Chapter One

Author's note: This is a fanfiction I've been planning on for a while now. It's based off of the Japanese drama version from 2013, though the only place this could be categorized is in anime/manga. In this version, I've made Naoki the main character. I hope you enjoy and review. :) -TheMoonFly

Someone was watching me. I could feel their gaze, and see as they peeked around corners, following me. I didn't know her, and if she didn't stop following me, I would tell her to do so myself. How tiring these games could become.

After a couple of minutes, she was gone. Coming around a corner to enter the school gates, she appeared again and headed right for me, holding an envelope in her hands. Not in the mood for this, I tried to ignore her and walk by. Only, she stopped me.

"Excuse me." She said. With no way to ignore it, I acknowledged her.

"Who are you?" I asked, wanting to get this over with. The girl was visibly nervous and jittery. She had a dumb look on her face and the aura she manifested was slightly deluded. No mistaking, she was in Class F. Interacting with those people always gave me a headache. They could barely grasp comprehension of their own language on the best of days.

"My name is Kotoko Aihara, from Class F," She said in a rush, the words tumbling from her mouth, "Could you please read this?" She held out the envelope to me. I understood what this was, then. It was a love confession… one surely riddled with spelling errors and the misuse of big words to try and impress me. I had no interest in it, and it would've been a waste of my time even to read it. It only took a moment for me to form my opinion of her, and it was not an attractive one. I wanted nothing to do with dumb people.

I was silent.

"Irie," She said, "I love you." Those around us stopped and stared on, entertained by this embarrassment of a confession. This was attracting too much attention. Rumors would taint Tonan's gossip by lunch time. While my classmates would have fun with this stunt, I could say that I was quite agitated with it. I didn't want my school days burdened with this attention. And it would be her fault for assuming I ever would be interested in a girl from Class F.

"I don't want it." I said, turning away from her and heading into the school. Behind me, she was devoured by laughter. She deserved nothing less. It was beyond me what would've prompted her to do that right in front of the school gates where so many would see. But she was from Class F. They weren't the kind of people who actually used their brains to think of these crucial details beforehand.

I arrived to class thoroughly piqued. In no less than half an hour, the word had spread through the entire school. Even my class, Class A, which was normally unaffected by rumors and uninterested in gossip, spoke of it.

I was humiliated to be associated with this girl. It became worse as the day progressed. I was asked too many questions and rumors distorted unreasonably. I received many looks from other girls.

Even Watanabe was curious.

"So, what was with that girl earlier?" He asked during class.

"Just a typical Class F with delusions." I said. There was not much more I wanted to say. That was all she was and I wanted nothing more to do with her or this ever-growing popularity of hers.

...

On the way home from school, I can say that I was relieved not to have seen her again, though throughout the school day, she could be heard in the halls shouting "leave me alone" or "stop that, Kin-chan". She was a loud girl, another quality I loathed. But it was not shocking, coming from her kind.

Stepping through the front door of my house, my mother went about her usual routine.

"You're home," she said, "How was school?" She raised her eyebrows and smiled wisely, like she already knew, but I was fairly certain she didn't. Unless she did. Sometimes, it was hard to tell with her, and she seemed to know everything.

"The same as always." I said.

"Oh, Onii-chan, you never share anything with me." She pouted. I took to the stairs and went to my bedroom. There, I was able to relax, away from my mother and the gazes of my classmates who either shook their heads at my so-called "cruelty" or took part in spreading rumors about my love life.

I sat on my bed and read until nightfall with nothing better to do since my homework was already completed. It was interrupted not long after the sun went down.

There was an excited tap at my door and my mother bursted into the room. I looked up from my book.

"We're going to have guests!" She said in overjoyment. In a snap, she started to scoot my desk down the room. Outside my door, my younger brother, Yuuki, whined about something I didn't quite catch through the scraping of the desk's legs against the floor.

I threw the book to the side and stood.

"What are you doing?" The desk reached the far end of the room and she stopped pushing, only to rush over to me and shoo me out of my own bedroom.

"I already said," She said, "We're having guests. Now, out with you. I have some rearranging to do."

I was shoved out the door to find Yuuki, who was not pleased in any sense.

"What is going on now?" I asked him. It was a usual occurrence for my mother to become over-excited about things.

"She wants us to share a bedroom so that stupid girl can have mine!" Yuuki wailed. I didn't agree with it. I didn't know these people, yet my brother and I should be squeezed into one bedroom to accommodate them? I needed to talk to my father about this.

As I came down the stairs, I could hear my father on the phone. To wait for him to be done with his business, I propped myself up on the banister.

"Yes," I heard, "Right! No problem at all. You'd be welcome. Umhm… I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then. Bye." My father hung up the phone and found me.

"What's this about guests?" I said.

"It's my best friend and his daughter. Their house has collapsed, and they need a place to stay for now." I had a bad feeling about this.

"Who are they?"

"Shigeo and Kotoko Aihara. You might know her. She goes to Tonan." He answered casually, but I stiffened at the mere mention of her name. One nightmare was turning into another. Sharing a roof with someone like her would be impossible. She was so noisy and annoying, and now I wouldn't be able to get away from it.

Even if it was inevitable that I would be living with her, that didn't change a thing. This, I prayed, wouldn't give her hopes, because that would make this even more unbearable, and her doting on me would be intolerable.

By the end of the night, mine and Yuuki's rooms had been crammed together into one. The next morning, I was awakened by Yuuki's complaints. It was true that the room was too small for two beds, but there was no argument. There was no use in complaining.

On the way past Yuuki's old bedroom, I saw through the cracked-open door that my mother's pink bedroom collection had gone to use. Everything from the bed set to the fuzzy carpet on the floor was a ridiculously bright shade of pink. I shook my head at it.

I was all the way downstairs by the time it happened, but I heard the groan Yuuki made when he discovered his room.

I left without a word of protest about what I would come home to find after school today. As I arrived at the school gates, there was a raucous of shouts. The whining of Kotoko Aihara caught my attention.

"Kin-chan, stop this!" She cried. I spotted her and Kinnosuke Ikezawa. A collection box dangled from a strap around his neck. I'd expected so much of him, as he was even worse than Aihara when it came to being loud.

"I'm doing this to help you!" He said.

"Well, stop! It's embarrassing!" The reaction baffled me. If she was so worried about embarrassing herself, then she wouldn't have confessed to me at the school gates.

Classmates stood by and watched the scene, snickering and sharing the gossip that Aihara was cursed and to stay away from her.

As I came closer, I noticed that they were blocking the pathway. There would be no getting around them.

"Can you move?" I said in annoyance. Aihara turned a nervous, frightful eye to me. Kinnosuke didn't budge.

"Why do you think you can talk to us like that?" He said, over exaggerating his words and making himself look like a fool. It caused more people to stop what they were doing to watch.

"Kotoko is very hurt. Do you know why? Because you turned her down in such a horrible way! She's been having bad luck since then!" He said.

"Are you saying it's my fault her house collapsed?" I said slowly, trying to understand what goes on in these peoples' heads. The stupidity of such an inference confounded me.

"Kin-chan, that doesn't make any sense." Aihara said. Maybe she wasn't as dimwitted as Kinnosuke, but I still didn't want to associate with her nonetheless.

"I didn't know I had such great power." I said, playing along with his words. To speed this ordeal along, I pulled my wallet out and fished for some money. I held out a bill for Aihara to take.

"Will you move if I donate this money?" She gawked at me for a moment, but when that moment was over, she did something unexpected. She snatched me by the wrist and the money flew out of my hand.

"Don't treat me like that!" She threw my hand away, "I can't believe I ever liked someone like you. I'd die before I let you help me." I put away my wallet in irritation. So much for that. She was going to regret she said it later.

"Are you sure about that?" I said and began away from them as they cleared a way.

"Of course." I chuckled at that, though it only seemed to anger her. A Class F rushed up and handed me the money that had flown away and I shoved it into my pocket.

"Are you looking down on us because we're in Class F?" Aihara said, "Being smart is not everything! What matters is the heart!" She yelled at me, juggling with her words and struggling. Once again, I laughed. That was something dumb people said to make themselves feel better. She sure would be in for a shock later. I couldn't wait to see the panic on her face.

...

In the driveway, a small moving truck was parked. I hesitated at the front door before going in, enjoying these last few moments before Aihara living in my house was final.

Entering the house, it was hard not to hear her. She giggled and chatted. My mother sure sounded as though she was enjoying herself as well. The slow-ish, dumb way in which Aihara spoke drove me insane in ways. This was the end to a quiet, calm household.

I finally found it in me to come to the living room where everyone was seated and deal with the nuisance of introducing myself.

"I apologize for the late introduction. I'm Naoki Irie. Pleased to meet you." I said upon arrival. Aihara sprang to attention. Her eyes widened and she stared at me in shock. It was a wonder what she must've been thinking.

"I was told that Naoki and you go to the same school." My mother told Aihara and she nodded, still staring at me and clearly struck into silence. I sat in the nearest chair.

"I didn't know that. Pleased to meet you as well," Her father said, "Kotoko, you greet him, too."

She gaped at me for another moment.

"What's wrong?" Her father asked her.

"Nothing… Nice to meet you." She said airily. She was so shocked, I was surprised she hadn't fainted or done something else to cause a fuss. That was what she was good at.

My mother went to the kitchen to brew up more tea and the "introduction" continued.

"It's very lucky you two didn't get hurt yesterday." My father said to hers.

"Yes, well, if Kotoko hadn't stopped, we'd have been inside when the house collapsed." Her father said.

"That's such a close call." My father said. Aihara's dumbfounded stares transformed into glares and she sat without another word for some time. It was good to know she was quiet sometimes. I refused to look at her and I could tell it drove her nuts. But if I didn't have to acknowledge or converse with her, I would avoid it at all costs.

My mother reentered with a tea refill, "I was so happy when I found out that Kotoko and Naoki already knew each other. Are you in the same class?" I could have snorted at the assumption. The difference between me and her was so obvious.

"Our classes are actually quite far apart, but we met recently in an unexpected way. Right, Aihara?" I could read the panic that engulfed her in flames, like I was going to exploit her right there. I could have, but I didn't care to at the moment. Still, I found it funny how she cared about secrecy now, but hadn't when she exposed her feelings at the school gates.

"Well, yes…" She said.

"Great. Now you can get to know each other more." My mother said. That wouldn't be happening. I didn't want to know Aihara. She and her father could live in my house out of courtesy, but that was about as far as it would go, "Naoki is different, don't you think? Do you think you two could be friends?"

Aihara said nothing, but nodded with a slight smile, stressing away.

Yuuki came in with his homework and sat in the chair beside mine.

"I finished today's homework." He said, flipping through the pages.

"Good job." I told him.

"But there's one kanji character that I don't know how to read." He said and shot a glance over to Aihara. He already didn't like her, and I knew what he was doing right now. He was testing her. Well, he wasn't going to get very far.

"Instead of asking you, I'd like to ask Kotoko." Aihara was brought to attention again, as her mind had wandered off into some unknown place. Once more, she panicked.

"Good idea." I said and studied her reactions.

"Kotoko, can you tell me how to read this?" Yuuki said and handed her the homework. Her previous panic turned into determination, or so I could read on her expression and change of attitude. Her eyes scanned the page and any determination she'd had was gone in an instant. She couldn't even understand middle school work. How she was even in high school confused me.

Aihara hesitated to answer, going over the page again.

"Yuuki, you're amazing. You're only in third grade, but you can learn such difficult characters. Which one can't you read?" She said.

"This one." Yuuki pointed it out to her.

"Oh," She said, "You read this as 'rabbit' and 'horn'!" She answered, falsely confident and as if she knew any of what she was reading. If she didn't know how to read it, she should have just said so. It was part of what made her stupid. I shook my head at her awful, incorrect guess.

Yuuki snatched the book from her, "You're stupid. It's read 'tonikaku'. You're in high school, but you can't even read this?" He said. Yuuki was like myself in more than one way, and that was exactly what I was thinking. I couldn't contain myself, letting out a laugh.

"Yuuki, that's very rude!" My mother said. Rude as it may have been, it was true. My mother had to have seen that. And to think she wanted me to be friends with a girl like her, "Apologize."

"I won't," Yuuki said to my mother, and then he turned to Aihara, "I hate you."

"Yuuki!" My father yelled at him, but Yuuki pranced off without any concern. He stuck his tongue out at Aihara from the distance.

"Hey, you stop that!" My father corrected him.

"I'm so sorry about him." My mother said. Aihara looked to the floor.

"No. I should have been able to read it." She said. I felt partway bad for her (though only partway). To be so dumb must've been hard.

"He's not used to being around girls. I think he's just being shy. Don't take it personally." My father said, but fixing Aihara's downcasted expression would be another thing.

She nodded and smiled, radiating warmth again. Such a quick change.

"Kotoko, I would like to show you your room. I was so excited about this! Come this way, it's upstairs." My mother leapt from the couch and ushered over to Aihara, sweeping her up and out of the living room.

As they left, I took a moment to reflect on this situation. I hoped every day wasn't going to be a disaster, but I wasn't seeing a light at the end of the tunnel at the moment. As for school… no one could find out about this, or I'd be at the center of more rumors. I'd be the highlight of peoples' conversations. And there would be no escaping it, even at home, because there Aihara would be, whining about the homework she didn't understand or talking loudly or pestering me.

"Naoki," My father said after a minute, "Why don't you take those bags up to them?" He gestured at a couple of pink bags over in the entrance. I wondered why I should when she told me earlier that she would never accept my help. Still, I stood. With her father sitting right there, I didn't have it in me to object.

I took the bags by the handles and toted them up the stairs, to what should have been Yuuki's bedroom but had now been infested.

Gabbering excitedly with Aihara, my mother shone. She had always wanted a girl in the house. Now, she didn't have to pretend there was.

I sat the bags down in the doorway, interrupting my mother and Aihara's newfound friendship.

"This used to be Yuuki's room. Thanks to you, his school desk is in my room. It's so cluttered." I said. My mother groaned.

"Why do you always have to ruin the fun? Don't say unnecessary things," She said and I let out an irritated breath, "Don't worry about them, Kotoko. Just think of this as your home." My mother beamed.

"Okay." Aihara said, another dumb smile spreading across her face.

"Naoki, you should help her organize her stuff. I'm going to start preparing dinner! We're having sukiyaki. Kotoko, do you like sukiyaki?" She asked as she made her way out the door.

"Yes, I do!" Aihara said in profound happiness.

"Perfect! Well, I'll see you later." My mother practically danced out the bedroom door.

For a few seconds, the air around us was still as we were left alone. She was uncomfortable and stiff. I got it moving, the sooner to be away from her, the better.

"What should I start with?" I said, bending over to pick up the bags and bring them to the dresser. Halfway there, she tried to snatch a bag from my hand, it falling to the floor and its contents spilling.

"That's okay, I can do it myself." Awkwardly, she peered down at the things that had spilled from the bag to see the letter she'd tried to give me still existed.

"Oh yeah," I said, remembering earlier, "That's right. You'd die before you accept my help," I looked down on her, irked, "How's that working out for you?" She knelt on the floor and rushed at shoving the envelope and everything else back into the bag, a sullen look appearing on her face in place of being uncomfortable.

"It doesn't matter to me whether or not you live here," I said, finding the door, "Just don't bother me." I left her to herself.