My hair? Check~! Blush on? Check~! Lip gloss? Check~! My cuteness? Super-duper check~! I did the last check on my pocket mirror before stuffing it back into my bag.

Oh, in case you were wondering, my name was Ericka Takahashi! My mother's Scottish while my father's Japanese. Because of that, I inherited the brown hair of dad and the sparkling brown eyes of mom. And since it was the trend, I cut my hair quite short.

Though I was quite small, I balanced it with my beautiful face. I currently have 30k followers on Instagram and also working as a part-time model—ops, but no sexy bikinis, okay?

My job helped me pay the tuition from my school and also, I could spend money on whatever I wanted. I stood on the corner of the street and looked at the time.

He should be here now, in three, two, one… “Good morning, Senpai.” I tilted my head sideways before showing up with a lovely grin. Fall in love with me!

“Whoa, that scared the sh*t out of me. Next time, appear like a normal person, and not like a Pokémon.”

“Hehehe, did I make your heart skip a beat?”

“Yeah, the same way a serial killer would.” That brash man was my senpai. His hair was bleached and he had a couple of earrings. He was a delinquent—not the handsome gangster type, but a real tough lookin’ child scarin’ police fightin’ thug that was feared by every delinquent in our area.

His frame was wide and he was taller than me.

“You’re so mean, Senpai. A cute girl is saying good morning to a mugger like you and you wouldn’t even greet back?”

“Who the hell are you calling a mugger? And why would I even greet you back if all you do is annoy me?”

“Hmm? If I’m really annoying, then why aren’t you chasing me out? Eh~ Do you, perhaps, like me or something?”

“Do you know what a gadfly is? No matter how much you shoo it away, it’ll come back later. That’s you. You’re a gaddamnfly.”

“Gasp!” I covered my hand in shock. “I am not a gadfly! If anything, I’m more like a butterfly. A being that one could only admire from afar—until a frog like you came down and use your tongue to grab me, kya! Mouh, Senpai~ Pervert~”

“Please… Don’t spout those words in public, makes me want to go back to the rehabilitation center.”

“And if you return to that place, I’ll follow you. So, then we can be the delinquent couple.”

“Yeah, as if.” Senpai snorted. It was only this part of the day that I could be with him for more than thirty minutes.

Because for some reason, Senpai ignores me in school. No matter what I did, he always found excuses to ditch me. To be honest, what he was doing hurts me. At least, you know, he could tell me the reason why…

“By the way, Senpai. How’s your part-time job in the convenience store? You’re not scaring the customer, aren’t cha?” I took faster steps so I could pace myself beside him.

He looked down on me, quite annoyed. “N-not all of them are scared.”

“Hee… Aren’t you going to lose another job at this point?” I said. Watching him blush a little made a happy, he-he~

I thought that he was going to let out another wisecrack, but then he sighed and scratched his head. “You’re right. If this keeps up, I’ll lose my job. How the hell am I supposed to pay my damn rent.”

“Eh!? That’s bad, isn’t it!?” I pulled out my smartphone from my pocket and began swiping away.

“What are you doing?” Senpai stared at me with curiosity.

“Hmm? You don’t know what a smartphone is, Senpai!?”

“Dammit, you annoying brat!”

“Hahahaha!” When he was about to grab my neck, I sprinted and evaded his hand.

“Hey guys, do you know any part-time job nearby? The less I need to show my face the better.” Sent. Unlike Senpai who communicates with his gangster friends with a tin can and smoke signals, I could easily text hundreds of acquaintances with my phone and ask them for help.

It’ll be bad if Senpai loses another job. It’ll affect him for sure. Senpai right now was trying to change. He was trying to engage with me more, trying to leave his old lifestyle.

In fact, I hadn’t seen him smoke since last, last month.

I positioned my palm next to my mouth and shouted, “Are you still angry!?”

“No, but if you come near me then I will be!”

“Okay, I think I’ll keep this distance since Senpai is quite a possessive man!” Or so I say, but the true reason was that we were near the school. Senpai didn’t want me to be with him inside the school so… Well, I might anger him for real if I don’t listen to him.

I turn around and faced the school. There’s still time before we go home so I don’t care. I care, I care immensely. I just didn’t want to be a burden to him.