CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 16

Fujio was staring at the shelf of video games at his local library. Although he never ended up playing them, he was constantly drawn back to the shelf. Today, he was searching for a new RPG from his favorite series.

He felt awkward being there since the next oldest person in the aisle was 10 years old. He noticed that nobody his age really played video games anymore, which he understood. There was almost no time to even sleep, let alone play games.

After a brief scan of the shelf, Fujio couldn’t take the discomfort anymore and walked away. He decided to get a snack from the vending machine near the front.

“I probably should eat healthier,” he thought as he put the cash in.

He grabbed his snack and sat down at a table to eat it when he caught a glimpse of Hikari outside the library. She was talking to someone her age, and she seemed to be hanging out.

Fujio saw this and immediately panicked. He hadn’t bothered to put on nice clothes or style his hair before coming here. He found himself standing behind the first row of shelves, waiting for her to come inside so he could leave.

He tried to focus on the window, but he had to divert to check a text from his mom. As soon as he put his phone away, he froze. The window was empty.

“I only looked away for a few seconds...,” he whispered to himself.

“More like a ho-”

“AHH!”

Fujio screamed and jumped up. Immediately he felt hot from embarrassment, but he pushed through to see who that voice was.

Hikari was standing behind him, laughing hysterically. Fujio wished he could die and respawn five minutes earlier to fix the moment, like his favorite anime character.

“Sorry for...” Hikari gasped and tried to hold back her laugh, “Sorry for scaring you!”

“u-uh... it’s ok...” Fujio mumbled.

He stared at her as she continued trying to manage her laughter.

After she managed to curb her laughter a bit, Hikari noticed Fujio’s expression.

“What’s wrong?” she said, with a concerned expression.

Fujio didn’t react for a moment.

“Oh! Uh... nothing...”

“Okay... wanna help me with something?” Hikari replied, with a spark in her eyes.

“...with what?”

“I’m checking out an instrument, come on!” She started walking towards the instruments.

For a moment, Fujio’s thoughts returned to him. He saw her dashing across the library, and for some reason, he felt peaceful. He felt like he had just seen the cherry blossoms of spring.

“I didn’t know she was a musician” he thought, as he rushed to catch up with her.

Suddenly he could see a little more. Fujio was sweating again, but he was excited. He had almost forgotten about how awkward he felt two minutes ago.

“I wish I could feel like this every day.”

They got to the area and Hikari walked around for a while, inspecting all the different instruments. Fujio followed her, equally enamored by all the things surrounding him. Then they approached the back of the library, where a single bass was lying on the bottom shelf.

Hikari saw it, and her eyes immediately lit up.

“This is it! Bet you didn’t expect it Fujio.” She said, still admiring the bass. She leaned down and plucked a string.

She was right. Fujio didn’t expect her to play bass.

“It’s huge... it looks intimidating... but someone like her plays it?”

“Alright, you said you would help, right? Help me get this out of here. Let me show you how to handle it, it’s fragile.” She looked up at him. As she said this, Fujio noticed her flowing hair.

“Y-yeah...” He said, still in awe.

“Wait, I know how to handle an instrument...” Fujio hesitated for a moment.

He took a small breath and reached down to grab the bass at the bottom end. It wasn’t heavy, even though Fujio wasn’t particularly strong, and they easily carried it to the front.

“Okay wait here while I check it out. It might seem dumb... but I don’t want it to get stolen,” Hikari said and then walked off to the counter.

Fujio stood while holding up the bass. The counter was right in front of him, so he watched as Hikari talked to the lady at the desk. The lady was smiling and seemed to be charmed, which Fujio could relate to too.

While she was talking, he suddenly felt scared again. He looked down and hoped that nobody from school would see him.

“Why do I feel like this? Why am I only like that... with her?”

“Alright! Can you help me carry it home too? I hate to ask, but it’s not too far from your house... Fujio.”

He suddenly looked up when she said this and snapped out of thought.

“Oh! Yeah... sure... I’m not busy...”

“What was that?”
“I-I'm not really busy...”

“Thank you so much!”

She jumped up and down in excitement and thanked him again. Fujio couldn’t control the smile spreading across his face.

He watched as she walked through the doors of the library, into the sun. It was one of the last days when the sun would shine so brightly that year, so Fujio soaked in every second of it. He saw the most vibrant colors he had ever seen, and he decided to enjoy it even if it didn’t last forever.