Meeting Akemi

“Welcome home,” I told my father.

He nodded, looking at Yuasa.

“Good evening,” Yuasa greeted him. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Go ahead,” father replied.

“I was talking with Saki before you got here and we decided that we were going to start dating. May we have your blessing?”

Father looked between us. “Will you take care of her?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Alright. But if you ever do anything that will hurt her…”

“That will never happen.”

“We’ll see.”

They stared at each other for a moment. Father seemed to be trying to intimidate him, but Yuasa didn’t look bothered. They eventually shook hands.

“Welcome to the family,” father said.

“Thank you, I won’t let either of you down,” Yuasa replied.

After that, I walked Yuasa out. He shook out his hand.

“Your father has quite the grip strength…”

“I’m sorry…” I said.

“It’s fine. I’ll see you later.”

“See you later.”

I watched him leave and get in his car before closing the door. It looked like father had changed his clothes when I went into the living room. He told me to sit with him.

“Promise you’ll tell me if he hurts you in any way?” he asked.

I nodded. “I will.”

“And I’m sure you learned about certain things in health class but if you need me to refresh your memory, I’d be glad to.”

I blushed. “I got it…”

“Just be safe. Don’t do anything you don’t want to do. I’ll always support you.”

“Thanks.”

We hugged and that was the end of our awkward conversation. Once I went back to my room, I texted Kishi, telling him that I had something I wanted to say to him at school tomorrow.

During lunch, we told Kishi about our relationship. He was surprised but happy for us. He hoped that his relationship with Yorikane could progress as smoothly as ours did. Although, ours wasn’t that smooth at all…

Yuasa pushed my bangs behind my ear at our club. The way he looked at me made me blush and look away.

“You’re still hiding your face. Are you still worried?” he asked.

“A little…”

“I’m sure you’ll be alright. And if anyone says anything to you, tell me.”

Both my father and Yuasa seem like they’ll easily take care of anyone who hurts me… They’re similar in that way it seems…

“Tell me too!” Kishi chimed in. “No one has the right to say anything rude about you!”

If only they knew I’ve already heard everything that could be said about me… It’s not like I want to get along with those who dislike me. It’s not like I care what they think. I’m just afraid of my new appearance since the incident. I didn't even really want to acknowledge it. But… I’ve got people who care about me who will stay by my side no matter what. I want to be myself around them. So who cares what the rest of the student body thinks…

The weekend came and Yuasa asked me out on a date. I blushed when he asked me. I’m not sure when I’ll get used to this… But I guess it’s alright to feel nervous and embarrassed since this is our first official date… He asked me where I wanted to eat and I told him my favorite restaurant.

We had a great meal together and took a walk around a nearby park afterward. When he grabbed my hand in the park, I felt even more embarrassed than when he asked me out. He took me home and hugged me goodbye. I noticed that he smelled good… Is that weird? I feel weird… I’m still shocked by this development between us…

When I went back to school, I wore the rose hair clip Yuasa gave me to pull my bangs back. I was nervous the whole day and thought people were staring. But when I saw Yuasa and he smiled at me, I began to feel like all of that didn’t matter. Kishi’s compliments helped too. He’s always so nice… Even Yorikane said the hair clip was pretty.

I had forgotten about Shoji until he reached out to me. When I saw that he had sent a text, I remembered how he tried to figure out who Rose was… and he almost caught me… I wonder what he has to say now.

“Hello Rose. It’s been a while so I just wanted to reach out to you. How are you?”

“Iwasaki-san, hello. I’m doing well. And you?”

I guess I should be civil. I’m not that bothered about what happened anyway. He doesn’t know that I know.

“I’m doing well too. You know, I feel a bit guilty. Is it alright if I finally confess something?”

No way…

“What is it?”

“Rose, I… I actually tried to find you at school. I’m not sure if you noticed. I want to apologize for that. I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I was too much of a coward to bring it up until now. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

He actually admitted it… I need to reply somehow.

“I didn’t know that… Thanks for telling me. Since it didn’t impact me in any way, I forgive you.”

I decided to lie since I’m not that bothered… It’s just a white lie that won’t hurt anyone.

“That gives me immense relief, thank you, Rose. I hope we can continue to get along.”

“Sure.”

Wow, I wasn’t expecting this conversation at all… But I’m glad it was brought up. I’m not sure if I need to tell him my true identity. We never meet in person anyway. This is a nice conclusion.

I told Yuasa about the conversation. He seemed bothered.

“Why is he still reaching out to you?” he asked.

“I think this’ll be our last conversation…”

“If it isn’t, tell me. I’ll go tell him to leave you alone.”

“Are you jealous…?”

“I just don’t like him.”

“Sure…”

I continued my days at school that didn’t seem so monotonous anymore because of the friends I had made. I exposed my face and decided it was more comfortable that way. I wasn’t quite ready to get my haircut and my bangs trimmed, but I’m sure I’ll be more comfortable doing that one day. For now, I should continue living happily with the progress that I have made so far.

One day, I noticed that my desk mate had dropped her pencil during class. I remembered the times that I had accidentally dropped mine and she never picked it up, even when I tried to ask her to. I almost wanted to do the same thing to her. But then I thought that was stupid. I’m not going to ignore her like she has been ignoring me. That’d just be childish.

I leaned down and picked up the pencil. I handed it to her. She looked at me like she didn’t know what I was doing. I continued holding the pencil out. She finally took it and I looked back at the teacher. I’m not expecting a change in her attitude towards me… But hopefully I don’t have to feel awkward around her anymore.

“Akemi-san was asking about you,” Yuasa told me during lunch one day.

“Akemi Tamura-san…?” I asked, confused.

“She was asking if you were doing alright after the bullying incident. I told her that you’re fine.”

“Oh…”

“She said she’d like it if you went to see her but you don’t have to. I think she's just being nosy.”

“Nosy about what…?”

He paused. “I kind of told her… about us. She was asking so many questions that she managed to squeeze it out of me. I really didn’t want to tell her. Now she’s going to keep bothering me.”

“Oh… You guys seem close.”

“We’re not. I had to work for her when I was on the student council and we were just acquaintances, but she thought it meant we were friends. She’s been annoying me ever since.”

“She’s quite eccentric, huh?”

“You should probably just ignore her.”

I’ve heard some things about Akemi from Shoji and Yuasa… and I’ve seen her once… But I don’t know her all that well. I might like to get to know her… As long as she doesn’t find a way to exploit me for the sake of the school…

“Should I go see her?” I said.

“Didn’t you just hear me?” Yuasa asked.

“Do you think she wants to be friends?” Kishi added.

“The last thing you’d want is to be friends with her.” Yuasa really doesn’t like her…

“I only have guy friends, it might be nice to try to make a girl friend,” I said.

“You don’t need to push yourself.”

“Will you go see her with me, Yuasa?”

He went quiet while he searched my face. I tilted my head waiting for his response. Then he sighed.

“Fine…”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

He pinched my nose and I pushed his hand away. He always does that when I smile lately…

“Good luck!” Kishi told us.

At the end of the day when our club was going to start, Yuasa picked me up and we went to the student council room instead. I began to feel a bit nervous… Should I even be here? It’s not like it’s guaranteed that she’ll want to be my friend.

When we entered the room, Akemi was sitting behind her desk. She saw us and stood up, looking excited.