Chapter 30

"Why won't you answer me?" Yanagi asked as he threw another pitch during practice out on the field.

"Why can't you leave it be?" Kuruma swung and missed, cursing under his breath.

The catcher they were working with tossed the ball back to Yanagi.

"Is that even a real question? Look at how you're treating your friends, and then tell me to leave it be."

"Why is it that I'm not allowed to be in a bad mood?"

Crack! He hit the ball, and Yanagi went running to pick it up.

"Don't pretend this is just a bad mood. You're avoiding Izumi." Yanagi threw the ball, and Kuruma missed this time. "You've pissed off Shiori."

"When is she not mad?" He missed again.

"Not like this, she isn't."

"Whatever; that's none of my business."

"Tch. You know what? This attitude is pissing me off, too." He threw the ball again.

Kuruma missed again and slammed his bat against the ground in frustration.

"Why won't you just talk to me?"

"Because I can't!"

"If the alternate is hurting Izumi like you are, then you need to."

Kuruma's jaw tightened, and he tossed his bat aside, walking away.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Yanagi grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.

"Home! So I don't have to deal with any of this crap!" Kuruma knocked his hand away.

"Tch. What the hell is wrong with you?" Yanagi grabbed his collar and forced him back into the fence nearby as their catcher stepped away, his eyes wide.

"You are!" Kuruma shoved him away.

Yanagi frowned as he stumbled back. "What? What'd I do?"

"You really don't get it, do you?" Kuruma growled and swung at him.

Yanagi jumped out of the way, and Kuruma staggered.

"Because I'm not you!" Kuruma yelled.

"Why would you be me? You're you, and I prefer it that way."

"Ugh, always have to be better at everything, don't you?" Kuruma growled and tackled Yanagi to the ground. "If it were you, you would've saved her! You wouldn't have gotten stuck in the forest during a thunderstorm."

They wrestled on the ground, exchanging blows.

"You don't know that."

"Yes, I do, because you're good at everything. You're the hero, and I'm the sidekick, forever in your shadow."

"Since when?!"

"Always! She'd be better off with you!" Kuruma shoved Yanagi off him, and they both lay on the ground, breathing hard as other players watched in the distance.

"What are you talking about? Better off with me? All of us are friends."

"Tch."

"Wait..." Yanagi frowned, eyes narrowing as he took a moment to process things. "Don't tell me..." He took a deep breath, piecing everything together in his mind. "Are you saying you like Izumi? As in romantically?"

"Duh! But you're closer to her, so I tried to step back. And you have no idea how hard that is for me, but she deserves someone better, like you." Kuruma gripped his baseball jersey over his heart.

Yanagi's face went blank, then he turned on his side to look at Kuruma. "You're an idiot."

"As if I don't know that already!" Kuruma tried to get up, but Yanagi pulled him back down by the back of his shirt. "Ack, don't choke me."

"No, not like that. I'm not into Izumi. At least, not in that way."

"What?" Kuruma stopped breathing, staring at him, stunned. "But you... You flirt with her all the time! You had your hand on her back... on day one!"

Yanagi poked Kuruma's forehead. "I flirt with a lot of girls because it's fun, and they seem to enjoy it, too. It's nice to get attention, and it doesn't always have to lead somewhere. Besides, you of all people should already know I still like Shi."

"Shi? But..." Kuruma sat with his legs crossed, holding his aching jaw.

"But she rejected me when I asked her out in middle school? Yes, I know, but that doesn't mean I got over her. She needed a bit of space when some girls went crazy because we were close, but my feelings never changed."

"I've been wrong this whole time?" Kuruma stared at the ground, going over everything that had happened. "I thought for sure you were going to ask Izumi out," he mumbled.

"And you're a pretty good guy when you're not busy pushing people away. Just because you couldn't pull her up doesn't mean you failed, especially since you were both okay. Why didn't you tell me you liked her?"

"Because I thought... you liked her."

"Because of my feelings, you pushed your own aside? Geez, what kind of friend do you take me for?"

Kuruma thought of Izumi's hurt face from earlier. "But I messed things up even more. See, I am an idiot! Kill me now..."

"Okay, I can admit you messed up, but you can't give up like that. Might want to avoid being alone with Shi, but I'm sure you can apologize to Izumi. She deserves it."

"I can't... How can I face her now? She must think I'm either cruel or pathetic, or both!" He punched the dirt ground. "How could I have been so wrong about everything? Wait, but what if Izumi likes you?"

"Honestly? I doubt it. I may flirt with her, but you're the one she gazes at."

"She does?" Kuruma ran his hand roughly through his hair and frowned in disbelief.

"From day one. I didn't know you didn't notice. I just thought you weren't interested in her."

"As if—"

"Hey, you two, to the principal's office, now!" the coach yelled at them, and the crowd dispersed, worried about getting into trouble, too.

"Crap," both Yanagi and Kuruma both muttered under their breaths.

Yanagi hopped to his feet and held his hand out to Kuruma.

He stared at it for a moment, so Yanagi wiggled his hand around. "Come on, before the coach gets back."

Kuruma sighed and took his hand, flying to his feet, straight into Yanagi, who hugged him.

"We're good now, right? No more brooding and avoiding our friends?"

Kuruma patted his back. "I'm not sure about that... Since I was apparently wrong about everything and acting like a jerk. How am I supposed to make it up to them? To her?"

"Shi? Just let her punch you and apologize. Izumi... I'm not sure. She looked like such a sad little bunny, abandoned by one of her friends."

Kuruma cringed.

Yanagi wrapped his arm around Kuruma's shoulders as they trudged towards the principal's office. "Don't worry; I'm sure we can come up with something. We'll likely have some time to work on it, too, since we'll probably be suspended for fighting." Yanagi licked his thumb and rubbed a dirt spot on Kuruma's face.

"Hey! Stop that. Ew." Kuruma rubbed it red with the back of his hand.

"What? You prefer the dirt?"

"Yes!"

Yanagi laughed. "Fair enough, but I think that was a bruise forming, anyway."

"You've got one, too. Sorry I messed up your perfect face."

"It's perfect, is it? Why, thank you." Yanagi smiled as he framed his face with his finger and his thumb.

"Ugh, of course, that's how you'd take it. I should've known."

"Yes, you should've."

Izumi took a deep breath, trying to focus on the audio tracks as a weight settled in her chest.

"Maybe we should just head home," Shiori suggested. "I'm not exactly in the mood to work on this right now."

"I haven't gotten much done, though." She glanced at her notes.

"They're Yanagi's files; there probably isn't much to change, anyway."

"Let me at least get through this last one."

"Okay." Shiori nodded and kept working.

The P.A. system turned on. "Hiroto Takumi, please report to the principal's office."

Takumi's head perked up, and his thoughts instantly went to Kuruma. "Dammit." He stood and looked around. Shiori and Izumi were the only two in the computer lab. "Uh, I don't know what they're calling me about—"

"How about we head out now and you can lock up?" Shiori suggested.

Takumi glanced at the time. "It's a bit early, but if you two don't mind, it'd be easier on me."

"We don't mind." Izumi took the headphones off. "We're good to go now."

"Thank you, girls."

Izumi glanced at Takumi, biting her lip. I wonder if he knows about what's going on with Kuruma right now.

"Let's go." Shiori nudged her along. "And quit thinking about that boy. You can't fix whatever's going on in his head."

"But—"

"You didn't do anything wrong. You're better off being distracted by 2D boys right now. Or, better yet, a horror movie? I could go for one today."

Izumi's eyes widened. "You want to come over again?"

"Problem?"

"Nope, not at all." A small smile formed as she forced herself not to skip home.

Bing. Their phones both went off before making it to her house, with a message from Yanagi.

'You two are on your own the rest of the week. We're suspended until Monday and have to write apologies to the coach and principal.'

Izumi's heart skipped a beat and her jaw hung open. "Am I hallucinating?"

"If you are, then I am, too."

"They got suspended? For what?" I hope they're okay.

'Why?' Shiori texted back.

'For getting into a fight. Don't worry, we're okay now.'

"I wonder if Yanagi will actually be okay," Shiori mumbled.

"Why? I mean, I'm sure their parents will be mad, but at least they weren't expelled."

"Because having their son suspended looks bad on them, and they care way too much about appearances. With his parents, I doubt they'd even ask why it happened."

"Are they really that bad?"

"They can be. Let's just hope he shows up on Monday, and isn't transferred to somewhere away from 'bad influences', or the like."

'Don't worry, Shi; I've talked them out of contacting my parents. I'll be sticking around Kuruma during school hours.'

"Tch. Who said I was worried about him?" Shiori frowned, shoving her phone back into her pocket.

"But you just—" Izumi's mouth clamped shut under Shiori's glare.

"Whatever. Let those idiot boys figure things out. I'm up for something gory."