ASoulmate: Anti-romantic Relationship With My Soulmate

Helia took a deep breath before following her parents and the principal of the new school in the corridor. The sound of their footsteps echoed in the chilly, empty hallway.

So far, the only thing she liked about the school was the uniform. The uniform consisted of a bolero, a dark blue sleeveless dress that reached just below the knee along with a white shirt accented with a red thin ribbon that gave off the vibe of a rich girls school.

Soon, they went to the first floor and heard somebody talking from one of the classrooms. Since Helia was already a week late, the lesson had already begun. Good thing the windows and doors were closed because if they weren , everyone would have turned their way to the foreigners visiting.

The principal had a big tummy that couldn be hidden with the oversized beige suit along with a mud-coloured tie. He was constantly wiping his face with a handkerchief and fixing his black glasses back up to the eyes as he showed around the school.

Helia was still grasping the concept of enrolling on this school from Monday. She didn have anyone she knew or even remembered the principals name. Also, she heard that many high school students experience bullying.

”Dis is za musicu roomu (This is the music room). ” The principal accidentally opened the door without knocking and interrupted the ongoing class. The lesson froze at once and curiously stares at the intruders.

”Sh*t. ” Helia cursed quietly. She could feel that no one was staring at the principal but her and her family. Soon, the students began talking among themselves as they hid their mouths and observed the intruders.

The principal didn seem to be sorry and just started talking to the music teacher carrying a violin in her hand. Her parents were smiling and also talking with each other. Helia felt left out.

”Ehh, Why notto introduce you doghter (Why not introduce your daughter?). ” The principal came back and awkwardly used English to communicate with Mare and Neo.

”Sure. ” Neo smiled and entered the room. Mare forcefully took Helia inside as well.

Her parents introduced themselves in the language they learned and turned to their daughter for her introduction.

Helia did her best to show no annoyance when she spoke like a native and caused the students to whisper loudly and irritably again. The reaction she was getting on her nerves.

Then the stupid principal suggested something like eating lunch in the school with other teachers for almost lunchtime.

Helia almost rushed out when she was told to have lunch in the cafeteria with other students. She already surpassed her limit of saneness a long time ago, and now this?! She thought she was going to have a panic attack. Why were parents this way?

The girl took a few big breaths before walking to the source of loud talking and shouting. The moment she showed up, she could visibly hear some of the conversations die down. The stares were almost cutting into her. She thought to herself this was happening because she was too beautiful and theyd never seen anyone like her before.

Every step she took was excruciating. She wished she could just get in a hole or live in a cave for the rest of her life than be at the centre of unwanted attention. Why did she have to suffer this way?

Helia walked up to the canteen ladies at the very end of the hall and ordered whatever was todays lunch.

The lady spoke in broken English and pointed, ”Ahh, You buy chicketto zea (Ahh, you have to buy a ticket there). ”

Of course! Stupid… Helia nodded awkwardly and walked away with a forced smile. Good thing her skin was dark, and it was difficult for redness from blushing to show.

She stood in front of the vending machine and chose the food that she could finish quick, two deep-fried bread. She hastily snatched out the tickets from the vending machine and got back to the lady. This time, two male students soon came after and stood behind her, close.

Helia appeared as if she was watching the ladys movement but actually, all her attention was on the two men behind her. They were standing so close to her like they didn know personal space. She thought they wanted to order something, but when she moved out of the way, they followed her. They were weird. Maybe people here are more touchy than she thought.

”Ahh, senkyuu, senkyuu (Ahh, thank you, thank you). ” The lady nodded her head as she handed Helia the plate with bread. The girl smiled and bowed slightly.

Helia hurriedly got away from the two men and searched for an empty place, preferably a corner table facing a wall or something.

As she sat at the only unoccupied table in the hall, she sighed deeply. The two men she thought were following her didn come to chase after her after she settled here.

She didn know that just visiting a school was this stressful. She was sure she needed to find a way to relieve the stress, or shed have a hole in her stomach when she started coming here.

Still, eyes were all over her but many couldn see her because she was hidden by the wall.

Helia searched for her phone in her jeans until she remembered that her mother took away the phone and left it in the car while the school allowed students to carry phones.

She sighed deeply once again and sat properly. She wanted to escape from here fast. At least she had the keys to the car and as long as she finished eating, she was out of here!!

Helia took one big bite from the bread coated with sugar and instantly smiled and relaxed. The sweetness was just perfect to ease her nervous mind. She took another bite from the bread and finally she reached the salted caramel filling.

The girl almost stumped her feet aggressively under the table from the heaven she was experiencing if it weren for the girl sitting in front of her with a surprised look.

”Udmfb! ” Helia momentarily choked on the food and had to tap her chest lightly to swallow. How come she never felt the girls presence, moreover, how come she didn see her?!

The girl in front of her had jet black hair in a straight short bob ended around her round chin. Her face was covered with a heavy bang, big black round glasses that looked like a bottom of a glass bottle, and a mask that was covering her chin. The girl had no make-up and made Helia imagine a real-life Kokeshi.

The girl in front of her offered her water bottle that was not opened in haste, blushed and worriedness.

Helia tried to turn her off but she coughed again and made the girl hand the water bottle firmly.

Helia drank almost half of the bottle in one gulp and said, ”Arigato. ”

The girl smiled and stared down at her food. The girl had her lunchbox filled with various food that looked like it was made for a photo shoot.

Since the girl didn look like she wanted to talk, Helia kept on eating as the two exchanged eye contact now and then. Eating with the girl didn cause Helia stress but a sense of joy and satisfaction. It wasn awkward but as comfortable as when she was with Vesper.

Helia tried returning the water bottle, which she didn put her mouth on, but the girl declined politely and silently showed that she had another bottle.

Even though they didn have any conversation, Helia knew the girl was good. When the girl finished eating, she began reading a novel in front of her as if she was keeping Helia company so that she wouldn feel alone.

The stares Helia felt since she walked into the canteen had never faded, and she listened to them as she ate. Most of them thought that since she was a foreigner, she wouldn understand what they were saying, so they basically didn whisper and spoke loudly.

Big mistake. She heard loud and clear. Understood every single word.

They were talking about why Helia sat with that girl. Who she was, what she was doing here, was she from Africa, can she rap, can she even speak their language, and does she know who she was sitting with.

From the conversation, Helia got to know the girl in front of her was called Takanashi and apparently, not many people had a good impression of her. Helia didn care since only this girl was kind to her, unlike people who were talking sh*t.

When Helia swallowed the last bite and drank water again, she saw the girl smile and put her novel into her bag. She was indeed keeping Helia company.

Helia got to see that the girl was reading something about physics in English. She wanted to hear the girls voice, so she asked in English, ”Uhmm, what is going on in that building covered in blue sheets? ”

The girl looked troubled, but it wasn because she didn understand, but she was shaken because she didn see that coming.

She answered shortly, ”Accident. Reconstruction. ” The girl didn have the accent Helia expected her to have. She spoke fluently, close to British English from the pronunciation of accident where she clearly pronounced the T.

”What was the building used for? ” Helia asked another question.

”Dormitory. ” The girl lowered her head as she blushed. It looked like she was not used to talking this much.

”I see. Thanks for the information. ” Helia didn know how to keep the conversation alive and ended there.

The girl bowed and rushed out of the canteen. Helia then saw three girls around her age going out of the canteen as if they were waiting for Takanashi to get out. Helia didn have a good feeling about it and stood up to chase the girl.

That was when she saw a crumbled, red string on the seat where the girl sat. She picked it up to find that it was the school ribbon. If she remembered correctly, there were three grades in the school. Red ribbons or ties were for the first and youngest, blue ribbons or ties were for the second and middle, and the blue ribbons and ties were for the third and oldest.

This meant that the girl was going to be in the same grade, and Helia didn have to ask the whole school who she was. There was no way she could find the girl in this huge school filled with hundreds of students.

Helia put the red ribbon in her jeans pocket and stood up from the table. She returned the plate she used and waited for her parents in the empty reception area.

”Maybe this school isn that bad. ” She whispered, thinking about the girl as she looked at the white ceiling.