4 ~ Friend

Nana didn't see Hayate again until lunch, which was after fifth hour. She was at her table, alone as usual, and All of a sudden, Hayate's sitting across the table from her saying, "So, did you get your detention, Hatchiko?"

     "Stop calling me Hatchiko!" Nana shouted, throwing her milk carton at him. He ducked and it got some girl in the back. "And yeah, in the middle of fourth hour, I got called down to Mr. Yori's office."

     "How many days of detention?" Hayate asked as he opened a bag of chips and offered some to Nana.

     "After school for two hours in the library on Wednesday and Thursday," Nana said, refusing the chips. "I didn't even do anything wrong."

     "You committed an offense by shoving a student," Hayate said, biting into a chip. "what more reason do they need to punish you?"

     "You're the new kid," Nana said annoyed. "You have no right to talk about that kind of stuff yet."

     "My old school was the exact same way, only you got suspended for chewing gum in the middle of class," Hayate said, leaning on his elbow. "Rules were strict around there. That's why I'm glad we moved."

     "That must've sucked balls," Nana said, moving her fork around her small salad.

     "Trust me, it did," Hayate said. "There was such a melancholy feeling around that place. It was really depressing. Most students committed suicide." The word suicide lingered in the air, and Nana couldn't help thinking of Nani.

     "I...I bet," Nana found herself saying. She absently picked at her salad.

     "It was...a terrible place," Hayate said quietly, tugging on his shirt sleeve. "I'm glad I'm here."

     Nana looked at him, trying to imagine such a horrible school, but nothing came to mind.

     "Was it a military school?" Nana asked.

     "It was a school just like this," he said, staring at his tray of food. "Glass Cross Academy." Nana had never heard of it, and the name sounded stupider than the name of their current school, Silver Tsubasa Academy.

     Nana recognized the look in his eyes. It was the look she often saw in Nani's, and what she occasionally saw in her's: grief, depression.

     "Eat up," Nana said, trying to snap him out of it. "lunch is going to be over soon." Hayate looked up at her, and smiled slightly, saying, "Same goes to you, Hachi."

 

Seventh hour ended, and the school day ended as well. Nana hurried to her locker, the feeling of not wanting to miss Hayate rising in her throat. She had to at least say a hasty goodbye if he was already closing his locker.

     Fortunately, he was having locker troubles again when she arrived.

     "Move it, girlie," Nana said, shoving him out of the way from his locker and opening it like she had two times earlier that day.

     "Thanks, Hatchiko," Hayate said, patting her head again. "You're such a good dog!"

     "Woof, woof," Nana said unenthusiastically as she opened her locker and grabbed her bag, sticking in paper and a pencil in it for her math assignment.

     "Ride a bus?" Hayate asked her.

     "Walk," she said. "You?"

     "Walk."

     Nana closed her locker and leaned against it, waiting for Hayate to get his stuff together.

     "What a good dog, waiting for your master," Hayate said, closing his locker and holding his bag over his shoulder.

     "You're not my master, I'm not your dog," Nana said, walking. "I can report you for bullying, you know."

     "Coming from a bully like you," Hayate said with a laugh. "I highly doubt what I do is as bad as you do to other people."

     "So you heard some rumors," Nana said, sighing heavily. "Please, tell me what you heard." By now, they had just exited the building.

     "Well, the thing that happened in English is already flying around," Hayate said. "and, I also heard that you gave a freshman a swirly last year because they were railing on your older sister." That was a few days after Nani hung herself. Nana tried to keep her face expressionless. "What else?" she asked.

     "Um, and that you drink."

     "Yep."

     "You get detention a lot."

     "Golden member," she said.

     "You're a freak with an incurable disease, so people stay away from you."

     "Wait--what?" Nana stopped walking and stared at him. That was a new one, in her book. But it made sense with what Daisuke's friend Nobuo said in English.

     "That's what this guy--Nobuo--said," Hayate said. "So, people around this school really don't like you."

     "Yep," Nana said, turning around and walking across the parking lot to the walking path across from the school.

     "Wait up!" Hayate shouted as he jogged after her.

     "Why are you still following me?" Nana asked.

     "I gotta take my dog home, Hachi," he said. She glared at him again, and he laughed and said, "I live this way, Nana." Something about what he said made her chest flutter. Probably the fact that they had lockers next to each other, and they could walk home together every day.

     "Let me ask you something," Nana said once they reached the path and started walking along it.

     "Go ahead, Hatchiko," Hayate said. Nana ignored the Hatchiko remark and said, "Why do you seem to be attached to me?"

     Hayate did something that Nana didn't expect: he stopped walking and started laughing. Hard.

     Nana paused and glared at him. "What the hell is so funny?"

     "Hachi," he said, sobering. "haven't you ever had a friend before?" That caught Nana off guard. She had to think about it, and realized that she hadn't ever had a friend before in her whole life. Not even Nani had been her friend.

     "No," Nana said, staring at the ground. "I've never had a friend before."

     "Seriously?" Hayate asked, no longer joking around. "You've never had a friend before?"

     "Don't act all surprised," Nana said darkly. "You should've been able to figure it out."

     "Sorry," Hayate said, sounding truly sorry. He sounded close to how he sounded at lunch that day when he talked about his old school.

     "Don't be," Nana said quickly, turning to face him. He had that look in his eyes again, and he was slouching as he walked. "I'm sorry. I don't mean anything by--I mean, I'm not good with being nice to people. If I say something all mean or not nice or whatever, I-I really don't mean to sound that way."

     He looked at her a minute, and then cracked a smile with a chuckle. He put a hand on her head and said, "Hachi, you're such a silly dog."

 

"Home sweet home," Hayate said when they approached a house off to the left. It looked spacious and even had a garage.

     "Lucky," Nana mumbled." I just live in a crappy apartment with my dad."

     "What about your mom?" Hayate asked.

     "She abandoned us last year and went to Europe. Good riddance to her."

     "I see," Hayate said uncomfortably. "Well, uh, wanna come in for an after school snack, or to get started on homework?"

     "No, thanks," Nana said automatically. "I gotta get home."

     "Okay, Hachi, see you later then," Hayate said, patting her on the head one more time.

     "Yeah, yeah," Nana grumbled. She turned and started walking again, when Hayate suddenly called her name.

     "What?" she asked, stopping and turning around.

     "Um, I was wondering," Hayate said, shifting from foot to foot. "Do you want to, maybe, walk to school together tomorrow?"

     "Uh..." Nana didn't know how to respond except, "S-Sure, see you then."

     "Good dog!" Hayate said with a laugh. Nana grunted and picked up a rock, throwing it at his head. He ducked and said, "Missed me again, Hachi!"

     "Enough with calling me Hachi!" Nana shouted.

Reviews

[Emunah June.]

"You get detention again?"
"Golden member."

XDD

I see how Nana relates to Lucy is alot of ways. Still it's hard to think seriously about Nana simply due to the fact that I think of Elfen Lied. But hey, if this Nana has invisble hands, then I'm worried. I'm very worried.

[MBarnes]

Awesome. I really like your style. I am off the read another chapter....

[halflives]

Very good. I'm very, very interested in this. Do I daresay that I see a romance blossoming? I'd love to know more about Hayate's old school. Awesome! Keep it going!

[Angie Diane♥&hea..]

I love this book so far too. It is very good. Nana is my favorite character by far. I think you can tell lol.
I love that you at least made Nana get a friend as well. I loved this chapter. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to read more. Start chapter five. :D

[Alexis]

WOOOOOO!!!! I LOVE THIS BOOK SO FAR! The characters are great, their personalities are interesting, the setting is great, the relationships and moving along nicely... This is awesome! Send me another read request when you finish chapter 5!

By the way, I'm sure you wouldn't have told me to go to bed if you knew I was reading your chapter. XD