This is Pointless

“Yoo-hoo— Earth to Makoto~” Sato waved a hand in front of me, snapping me away from my daydream.

“Oh, sorry. What were we talking about?”

“About Takechi… and if you received your invites.” He sipped from his, now cold, coffee.

I cleared my throat and collected what few thoughts I had. “I’ll uh, ask Kaoru.”

“Good.”

“N-now all that’s sorted, I suppose I’ll be go—“ I tried my best to seize the natural conclusion and escape—but I was foiled.

“Haaaaa~” a long sigh flowed out of Sato. “It’s just been rough, I don’t know what he wants! It’s like walking on glass around him. I can’t make every moment like those stupid books he reads… We’re just friends anyway, so what does it matter.”

That. That’s what I hoped to avoid. The Melancholy of Sato… Uh… Sato… What’s his given name? I have no clue honestly. Not the point. I personally rarely or almost never sulk so it’s difficult for me to be around. I always face my issues with my head held high.

Naturally.

“Ohhh Makoto— why is it like this! He’s so difficult! Then because of that I’m in a bad mood which worsens his!” Sato flopped his head on the table. “There’s no end!”

“R-ring… ring-ring—“

“What?” Sato lifted his head to stare at me with a puzzled look.

“O-oh, that must be my phone.” I stood from the booth and “answered” my phone. “What’s that? Oh you need me home right away? A-alright, coming mom.”

“Y-you made that noise with your mouth…” Sato raised a finger at me.

“Oh it’s super urgent?” I tried to make the phone-call more convincing.

Another long, tired sigh, came from Sato. “Makoto just listen. I’m done complaining, alright? You can leave, it’s whatever.”

Yes! Smooth as usual, Makoto. Not bad. I gave a limp-smile and as I left a pain stuck me in the head—not a real pain, something like a disease? I can’t describe it, it’s something I’ve never or rarely felt… That painful feeling was saying something stupid like: “Don’t go, stay and talk to him.”

I don’t want to! I wanna be anywhere else!

“No, go help him!” My brain was yelling at me.

No!

“Makoto…”

Such a compelling argument with so few words…. Why can’t I convince Kaoru like this? “Sato…” I said as I slunk back to the booth. “You’ve been having… issues? With Takechi for a while I think, right?”

“Ha! I’d call issues an understatement. It’s like constantly walking on broken glass around each other.”

Maybe it’s because I’m always so enveloped in my genius, beautiful mind and writing, but I can’t understand a reason why— well… that’s not entirely true I think. Those two are so great for each other and when they get into their flow it’s nothing but laughter and smiles.

So why is it whenever I hear about their relationsh— friendship… About their friendship, it always sounds rocky? “Listen, Sato. What you probably need is t-to be honest… with… Takechi.”

“Wha?”

“Ya’ know? You guys are good friends, so like I’m guessinggg~ you could just be honest with him? Like, he’d feel the same way as you if you just… talk with him.”

“Feel the same way about what?” He narrowed his eyes at me.

“A-a-about… being… ga—” I trailed off my sentence as I saw his dead-displeased expression.

“About being what, Makoto?” He crossed his arms and tapped his forearm.

“Aaabout being… Gallantly happy?”

“That makes no sense.” He stood up in a huff—letting out a deep sigh, he collected our used dishes and fairied them to the kitchen. Normally at this point I’d say my job was completed long ago, but this time I was in far too deep to quit. That being like ten minutes into my conversation with him.

Sato popped back out from the kitchen with widened eyes. “What’re you still doing here?”

Damnit! I could’ve left! “I-I’m going to, I just wanted to say one more thing, I guess.” Sato folded his arms expectantly—guess it’s time to pull out the big-guns. I cleared my throat. “It sounds like you two are becoming distant because of what results from a lack of honesty. Takechi doesn’t know how his planning-habits make you feel. And how you act as a result, pushing him away. If you two shared how you felt and comprised, everything would come together. It starts with understanding each other—just tear down that wall. You have run out of ChatGPT 4 premium for today…. What?”

“What was that last part?” Sato cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh nothing-nothing.” I shoved my cell phone back in my pocket. “Look, I gotta run, big deadline coming up or whatever.” Before Sato could even blink, I was out of that store. I wasn’t taking another chance for the next dialogue prompt to come up. I must say, that was smooth of me—the advice I gave, that is.

Who would’ve thought I could say something so profound?

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4 DAYS REMAIN

Tuesday

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