Explaining to Do - Aki

How was she supposed to act normal after that?

She stared at him. He had just claimed that she was his girlfriend. And to Yokota. The guy who had pestered her since they were kids.

At first he had just been an annoying bully, but after college he had decided to be flirtatious whenever they ran into each other. It wasn’t like he was dangerous, he was only annoying, but still.

“Are you okay, babe?” Ryo put his arm around her.

She nodded and leaned into him. She couldn’t speak. That would give her melting puddle of emotions away.

“I’m sorry, dude.” Yokota almost stumbled as he took a few steps back. “I just meant… Nice to see you, Aki.” He turned to his friend. “Let’s go, man.”

It didn’t take more than a minute before they were out of sight and when she turned up to face Ryo, he let go of her. She shouldn’t feel sad about it, but she would have. Had they not both burst into laughter.

“You didn’t have to step in, you know.” She licked a piece of her ice cream. “He may be annoying, but it’s not like he’s dangerous.”

He looked down at his ice cream. Was that a strawberry one? “I kind of couldn’t help it. He pissed me off.” He scratched the back of his head.

She did her best not to stare at him. He had been pissed off? Was he? No. But he had said that he would’ve been possessive over a partner, earlier.

“So?” Their eyes met. “Actually. Never mind. I don’t want to know.” He turned his focus back to his ice cream and took a bite out of it.

Who bites into soft serve ice cream? She chuckled a little to herself, then she ate her own. The right way.

“You’re ready to go home and assemble everything?” She asked when they left the store.

“Sure.” He grabbed the fish plushie from her hands. She still couldn’t figure out if he wanted it or not. She wouldn’t mind keeping it, thought it would be a bit cramped in her bed if she did.

She hoped he wanted it. And she hoped that it would help him feel less lonely. When she had to deal with her own nightmares, plushies was what helped her the most.

“I’m sorry if I overstepped there earlier. I don’t know what your relationship is with those guys and I shouldn’t have just barged in like that.” He looked down at her.

“Don’t worry about it. You were pretty cool actually.” She smiled at him and tried to keep her cheeks from blushing up. “Besides, his reaction was amusing.”

“The guy did look pretty stumped.” He laughed. She wanted him to do that more.

She had caught him staring into nothingness, his eyes empty. He always looked so sad and lonely when he did that. She couldn’t help but want to pull him out of it.

Hopefully the neon sign could help a little. He had stared at it with such longing that she couldn’t help but wanting to give it to him.

The packages weren’t outside when they arrived at the apartment. They should have been delivered directly when she paid for them. And they should only be able to be moved if someone unlocked the door.

Unlocked the door? There was only one other person with access to her apartment, apart from her and now Ryo.

She turned to him. “I’ll have some explanation to do. Whatever you do, don’t bring up that friend of yours.”

She had been so occupied with him moving in and getting that in order, that she hadn’t had time to explain anything to Kumi. And now she couldn’t run away from it if she was inside her apartment.

“Understood.” He looked at her, confusion all over his face.

“A furniture shopping spree? How bad was that future of yours?” Kumi was on her as soon as Aki opened the door. It was clear that she had more to say, but her eyes fell on Ryo and she went quiet. Instead her eyes jumped between them before she gestured towards him. “Care to explain? What about not seeing him again?”

“At least let us get inside first. I’ll explain.” Aki waived at her friend. It was better to tell her sooner, rather than later. But she wasn’t fully prepared. How should she describe Ryo’s situation. It wasn’t her story to tell, and she hadn’t really found a good time to talk to him about it.

“You’re inside now.” Kumi grabbed them both by their arms as soon as they had taken their shoes off.

“Now, explain.” She stood in front of them after forcing them to sit down on the couch. “You can start with this giant delivery I found outside your door.” Kumi crossed her arms but smiled. Aki could tell she didn’t want to make it too hard for them, but she still demanded answers. And she did deserve them.

“Those are for him.” Aki pointed to Ryo. “He’s moved into my guest room.”

“Oh, good to hear you aren’t remodeling your own bedroom.” Kumi rolled her eyes. That had happened before and Kumi wouldn’t let her live it down. “When did you plan on telling me he was MOVING IN?!”

“He moved in yesterday.” Aki’s eyes fell on the floor. She couldn’t look at Kumi, not now. “Everything happened really fast.”

Kumi sat down on the table in front of them and took Aki’s hands. “Does this have anything to do with the future your saw yesterday? What really happened there? And I mean, apart from what you told me yesterday.”

“He had to move out.” That might be a good way to start. “And then there was chaos and uproars everywhere. People died, nightmares got worse and everyone was just miserable.”

“So you taking him in prevents that? I don’t get it. It’s not like people become homeless anymore. There’s housing to prevent that.” Kumi turned to Ryo. “Besides, why couldn’t you stay with Mukai? It’s not like him to leave a friend like that.” She turned back to Aki. “And why wasn’t any of this in your report?”

There it was. She needed to figure out something to answer her. But she couldn’t tell her about him. Not without his consent.

“The rest of the band wanted me out of the house. I can’t let Hiro uproot everything for my sake. I’ve caused him enough problems. And I’m not really eligible for housing on my own.”

“You don’t have to.” Aki looked at him. Was he about to tell Kumi everything? Just like that?

“Thank you, Aki. But I have no reason not to trust her. I mean, both you and Hiro does. Besides, I don’t really have any good lies in store for this.” He smiled.

“Wait? I figured there was something going on with you, but it’s more than just nightmares, isn’t it?” Kumi stared at them for a short moment before she straightened up. “I’m ready. Hit me.”

Ryo nodded to Aki. Did he want her to tell Kumi?

“You know the pod in the basement? The really old one?” She looked to see Kumi’s eyes widen.

“The time traveler who never returned?” Kumi’s eyes fell on Ryo. “You’re from the past?” Her eyes flew back to Aki with a gasp. “He’s living under the radar? The chaos came from him being discovered? That’s why you couldn’t report it. And you couldn’t tell me when we were under surveillance?” Kumi flew forward and wrapped her arms around Aki. “I’m so sorry for getting mad at you.”

Aki returned the embrace. “You had every right to be. I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.”

“So?” Kumi backed and sat back down on the table. Aki knew that “so?” a little too well. “I guess I’ll have to let you know when I’m coming over from now on?”

“Oh, don’t worry about me.” Ryo let out a sigh. Probably relieved for the change of topic. “I can just hole up in my room.”

Kumi chuckled. “I don’t know if I should be reassured or disappointed that you don’t worry that I’ll walk in on you making moves on my best friend.”

“Kumi!” Aki pushed her friend. She knew exactly what event she was referencing and the thought of Ryo doing that made her whole body burn.

“What? I was horrified last time. Besides, you two look cute together.” She shrugged.

“Shut up!” Aki stood up. She didn’t want to admit her feelings to anyone yet. Not Kumi and especially not Ryo. “I’ll go buy some drinks. I assume you’ll want to help build the furniture.”

“Of course I do.”