Little Saiki sat on the table, hands propping up his cheeks as he slowly observed.
...
"In this day and age, can't a 5-year-old kid tell how cute and pretty someone is? For a man who wants to become the king of the harem, isn't it a bit much to start waking up early from kindergarten?"
(Give up that plan right now.)
"Bang!!"
"Ah~ Sorry!"
Little Saiki heard the sound, turned his head to follow it, and saw a shy little pink-haired girl get knocked down by someone.
The yellow-haired girl who accidentally knocked her over instinctively said "No problem" after hearing the other person apologize to her.
But after saying it, she felt something was wrong [Wait, wasn't I the one who knocked her down?]
❓
"Hey, are you okay!"
The yellow-haired girl extended a hand, wanting to help the knocked-down pink-haired girl up.
But the girl who was knocked down instantly jumped up when she saw it, patted her skirt, slowly backed away, put her hands in front and rubbed them.
"N-No… it's fine!"
"..."
"Oh, okay then, I'll go."
After seeing the person was fine, the yellow-haired girl walked away. She always felt the person in front of her seemed a bit strange.
After seeing the other person run off, the pink-haired girl opened her mouth wanting to say something, but her mouth seemed enchanted, and in the end she couldn't say anything.
Gotoh Hitori [Ugh… what's going on, Gotoh Hitori what are you doing? Didn't we agree to take the initiative to talk and make friends? You even promised Mom, what are you doing~]
(Yep, no mistake, this vibe is way too spot-on, it's definitely Hitori.)
Little Saiki [Gotoh Hitori? She just transferred to the school yesterday, looks like a little socially anxious person. Should I help out a classmate? Plus she's so cute and has pink hair…]
(Hey! What are you planning?)
Little Saiki narrowed his eyes, the corners of his mouth curving up into an interesting arc [OK, such a cute girl definitely needs to be raised/developed!]
(Stop it, how am I supposed to face Hitori like this.)
No sooner said than done, Little Saiki took the initiative, walked in front of Gotoh Hitori and raised his hand in greeting.
"Good morning!"
Gotoh Hitori immediately stiffened [S-Someone's greeting me, what do I do? I should respond at times like this, okay, prepared, OK come on.]
Gotoh Hitori nodded.
"Mm."
"…"
Gotoh Hitori [Ugh… I shouldn't be so cold.]
Gotoh Hitori felt like she messed up, a bit awkward, wanted to run away.
Little Saiki didn't care about that, went up and used his hand to block where Gotoh Hitori wanted to escape.
"W-What's wrong?"
Little Saiki gave a light smile: "Don't rush, you're the new classmate right? I'm Saiki Kusuo, the boss of this kindergarten, just call me big brother."
(Hey!)
"B-But, we're the same age."
Little Saiki shook his head, hooked his finger: "No no no, that's not important, come on, say it for me to hear, say big brother!"
(What is this situation?)
Gotoh Hitori recalled what her mom said and what she saw on TV shows, this kind of being pinned against the wall by someone, threats and stuff.
Gotoh Hitori [Th-This couldn't be… a delinquent?]
Little Saiki [No.]
(No.)
"Saiki."
"What~"
Little Saiki wanted to say more, but hearing someone call him, he turned back and met Nakamura's gaze.
Nakamura held a soccer ball, excitedly saying: "Come on, Saiki, let's compete again."
"Not interested, I already have soccer!"
Little Saiki had no interest in that kind of thing right now, originally wanted to keep chatting with Hitori, but found the little loli he had pinned in the corner had somehow run off.
"Don't say that, Saiki come on and compare."
Little Saiki's expression soured a bit, turned his head showing a "kind" face, grabbed Nakamura's shoulder reminding: "I think I said I'm not interested, and what should you call me?"
"Gulp!"
Nakamura felt Little Saiki's terrifying aura rushing over, seeming to have BGM-enhanced pressure.
Making Nakamura involuntarily tremble in fear.
"S-Sorry Boss."
(Nakamura this kid sure knows how to interrupt, but that's fine, beforehand say that what happened earlier has nothing to do with me.)
Time for kindergarten activity class.
Many classmates left the classroom, went outside, only a few still discussing what to play later.
And Gotoh Hitori stood alone at the back, picked up the ball that fell on the ground, watching many girl classmates gathered in a circle ahead, she also wanted to join.
But didn't know what to do, so could only watch blankly.
After almost everyone in the classroom had left, Little Saiki just came out of the bathroom and stared straight at Hitori.
(Figure→)
Saiki thought for a moment, put on a smile and walked over.
Gotoh Hitori also noticed Little Saiki approaching slowly with a "smile" toward her.
So instinctively backed away.
Gotoh Hitori [It's… it's that delinquent…]
Little Saiki [I'm not, have you ever seen such a handsome and cute delinquent?]
(Yep, right, probably not.)
Every step Little Saiki took forward, Gotoh Hitori slowly took one step back.
Little Saiki: ...
Gotoh Hitori couldn't stand the atmosphere, wanted to turn and run.
"Don't run."
Hearing Little Saiki say that, Gotoh Hitori who was hesitating whether to run… immediately didn't hesitate anymore, turned and ran.
(Who knew little Hitori was this scared of me even back then.)
In Saiki's memory, when they met in middle school, neither recognized the other.
Middle school Hitori was even more socially anxious, first meeting didn't feel distant from Saiki.
And it was the kind where she was socially anxious toward everyone, but seemed relatively normal toward Saiki.
(How did this happen?)
Scene back to the classroom.
Gotoh Hitori ran toward the door, Little Saiki chased after.
Little Saiki [Is the first impression too bad? Need to change the approach.]
"Danger!"
Little Saiki suddenly shouted, startling Gotoh Hitori.
As Little Saiki's voice fell, a box full of building blocks on top of Gotoh Hitori's head suddenly fell down.
Gotoh Hitori saw it and instinctively froze, no time to escape, just held her head with both hands preparing to receive the building blocks' baptism.
"Crash"
A gust of wind sound passed by.
"Bang bang bang!"
Sound of building blocks hitting someone rang out.
"Doesn't hurt?"
Gotoh Hitori slowly opened her eyes, saw herself being held and protected under Saiki, those falling building blocks smashed hard onto Saiki, scattering on the ground.
"A-Are you okay?"
Little Saiki showed a strained smile, let go of Hitori and sat to the side panting heavily.
"S-Sorry, Saiki."
Seeing Saiki injured to save her, Gotoh Hitori was at a loss for a moment.
❓
Saiki watching this scene from afar looked completely dumbfounded.
(What's going on? Even in kindergarten when my body and superpowers hadn't fully awakened, in a very fragile stage, I shouldn't get injured so easily!)
(Even if a truck hit me I shouldn't have issues, could it be… I've weakened ╭(°A°`)╮)
Saiki's eyes narrowed slightly.
(Or maybe…)