The Value Of A Smile

Chapter 8 - Kimura Asahi

Toshiro ⬆️
The next day in a normal period of maths, I was sitting at my desk, gazing out the window while the teacher talked about something I studied 7 months ago. I chewed on the back of my pen slightly, deep in thought about random stuff. Suddenly and idea popped into my mind. It takes a long time to walk from my cave to the city and back, so what if I get a bike? I could hide it somewhere next to my cave and ride it here and back. Yes that's a good idea. And why didn't I come up with it before?
"....And so, this is all for today. Please pack your stuff and quietly wait for the bell, then you will be dismissed." I heard the teacher say as he wiped off the last bit of chalk off the chalkboard and collapsed into the chair that still stood in the front corner.
The class started muttering and talking amongst themselves, as I planned my walk to the bike shop. I decided that when the bell rings for the end of school I'll go straight to the shop, buy a bike and ride home.

As if reading my thoughts, the bell rung, and students, like always, eagerly ran out of the class. The only people left were me, my two friends of course and the teacher.
Aika and Yukari walked over to me as I stood up.
"Hey, we're walking home together again right?" Aika asked as she waved. I waved back and shook my head.
"I can't come with you today, I'm going to the bike shop, I need a bike." I explained as we waved to the teacher and walked out of class.
"Oh ok. Well then good luck on finding the perfect one! Yukari you're walking right?" Aika asked as she turned to face Yukari. He nodded and hummed a yes.
We walked down the corridors and out of the school in comfortable silence, and when we reached the street where we needed to split up, I waved to my two friends and they waved back. I walked down the street looking at all the shops until I saw the bike shop.

I opened the doors, and walked in, the smell of rubber hitting my nose. I walked over to the bikes and examined each one. I knew a lot about bikes, and I knew exactly which one I needed, so it didn't take long for me to pick a bike and take it over to the counter.
The hardest part was to gather my strength to approach and pay the cashier. After 3 failed attempts, I finally stepped up on my fourth and after 10 minutes of stuttering, nearly fainting and struggling, I payed and walked out of the shop, rolling my bike next to me.
I looked at my phone and saw that I had 30 minutes till work started.
Well, I don't have enough time to go back home and eat, so I might as well find something to eat now before work.
I walked over to a public bike rack and locked my new bike to it. I quickly made up a code on the spot, then walked into a random little cafe.
The cafe theme was obviously yellow and the beach. The walls were painted yellow, celebrities and models on beaches were framed and pictures hung in on the walls, and in the middle was a large sun-shaped chandelier that lit up the whole room. The cafe was no bigger than my school classroom, but the layout of the tables and kitchen made it seem spacious and free.
I walked over to the front desk, and after about another 5 minutes of trying to form words without having an anxiety attack or fainting on the spot, I finally bought myself and sandwich and walked out of the cafe.

While eating my sandwich, I made my way over to the bike rack where I left my bike before.
Suddenly an arm grabbed my waist as another slammed on my mouth and I gasped as I got pulled into a dark alley. Huh?!
The person who grabbed me then threw me at a wall and my back slammed into it, me groaning in pain afterwards. I slowly opened my eyes, looking around. It took a moment for my eyes to get used to the darkness, and when they did, my heart froze, I stopped breathing and my eyes widened.
In front of me stood my two middle school bullies. The two worst bullies.
The black haired one snickered as the second green haired one just smirked.
"Oh, if it isn't little Toshiro here I see." The black haired one smirked.
"Hmm I think it is. So looser, what brings you over to this side of the city? You know well that you can't come here." The second one laughed. I stared at them, completely and quite literally frozen. I couldn't breathe, blink, move, or react in any way. I couldn't do anything.
I thought I'd never see them again. I thought this was all left in the past. I wanted this to be. And yet, here stood my two worst middle school bullies that were definitely going to beat me up, and maybe even kill.
At that last thought I realised that my chest was starting to hurt from the lack of oxygen. My vision was getting blurry probably also because of that. My head was dizzy and the ringing slowly got louder and louder. The worst part of this, was that there was no Aika, Mr Kenzo or Yukari around to help me out of this situation and hug me. There wasn't anyone who could help me. And Ted was laying in my bag which was thrown about 3 meters to the right of me.