Friend-chan

I had expected that I would regret it a little. I mean, we didn’t know each other and every time I almost had an idea about what he was like, his expression changed completely, confusing me. I could never be sure with him. Nevertheless, I definitely didn’t think that I would want to call off our “friendship contract” so soon.

“Friend-chan!”

“Oh there you are, Friend-chan!”

“Good morning, Friend-chan!”

“Where are you going, Friend-chan?”

“Don’t ignore your best friend, Friend-chan!”

Friend-chan this, Friend-chan that! It was only the first day and I already wanted to kill him with my own hands. My ears were ringing from his high-pitched and irritating voice. I could no longer tell when he was calling out to me and when he wasn’t because the word Friend-chan kept getting repeated inside my head. I couldn’t tell if he actually liked me or he hated me and this was his way of showing it!

It was the first time in years that my twin ponytails were messy and I didn’t have any power to fix them. Matsuda was casting me nervous looks but after the way I had ran away from her during the lunch break when I had unfortunately bumped into Kajiura and his girl, she was keeping a safe distance from me not wanting to pressure me. She was observing me like I was some stray animal which was so afraid of human contact that it would flee if she suddenly came closer. I couldn’t blame her, sometimes I did feel like that. I had my hands so full with that boy that I didn’t even get to feel lonely with the distance between us. I was going to address the issue but later. I needed to deal with him first.

“Oy, Friend-chan!” His voice dragged me out of my thoughts so suddenly and violently that my grip on the knife’s handle tightened reflexively and I skewered the wooden block with it. The satisfaction of the knife’s resistance against my hand wasn’t nearly enough. I slowly turned around with gleaming eyes and my aura getting pitch black.

“What do you want from my life?” Asked the voice of the Demon Lord residing inside my body. His eyes opened widely with excitement.

“So cool! Can you do other voices too?”

“Keep irritating me and we will find out” I threatened and tried to lift the knife so that I would appear more scary and menacing. Apparently, though, I had nailed it so deeply and strongly in the wooden block that when I tried to take it, I pulled them together.

His lips started curling but he bit them trying to fight the expression that was trying to form in his face. I watched him in query until he burst out laughing.

“You know you just made it worse, right?” He said in between his raw and ugly laughter. His eyes were closed from how hardly he was grinning and their corners glistened with tear drops. He wiped them but they kept getting wet the more he laughed.

I found myself deflating like a balloon. My anger quickly turned into bubbles and my hand that was holding the knife and the wooden block started feeling heavy as my body relaxed. All I could do was keep looking at his sincere expression and feel warm inside. I didn’t want him to stop laughing and looking so childish and light. It was different when he was trying to look immature. Right now, there were no defenses and his true self was shining through in all its innocent glory.

I wasn’t the type of person to laugh like that but I did smile and let out a chuckle before hitting him on the crown of his head with the wooden block. Now that and his whining expression right after was certainly something I could laugh at.

“What was that for?” He asked like a five-year old while rubbing the spot of contact. I smiled deviously.

“To remind you that my Home Economics teacher is going to be back soon!” I looked down at him who was standing right outside the window. How had he known what lesson I had and that my table was going to be the one closest to the window? “Why are you even here? Don’t you have some important class to attend, mister third-year?”

“Why? Are you worried about me?” He asked with a smug smile and wiggled his eyebrows. I couldn’t decide between him being adorable or incredibly irritating so I lifted the wooden block once again and threw him another threatening look. He flinched away, taking the hint and covering his head. “Okay, I’ll leave. My Friend-chan doesn’t love me anymore” He sniffed his nose pretending he was crying.

“I never said I-” The moment I got distracted, he moved like lightning and before I could stop him, he stole one of the onigiri I had made for the teacher. “Hey-!” He instantly plopped it into his mouth.

I noticed his expression soaring as it reached his tongue and he tasted it. I know, I know alright?! That’s why I tried to stop you!

I set both my hands on the table and looked down in embarrassment. I could feel my whole body heating up and my heart racing.

“You know, for someone who loves food so much, you are really bad at making it”

“Shut up!” Was the only thing my strained voice could create.

“Looks like you need some lessons from the master”

“What-?” I looked back up but he was already dashing away.

“Meet me here after all your classes!” He shouted above his shoulder and he disappeared. I didn’t have a good feeling about this but he had piqued my curiosity and I would feel bad if he came and waited for me and I didn’t show up. So I did as he asked.

***

I can’t believe I’m the one waiting in the end! If this is some type of twisted prank I swear to God-!

The sound of someone’s joyful whistling drew my attention and I looked at the far end of the corridor to meet his eyes. He was walking at his leisure with his hands on the pockets of his black trousers. I had been here for twenty minutes and he was coming over to me like he didn’t have a concern in the world! I was going to strangle him this time! Nothing was going to get in my way or stop me!

“Pick up your pace for God’s sake! Do you know how long I’ve waited here for you?!” I shouted and he started walking a bit faster with his grin growing. He didn’t say a thing until he was right in front of me. He leaned closer to me.

I took a quick and sloppy step away while leaning my body towards the ground so that his face wouldn’t be so close and his features wouldn’t look this big. I was afraid of what he was going to do. He raised his arm and brought it closer to my face…Only to join his middle finger and thumb and strike me in the middle of my forehead.

“Ah!” I exclaimed in pain and took more steps away in an effort to keep my balance while holding my face.

“If you keep frowning like that, you’re gonna get wrinkles you know” He said as if he was trying to help me and wasn’t the reason I was upset in the first place.

“I’ll show you wrinkles!” I mumbled, still rubbing the spot which still hurt. I hoped it wasn’t going to leave a mark but even if it did, my bangs were hopefully going to cover it. “What now?” I asked curiously as he approached the locked door.

He simply smiled and produced a key out of his pocket.

“I know people” Was the only explanation he gave to the question I didn’t even have the time to ask. I decided to trust him. It wasn’t like we had picked the lock nor were we going to do something wrong or inappropriate…I hoped. “Now sit down and watch carefully. This is a one in a lifetime chance. You should be grateful” I still had my doubts but I had come here and waited for him so the least I could do was see what all that was about.

He selected a table and I sat on one of the chairs opposite from him so that I could watch him without getting in his way. I looked around as he chose the utensils he needed. It felt a bit weird. Being in this class in the afternoon when most students and teachers had already left, not to mention alone. It wasn’t bad, just unusual and somewhat exciting.

I turned back to him right in the moment to see him wear one of the class’s aprons. It didn’t have any designs and it was plainly white but it suited him. They were bought in an in-between size so that they could fit all students and that made it loose on his skinny body but he tied it tightly and it clung to his body.

He had never been this silent before, well except for the times that I had met him and his mouth was occupied with other activities. His eyes were serious and concentrated, it made my heart skip a beat and stomach clench for some reason.

It was the end of the day so there weren’t many ingredients left but he didn’t seem bothered by it. He was going to make due with what he had. My narrow mind thought that there were too little options but he managed to come up with so many ideas.

He started by cleaning the vegetables and chopping them into small and refined pieces. His hands were moving so quickly that at moments, I couldn’t keep up.

“I thought this was supposed to be a lesson” I complained despite myself. I wanted to be able to see all his techniques, I didn’t really care about learning how to cook. He blinked like he was broken out of a spell and only then realized that he wasn’t alone.

“You’re right, I’m sorry” I almost felt bad about how sincerely he apologized. It wasn’t such a big deal. Before I could comment on it, he started talking again. His voice was totally different from all the other times, it was soft and not louder than a whisper. His moves became significantly slower and he made sure to explain everything that he was doing in simple and understandable terminology.

It made me feel pumped up. Everything I did in the cooking department was self-taught because my parents were too busy with their jobs. Now was the first time I had ever felt like I could grasp what it really was about, like I could reach out my hand and touch it. I was suddenly overcome by an urge to cook something!

“And it’s ready. Enjoy your meal.”

My mouth watered by the smells and the juicy appearance of what he had created. They were all small bites of food since he didn’t have much but they were still so creative and looked delicious.

“Don’t mind if I do” I said hastily before savoring the contents of the plate. Flavors erupted in my mouth and my stomach made a sound like it was thanking me for giving it such a good meal. To be honest, I was starving since it had been too long from the lunch break and I had waited for him for some time. My mouth let out a whine I couldn’t restrain when there was no food left. And then I realized. My eyes opened widely. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t leave any for you!”

He chuckled.

“It’s alright. I’m not that hungry and seeing you eat it like that and enjoying it was fulfilling enough” I didn’t know if it was because he had cooked for me and my impression of him had gotten better but his expression seemed kinder than usual.

“Still, how did you manage to make all this with so few things? It was freaking delicious!” I got swayed from the atmosphere. Don’t blame me! It was the food’s fault!

“Let’s just say that I was used to having little and that I’ve trained myself in cooking” He answered and it looked like even this was too much. He didn’t want to say more. I wasn’t going to press him about it.

“Well then, well done! And thank you.”

“I could teach you some things if you want-”

“YOU COULD?” I leaned towards him with such speed and intent that he recoiled before regaining his posture. I looked at him with big sparkly eyes.

“Yeah, sure. Why not?”