Act II

*Bzzt* *Bzzt* Bzzt*

“Mm…”

            I slowly wake up with my mind feeling sluggish, and eyes heavier than a lead.

“What is that sound…”

            I let out a big yawn feeling my cheeks being stretched out. I groggily grabbed my phone that’s sitting next to my pillow, and read out the contents of its message.

“Yo Tomio! Me and some of the other club members are going to go to a nearby shopping mall to shop for some new costumes. You’re coming right?”

“Hey Tomio, say something will you?”

“Oiiiii Tomiooooooooo”

“Reply to this text in three seconds, or your phone will explode.”

“It’s over three seconds now. Your phone will explode now.”

“Heyheyhey.”

“...”

            Despite the already long messages this guy’s sent me, there’s still more underway as it keeps saying that “The Club President is Typing…” on top of the text box. Then, my phone vibrates with a new message that appears on my screen,

“I can see the read receipt. I know you’re awake!” He said with a smirk emoji next to it.

“Woow, you’re a smart one, aren’t you?” I muttered to myself.

            I want to vent out my frustration to him, but I think it’s kind of pointless to do so. So I halfheartedly typed out,

“Yes yes, I’m up. What’s up?”

“Me and some of the other club members are going to go out to buy some new camera lenses, and I thought might as well invite some people to see if they want to hang out as well.”

            Why did he type it out in such a long paragraph? My fingers hover over my phone screen, ready to reject his invitation. But before I could even type it out, a new message appeared,

“You should come with us! It’s not like you have any other things to do, right?” The club president says with a thinking emoji next to it.

            Every single time I get a reminder why I absolutely despise the use of emojis in text messaging. It feels like I can see them making that face in my head, and that pisses me off for some reason. I get why emojis were invented, but man I can’t help but be annoyed when I see someone use them.

“Actually, I have something to do today. Sorry, but I’ll have to skip this one.” I typed out with a pensive emoji next to it.

“Is that so? That’s too bad.” The club president says with a frown emoji next to it.

            Then he continued,

“Well, there’s always a next time, so it’ll be fine!” He typed out with a smiley emoji next to it.

“I’m really sorry man.” I typed out with a crying emoji next to it.

“Haah…”

            My arms lost its energy, and it flops down onto my bed. Talking to the president felt as if I just did a full blown arm workout for an hour, even though I’ve been talking to him for around ten minutes.

            I lazily got out of my bed and head towards my fridge, only to be greeted with nothing but beers, some chocolates, and some left over curry from… how long was it again? I take out the curry, and smell its fragrance.

“…Can I still eat this?”

            I doubt it’s still edible, so I threw it inside of the trash can that is close to being full. I should really throw this out.

“It’s a weekend, so might as well clean out the place a bit.”

            Even though I don’t eat in my house that much, I’m surprised that there’s still a good amount of dishes that needs to be washed. Looking through my entire room, the entire place is quite messy, with bags and notes all over the table.

            I plug my phone to my speaker, play some songs from my playlist that consists of nothing but game musics and some popular musics in the mix, and get to cleaning.

---

*Grumble*

“It’s okay stomach, we’re almost there.” I muttered to myself.

            It took me around two hours to clean my entire house. By the time I’m done, it was already noon, so I decided to leave my house and look for some place to eat. Though I say that, I’ll just go to a nearby McMaccy since I can’t think of anything to eat for lunch.

“I swear I’ll eat some proper food for dinner. Please don’t hate me stomach…” I said as I hug my pitiful stomach that has to deal with my horrible decisions.

“…Tomio?” Then, a rough and obnoxiously loud voice assaults my ears. The kind of voice that I didn’t want to hear at least for today.

“Hello… Prez…” I replied dryly.

            There’s also two people behind the president. I think one of them was the one that gets ordered around a lot was called Nakamura. I think. Not sure about the other one though. Both of them are carrying tote bags, which seems pretty heavy.

“What are you doing here?! I thought you have something to do.” The president blurt out.

            Okay, I need to calm down and just be my usual self. It’s okay. You got this, me.

“I actually just finished delivering a birthday present for my middle school friend! I actually feel really hungry right now, so that’s why I decided to come here before heading home!” I said enthusiastically.

“I see I see! Well, me and everyone else are pretty much done with our shopping, so we’re planning to end our day with some lunch.” The president replied.

“I’m really sorry for declining your invitation!” I said while slightly bowing.

‘Why do I have to meet him now of all times?! I bet he’s going to invite me to eat together with his goons.’

“Ahh, you really don’t have to worry about it. Instead, let’s have lunch together to make up for it!” The president said in a glee.

‘I KNEW IT! I want to reject him, but I also really need food in my stomach, so I can’t really leave this situation, can I?!’

“Let’s do that let’s do that! I didn’t have breakfast, so I’m actually super hungry right now! Of course, you’ll be paying right?” I said enthusiastically.

“Please don’t say that as a joke. My money is in a pinch right now after buying all of these camera lenses.” The president says as he lowers his shoulders in dejection.

“Umm, I’m sorry but, can we at least get inside first? My arms are dying from holding all these cameras.” One of the president’s goons yelled out from the back.

“Ahh right right, my bad.” As the club president says, all of us head into McMaccy together.

---

“Even though we have a budget, I can’t believe our president wants to blow all of our money on a bunch of expensive cameras. Can you believe it Hideaki?” One of the president’s goons’ ranted.

            Why am I referring to his helpers as goons again?

“That sounds like a pain. I’m glad I didn’t come along.” I replied in sympathy.

“At least we get to see some nice cameras here and there, right?” The president replied.

“…My feet and my shoulders hurt from carrying them.” Nakamura suddenly mutters.

“I’m really sorry Nakamura! I can’t help but flail my arms around whenever I carry something.” The president says while clasping his hands together.

“Ah! No, I mean… I’m sorry…” Nakamura said, lowering his head.

“Nono, don’t apologize to someone like him, cause I totally agree with you.” One of the member said.

“I know what I did was mean, but you didn’t have to be that blunt Furukawa…” The president says while pouting.

“Furukawa? Are you Furukawa’s… I mean Kazue’s little brother?” I asked.

“Yeah, it’s Furukawa Kazuto. This dumb president was the president of our theatre club back in middle school. For some reason, he keeps using me as his errand’s boy though…” Kazuto says as he crosses his arms.

“It’s because we haven’t hanged out in a while man! Is there anything wrong with hanging out with one of your friends’?” The president interjects whilst shoulder hugging him with his left arm.

“I don’t remember our relationship extending further than a member and a president though…” Kazuto said as he gave the president a side glance.

“Come on maaaan… Don’t be mean like that…” The president says as he brings his left arm closer to him.

“You guys seems like good friends.” I said while looking at their banters.

“Huhhhh?! Please don’t say that as a joke…” Kazuto replied.

            They’ve been looking for those cameras since this morning, right? How the heck does the president still have that much energy left in him? Is there some sort of secret energy stock inside of his body or something? I swear I can never match his pace whenever he’s around. For some reason, looking at him flounder this much is making me lose my appetite. I honestly just want to go back home.

            I haven’t even considered the fact that my body feels as if there’s tons of people looking at me, so I look around to realize that almost everyone here are looking straight at our table. As if answering my worries, one of the waitress timidly walks over to our table,

“E-Excuse me sir. I’m really sorry about this, but can you please keep your voice down?” The waitress said.

“Ah, I’m really sorry about that. I’ll try and keep it down.” The president says, whilst lowering his head slightly.

The waitress then bows and heads back to her counter, the tray in her right arm trembling slightly.

“I-I think I’ll head outside for a bit… I need some fresh air…” I said whilst pointing towards the door.

“Alright. I’ll let you know when our food comes.” The president replied.

“Y-Yeah… Thanks…”

            As I said that, I head out of the restaurant with my legs feeling like noodles that are trying to keep itself standing.

“Haaaa… Hooo…”

            I sat down at a nearby bench, letting the afternoon air into my lungs. I cover my face with both of my hands, and let out a massive sigh whilst groaning all at once.

“Hgghhaaaaauuuuuu!”

            I want to die! I want to die! I want to die! I want to die! I want to die! Why did I agree to come to begin with? I can just leave now, can I? What kind of excuse should I make in order to leave though? I can’t think of any proper one that doesn’t sound like an excuse.

“Hngaaaaaaaaah!” I scratch my head violently.

“Haaaaaaaahhh…” Then, a loud sigh came from my right.

            The person that’s standing there is non other than Nakamura, with his face flushed red.

“Can I sit down?” Nakamura asks, his face looking annoyed.

“S-Sure…” I instinctively blurted out.

            Nakamura stomps his feet, and let his body fall down on the bench.

“Haaaah… Christ he’s loud…” Nakamura muttered.

            I’ve never seen Nakamura like this before. I thought he was the type that lets people do whatever they want to him, and he’ll oblige without any kind of resistance. I never knew someone like Nakamura could make a face that looks as if he’s about ready to fling a nearby trash can to a nearby wall.

“…Ah.” Nakamura yelped out as he took a side glance.

“…”

           Holy crap, it felt as if his gaze just stopped my body from operating properly. Is this what Nakamura is actually like?

“…Sorry.” Nakamura mutters as he looks towards the ground.

“D-Don’t worry about it… I can understand how you feel…” I said as I tighten my clenched hands.

“…By the way, why aren’t you going out with your friends? It’s the weekends, isn’t it?” Nakamura asks timidly.

“Ahh… They didn’t make any plans for today…” I replied.

“I see…”

“…What about you? Why did you agree to come with the president?”

“…I’m not really good at declining invites, so I’m an easy option for him to pick.” Nakamura said while hanging his head.

“…”

“Ahh. For the record, it’s not like I hate the president for dragging me around, okay? It’s just… I don’t know.” Nakamura said while clenching his hands.

“You don’t know…?” I blurted out.

“…I’m not sure either. Maybe I’m scared on what he thinks of me if I reject him.” Nakamura said in a low voice.

“It’s not like he’ll curse you to burn in an everlasting flame just because you rejected him, you know?” I replied.

“W-Why is it so gruesomely specific?” Nakamura’s face contorts in discomfort.

“S-Sorry… Force of habit…”

            Even though I’ve already vowed to never say those kinds of things when I started Uni. I did a good job too at not saying it. So, why now?

“D-Don’t worry about it. It’s just… it feels as if he’ll start hating me if he ever knows the real me...” Nakamura says.

“Real you…” I muttered.

            Then, multiple buzzes came from my phone, with three pop-up notification that came from the president himself that says,

“Your food is here. Nakamura’s too. Come come.”

“Hey Nakamura, our food has arrived. Want to go back in there?” I told Nakamura.

“…Sure, let’s go.” Nakamura replied.

            Both of us stands up from the bench, and both of us head back into the restaurant.

---

            The clock is now pointing towards two past thirty minutes. We finished the food relatively quickly, but the entire thing became a lot longer than it should since the president kept dragging us to his pace. I was barely keeping up with his conversations, Kazuto kept getting annoyed as the only thing the president really talks about is his time during middle school, whilst Nakamura interjects once in a while with a “yes” or a “is that so…”

            The president and everyone went back to campus to put all of the new equipment in the club room. At first, the president invited me to come hang out at the campus, but I rejected his offer with the excuse that I have personal errands that I need to attend. Not that I have one since I’ve finished most of them this morning. Luckily, the president was understanding enough to let me go, so we went our separate ways after that.

“I want to die…”

            I somehow managed to arrive at my apartment safely, despite how dead my body feel, and how my mind is still being swallowed in an endless quick sand. I sluggishly head to my bed, and drop my entire body on it. I thought of taking a quick bath, but I don’t think I need to right? The weather was quite chilly in the fall season, and I don’t think I broke a sweat this entire day.

“At least my brain was sweating from all of that talking…”

‘It’s just… it feels as if he’ll start hating me if he ever knows the real me.’

           I wonder why I can’t get that thought out of my head… I know Nakamura was just overthinking the situation. But…

“What are my actual feelings…”

            His words feels as if there’s that randomly clicked. It’s like understanding the basics of a math formula, but confused as to why the answer came out wrong when you put it to the test.

“It’s like knowing something without knowing anything…”

            My brain finally using up its final juice, my eyes slowly shuts itself down, with my brain slowly melting into goo with the warm bed enveloping my existence.