In the Clouds

Ichiro felt incredibly nervous, though he wasn’t fully aware of it yet.

The rain had finally let up after its torrential downpour, cooling the warm early summer air, relaxing the tension everyone was feeling so far in the day.

During their lunch break from classes, Ichiro approached Izumi while she sat at her desk, pulling out a bento to eat. It was lucky that he moved quickly, because a small crowd was starting to surround her. This sight caught him off guard, as this was different from how they were treating her shortly after her arrival.

But just as Ichiro moved his way into the crowd, he could tell it actually wasn’t that much different than this morning. Most of the conversation was happening around her, not with her. Whispers as she watched her like some animal at the zoo. Frustration began to build in him as he watched them move around her at a slight distance. But it was the actual conversations people tried starting up with her that got under his skin.

“Hey, Nakagawa, right?” was the start of the conversation which caught Izumi by surprise, her eyes blinking wide like a deer in the headlights with her first bite still being brought to her mouth. Being polite, she set her chopsticks down and turned to face them, doing her best to reintroduce herself to them. The first couple of questions they asked were the usual fair of getting to know someone, but then it quickly went downhill.

“So how long have you been in a wheelchair?” the group of girls who were actually talking to her began prodding.

“Uh, well, I, uh…” Izumi kept a soft smile on her lips as her eyes darted around. Ichiro wasn’t aware if anyone else noticed, but her cheeks quickly began to glow pink with embarrassment as she carefully picked her words. “It's been a while, but hey, um, tell me about yourself? What was your name again?”

But that was not where the conversation went. “So are your legs, like, broken? Or, like, is it something else?”

A soft hum was all Izumi answered with as her eyes faded from their normal sparkle to the inky pits Ichiro had seen several times before. The tension in the room became heavier, as the onlookers began to snicker amongst themselves, while the couple of girls kept insisting she answer their ridiculous questions.

Feeling like his molars were about to be crushed from how tight his jaw was at that moment, Ichiro felt his feet moving before he realized he was aware of what he was doing. Swift movements brought him directly behind Izumi, his hands taking hold of her chair’s handlebars.

“Hey guys, I was about to start giving Nakagawa a tour of campus,” Ichiro’s voice was as sweet as he could muster at that moment, though he knew his dominant tone was causing those around him to take a step back. In that brief moment, he was very glad to have gotten that from his father.

The girls gave him some cutesy smiles before waving goodbye and moving back to their seats, but as they turned, Ichiro saw them cut their eyes at Izumi. Now that a bit of the show is over, the rest of the crowd starts to disperse.

Once the last of them had moved away from them, Izumi breathed a subtle sigh of relief before looking behind her at Ichiro, who was still standing with an intense look in his eyes. “Thanks, it was starting to get claustrophobic here,” she gave a soft giggle before reaching to grab her chopsticks again and raising it to her mouth.

“I was being serious about the tour, though.”

Without warning, Ichiro pulled back on her wheelchair, causing her food to suddenly become too far out of her reach before she realized what was happening. She lunged out over her side armrests, flailing her arms wildly, trying to get back at her desk. “NO!” She cried out loudly, “I just got a chance to eat! Let me go!”

“Not happening,” were the only words Ichiro replied with as he moved her out from the classroom to the mostly empty hallway. The second he had her over the threshold, a sharp pain erupted into his hand, causing him to recoil away from her. Shaking his hand to alleviate it slightly, he saw Izumi still gripping her chopsticks as she had stabbed his hand with them. “What was that about?”

Her inky eyes glared up at him through her furrowed brows, slowly setting her chopsticks onto her lap. “I’ll go on your little tour or whatever. But don’t push me around, got it?”

Still tending to his now bruised hand, Ichiro glanced between it and her a couple of times. “Sure, just don’t go around stabbing me, OK?” Shaking his head, he jammed his hands into his pants pockets and began moving ahead of her in the hallway. “If you're coming, then hurry it up already.”

Shortly after he began walking, the sound of metallic whirring and clicking emanated behind him. Without needing to turn around, he began his simple tour of the campus. He started with the front entrance.

“This is the main entrance,” He began by jutting his shoulder out towards the glass doors just beyond the shoe lockers in the foyer of the school, “You will have to come in through the front gates each morning, don’t be late, or they will lock you out. And then you will need to change out your shoes at the lockers here.” Turning around only once he had finished his short presentation, he noticed there wasn’t just Izumi behind him.

“I already know that. I came in that way and have already changed my shoes out.” she shook her head and turned to Takuya, shrugging her shoulders, “Can you believe this guy?”

“Yeah, he occasionally lives in his own little world,” Takuya snickered leaning against one of the locker stacks, “Needs to be knocked back down to Earth on occasion.”

“Uchida, you don’t have the room to talk,” Hina chided her classmate as she joined Ichiro’s side, “Constantly falling asleep in class. But go on, Ichiro, show us the rest of the school.”

“Huh? What are you guys doing,” Ichiro demanded with great confusion in his tone, seeing his friends on the impromptu tour with Izumi.

“We just wanted to back you up if needed any help,” Hina gave him a warm smile and moved closer to him, “You got this, but I want to be here for you, just in case. Ichiro gave her an uneasy look back as she stood politely next to him and gave a small bow to Izumi to introduce herself.

While the two girls exchanged pleasantries, Ichiro glanced over to Takuya who was still resting against the lockers with his arms behind his head. “I was bored,” he shrugged and gave a sly smile. “Wanted to see where you would take her. A secret corner of the school to make out or something?”

Though Hina was still mid-conversation with Izumi, her head snapped over to the boys. “Don’t talk like that, Uchida! Ichiro isn’t that kind of guy. He would never.”

“Yeah, he is too much of a prude to try anything like that.”

The three looked amongst themselves wondering where those words came from before looking at Izumi who was chuckling to herself in her wheelchair. “If anything, you would have to worry about me doing something like that, not him. Not that I would, but still…” she continued to laugh to herself, unaware of the disturbed looks being cast down on her by the others.

“Uh, Nakagawa,” Hina strained to give a soft smile with her eyes pushed closed by her blushing cheeks. She moved in close, squatting down in order to be eye level with Izumi, “You seem to know Ichiro pretty well. Is this not the first time you two have met?”

“Huh? Oh!” Izumi quelled her laughter, realizing the question. “Yeah, I met him at the hospital. We had physical therapy at the same time. That’s how we got to be best buds, right?”

She offered a hand up towards Ichiro between Hina and Takuya who both turned with confused looks from the diminutive girl to their friend. Ichiro raised his arms defensively as he glanced nervously between his friends. “I have no idea what she is talking about.”

“Here, proof.” Izumi pulled out her phone and showed the screen, about how they were friends on Lime. “We text now and then.”

Takuya snickered when he recognized his friend’s profile. Hina on the other hand, slowly looked over at Ichiro with glowing red eyes, sending a shiver down his spine. If he didn’t know any better, he would have guessed that the face she was making now was the inspiration for the traditional oni mask.

“Alright, fine.” Ichiro felt his shoulders slack as he knew the jig was up, sighing in defeat, “I have met her before. But I would say we are the furthest thing from friends.”

“Are you sure?” Izumi stood up, crossing her arms under her chest, her face still miffed, “Is this why you chose to be her helper?”

Ichiro nervously bit his lip, but straightened up when he recalled the scene in the classroom earlier. “I guess,” he shrugged, shaking his head in frustration, “No one else was willing to step up. But yeah, I felt because I knew her, I should be the one to help her out.”

“I am fine on my own, really,” Izumi tried to interject, but the other two didn’t seem to hear her as they stared at each other unflinchingly.

“Hey,” Takuya butted in between them, “let’s keep this tour going. Have you seen the campus courtyard yet? It's pretty cool and spacious. Lots of fresh air there, right? Plus, our practice ball field is there. Sounds cool right?”

“Oh really?” Izumi seemed to take Takuya’s bait, though he was still waiting for the other two to take the bite, “Yeah, that does sound really cool. Lead the way, Ichiro!”

Sighing, and willingly breaking eye contact first, Ichiro turned towards the front entrance and waved over his shoulder. “Right, right. Just follow me” He leisurely took a step off the ledge of the hallway wooden floors and onto the tile floor of the locker area, keeping his feet moving forward. The others quickly moved to flank him as he made his way to the door.

He only turned around when he didn’t hear her wheelchair moving around behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw her leaning forward in her chair at the step-down before her. This caused Ichiro to freeze mid-step, realizing what he had just allowed to transpire. Regret filled his throat with a vile taste as he turned back to rejoin her.

“Sorry, about that,” Izumi waved her arms in front of her, plastering a smile over her face, “I’ll go out the side entrance and meet you guys out there. It’s got a ramp there.”

“Are you sure?” Ichiro moved his head to get a good look at the wheelchair as he spoke. “I think Takuya could lift you up enough to get you down this one step.”

As he finished his suggestion, Izumi opened her eyes. The cold inky stare returned. “I am fine. I am sure. I can handle things on my own. Just trust me.”

“Ok…” Ichiro gulped slightly, discomfort settling into his chest from her gaze alone. Without another word spoken, he watched as she maneuvered her wheelchair down the hallway.

Just barely out of sight, she hollered back over her shoulder. “I’ll meet you guys out there in a moment.”

Unsure of what else to do then, Ichiro hesitantly turned over his shoulder as he walked back to the doors. “Let’s go meet her outside. OK?”