Counting Troubles

*click, click, click...* 

Kouhei's fingers moved rhythmically as his eyes darted back and forth. The tally counter in his hand crept up tick by tick as cars flew by on the road in front of him. Beside the click that came with each press of the button, Kouhei could hear only the cars whizzing by on the ashphalt, the song of the cicadas piercing the still summer air, and the irregular clicks of yet another traffic counter beside him.

*click, click, click...*

Sitting beside Kouhei, with her familiar brooding features and jet black hair was Reika, looking like she just dropped her ice cream on the sidewalk.

"Worst day ever." She stated with a flat affect, as if stating a simple fact instead of voicing a complaint.

"I'm not exactly jumping for joy here either." Kouhei wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead. "Hey, eyes on the road!"

"So why exactly are we here doing this menial waste of time?"

"Best deal I could swing with the community association." Kouhei explained. "They wanted traffic statistics for their rezoning plans, and we want approval for that bonfire at the cultural festival. Simple business transaction."

*click*

"Also, Ono and Takahashi have their jobs, so..."

"All for your stupid little campfire. You know that cliche is 30 years out of date? No one cares."

"First bonfire in the school's history."

"Can't believe I have to do this with you of all people." Reika grumbled.

"Just like old times."

"Yeah, boring and awful. Exactly like old times."

*click, click...*

"Soooo..." Kouhei started, dragging out the syllable and purposefully ending with a lift.

"Don't talk to me."

At this, Kouhei turned his head and briefly narrowed his eyes before returning to a neutral position.

"Ok, I guess we'll just both sit here silently for 3 more hours."

"Hrm-" Grumbled Reika. "Fine, what is it?"

"Do you think people change? Or is it all one big illusion?"

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is- well look, there are lots of times where you think you know somebody and they turn out completely different from who you thought they were a few years down the line."

"Uh huh..." Reika replied hesitantly, sensing the direction the conversation was taking.

"And the reason could be lots of different things. Maybe you didn't know them as well as you thought, and they were hiding something about themselves not just to you and everyone else, but also in denial themselves. Or maybe the social groups they're in and the situations they're put in influence their behavior and even patterns of thought. It could be a natural result of growing older and being exposed to different experiences. It could be a combination of all of these, different windows and mirrors that distort the image just a little that make up the whole mosaic."

"So you don't think people change? Not really, anyway. Deep in their core, they've always been who they are?"

"I'm still not sure." Kouhei replied. "What about you?"

"I think it's a stupid question."

"It might be a stupid question, but I won't have you insulting my questions. Only I can call my questions stupid."

"You're stupid."

"Yeah, okay. Anyway, answer the question."

"What I meant was, whether people change or not, does it really matter in the end? No matter if what you're seeing is a distorted image or the real thing makes no difference to your eyes. Other people might as well be a black box, knowing the inner workings doesn't do you any good when you can't influence it in any way."

"Yeah, but what if I can?"

"Okay, psychopath."

"Coming from you? That's rich."

*click, click...*

The two worked in silence for a time, but the silence was broken eventually, this time by Reika.

"So what about me changed so much then?" She asked in an accusatory tone.

"Why do you have to come out and say it like that?" Kouhei frowned.

"YOU brought it up." Reika's eyebrows furrowed, and she hissed, indignant.

"Yeah, but I was trying to be tactful. For both of our sanities."

"Who do you think you're fooling? We're the only ones here and I can certainly read between the lines better than you can. Pretentious prick."

"Ok, well I'm not telling you then."  Kouhei turned away from Reika and rested his head in his free arm.

"Very mature. How did you convince anyone to vote you for student council president? How did you convince the teachers?"

"Yeah, can't believe anyone's stupid enough to believe this charade. I'm surprised myself." Kouhei said, fishing for a reply.

"I agree. A blind monkey could see through you."

"Fooled you though. For three years."  A smirk crept into Kouhei's expression. He suppressed a laugh, and turned to observe Reika's fuming.

For her part, Reika remained poker-faced, and after a slight pause, she spoke quietly, with a tinge of regret in her voice. "You didn't fool me, Sakamoto-san. I guess people do change."

Kouhei turned back to the road, silent. Was that just something she made up on the spot to save face? Or perhaps Reika's opinion of him was not as tarnished as he had thought. Her opinion of the old him, anyway. But that was only if he really believed they had both changed, and now Kouhei was even less sure of that than when the conversation began. Kouhei wondered why he had brought up the topic in the first place as he stared out into the traffic-

Suddenly, Kouhei and Reika seemed to realize something important. They turned towards each other simultaneously.

"Um... How many cars was that in the last 30 minutes?"