like the goddess really wanted to go to school with Takei despite the apparent hurdles for him. Seeing Akari in such a pitiful state instantly dealt an incalculable amount of damage to Takei's psyche.

As a bonus attack, she started sniffling and pointing her puppy eyes towards Takei. This was most likely the final straw since Takei immediately conceded right after.

"Fine, but only halfway. It wouldn't do me any good if someone saw us walking together," Takei negotiated.

Akari's eyes brightened up after she heard Takei's surrender. The tears that were previously forming had completely disappeared from sight. Takei had no idea whether she was faking the tears or not, so he just left it without saying.

"This is fine for now, we can go the whole way later," Akari mischievously said.

Takei rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "What's with the misleading line?!"

After their usual banter, the duo prepared all of their belongings and departed the house. There was still some leeway in commuting time since school would not start until a little bit later.

They both walked side by side with a small knuckle's worth of distance between them. This would've usually not have mattered to Takei since it was a normal occurrence, but today was different. Today, Takei had knowledge about Akari's feelings in contrast to his past self who didn't know anything about the heart of a maiden. He didn't know why she liked him, just that she did.

She smells really nice today. I sometimes forget since she acts goofy a lot, but she's really dignified too.

As Takei was thinking to himself, more and more familiar uniforms were popping up all over the place. He decided that they needed to part soon or else they risk being found out.

"There's a lot of students now, let's split up here," Takei stated.

Akari nodded in agreement. "Mm, that's fine. I'm satisfied now. See you at school."

They waved to each other before they departed. Takei told Akari to go ahead of him in order to keep anyone from finding out about their relationship.

As Akari disappeared from his view, Takei started walking at a leisurely pace while he thought about the new changes to his nature. Recently, Takei hadn't been as opposed to the different troublesome things that had happened in his life. Another recent find by Takei was that he was always surrounded by friends and family at every corner. This meant that the loner hadn't actually been alone for a while.

That's quite ironic, I might have to end up retiring the nickname in the future.

Takei inwardly laughed at himself and kept on walking to the school.

A few minutes passed until he reached the bustling entrance of the school he had seen so many times.

Rokuonji High School was a place where people of all different backgrounds attended. It was a public high school with a very high tier education curriculum that enticed many parents who didn't have enough money to send their kids to private schools.

Although Takei's parents had more than enough money to cover the tuition, Takei insisted on going to this public school instead of a closer private one. He believed that a stuck up private school was not the place where he wanted to spend his high school years. However, the main reason for his parents agreeing to send him to this public school was in order to help Takei find a safe spot for him to relax mentally.

After the events of his third year of middle school, Takei had almost become a recluse. Flora and Yuuto believed the root of this problem to be the malice inside human hearts. As parents, they wanted their son to be happy so they decided to let Takei decide on his future. Their true hope was for him to find someone who can share his burden and help him move forward. Luckily for them though, such a person has shown up.

Nevermind that however, let's go back to the present.

Takei ignored the several groups of people clumped together at the gates and kept moving forward to the entrance of the school.

He entered the school and reached the area where the shoe lockers were located.

Takei promptly switched out his outdoor shoes for some indoor shoes.

Then, he walked towards his classroom at the end of the hall. First years had their classrooms on the first floor, while second and third years had their classrooms on their respective floors.

As he entered the classroom, Takei made a mental note that nothing much had changed. There were still different cliques in each area of the classroom. There were still many students studying diligently before school even started. There were still many people he had never interacted with, not even once.

In other words, it was quite nostalgic and familiar to him.

Taking a few weeks off from school really makes you appreciate the simplicity of a student's life, doesn't it?

Before he could reminisce anymore, Takei moved to the corner of the classroom and sat down in his seat next to the window in order to not block the doorway.

He gazed out of the window halfheartedly and decided to daydream for a bit before class started.

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Akari's True Affection Meter: 5 -> 7%

She was quite happy when Takei gave the go-ahead for the walk to school together... What a simple person.