Lolita Love Story

Curled up under her pastel pink comforter, Saikai hugged one of the soft white pillows to her chest. Thoughts of the secret notebook had returned to her mind once again, as they had throughout the night with Toua, Kennichi, and Rie. She couldn't help but wonder if Rie had somehow planned the notebook as a prank. She was the only one who had ever been to Saikai's home, and therefore the only person who could have found it. But she had a hard time accepting that her best friend would have done something like that, even as a joke.

A sudden bang against her window frightened her. She jumped and let out a gasp before taking a deep breath and getting out of bed. Someone was standing outside her window, in the street below. Saikai shivered, but could not look away. The person, definitely a boy, turned and began to continue down the street before she could get a good look at him. All she noticed was that his hair was a bright silver.

Saikai leaned against the window for a few minutes, ignoring the slight ache as the coldness of the glass against her forehead became uncomfortable. Someone had been standing outside her window and threw a rock at it. Of all the windows in the house, they had chosen to hit hers.

Shivering, she returned to bed and tried to calm her nerves, but her heart was still beating quickly in her chest. She hugged her pillow and tried to will herself to close her eyes.



That day at school, Saikai struggled to focus. She found herself searching the halls when she could for a boy with silver hair. It was pretty rare for anyone to have such a hair color unless it was a wig for a cosplay. Saikai never saw anyone with silver hair.

"What's going on with you?" Rie demanded when Saikai left the room for the third time. Class was over for the time being and the English teacher was on his way down the hall. Other students stood outside the doors too, chattering loudly about gossip and sports, and a thousand other fleeting topics. Rie gave Saikai an intense look. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she responded, closing her eyes tiredly. She felt safer at school. It was light out, she was surrounded by people, and she knew that nothing could happen to her there. But still... the uncomfortable feeling hadn't completely left her. "Someone has been playing pranks on me lately. That's all."

"Really? Because you look like you're going to faint at any moment now." Rie looked like she was going to slap her friend. "Tell me what's going on for real."

"I don't know what's happening," she admitted, feeling stupid. "Last night, someone came to my house. He threw a rock at my window and when I went to see who it was, I didn't recognize him. He stared at me for a while and then just continued on his way."

Rie's eyes grew wide. "What did he look like? Was he cute?"

"That's not the point!" Saikai said, turning away. "I was really scared... I don't know what to do."

"Hey, it's okay, Sai-chan," Rie assured her, "it was probably an accident. Maybe he made a mistake in addresses or something. I'm sure it won't happen again."

Saikai nodded, unconvinced, and the two girls returned to the classroom only moments before the teacher entered. Saikai took her seat behind Kougou and struggled to pay attention to the teacher. Every time he began to lecture, all she could think of is that boy, standing in the street and staring up at her as if he knew her. She shivered and tried to put the incident out of her mind.

"...Now I'm going to pair you up to practice using articles," the teacher announced, dragging Saikai out of her thoughts. He began to make pairs of the class, leaving Saikai and Rie for last. Rie stood and walked over to her when Kougou stood up also.

"Do you mind if I switch with you?" Kougou asked Rie, his voice like velvet. Rie shook her head and walked off with Kougou's original partner. He slid into the seat next to Saikai, opening up his English book and glancing at her. "You don't look as though you want to practice."

"We should, anyway," she found herself saying, too tired even to blush. She listened to Kougou repeat the exercises from the book, stumbling over only one or two prompts, and she repeated the exercises from the following page. He nodded appreciatively, but began to speak before she could turn to the next page.

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine... just a little tired."

"You look tired," he agreed grudgingly.

"Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime," she said, smiling tiredly, "but I don't want to burden you with my problems." She flipped the page and pointed to the next section, the one Kougou was supposed to read.

He held her gaze and spoke gently. "It's not a burden."

Heat flared to life in her cheeks, and she wordlessly pointed to the passage again. He flipped the page in his book too, and began to read. Neither of them talked any more about the subject.



Saikai lay in bed the same way as she had the night before. She stared at the clock on her nightstand. 11:30pm. Since she had turned the light off after studying and went to bed, her entire body had been tense, expecting the rock at her window again. But the night had been calm and silent except for the soft noise coming from her sobo's soap operas.

She closed her eyes. Maybe Rie was right. Maybe it really was an accident. It just didn't seem that way to her, though. She forced herself to stop thinking about it, and in turn, another uncomfortable subject came up in her mind...

Kougou.

Ever since the night she walked home with him after boba tea, people had been talking about them. Saikai could safely assume Rie had started the rumors, especially since they were mostly fanciful about how Saikai had tamed the heart of the cold and mysterious Kougou. It seemed that he didn't talk to anyone else except her, but given his shyness, she wasn't surprised. I'm not anything special to him, she told herself, as if telling everyone else. We're just friends... the only friends we have.

The more she thought about the subject, the more she began to wonder... He said a lot of really strange things. He was always there for her, always worried about her, always willing to help. Saikai didn't understand how he would do that, but never make friends. She thought about asking the next day, but decided not to. If Kougou didn't have friends, it's because he didn't want any, she decided. He would talk about it if he wanted to.

Curling into a nest of fluffy pillows, she willed herself to sleep with thoughts of sweets and kindness. No rock came at her window that night.