The Encounter

Just as I was about to arrive home, I decided last minute to turn around and stop by the convenience store. The reason? Simple. Just to kill time and wait for the sun to set completely.

"The moon should be pretty nice today..."

I glanced up to the sky for a moment and then continued doing my own thing once more. At times, I would simply go out onto the street and walk underneath the light of the moon.

It brought me peace of mind, the reason for that was completely unknown to me, but it was a thing and something that became a routine of sorts with the passing of time.

When I arrived at the convenience store, I decided to kill time by reading the magazines that they had in there for a bit and once it was a relatively good time for the sun to be set already, I grabbed a quick canned coffee and walked towards the register.

I paid for the drink and was about to exit when the automatic doors opened up before I had stepped into range.

"..."

"Kano?"

"Makoto, weren't you supposed to be on your date today?"

"Yeah, we finished a while ago"

"I see..."

"..."

"..."

A long and awkward moment of silence fell between the both of us that I couldn't help but wonder if there was something bothering her that was impending her from talking to me.

"I guess us both interacting outside of school is rare, it's understandable that she wouldn't be able to talk with me just like that"

"Well, I'll see you in school"

"..."

Just as I was about to make my way past her to enjoy the view of the moon, she called out to me with a somewhat loud and desperate tone.

"W-Wait!"

"Hmm?"

I stopped in place and turned towards her "Something wrong?"

"Well... Are you busy right now?"

"Not really. I was going to do my sometime daily thing"

"Daily thing?"

"Yeah, moon watching"

"..."

"W-What? Why are you looking at me with such a judging gaze?"

"It's nothing. I was just thinking that such a thing fits your personality perfectly"

"I don't know if I should take that as an insult or what..."

"As an insult"

"I guessed so..."

"So?"

"What?"

"You're not busy, right?"

"Well, like I was saying-"

"You're not busy, right?"

"... No, I'm not"

"Then accompany me for a bit"

"..."

"You can do that, right?"

"Y-Yeah, no problem about that"

"Perfect"

With that, she gave me one last glance and then returned to what she was suppossed t be doing once more.

"She really is scary..."

"I heard that"

"Yeah... And I really don't care"

"Ohh, you're actually saying that to my face, huh? You're not afraid?"

She turned towards me and walked towards me with the same cold killing gaze of hers and in that moment when she was standing just a few inches away from my face, I could feel a bead of sweat fall down my face.

"She's too scary!"

"S-Sorry..."

"That's better. Let's go"

She grabbed my wrist and started dragging me around the convenience store picking out random snacks and drinks that she was simply throwing into the basket without a care in the world.

After around 10 minutes of her glancing around and picking out snacks, we were finally ready to pay for all of it.

"Is it just me or is this a side of her that I don't really know? I never would've expected her to have such a sweet tooth and a snack addiction like this"

"Are you judging me, Makoto?"

"Not really judging, more like me just admiring how you're so picky with what you choose"

"I tend to grab things that I already know that I like, the only difference is that there are times where I try to grab other things that I haven't tried, that's all"

"But even then, when it's something new, you tend to be a bit more judge with it. That's not a bad thing in my eyes"

"T-Thank you"

"Yeah, no worries"

Once she paid for everything, the both of us exited the store with me carrying my single canned coffee and her with two bags filled to the brim with snacks and drinks.

"Let me carry one of those"

"What? Why?"

"Because?"

"What are you planning?"

"Nothing, I just thought I would make your life a bit easier, that's all"

"..."

"If you don't want me to, that's fine"

"Here"

She thrusted the bag into my hand and seeing this, I let out a wry smile and resolutely took the bag from her.

"Thanks"

"No worries, Kano"

As we simply stood there for a bit, I couldn't help but notice that the moon was already up in its usual position and alongside that was a nice and relaxing silence that surrounded the both of us.

"..."

"Let's go somewhere to watch the moon"

"What?"

"I want to hear about your date with the Princess"

"It wasn't that big of a deal..."

"Even then, I feel like something interesting happened, didn't it?"

"I don't know if you'd be able to call it interesting..."

"Then something did happen, huh?"

"Like I said, I don't know whether you can call it interesting or not" I grabbed hold of my arm and started tightening it a bit at the mere thought of what I had done.

"You did something, right?"

"Yeah... I did"

"And in front of her?"

"Well, she was the reason I even did it to begin with"

She let out a sigh and shrugged her shoulders "Didn't you say to me that you weren't going to do anything like that again?"

"Yeah, I did. But there was no other way around it"

"Even then... It's been a while since you've done something remotely similar to that, hasn't it?"

"It's been around 3 years since then"

"Then you should really be careful"

"I know..."

She heaved a sigh and then looked up at the sky "Getting into fights like that is going to get you badly hurt one of these days"

"You don't have to tell me twice about that"

"But I guess that's why the nickname 'Berserker' fits you perfectly"

"How many nicknames do you have for me?"

"I have a lot, but 99% of them are nicknames that insult you"

"Figured as much"

She stared at me or a bit and looked back at the ground for a bit "I'm just telling you, be careful with what you do, it's because of you getting into fights and helping others that it got you where you are now"

"Then what do I have to lose now? It's not like I talk to anyone or have any friends, do I?"

"But even then, rumors start and things could get even worse-"

"I don't care anymore. I started not giving a shit about anything a long time ago" "If things like that start happening again, I'll just ignore them and continue doing my own thing"

"..."

"Besides, birds of a feather, flock together" "I know that me acting like that again wouldn't really break the strange connection we have"

"I guess it wouldn't... I have nothing to lose myself either"

"See? We really are the same"

I let out a chuckle and smiled at her with my usual grin. She stared into my eyes for a moment and nodded "I guess we really are the same"

With that, the both of us continued walking for a bit more and upon arriving at a nice spot to relax, we sat down and simply took in the fresh air.

I popped open my coffee and was about to take a small sip of it when I heard another canned drink being popped open.

"Hmm?"

"I thought I might as well join you for a bit"

Kano had a canned coffee as well in her hands, of course, hers was a bit on the sweeter side while mine was more on the strong side of things.

"Then I guess we should cheer, don't you think?"

"No"

"Should've guessed..."

I let out a wry chuckle and before I could take my sip, she moved her drink towards me and smiled a bit differently then the other times that I had seen her smile.

"I was just kidding"

"O-Ohh..."

We both clanged our drinks and started drinking them slowly but surely "That was out of nowhere... She seemed to be someone else for a second there"

"Are you going to tell me how it went then since we're here relaxing?"

"It went fine. We just went around an amusement park, that was all"

"An amusement park, huh? Quite a typical place for a date"

"She probably chose that because it's one of the places that has a lot of people"

"Understandable" "So, what happened there?"

"We went around the different rides that they had, ate some of the food there as well as the stores"

"Was it fun?"

"I didn't really have fun. It was mostly just me being dragged around the whole place" "The reason that I probably felt like that was most likely because I didn't even want to be there in the first place"

"Most likely, but even then, from the way it sounds, you didn't have a bad time either"

"I guess I didn't..."

"That's good. The famous loner of our school actually had fun being with another person"

"Shut it, Ice Queen"

"Not happening, Berserker"

I clicked my tongue at her words and sighed "Berserker really doesn't fit me..."

"It does. The story you told me about how you ended like this isn't something that just anyone can do on their own and you know it"

"Well yeah, but it's just..."

"It's just what?"

I stared at her for a bit and sighed "It's nothing"

"Makoto. That nickname for you isn't something bad, it's just what sounds most   fitting for everything that you did and the way you reacted, that's all"

"..."

"Besides, it was the other person in question who was in the wrong and did that to you when you were the one who had protected them"

"I get that and don't get me wrong, I don't hate that person, what I hate is the fact that I was born with that and that when it happens, I can't control myself..."

"..."

"That's why coming here and looking at the moon like this makes me feel at ease"

I looked up at the night sky and sighed "The moon, my sister and you are the only ones who know about that and haven't judged me for what I did back then"

"..."

"For that, I'm thankful and even though I've never told you face to face, I'm thankful that you didn't shun me away when you found out about it"

"Well, birds of a feather, flock together, don't we?"

"Yeah, I guess we do"

We both chuckled and as we continued relaxing there in peace, I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next.

Was Katsumi going to keep trying to change me? Was she going to keep trying to take me to places to see the wonders of humans? What exactly was she going to be doing from now on until who knew when?

"What a pain..."

"Makoto?"

"Hmm?"

I glanced over at Kano and when I did, I couldn't help but notice that she seemed relatively serious about something "What happened?"

"I have something to ask of you..."

"Sure, what is it?"

"..."

"...?"

"L-Let's go out tomorrow"

"... Huh?"

"I said... L-Let's go out tomorrow"

"Why?"

"Do I need a reason, maggot?"

"Back to the insults..." I let out a sigh and fell into thought for a bit "Sure, at what time?"

"How about we meet up at nine at the intersection?"

"Sure, sounds good to me"

"Perfect"

With that, she stood up and started walking away from me, but before she did so, she stopped and glanced back over at me "It's a date then"

Before I could say anything in return, she left me just like that and I was simply sitting there under the moon's light wondering what the hell had happened.

"What the hell is happening now? First Katsumi and her whole date thing and now Kano's asking me to go out with her? This isn't what I wanted at all. I just want to relax in peace"

I let out a sigh and looked up at the sky once more "I guess you're the only one who understands me and the things that happen around me, huh?"

In conclusion... There are many layers to a person and the deeper you go into their layers, the darker secrets that will appear. Some of which are ones that should never be peeled at all costs. -By Miyashita Makoto.