After My Crazy Exams

Sora 1618 November 1, 2046

“I’ve missed this,” Iori-chan says as she rests her head on my shoulder. Though most would’ve been off-put by the frigid air and breeze found on the roof, we had heat to spare between the two of us.

“I know; we’ve been so busy studying for exams,” I respond.

“Last time we did this was…” she peers up, trying to remember the day.

“It was the Monday after the game, so the 22nd, right?” I say, completing her sentence.

“That long?” she asks, exasperated as she snuggles closer to me. “Now, I’m glad you decided to come with me instead of staying with GoKegawa-kun.”

“Yeah, I was worried about him, but he actually seemed pretty happy the next day. He still won’t tell me what happened, though.”

“I’m sure he’ll tell you in time. You two tell each other everything, right?” she asks.

“Pretty much; I guess it just comes with knowing someone for so long. After a while, you can just look at them and know what they’re thinking.” I feel her pull back a bit as I say that. I look down at her and see her eyes giving off a much more concerned look than before. “What’s wrong?” I ask.

“It’s just… I’m wondering when we’ll get to that point,” she says.

“What do you mean?”

“Well… When we first started dating, we were both so afraid to say how we were feeling because we were so afraid of hurting each other’s feelings, right?”

“Yeah, but then we got over that together,” I say confidently.

“Right we did, but I still hardly ever know what you’re thinking unless you tell me, and usually when I think I know, I turn out to be wrong.” The frustration in her voice is evident as I try to think of a way to calm her down.

“You don’t always need to know what I’m thinking. If there’s something I want you to know, then I tell you.”

“But what if I do something that upsets you and you don’t want to tell me because it would make you seem petty, or you don’t want to talk to me?”

“Then I’d tell Sara, and sooner or later she’d tell you, or I could tell Tobias, and he’d tell you.”

“That’s the other thing,” she says, exasperated.” Sara-chan and GoKegawa-kun are always stepping in to fix our poor communication, and I’m worried what might happen if something were to come between you and them that they might not be there to help us next ti- Why are you laughing!?” she yells as she looks up and sees me chuckling.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s just I thought you meant it as a joke. I mean, us three have always been together, so it’s never crossed my mind that something could happen.” I say, my face blatantly displaying how fanciful that thought is to me.

“You need to take it seriously,” she says, agitated. “Do you think you three will always be together?” she asks.

“Yes.” The speed of my response shocks her, and she just looks at me, stunned for a moment. “I know it may be hard to believe, but I can’t think of anything that would tear the three of us apart. Sure we fight with each other from time to time, but we always make up sooner or later. We’ve spent our whole lives together; I know there’ll come a time when we grow up that we don’t see each other every day, but I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t see them ever again, and I know they both feel the same way.” She keeps looking at me as I finish and waits a moment before responding.

“I knew you three were close, but… I didn’t know you felt that way.” I hear her sniffle a little and then see a single tear begin to roll down her face.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask, trying to console her.

“It’s just… What if something happens… And you have to choose between them and me… You’d pick them, wouldn’t you,” she says, bawling a bit.

“Hey, now don’t say that,” I say, scooping her into a hug. I press her head against my chest and rock her. “Now, what would make me choose between you and them? Is it about your family?” She doesn’t say anything, but I feel her nod her head.

“I heard mom and dad arguing again last night. Dad was saying they should pull me from this school and look for a husband himself.” My heart sinks a little as she says this. What’s wrong with her old man? Does he even see her as a daughter ? or just a tool to expand the family business? I think as she keeps talking. “He said ‘it’s been nearly eight months now’ and ‘if she was gonna find a boy she likes that would benefit the family, then she’d have done it by now.” She says, deepening her voice to imitate her father. Although I’ve never met him, I can’t help but want to take Iori-chan away from him. I’ve no doubt that he’d have already married her off to some old bastard as part of a business deal if it weren’t for her mother. I can’t wait to meet her mother. I think as Iori-chan finishes speaking.

“You know I’m not scared of him, right?” I say, trying to reassure her.

“I know, but he’d take me out of this school in a heartbeat if he found out about you,” she says, holding me tighter. “And at that point, Sara-chan and GoKeguwa-kun couldn’t help us, so I’m not sure what to do.”

“We’ll get by,” I say, stroking her head. “Even if your entire family is against it, I’ll take care of you. If they don’t accept us, then we can run away. My parents already love you; I’m sure they’d help us if we asked. All we need to do is wait for the right time.” She giggles as I say this.

“Where would we run away to?” she asks.

“Somewhere warmer, with a nice beach. Where they’re all tan even in the winter,” I say, expanding the vision.

“But you hate the heat,” she protests.

“You don’t,” I state plainly.

“If it’s with you, I could go to Hokkaido, so long as I could snuggle up into your chest like this every night.”

We sit like that for a moment, just enjoying the closeness between us. The serenity is suddenly broken when we hear a scream. We both jump and begin to look around for the source.“You heard that, right?” I ask.

“Yeah, sounds like someone’s pretty angry,” she says. I hear another scream. “I think it came from the back,” I say as I stand up and begin walking towards the sound. I’m halfway across the roof when I hear it again. I make it to the other side and look down, but the fence prevents me from seeing directly against the school. After a few moments of scanning, I give up my fruitless search. “Nothing over there,” I call back to Iori-chan. “Strange, it almost sounded like Tobias,” I say as I head back to Iori-chan. “I didn’t see anything up here either, but be- oh hey look there,” she says, pointing towards the front gate. “Isn’t that..”

“Sara?” I say, completing her sentence. Even though we’re a few stories up and she’s facing away from us, I can make out her yellow hair ties holding her ponytail. I see her running from the school gate as fast as she can.

“Why’s she running like that?” Iori-chan asks once Sara runs behind the wall out of sight.

“I don’t know,” I say, scratching my head. “You don’t think it has to do with that yelling we just heard? Do you?”

“It would be quite the coincidence if it didn’t,” she says. “You should go check on her.“

“But we planned to walk home together today,” I protest.

“We can walk there together, dummy,” she says as she grabs her bag and heads to the door.,

“Oh, yeah, right,” I say, collecting my bag. We keep talking as we make our way to the front door.

“You said it sounded like GoKegawa-kun shouting, right? You don’t think he was yelling at Sara-chan, and that’s why she was running, do you?” Iori-chan asks.

“I don’t think so,” I say, thinking about it. “ Tobias would never yell at Sara like that. More likely, he was yelling for her to run because something was happening.”

“But then why would Sara-chan run out of the schoolyard instead of the office?” Iori-chan asks.

“That’s a good question, just like why didn’t I see Tobias fighting with whoever he was yelling at? My guess is something big happened that we don’t know about.”

“You don’t think Sara-chan confessed to GoKegawa-kun, do you?- Oh god, are you okay?” Iori-chan asks as I stop halfway in my stride and fall face-first down the last few steps. My face hits the floor below with a splat, and I lie there for a moment. “Hey, hey, are you okay?” Iori-chan says, trying to rustle me.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I say, sitting up.

“No, you’re not. You’re bleeding!” she says in a panic. I reach up and feel my head. As she said, there is a trickle of blood coming from a small wound on my head. “Here, put pressure on it,” she says.

“So what’s this about Sara confessing to Tobias?” I ask as she presses her handkerchief on my head.

“What? That’s not important right now; we should get you to the nurse,” she says, trying to help me up.

“Nah, I’m fine, look,” I say as I stand up.

“You’re wobbling,” she says in horror as I take a few steps.

“What? No, I’m not, look,” I respond as I imitate walking on a balance beam.

“Yes, you are now come here so I can help you to the nurse,” she says, taking my arm.

“I told you I don-”

“YOU ARE GOING TO THE NURSE, AND THAT IS FINAL!” she yells. I stand frozen for a moment. She’s never raised her voice at me like that, and for a moment, I’m unsure how to take it.

“Um… Okay,” I say as she looks down at the floor. “If you insist.”

“I do,” she says as she pulls me down the hall.

The nurse looks me over and asks how I got hurt. She jokingly asks if I was trying to pull off some kind of parkour trick to impress Iori-chan before giving me a bandage and a clean bill of health. “Just make sure to keep it clean over the long weekend, so it doesn’t get infected,” she says as we head out the door. As we approach the main entrance and swap out our shoes, we see how hard the rain has really started coming down since we left the roof. It falls so hard I can barely make out the front gate.

“It’s really coming down, isn’t it,” Iori-chan says as she stands beside me. She looks me up and down before asking, “Where’s your umbrella?”

“Ehh… I didn’t bring one.” I say, embarrassed.

“What? But the storm was all over the news this morning! Didn’t you see it?”

“Yeah, I saw it.”

“And you still forgot?” she asks, exasperated.

“Well…. I wouldn’t say that.”

“Then what?” She asks

“Well... I didn’t bring one on purpose so we could share it on the walk to the station,” I say, rubbing my nape and looking down at the floor. I wait for her to nag me and tell me to be more careful, but instead, I’m greeted by laughter. I look up, and she’s holding her gut cackling.

“What’s so funny? Is my wanting to do that a joke to you” I demand?

“Hahaha, no, It’s just… I was.” She takes a deep breath to try and calm herself down. “I was about to do the exact same thing when I saw the forecast this morning.” she immediately returns to laughing, and I join her after hearing her explanation. We stand there and laugh for a moment, just enjoying the hilarity of us having the same thought.

“Hahaha, see this i-” I pause and take a deep breath, “This is why I’m not worried. Whether we know it or not, we think a lot alike. That’s why I’m sure that if we can just manage to overcome the bumps in the road that we’ll be fine.” Iori-chan takes a moment more to stop laughing.

“Yeah… yeah, we do,” she says, wiping a tear from her eye. “Which is why you probably saw this coming.” She pushes her umbrella into my hands. “Take it and go check on your sister; I’ll call my family and have them pick me up.”

“Are you sure you wanna give this to me so that I can use it to run home to another woman?” I ask sarcastically, holding the umbrella.

“Hahaha, take it before I change my mind, ya sis-con,” she says, giving me a disapproving scowl.

“Only if I can give you something in return.”

“Oh, and what would that be?” she asks.

“Look up,” I say. I greet her with a kiss as soon as she looks up. She’s surprised at first but enjoys it nonetheless. “On second thought,” I say as I pull away. “You can keep it.”

“Wha-” it’s too late for her to respond. I push the umbrella back into her hands as I make a mad dash out across the schoolyard. “You dummy, you’re gonna catch a cold!” I hear her call behind me.

“Oh no, if that happens, you’ll have to come to take care of me, won’t you,” I call back.

“DUMMY!” is all I hear in response. I do a quick turn at the gate, blowing her a kiss before I slide through the gate.

The whole walk home, I wait for the rain to stop, but of course, it’s only after I turn the final corner and see down my street that it begins to let up. Maybe I should’ve taken Iori-chan’s umbrella, after all, I think. Nah, I had to rebuild my coolness factor after she saw me fall like that… Why did I fall in the first place? I wonder as I open the house gate. I step under the porch cover, and it’s a massive puddle in seconds. Wow, am I really that soaked? I wonder as I unlock and open the door. “I’m home,” I call as I open the door. I’m greeted by no response, which I think is odd.

Wouldn’t Sara come here? Or did she go somewhere else? Maybe, she’s asleep. I take off my shoes and hang up my dripping outer jacket to try and not track too much water in the house. I head straight to Sara’s room to see if she’s sleeping. I open her door to find her room empty. I head back downstairs to search the rest of the house and find it just as empty. She must’ve gone somewhere else, I think. I head up to my room to change out of my soaked clothes as I throw the contents of my pockets onto my bed. Just as I’m putting the shirt over my head, I hear a ding from my phone. I pick it up and see a line message from Iori-chan. “I just got home. Sara-chan isn’t responding to any of my texts. Is she there?”

“No, not here,” I reply.

“I’m worried. I’m gonna try calling her,” she replies.

“Ok,” I reply, setting my phone down. Maybe she went and hid in Uncle Sam’s shed. She likes to hide there when she’s upset, I think. I’m at the top of the stairs when I hear a ringing from behind me. At first, I think it’s a ghost before I remember; Ohh, right, mom and dad have a bathroom connected to their room that I didn't check. She’s never hidden there before. I wonder what made her think that was a good idea? I wonder as I walk down the hall. “I bet she’s in there crying, sigh. I gave up a walk home with Iori-chan for this? She’d better buy me juice,” I mutter under my breath as I walk down the hall.