Time always flies when you are dreading what will come up next. The girls were changing in their homeroom when Mori san, the taunting queen of the class called Sunny’s name.
"Hey Watanabe San, I heard European's are real man-eaters, they go for anybody from what I've been told?"
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Sunny was used to it, the rumor spread like wildfire she was hafu . She didn't see herself that way: Her father was half Japanese and half French, he was born in France. He married her mother who was Japanese 100%. Didn't that make her 100% Japanese with her mother's half? Sunny thought when she reflected on the matter.
She had inherited a few traits from her grandparents: Bright eyes, light-colored hair and so on and so forth.
In middle school, Sunny would tell people she wore lenses and dyed her hair. It worked at first and then people found out. She was not cast aside, but people mostly adults reacted strangely. Male students became a little sleazy, and some men acted carelessly. She was sure if she possessed the ability to mind read she would find them having the same thoughts as Mori.
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"If it's not true, you could at least give an answer. It seems true to me since you have set your eyes on someone else's man. Isn't it so, Asano San?"
"Mori San, please avoid talking in my stead," replied my school's idol Asano Sumire San.
Oh, was another stupid shoujo type rule, beautiful people must be shipped with beautiful people. So in Sunny's situation Asano Sumire San, would be the perfect match for Matsumoto San, Sunny thought as Mori San continued her verbal harassment.
There were so many clichés in Japan and Sunny used to imagine they were exaggerated and reserved to the mangas realm. But living in Japan she discovered the clichés were close to reality.
"Please, tell us Watanabe San," pursued Mori, "it would be nice if you filled us in on your culture." The sarcasm in Mori's voice made Sunny's eyes twitch, but she tried to keep her composure and so Mori pursued. "Is it true that French people kiss everyone they meet?"
"Not everybody just friends, acquaintances, it's just a greeting," Sunny replied.
Are you stupid or what Sunny? Why are you answering to this provocation, You know this will not end in your favor, your brain is blipping with alerts and your stomach is knotting with fright and the break of sweat on your forehead is screaming to shut your silly mouth, why are you replying Sunny?
But yet Sunny continued her mental hara-kiri and added, "As I said it's only a greeting," hoping that the debate would end with her answer, she could not have been more wrong. She had just given Mori San the fuel she needed to burn the house down.
"Is that so, well in that case you can kiss anyone as long as you know them right?" Mori said whilst looking around at every girl in the room to see if she had their approval in her punitive inquisition. Some girls watched with satisfaction glistening in their eyes, turned their heads as soon as Sunny's darting eyes caught theirs red-handed.
"Basically," Sunny replied.
OMG someone please cut my tongue! What, am I trying to prove here? I've said too much!
Sunny thought as her palms sweated in panic. She clinched her uniform skirt which helped her to calm her boiling nerves.
"How interesting," said the now gleaming Mori San, "you can kiss whoever who walks past this door, it will definitely be a fellow student who you know."
The roof was on fire, no one would supply Sunny with a bucket of water and she was the only person who would burn.
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The boys always knocked and came in at the back door whereas the teacher only came in from the front door which gave direct access to the teacher's desk. Mamoru, always knocked first, it was an immutable law of nature.
Mamoru was the type guy who stressed so much over his grades that his face had become a pimple farm. If it was a test day like this infamous Wednesday, a new nation freshly bloomed on his face and set out to conquer its surface. Sunny noticed earlier in the morning that his face shone like a diamond with a new species of pimples that were starting a new lifespan.
She had empathy for him and most of her fellow high school students. Submerged with so much work after-school activities and cram school that 3 out of 5 people severely suffered from acne.
Sunny saw herself as a scam victim as she quickly found out that the drama idols on TV were what the country had best to offer. The ordinary nihonjin looked for most of them nowhere near what you see on TV. It was the reason why people worshipped the beautiful and preserved them like endangered species. Mori San's request was so immature it left Sunny speechless.
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As an ally of justice, she would not let Mori the witch have her way; Sunny had no intention of declining Mori's request. She would show mouthy Mori all men were equal, pimple or not. If Mamoru was a friend in France, she would have probably greeted him that way.
Even if she kept repeating it, the 17-year-old she was hearts thumped in anticipation of the moment when their cheeks would meet. Yet she was ready to welcome Mamoru with a French greeting under the sneers of her not so friendly classmates, someone knocked at the door whilst opening it at the same time.
She grabbed the person by the collar; eyes closed, she kissed his....Aré! What is this?
The skin was soft and smooth; she felt her lips shifting, no Matsumoto turned his head.
No-no-no, don't move, don't shift your head otherwise- she thought, but it was too late.
Sunny's lips locked on something softer, she heard no laughter; the silence was too deep. She opened an eye and following up with the other, whilst she backed away bumping into Shino San's desk.
OMG, you must be kidding me!
Mori's prank had taken the form of a Matriochka doll, concealing a bigger and more playful surprise. Scarlet read cheeks eyes covered by his bob haircut strands, Matsumoto stood motionless under the shock of what occurred.
Sunny only heard him whisper: "Ichigo [strawberry]" while he bit his lower lip.
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