Chapter 212 - I Can't Tolerate Her!

I was gazing at the last few students going to draw their paper strips. We would be changing seats now that everyone was done with the lottery. Ms Tachibana put the box inside the cabinet on the back of the teachers' table and stared at us.

"Raise your hands those who got 1." She said, looking at us and two students instantly raised their hands up in the air. Both of them were already friends, so they looked quite stoked about sitting together.

"Ok… come to the first desk." She instructed them as they got up from their chair with their bags along with their other belongings and headed towards the first pair of desks on the rightmost row as it was marked as 1.

My eyes were gazing upon the students moving from their places and changing seats as Ms Tachibana kept guiding them. It appeared as if she was enjoying this quite a lot, too. The voice of Tsūmen asking me something snapped my attention towards him, "What did you get?"

"Eight…" I answered, taking out the paper from my pocket and showing him as he sighed and said in a dissatisfied tone, "Ah… this we are quite far from each other.."

Considering I was eight, and he was fifteen, we're indeed quite far from each other. I nodded my head slowly and replied in an unamused tone, "Yes… a row of desks will be separating us." 

"You seem rather happy?" His narrowed jade eyes shifted towards me and with a frown on his face he asked, as I shrugged and replied, "I don't really feel anything about this…"

I really had no opinion about that entire ordeal because I wasn't looking forward to my seat being changed, nor was I looking forward to making new friends. I just keep the least amount of social interaction with others because those are basic social courtesy, otherwise I wouldn't be talking at all.

And Ms. Tachibana expects me to make new friends? What am I? The protagonist of a rom-com series? 

"I hope Gaisen is near me atleast." Tsūmen said, looking towards Gaisen, who was sitting in the front row next to us. I shook my head and narrowed my eyes at him, "Bruh, you're friends with everyone…"

He had a pretty outgoing personality and was good with everyone. Despite his comedic and friendly nature, he was quite specific about making friends and being close to people. 

Clicking his tongue, he nodded with a look of disapproval in his face and said, "Yeah… but not like that, you know?"

"Last year my luck was good that I got paired with you… but this year…" He added. We were currently sitting on the 17th desk and it was directly next to the window, so I said, "At least you got to sit near the window…"

He stared at me as I added with an awkward smile, looking in the direction I was going to be sitting, "Unlike me… right in the middle… I hate that."

"Raise your hands, Eight." Ms Tachibana called out as it was my turn, so I raised my hand and she glanced at me. I looked around to see who the other dude was, but it turns out that my bench mate wasn't a dude at all.

It was someone I wasn't expecting at all. She was already staring at me with her azure eyes and her mouth hung open with an irritated expression on her face. I slowly put down my hand and sighed at my luck.

Out of all the people I could seat with, I got her. I knew that Kizhashi wasn't looking forward to sitting next to me at all, but we had no other options. But I can't tolerate her annoying ass for another year. 

"Are you not happy?" Tsūmen asked me, looking at the downcast on my face. It's true I said that I don't care about this entire ordeal, but I never thought I would be paired up with her. And it was too late to change the number since Ms Tachibana had already seen me with 'Eight'.

"Happy about what?" I let out a deep breath and replied to him, as he looked at me with a confused look in his eyes and asked, "...that you get to sit near someone you already know?"

It's true that I knew her and during the change of bench mates, getting to sit with someone you're already familiar with was something everyone hoped for. But sitting next to someone you are familiar with because of their annoying nature is not something anyone would wish for unless they're a masochist.

"Hell no! It's Kizhashi! You know we can't see each other at all." I replied in a bit of an irritated tone as he smiled awkwardly and patted my shoulder. He showed me the thumbs up gesture, "Well… best of luck for that."

Letting out a deep breath, I stood up, slinging my bag on my shoulder, and slowly walked towards the desk. It was the third desk in the second row from the right side of the class. As I was slowly approaching there, I noticed Kizhashi already standing there with a grumpy look on her face.

Her eyes shifted towards me and her eyebrows tensed up as a frown formed on her face. Of course, she hated to be paired up with me, but it wasn't like I was enjoying it either. I can't tolerate her for an entire year.

"I can't believe I have to sit next to you!" She said in an irritated tone while clenching her grip tighter on the bag. I gave her a slight nod and in my usually uninterested voice, I replied, "The feeling is mutual."

She wasn't thrilled with my answer as she opened her mouth to say something, but gulped down her words midway and averted her eyes from me. I could see her puffed up cheeks and dissatisfied face as she kept her bag on the table and took a seat on the chair.