It all started as a concern for a student who never seem to get along with any of her classmates. Kent, a 24 year old English teacher, would always see that student lingering alone on the school grounds, seen through the windows of the faculty room.
After lunch break, Kent went straight to his next class. As he entered the room of class 2-B, he made roll call, "...Aisha?" he glanced at the student he mentioned.
"Present." Voice so quiet and timid, it was her, the student he often sees wandering alone.
After roll call, the class went smoothly and when Kent went to hand out their test results, he made a bit of effort to make small talk with Aisha. "Good job, maybe you can ace the test next time."
"Oh..." she just nods and takes her paper. Kent expected better responses, but he just lightly shakes his head.
Aisha truly reminded him about the days when he was a student himself. There will always be that quiet and aloof student on every class, he thought.
Then as the school day ended, Kent clocked out his timecard and quickly left the office. Before he'd go home, he decided to make a stop at the bookshop to check the new released volume of his favorite comics.
"Aha!" He grins at the sight of the new cover, and luckily there was one left. It's as if its waiting for him to buy it, but as soon as he got his hands on it, another hand was there.
"Hey!" He was going to tell off the other person until he saw who it was...
"Aisha!?"
"Teacher!?"
They were both surprised to find each other at an unusual place, both of their hands were still on the comic as they speak, "Well this is unexpected, you often visit this shop too?" Kent asked.
"Yeah, I drop by time to time so I could check on the latest volumes of my favorite series." Aisha tugged on the comic, trying to take it away but Kent's grip was tight. "I see... so you like reading Overthrone too. You've got some taste, I'll give you that."
"Mhmm, I really wanted to see how things turned out after Carlisle fought his bestfriend..." Aisha tried pulling the comic with greater force, "But I can see that you're not letting go, teach."
"Uhm, I saw this first so..." Kent was not ready to let go.
"But this is comics, its made for younger people---like me, so why don't you---"
"What? Are you saying I'm too old for comics?"
Aisha looked him dead in the eyes, "Yes."
That pissed Kent off, all his care and concern for this student flung right out the window. "This brat!---It's clearly stated in the cover that this is for 18 years old and above only, you're barely that age."
Realizing that he won't let go so easily, Aisha gritted her teeth and yanked it away, "Just give it to the kid!"
"Never!!" And Kent was fighting hard to snatch the comic off the girl's hands.
Their little fight were already catching the attention of the other customers, and a store personnel decided to intervene. "Hey! Back it up, back it up!---what's the big deal over here!?"
"He's stealing the last copy of this comic!" Aisha yelled.
"I wasn't stealing it! I saw it first and I'm going to buy it!"
"Nuh-uh!'
"Yuh-huh!"
Their childish banters angered the store personnel, getting both of them kicked out the store. The two never got their favorite comic's new volume. "Well that was great." Aisha said sarcastically, "I should've been quick to snatch that book."
"...you know, I could have let you borrow it for free." Kent just realized.
"I'm collecting every volume of that cover. An adult like you, especially a teacher, should've given it away for a kid."
"Ugh..." Being reminded of his position as teacher, Kent grimaced at Aisha, "That should've been a case, but I'm a child at heart myself." He patted her by the head and sighed, "Sorry for that."
Aisha stared at him and looked away, "...tsk, whatever."
Kent felt bad about making her upset, so he grinned at the idea he had. "Let me make it up to you. Want some snacks or something?"
"Please don't treat me like some kid..." Aisha muttered, "But I could go for some chocomint icecream."
Kent laughed, "Alright, let's go."
They went to the nearest icecream shop and Kent bought her the chocomint icecream she wanted. He was a bit icky by the thought of a minty icecream, "Don't you think that mixing mint and icecream is awful? How can anyone like that?"
"...I like it." Aisha shyly uttered as she licks on her icecream.
"Hmm, but why?"
"'Coz the flavor is interesting..."
Kent raised an eyebrow as she speak, "You were always so quiet and reserved, then you argue with your teacher at a bookstore, then you revert back to your ol' personality so quickly... I never expected to see sides like that from you."
Aisha was internally startled hearing that her teacher was actually observing her, she always thought her presence at school was invisible. "L-Let's just pretend it never happened." She suggested.
"...alright." Kent chuckled, "But Overthrone, wow, it's really surprising to find someone with the same favorite comic."
"Overthrone is a great comic book." She nods.
"Yeah, well, who's your favorite character?"
"...don't ask me that!" Kent was taken aback by her feisty answer, "It's so hard to choose one." He's instantly amazed by her reactions.
"I know right!? Every character have amazing back stories, I swear the author is a genius." Kent couldn't contain his smile as he finally found a fellow enthusiast of his favorite comic.
"Right!? But what do you think was the best volume though?"
"Uhm, if I had to pick... it's gotta be volume three."
"No way, shut up!"
And the two got lost talking about their favorite comic. Neither of them have ever expected this to happen, but they were both happy to found someone with the same interest.