A Peak Of A Trough

When we got back everyone seemed to be going their own ways, so we decided to do the same. It was fun and all, but wow I am tired! I head back up stairs after Sara heads off to her room. Though, before I can even head all the way up the stair case, a pair of footsteps bolt after me.

“Yuta!”

Once again Sara was calling out to me, but something wasn’t right. She wasn’t ready to get me out to set off on our usual adventure.

“Huh?”

“Where’s Eva and Aron?!”

Now that she mentions it... It’s a bit too quiet. I hear something out back.We run out back to hear an ever-growing shouting match.

“It’s not that big of a deal.”

Aron shrugs trying to hide his eyes from Eva.

“Not that big of a deal?! What is wrong with you?”

Eva’s rage is forcing its way through her also apparent sadness. I want to move, but... What should I do? I’ve never seen Eva like this. And I can’t tell if Aron even has anything on his mind. I have to at least try... Even if I’m going to fail. I don’t know what else to do.

“Come on you two... Let’s take a moment to calm down.”

Aron snaps over at me. I jolt back hoping I didn’t say anything wrong.

“Calm down? I’m calm. She’s the one that started yelling at me over her stupid invention.”

*SLAP*

Tears are coming from everywhere as Aron recoils. The force of Eva’s slap sent him into shock. Her eyes are bloodshot. Raindrops slowly, surely start to fall.

“I never want to see your face again.”

What...? Eva runs past Aron into the distance. We look over at Aron and somehow he looks almost... relived? That fades away after the brief stretch of silence. In just a few moments. Sara tries to call out to him.

“Aron...”

His eyes as he lifted back up, the rain became heavier and heavier, yet it was obvious.His eyes filled with disdain towards us. He made it even clearer as though he wasn’t telling us silently.

“Who are you looking at? Get out of my face.”

With a confident amount of force, he pushes me out of the way and heads in the opposite direction.

I couldn’t believed my eyes. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Please... Let this just be-

“Come on... We’ve got to do something right?”

Sara stands next to me hanging onto my shirt. Gripping it. What was I to do?

“Do... What?”

She continues to hold onto me as I stand there. Why?

“I-... I don’t know, but they’re our friends and if we don’t do something... We-”

I look at her my thoughts begin to let up just a bit. I wasn’t allowed to be alone in this situation. These were our friends. Sara’s just as worried as I am.

“Y-yea...”

Her face relaxes a bit. I have to get out of my head. Or we’ll get nowhere.

A echoing laugh comes from behind us.

“Really? That was so dramatic! I’ve seen this happen so many times, you’d think it be more serious in real life.”

Is he really doing this at time like this?

“Sojiro I really don’t think you should be doing this right now Yuta’s in a bad mood as it is...”

“What, because of those two? As if! He’s got just as keen of an eye as I do for acting events like this.”

I’m awestruck how insensitive he’s being right now.

“Not like their pitiful affairs matter anyways.If they aren’t acting then it’s a waste of time. It’s clear they’re trying to not like each other. Let it be. Unless you plan on trying, not like it will do something to fix it.”

I stand back in disgust.

“How could you say something like that?”

Sojiro scoffs, rolling his eyes.

“They’re just trying to get attention. Everyone wants to see love, but it can’t be just all happy. It’s quite the pitiful attempt at the whole scene in my opinion.”

“This has nothing to do with love and...”

Before I can finish my rebuttal he butts in with one last cold, ignorant, snide, remark.

“It does not concern me.”

So...He was here and did nothing to stop them? He just let them fight? He never seems to understand what time is right and wrong?! Now because of him I have to figure out where they went with little to no help! I can barely think where they would be now... For all I know we could be stranded here because one of them stole the car! And he just... And He Just...!

“Master what’s with such the grimacing look? It must be because you understand that I’m right!”

I grab him and bring up to me in fit of rage.

“I am not your master. You’re just some socially inept jackass.”

I throw him onto the ground and walk away. I don’t have time to deal with his jokes. Sara looks at me, I can’t help, but look away. I head back inside and she follows right after.

“What was that loud thud?”

Yume looks at me. I can’t think of any excuse. I just want to find them and be done with this.Sara stares at me.

“...It was nothing.”

I don’t need her to be worried about me. I’m fine. I take a deep breath and focus on the more important problem at hand!

“It’s already starting to pour again. And we don’t have any ideas!”

Yume ponders over what to do salvage this.

“Hmm... The only way we’re going to find them is if we split up. At least the car is still there so they couldn’t have gone too far without that.”

If I were to get mad at Eva. or Aron... Where would I go? Ah! That’s it!

“That’s it!”

“Hwa?!”

“Let’s get going. Eva should probably still be on the beach since she likes to stare off into the sunset to make herself feel better! As for Aron he’ll want to escape as far as possible to forget about it all. So he’s probably waiting at the bus stop!”

“But if he wanted to that why didn’t he just take the car?”

“He’s deathly afraid of driving.”

“Ahaha... That explains a lot.”

“Sara, you should go after Aron since he’ll be a lot easier to catch. As for Eva... I’ll take care of her because she’ll be much harder to find since this beach expands for miles.Yume, you should stay here in case they come back. Now let’s get going!”

I begin to walk out the door before Sara calls out.

“Wait!... Don’t push yourself hard ok...?”

I look back and give her a reassuring smile.

“Yea I won’t!”

I can’t help but panic. This is the worst time they could do this at. Especially with all this rain, they’ll get sick too easily or even worse... No, I can’t think of that now! I rush out the door as the rain pours harder.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Jeez all this rain isn’t helping... Normally, I would never do this, but is Yuta pushing himself too hard, and these are my friends too. I’m really worried about him. After whatever happened outside he was a bit scary. Sojiro definitely pushed it too far, but that doesn’t mean... I come to a stop. Maybe Sojiro was right. Who are we to tell someone else how they should live? Won’t this just be going against what they want? If I’m... No, what am I talking about?! They care for each other! Even if they have a fight that doesn’t mean they should just let it all go rotten. I arrive at the Bust Stop. And as he said, Aron was there. Miserable beyond belief. I give myself a chance to think before I say anything and head over. Closing my umbrella, I sit down next to him and he scoots over. He gives me a scornful look.

“You know that stare of yours doesn’t make wanna go away!”

He stares down at the ground.

“What do you want.”

“Just came to talk.”

He sighs. I try to give him a way back.

“Maybe, if you come back now we can fix this together??”

“Fix it? I broke it and can barely make myself useful enough to try and even think about it.”

He shuts it down. But I continue.

“Come on! It’s always worth trying to chat! Just one last time so you can at least said you tried.”

“I don’t care to try, you saw what I did and you saw that she hates me. What more do you want?”

It’s like he’s not even willing to think any way than what he wants! Good grief if only he would just get out of his own head just for a moment! Hang on... I think I’ve got an idea. I muster up all the frustration I have with him.

“Don’t you think you’re over reacting?”

He grits his teeth rearing to sink them back with words. I put my hand up as he tries to use his words.

“Your quick to prove me wrong only proves me right. So I would listen before you say something stupid that you regret. More than you already have...”

Somehow... He doesn’t say anything and sits.

“Whenever she points out something about you or does something you don’t like, you seem to be right there to criticize her. Yet she never does the same. If she were to do that, you’d probably be hurt beyond recognition.”

He slumps.

“I’m sure you know that too, so why do it? It makes it even more confusing to me since you clearly care for her more than anyone else.”

He talks as his knees are covering his mouth.

“That’s exactly why.”

“Huh?”

He lifts his head up.

“I’ve been put up to help her. I’m not suited for that. I never asked for this and nor did she. I’m just a stain, but she still keeps me around for some reason. We both know this to be true as you saw earlier...”

I can’t help, but let some of my frustrations slip out.

“Who’s suppose to feel sorry for you? You shouldn’t have said what you did. It’s over and done with. You’re not the one that gets to dictate if you’re important to someone else.”

He stares into my eyes as if he wants to say much more.

“I’m in love with Yu.”

He blinks and slides back.

“He’s a dense, frustratingly insensitive, manga obsessed jerk who doesn’t seem to notice anything that I do. I’ve made a fool of myself and been an embarrassment to the point where other people are embarrassed for me!”

Aron doesn’t want to look at me any more.

“Then why not just give up?”

“Because I love him. No matter how much I fail, I don’t want to stop loving him. He is too important to me to let go.”

What he really fails to realize is...

"You love Eva just as much as I love Yu."

"If that’s you’re argument then I don’t see any point to listen."

I give him a half pitted sigh. If he wants to be like this, I'm not wallowing in it with him.

"She's Annoying, Always trying to steal the spotlight from whomever, Somehow she's so stupid it's smart, she can barely be normal for even a second!"

He didn't take that well at all.

Good.

Aron flies out of his seat.

"What do you know?! She's the most talented person I’ve met, So much creativity without even flinching she can come up with some new invention that no one has ever ever dreamt of, Always somehow making my day brighter than they could ever be and yet... and yet...”

Before he could finish his sentence he sits back down.

“She picked me. Bothers me of all people. What do I have to offer?”

“For someone someone who can say so many nice things about her. You’re so selfish.”

“Huh...?”

“How do you think she feels? Always having to deal with you belittling her all day?! She’s always trying her best for you and you just want to act like you’re the one who’s hurting?”

He goes silent. I may have over done it just a little, but it needed to be said. I let the silence permeate for a moment. He responds.

“I guess I really messed up. What do you think I should do to fix this?”

“Hm... There’s a few things we can do.”

“Well?”

“...”

“Please.”

“We’ll just start with this...”

?????????????????????

If only hadn’t ran out so fast then I would’ve remembered that I had an umbrella. Come on! Trying my best to not get wet in the rain I sprint seeing if there’s a single clue. Searching for wherever she dissipated off to. The beach feels like it goes on forever. Am I in the wrong? Is this relationship damaged beyond repair? No! That’s not it. They’re... Just having a rough time. How long can I really tell myself that everything will be alright until it isn’t? Not much seeing how this is progressing.

After fighting the winds and rain it seems to calm down ahead there’s an abundance of rocks.

At the top of the highest and widest one she sat.

Her knees hugging her chest.

Alone.

She really had to make this hard for me huh?! I take even more to climb the rock. By the time I get to the top I’m tired. I plop down.

and

I

begin to sliiiiiiiiiiide

dowmandIclimbbackupquickly!

“Jeez! How did you get up here so fast?!”

No response, other than a small sniffle.

I sit by her.

We both look out to the ocean covered by the light clouds rolling out. I look from where I ran and it’s still pouring. A small shiver runs down my spine.

“You know...”

She cuts me off.

“What are you here to tell me I’m wrong for hitting Aron too?”

“I think you were right.”

She turns over to me astonished.

“What?!”

“Yea, did I say something weird?”

“Of course you did! I’m the one in the wrong, you can’t tell me that it’s not my fault!”

“Yes I can. I just did.”

“He’s the one who got hit! I hurt him!”

“When was the last time it wasn’t your fault.”

“Of course, never!”

I see...

“You know one time I saw in this manga, A hero is always looking out for others so much, that he’s willing to die for them, over, and over, and over. He knows he can’t change the outcome of their fate without sacrificing himself. Yet every single time he’s sent back to the beginning trying his best to fix it. There’s one thing he never focused on.”

“Well... What was it?”

“Himself.”

She takes a moment to try and think what I’m referring to.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Do you remember the last time you did something for yourself?”

“Well that’s easy! My inventions are all for me!”

“Last time I checked, every time you make something new it’s always for other people’s entertainment.”

“That just comes with it...!”

“Nope that’s wrong. Try something else.”

“I like to cook!”

“You don’t even cook.”

“Well... How do you know that?! I could be a world redound chef!?

“The last time you tried to cook pasta for me, we had to call poison control.”

“Oh yea haha... I totally forgot about that.”

“I always get all lovey dovey with Aron because I want to all to myself.”

“You do that to make him happier because he looks sad all the time.”

“I...”

She goes silent.

“When was the last time you cried?”

She looks over at me, eyes watering, falling onto me as it pours all onto my already soaked shirt. I try and put my hand on her head, hesitating then continuing knowing that I can provide that comfort.

“Why is he such a jerk?! What did I ever do to him! I’m always trying my best and he’s...he’s!”

She wails out. A mess and a different one than her usual organized chaos.

“I just want to make him happy! Why does he always have to push me away?!”

“Have you ever told him how you feel about that?”

“Huh?”

“Why I would I do that? What if he gets mad at me and doesn’t want to be around me anymore?!”

“Heh. Well I found your problem!”

I’m going to have to clean this shirt well after this...

“It’s never good to hold in your emotions. Hiding them only makes the situation worse.”

She sniffles and looks up.

“Really...?”

Her eyes red and wet. This pain wasn't something that was just created from what happened earlier today. This had been building up over time. She had been hiding it from all of us... Did she think we would only be worried about her? Look at her and bitterly smile.

“What you need is to go right up to him and tell her how you really feel! All this hiding junk isn’t going to work out if you actually want to maintain the relationship you have.”

Did I make it a bit too obvious? She nods as her tears slow.

“Did you ever tell her?”

Ah. She saw right through me didn’t she?

“Not yet...”

She snickers a bit.

“And you want to comfort me, learn how to deal with your own problems!”

“yea, yea, I will.”

“You want to know something?”

Just watching them together makes me happy. Their dynamic is always so lively. Just to see it all fade...

“As much as you two bicker, I don’t think either of you want it any other way.”

“That sounds about right...”

I head back to the villa with Eva next to me. Sara comes back with Aron as we stand across from each other.

We did it!

Though... The two of them stare at one another seemingly still holding animosities. Don’t tell me this is how it ends....

Eva walks up slowly. Followed by Aron running up and hugging her tightly.

“He-Hey!”

“I’m sorry! I... was so caught in how boring I was to you... I just thought I always dragged you down.”

“What?! I can barely go a day without you being there because of how stale everyone else is!”

I shouldn’t acknowledge that comment...

Aron’s eyes water.

“Am I really that Interesting?”

“Without you... The whole world is just a flat piece of cardboard for all I care!”

“Really? You think so...?”

“Of course, who else could I constantly test on!”

“Ah... So I am important! Ahahaha!

What is this reunion?! I’ve never seen someone feed another person’s ego this much.

“Eva, I will always be your number one test subject.”

“And I’ll always have another test to perform specifically on you!”

No, seriously what is this reunion?! Was this a mistake?

After they let go of each other and sober up from... Whatever I just witnessed, we head back inside.

Sara comes over to me.

“Yuta!”

“Hm?!”

I feel like I’m about to get a stern scolding for some reason...

She stands there staring at me for a moment. She then looks down at the grown and fidgets with her hands. She timidly exclaims.

“I just wanted to say you did a good job today...!”

I wasn’t ready for that response...

“Th-Thanks! You too...”

We exchange looks then I walk away.

“I guess... I’ll see you later then!”

“Agreed

We’ve rarely got a break toady after helping that kid and now this... But thanks to their reunion, I’m much more relaxed.

“Phew!”

I fall right onto the couch.

“Haaaaaa~”

Looking up into the dull ceiling... I begin to wonder when’s the right time to say it? When I was just looking at her for a split second I could’ve swore she was going to tell me something. Something about her soft voice, her cute hair, her somehow contained, yet bombastic personality. It always leaves me wanting so much more. Last time this happened, I was the loved, but this time. I want to be the lover. I want to her to be mine and nothing more. A sudden light clicks in my head.

“Am...I forgetting something? Meh. I don’t think so.”

(ooooooooooo~ Tis I the ghost of Beruto's past! I'M BACK! Really? Yea, probably. I have quite a few more chapters to go but good grief I left off on such an odd cliff hanger. I wrote this a while ago, but I've been just forgetting to upload it for a while and no other reason ahahaa.... I swear I've been writing this entire time it's just no series I've written has gotten to this point like this one so I haven't uploaded them. I could upload them, but I'm not sure I want anything out unless it's 100% I guess we'll just have to wait and see? uh... How do I end these things again? See you next Monday hopefully quite a bit earlier and what's to happen next? Hell if I know! I think that's it... Yea!)