Chapter 1
Kujou Sara was what many people would describe as 'unpopular'.
And, Sara knew it.
From a young age, she'd always been unpopular with her classmates. She knew that people thought she was too 'ugly', 'thin, and 'boring' to be part of the group of popular kids. They weren't wrong, in Sara's honest opinion. And, Sara was rarely honest.
Sara had shoulder-length indigo hair with an uneven bob. She had dull, yellow eyes, and always had a frown on her face. She didn't like things like fashion and K-Pop music, unlike other girls in her grade. Instead, she adored books about war generals, movies and books about war, and liked wearing clothes that war generals wore in the past. That had given her the title of a 'loser'.
Her one-year-younger brother, Raiden Kunikuzushi, or Scaramouche, was Sara's complete opposite.
Well, not exactly. Scaramouche was moody and liked to swear a lot, like Sara. But, they were very different in terms of popularity in Teyvat High, their school.
Scaramouche was part of a popular group in Teyvat High called The Fatui. Many girls and boys in Sara's and other grades had crushes on The Fatui's members, which were called Harbingers, because of how 'hot' and 'fine' the eleven Harbingers looked. Yes, Sara knew what people liked about their crushes.
Sara didn't have a crush. She didn't even have one good friend by her side. Secretly, she wanted a friend. She wanted at least one person, besides her mothers, to care about her. To have a story at the tip of their tongue to tell her in-between lessons. Was that too much to ask from the Archons?
Apparently so, considering the fact that Sara has not made a single friend in her whole entire sixteen years of living. Were the Archons deaf or did they not care about her? Sara couldn't decide which.
It was so unfair. Why did Scaramouche have friends? He didn't deserve his friends. He didn't deserve popularity. He didn't deserve-
"Kujou Sara!"
Sara glanced up from her bowl of cereal with dango milk to see her mom, Yae Miko, staring at her.
"The Hell do you want, Mama?!" Sara snapped, as if she'd been interrupted doing something she enjoyed.
Yae Miko didn't even flinch. "I just wanted to tell you to quickly eat your breakfast," she said smoothly. She twirled a strand of her silky, pink hair around her index finger.
"Is something wrong, dear?" Yae Miko said, raising an eyebrow, frowning the slightest bit.
Sara sighed. "I'm fine, Mama," she lied, spooning up some cereal. She shoved the spoon into her mouth, letting the cornflakes swirl around in her mouth along with the milk. She hated cereal. She forced herself to chew the cereal and pushed her almost-full bowl away from her.
Yae Miko shrugged. "Whatever. Your life, not mine." She stood up from the dining chair and went into Ei's and her room, closing the door behind her.
Sara stood up as well. She took her book bag and went to the front door. She briefly glanced down. Scaramouche's shoes were still there. He hadn't left yet. Sara quickly put on her Inazuman shoes.
"Bye, Mom and Mama!" she called out, walking out of the door before she could hear Yae Miko's or Ei's response.
Sara walked the short walk to Teyvat High, reading an e-book on her phone as she did. She would listen to music, but she'd forgotten her airpods, and no way in Hell did she want anyone to know her music taste. She'd rather eat her sock in front of the whole school than expose her music taste to the kids in her school.
Eventually, Sara stood outside Teyvat High.
She stepped through the school's double doors, eyes blinking to adjust to the bright light, her ears filling with the sound of students chattering.
Immediately, she heard someone yell, "Hey, there's the war general freak!"
Groups of students, mostly the ones with popular girls, burst into laughter. Sara rolled her eyes at them and walked to her locker. By then, she was immune to teasing, so ignoring the popular kids' mean remarks was easy.
Sara ignored the Post-Its on her locker door, throwing the locker door open after unlocking it. She didn't give two shits about what the notes said. She'd remove the Post-Its during lunch. She pulled out her Geography textbook, and set her book bag in her locker.
The second she did so, her locker door suddenly slammed shut, almost on Sara.
Luckily, Sara had sharp reflexes. She jumped out of the way before the locker door could close on her.
Adrenaline coursing through her veins, Sara whirled around to see a group of girls snickering at her.
"Oh my gosh, you are such a loser," one girl said as the group walked past Sara, purposely pushing past her as they did.
Sara ground her teeth as she opened her locker again to get her bag. Those girls could go fuck themselves for all she cared.
As she began to take her bag out of the locker and stuff her Geography textbook in it, she heard her locker neighbor say, "Did you hear about the new student?"
A boy sighed. "Really, Lumine? Are you sure?" he said.
Sara paused, her bag in her hands, trying to hear the girl and boy over everyone's chatter.
"Yes, I'm sure, Aether! I saw her just now, in the hallway. She was looking for the Geography classroom."
So, the new student was in Sara's first class.
'Uh-huh," the boy said. "Sure you did."
Sara sighed, closing her locker door. She made her way to the Geography classroom. Looks like she'd have to add yet another name to her list of enemies.
The Geography classroom was one of the coldest classrooms in Teyvat High. Even Sara, who was used to incredibly low temperatures, shivered when she stepped foot into the empty classroom. She took her seat at the back of the class.
Sara looked around to be sure that no one but her was in the class. Taking a deep breath, she reached into her bag to pull out a book about war generals...
...And the door to the classroom burst open.
Sara jumped, and quickly dropped the book back into her bag.
The lights came on, and Sara could see a girl standing in the doorway of the classroom. The girl had long, light pink hair that faded into light blue at the ends. She had beautiful light indigo eyes and a nice smile on her face. Sara couldn't help but stare at this beautiful girl.
The girl sauntered over to Sara. She stopped at a seat to Sara's left. "Is this seat taken?" the girl said politely.
"I-uh-no, I mean," Sara stuttered, as if under a spell. What was wrong with her!?
The girl smiled and nodded. She placed her pink bag on the ground. She pulled the chair out, making a screeching sound before sitting on it, hands on her lap. "I am Sangonomiya Kokomi," she said. "You may call me Kokomi, though." She giggled a bit. "Many people think my name is Sangonomiya, but that's my surname, not my first name. Inazumans put their surname at the front, after all." She gestured to Sara. "What's your name?"
Sara swallowed, regaining her composure. She clenched her fists under the table. "I'm Kujou Sara. Call me Sara," she said with a blank look.
Kokomi smiled wider. "Oh, so you're Inazuman, too. That's nice to know. Hello, Sara."
It was then that the door to the Geography classroom opened yet again. Lumine and a girl named Amber entered. They waved at Sara and Kokomi before taking their seats at the front of the class.
Instantly, Kokomi was by the two girls' side, happily introducing herself. Sara looked down at her lap, disappointed. She'd thought that she and Kokomi would be friends and be unpopular together. Turned out that she was wrong. Of course, Kokomi would be one of the popular kids.
For the five minutes before Mister Zhongli arrived at the classroom, Sara watched Kokomi mingle around with every student that entered the class, including the popular kids. By then, she was friends with everyone.
"Oh, you play Honkai Impact, too?" Sara overheard a popular girl ask Kokomi. "Oh my Archons, same!! Let's swap account details! By the way, do you ship Raiden Mei with Kiana..."
When Mister Zhongli walked into the classroom, Kokomi returned to her seat at the back. She smiled at Sara. "Sara, could I go to lunch with you?" she said, looking hopeful.
Sara looked up, surprised. "W-With me?" she said stupidly, pointing to herself.
Kokomi nodded. "Mhm."
"I guess...your choice," Sara said, turning away, a faint blush on her face.
Kokomi chuckled. "Sure."
The bell rang. Students rushed to their seats. Mister Zhongli walked to the front of the class.
"Good morning, class," he said, giving away no emotion. He adjusted his glasses. "Could Sangonomiya Kokomi come up here to give a short introduction about herself?"
Kokomi stood up and made her way to the front. The whole class clapped for her, except for Sara and Mister Zhongli, both simply watching.
Kokomi bowed and smiled. "Hello, everyone," she said brightly. "I am Sangonomiya Kokomi. I come from Watatsumi Island, Inazuma.I enjoy playing Honkai Impact, reading, and occasionally going out with my friends at my old school." She bowed again before returning to her seat.
Mister Zhongli nodded. "Thank you, Kokomi," he said. "Now, in our previous lesson..."
For the whole one hour and ten minutes of Geography, Sara didn't listen to a thing Mister Zhongli said, only thinking of Kokomi.
*
During lunch, Sara found Kokomi waiting at her locker. Kokomi was sketching something on a notepad.
"How do you know where my locker is?" Sara asked, crossing her arms.
"Hmm?" Kokomi looked up, a smile appearing on her face. "Oh, hello, Sara. I asked around for the whereabouts of your locker," she said, shoving her pencil and notepad into her book bag's empty compartment.
"I didn't know that you're quite popular," Kokomi said, gesturing to the Post-Its on Sara's locker. She looked genuine. Sara felt slightly bad for making her think that she was popular. That was probably the only reason why Kokomi wanted to befriend her in the first place.
"...I'm not popular," Sara muttered. She began to remove the Post Its.
Kokomi simply smiled. "Oh, okay," she said, and didn't say anything more.
Sara blinked, surprised. She regained her composure and threw all the Post-Its into a bin. "So, where do you want to eat?" Sara said, turning to Kokomi.
"Where do you eat lunch every day?" Kokomi asked.
In the bathroom, Sara thought.
Instead, she said, "Oh, uhm, a variety of places. You can decide where we eat."
Kokomi nodded. "Okay. What about the cafeteria?"
Oh, Archons. Not there. Please, no.
Sara forced herself to nod. "Okay."
Kokomi took Sara's wrist. Her hand was so soft, like a kitten's nose. Sara loved the feel of it. Kokomi pulled her towards the cafeteria. Sara didn't resist.
The inside of the cafeteria was loud and noisy. Sara winced as she and Kokomi entered the packed place. Sara hated it.
Kokomi looked at Sara. "Are you okay? You're wincing," she said, sounding worried.
"I'm fine," Sara said, trying to look fine.
Kokomi looked doubtful but nodded and looked around for an empty table. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be one.
And then, Sara heard someone call out, "Hey, new girl!"
Sara and Kokomi turned around. In front of them was a table with popular girls sitting at it.
Kokomi smiled at them. "Hello," she said.
"Do you want to sit here?" a girl asked, gesturing to an empty chair.
"Oh, but, uhm...there's only one spot," Kokomi said.
"Exactly. Just one spot for you." The girl smiled.
"But...what about Sara?" Kokomi asked, looking at Sara. Clearly, she was torn between what to do.
"She can sit somewhere else," the girl said casually.
Sara took a deep breath. "It's fine, Kokomi," she said flatly. "You can sit with them."
"But..." Kokomi began.
Sara pulled away. "Seriously, it's fine. I'll find another place to sit. See you on after the weekend, during Geography." With that, Sara ran away before Kokomi could stop her.
She ran into the bathroom, locked herself in a stall, and sank onto the cold and dirty floor. She curled up into a ball, tears welling up in her eyes. She wiped them away, frowning.
She might as well face it.
She would always be alone, no matter what.