Reading Together

There’s a saying that says “third time’s the charm.” And I’m not sure if it applies to this situation, but is it really possible for this to happen three times…?

I’m staring Yuasa dead in the eyes once again. I can feel the heat from his hand close to mine while we grab the same book. He’s angry and I’m in disbelief. Did he plan this? Does he hate me that much? Is this a strange form of bullying? I thought he didn’t bully others, but maybe if he bullies them in this way, the rumors didn’t mention it because it’s so bizarre.

“Give me the book,” Yuasa said.

I slowly retract my hand and take a step back, keeping eye contact with him.

“Let’s not do this again.” He turned away and took the book with him as he walked away.

Maybe it’s not bullying, but… It’s too strange for it to happen three times. I’m starting to feel a little irritated. Does he have to take all the books I want to read? There’s no way it’d happen a fourth time… right?

The next day, I only felt annoyed while I looked into Yuasa’s cold eyes that were supposed to intimidate me. We had picked the same book for the fourth time.

“...are you doing this on purpose?” My voice was quiet.

Yuasa raised an eyebrow. “Aren’t you the one doing this on purpose?”

I didn’t let go of the book and neither did he.

“I’m picking random books… Why do you keep picking the same ones?” I ask.

“I’m not picking them randomly. I have a list of books I wanted to look at. So far they’ve all been utterly boring. Did you get a hold of my list?”

“I didn’t even know you had a list.”

“So this is just an unfortunate coincidence? As if I can believe that. Now let go of the book.” He pulled the book off the shelf but I kept my grip on it.

“I want to read this book…” I said.

“And? I wanted to read it first, you know.”

“...Can’t we share it?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

I glared at him behind my cloudy glasses and bangs. “If we both want it that bad, why don’t we read it together?”

“That’s an absurd compromise. Why would I read a book with you? Just give it to me.” He tried to tug it out of my hand but I quickly tugged it back.

“We either read it together or you give it to me.”

“Do you have any idea who I am?”

I eyed him. Yes, he’s Yuasa Kitahashi… There are many rumors about him being super rich and intelligent. If you become his enemy, he could destroy you in any number of ways, apparently. But I’m sick of him stealing my books and acting all high and mighty.

“And?”

My response seems to make his face twitch. I continue staring at him like I have nothing to lose.

“...‘And’, huh…” he finally speaks. “You’re bold, I’ll give you that. If the only compromise is to read it together, then fine. Because I will never hand the book over to you. Because I never lose.” His glare certainly is intimidating…

We somehow moved to an empty table to sit next to each other with the book between us. As I stared at the book in front of me, I began to question my decisions. Sure I was annoyed… But did I really have to act like that? That’s so not like me… And now I’m in this strange situation with hottie number three sitting next to me.

I carefully glance around since I feel eyes on me. I can’t see anyone but I can still feel their eyes. Am I going to run into trouble with his fanbase…? I didn’t screw myself over, did I…?

Yuasa turns the page of the book.

“Wait, I haven’t finished reading,” I quickly say and turn it back.

“Do you read as slow as a snail?” he shot back.

“I… I was distracted…”

“If you don’t want to read it, just give the book to me so we can end this absurd display.”

“No, I want to read it.” I put my hand on the book so he wouldn’t take it. I decided to focus on reading so he wouldn’t be annoying anymore.

After a short time had passed, Yuasa spoke again.

“Are you done with those pages yet?”

“Almost.”

I heard him sigh next to me.

We both tried to read the book at our own pace, me being too slow for him, and him being too fast for me. I got upset when he suddenly turned the page, and he got upset when I wouldn’t let him continue reading. Either one of us could have walked away and given up, but our pride wouldn’t let us.

A couple of agonizing hours later, we called it a day with that book.

“It’s five. Our club has ended,” Yuasa said while checking his watch. It looked expensive.

“Yeah…” I replied.

“That was the worst experience I’ve ever had reading a book, and the book was bad too. This was a complete waste of my time. I’m never doing this again.” He stood up and walked out of the library, fuming.

I stood up and put the book away before leaving too. That definitely was the worst experience I’ve ever had reading a book… Now I regret suggesting that compromise… If I knew it would be like this, I would have given the book to him or just chosen something completely different anyway.

From then on, if Yuasa and I saw each other among the bookshelves, we both turned around and practically ran away from each other. Neither of us wanted to experience reading a book together again. We never picked the same book from then on.

“Do you actually hate me, Rose-chan? T_T”

I saw a text from Yorikane after a couple days had gone by since our last conversation. Do I hate him? No… There’s no way I could hate him after he helped me during cleaning duty. Maybe I went too far with my teasing. I do sound pretty callous looking at our past conversations.

“No, I don’t hate you, Miya-san. I know you’re kind and a good person, how could I hate you?”

“I’m so relieved to hear that!! We might have gotten off to a rough start, but if you decided to text me, you must want to be friends, right?”

Friends… Could I even be friends with someone as popular as him? He seems to be willing to text me for now, but I wonder when the inevitable end will come.

“I was just curious about you, Miya-san.”

“Curious? Is there anything specific you want to know?”

“I already asked the question that I wanted to ask when we first started talking.”

“You were just curious about if my actions were authentic or not? Maybe it doesn’t sound reliable coming from me, but I promise I’m not fake! I love people and making friends and helping each other out. Of course I’d be willing to help someone who I notice is struggling, like one of the girls on cleaning duty. She seemed like she wasn’t friends with the other girls cleaning and there might have been some tension. How could I stand back and let there be conflict?”

He’s talking about me… I guess he did notice there was something wrong. He really is kindhearted…

“Don’t worry, I believe you now. I bet you’re a really great friend to have.”

“So does that mean you want to be friends with me?? Let’s hang out, Rose-chan!”

“I can’t…”

“Because you’re busy with homework and studying?”

“It’s partly that, but partly because… I don’t feel comfortable hanging out in person. I’m more comfortable texting like this.”

“How come you don’t feel comfortable? I promise if you come hang out with me and my friends, we’ll all treat you nicely! I mean, why wouldn’t we?”

“I guess you will. But I can’t be sure.”

“Why not?”

“I can’t say. I have to go now.”

I quickly tossed my phone to the other end of the bed. I can’t tell him… There’s no way I can tell him that everyone, maybe even him too, could be startled by my appearance… They could be disgusted… And it would make me feel even worse about myself… I’m never ever showing anyone my bare face…

Since the first time Kishi showed me the flowers he arranged, he kept sending pictures of more of his projects. They all looked very beautiful. I always sent him words of praise. We had somewhat daily conversations about random things going on during the day. He seemed to be a magnet for cats when walking home after school. He also sent pictures of every one he encountered.

I decided to ask after yet another picture of a cat he found,

“How do you find so many cats?”

“I wonder if they like to hang out around the street I walk down every day. I’m not sure why though.”

“That’s interesting. I haven’t noticed many cats around the apartment I live in.”

“Well if you ever want to see some cats, I can tell you where I always find them!”

“Alright, if I ever have the sudden urge, I’ll tell you.”

“Okay!!”

Whenever I talk to Kishi, it’s like all of my worries wash away… I’m almost tempted to take him up on his offer. But I don’t want to be around a street that he frequents in case I bump into him…