Chapter 13 - New Friend, New Impression

Bzzz bzzz

[15:47] Kuze : Hey, where are you right now?

[15:47] Yuuto : I'm in the library now.

[15:47] Kuze : Alright, I'll be there in second.

[15:48] Yuuto : I'm waiting.

How the... uh, nevermind.

I just remembered that we already exchanged LIME IDs before.

"Who is that, Homura?" Akari, who sat in front of me with an English book between her hands, asked me curiously.

"Oh, it was Kuze, you know? The one from before?" I said, putting down my phone on the table.

"Yeah, I know."

"I've watched you two chatted with fun, after all," she murmured afterwards, I don't know if I was supposed to hear that or not...

Oh, wait, so that's what she has been enjoying before? Dude.... that's kind of embarrassing to know that she watched our conversation...

Darn it. Now that I know about that, I can't focus anymore...

I almost forgot to mention this, but we (Akari and I) decided to study together after school while waiting for her maid to pick her up.

Which means I can gain more knowledge, while spending more time with her. Just like drinking my favorite drink, coffee milk. No more sleepiness, and a little benefit from the milk. Hehe...

Alright, I'll admit that's kind of a weird way to represent it...

"Homura, why are you holding your forehead?" She asked, her head slightly tilted to the left.

"Nothing, I just, you know, a little tired," I of course lied on purpose.

"Oh no... Did you, by any chance, get a fever...?" She leaned forwards, touching my forehead with the back of her hand.

WAH—?! I jumped a little harder than I have ever done, making me almost fall backwards. I can feel my body freezing, and my face is heating up after that.

Not only was her face really close to me, but it was the first time she ever touched me. Ugh... I can feel my soul leaving my body slowly...

"He-hey, your face is all red now, are you really sure you're okay?" She asked, her face was completely concerned.

"N-n-n-no, I'm okay... I'm feeling alright, don't worry, don't worry about it... Haha... Ha..." I chuckled, trying to cover up my obvious embarrassment.

"Are you sure...?" She asked again, holding her hands together in front of her chest.

Darn it, why is it so hard to reassure her?!

"Ye-yeah! I'm sure, look, I can... I can... uh..."

It seems like... there's nothing I can do.

Akari stared at me, her face was way more concerned than before. Gah! I'm so frustrated...

"Okay, if you said so... But if you feel not okay, please take enough rest, okay?"

"Ye-yeah, okay... I'll do it," I said while scratching the back of my head.

———

After that, we continued our study together until she finally got picked up at 4pm.

And as I usually do, I helped her to get to the car. It wasn't necessarily my duty to do, but I feel like I wanted to help her as much as I could.

Her maid already told me that it's her duty to serve her master, but I just wanted to... stay a little longer with her. I don't have any hidden motives, of course, it was pure from the bottom of my heart to help her.

Long story short, she is now already inside of the car. Before leaving, her maid bowed and thanked me like she usually does. Of course I do the same.

"Bye, Homura! See you tomorrow!" Akari waved and smiled widely so that I could see her teeth touching each other.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow," I replied, waving back at her while trying to give her my best smile.

And with that, the car left. I stayed still until I could no longer see the car. I don't know why I do that though, but it feels oddly calming.

Okay, now I just need to go back at the library and—

"Yo, there."

"WAH—"

"He-hey, you're okay buddy?" Kuze asked while lending me his hand.

"Yeah, I think I'm okay." I took his hand and started to stand up with his help.

Because of his sudden appearance, I jumped and fell on my butt. It hurt, but it was obviously worse on the heart than the butt.

Gosh, I feel like my soul almost left my body again there.

"By the way, didn't know you were her boyfriend all this time," he said while sipping on his strawberry juice.

"Boy-boyfriend?! I… I'm not his boyfriend?!"

"Oh, I thought you were. You two matched very well, so I thought you guys were a couple." He casually took another sip.

Ma-matched very well?! What the— what?! How, how?!

"Hey, are you serio—"

"Hahaha, don't sweat it. If you said you're not going out with her, then it should be it, right?"

"Ye-yeah, of course! I couldn't ever imagine that could be real?!"

That's right, I'm not even in her league to begin with. She's beyond my reach, that I can only admire her from afar.

Weird to say because she's close to me, but I can assure you it's one hundred percent real.

"By the way, here, it's for you." He handed me a can of black coffee. I didn't realize he was holding a can of black coffee in his other hand.

"Oh, thanks." I slowly took the coffee he gave me.

"What about we move to another place? So we can get more comfortable while chatting?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright, follow me." He started to walk back into the school gate.

I wonder where he would take me to.

———

It was somewhere I didn't expect to be. It was the field track, the one the Running Club used for practice. The club's members were still there, doing their practices.

We sit on the bench by the side of the field.

"Shimizu!! Fight! Fight!" Kuze suddenly shouted, cheering Shimizu from afar. Though she didn't even glance at him, the other member who was only doing some warmup looked at him.

Wha— eh, what?! I looked at him with complete disbelief.

"Oh? What's wrong, Yuuto?" He asked afterwards.

Ugh, you sounded like someone. Also, uh... nevermind, I think it's fine you call me by my given name.

"Nothing, I was just... a little shocked to see that."

"Huh? What do you mean? It's normal, I usually do this when they have practice," he said casually, then continued to cheer for her.

Seriously? This blond guy didn't know about her— oops, nevermind. I think he knows about it, but just doesn't care about it.

Does he like her? I don't know, I am also nowhere close to being his close friends. In fact, today was the first time we ever talked, so I won't overthink it.

"Oh, I see," I said as I shifted my gaze back to the field track. It was a race between Shimizu with the other runner, supposedly a senior. To my surprise, she, Shimizu, ran very fast leaving the senior behind.

Woah...

To be honest, it's very ironic to say this, but... she looked very cool. I know nothing about this sport, but she looked very captivating when running, gorge— no, that only belongs to Akari.

The point is, I just saw a new side of Shimizu today. And my impression of her slightly changed.

From her expression, I can tell she's serious about this club activity. Maybe she wants to achieve something? Well, if that is true, good luck then. I'm rooting for you.

Very ironic isn't it? We're not even good friends, not even a friend to begin with. She hates me, but despite that, knowing this side of her, I couldn't help but want to support her.

Weird huh? She hates me but I can't hate her back, since the very beginning. It still feels uneasy when I remember her current situation with Akari, though.

It's like there's two creatures on each side of my shoulder, an angel and a devil. The angel told me not to hate her and support her, while the devil whispered all bad things about her to me.

It was tough, but the devil wins anyway. I still can't believe she does that to her best friend. I'm talking about this objectively, not subjectively.

"Hey, you looked very weird."

"What do you mea—"

"Do you want another can of coffee?"

"No, there's still some in the can," I said as I flipped the can, but embarrassingly, nothing dripped. Seems like I already drank all of it while watching her race. "Oh, I guess you're right— hey, you don't need to buy me a new one, really."

"Nah, don't worry about it. You know, it's kind of a tradition for me to treat a new friend," he said, smiling at me.

"Oh... That's kind of a weird tradition, but in a good way."

"What the heck does that mean, huh?" He laughed after asking. "Alright, I'm going to buy it, wait here 'kay?"

"I didn't plan to go anywhere, duh."

And with that, he's off.

This just strikes me, but he reminds me of someone.

Someone who grabbed me out of the darkness.