Someone to Take My Hand

The next few days are a blur. Every night, every scenario in which I could botch it plays out in my head. I dream about saying the wrong thing and Hashigami yelling at me and calling me disgusting. I dream about doing the wrong thing and Hashigami yelling at me and calling me disgusting. Those thoughts don't leave my head until I'm at the same bus stop that I was standing at weeks ago, in front of Heiwa Park, where the trees line the gravel in front of the entrance and the fountain (turned off for the winter) stands majestically.

This time, I'm not surprised by the appearance of a high school girl in a dark green down jacket, gently walking up to the bus stop to stand next to me. I stare at her face in profile for a second or two. I thought I'd blown it with her the last time we met, and she's here again.

"Hey, Sakuta-san." She turns to face me, her long hair blowing in the breeze. She really is pretty. It instantly makes me feel self-conscious. I went to Unaclo and bought some clothes- jeans, a t-shirt- nothing special, but at least something better than the tracksuits I've been wearing. But compared to her, it's like I'm wearing rags.

"Afternoon." I try my best to not let the nervousness creeping over me show in my voice. "Are you ready to go?"

She nods.

That's the extent of the words we say to each other at the stop, and when we get on the bus, and when the bus lurches into motion. It's as awkward as it could possibly be in here, and it gets worse with every second. But I don't know what to say to her. Neither does she, apparently.

As the bus trundles down the road, the only thing I can focus on is her- her silky hair, large, round eyes, small nose, clear skin-

How could someone like her even live in the same world as me?

Suddenly, the bus screeches to a halt, and I'm thrown against her, pushing her against the window as the entire crowd aboard shifts to one side. She closes her eyes in surprise, but doesn't make a sound.

Oh, crap. This is just making it more awkward.

I pull myself back as fast as I can. "Sorry, Hashigami-san! I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine. Are you okay?" She looks at me with concern in her eyes. "I don't know why the driver stopped like that-"

"HEY, YOU!" A guttural roar comes from behind me, and suddenly Hashigami's expression drops. "I SAW WHAT YOU DID!"

When I turn around, the crowd on the bus has parted like the Red Sea, and a shaven-headed guy is marching down the stairs from the upper level right toward me, glowering. He's pretty big, too. Probably does judo or something. The rest of the passengers stare nervously, not knowing what to think.

"Sorry? Can I help you?"

"I saw you grope her, sicko." In barely a second, the guy's right in front of me, staring with a gaze that could melt steel.

"Huh? I did wha-"

Suddenly, I'm turned upside down, landing on the floor of the bus, and a jolt of the worst pain I've ever felt is rippling up my shoulder. I can't move. There's a knee digging into my back. This guy has a grip that could stop a train, and I'm a weak, scrawny nerd.

"You're safe now, miss." The guy's deep voice is coming from somewhere above me. I can't turn to see- my face is being shoved into the floor of the bus with all the dirt off people's shoes. "I'll rip his arm out of his socket if he tries anything."

There goes my heart rate, faster, faster, and faster. I can't see the people on the bus, but I can imagine what they're thinking. Look at that disgusting weirdo. I'm so glad a hero like that clean-cut young man showed up to stop him. Nobody will believe my side of the story. My life is really over this time. Why? I didn't even do anything wrong. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn't even touch Hashigami.

...She's not saying anything. She thinks I'm disgusting, too.

The walls are closing in. Everything I was afraid would happen happened. No, worse- it's something more horrible that even I could have imagined. I thought she might get mad at me for saying the wrong thing. I never thought I'd end up with a criminal record.

I feel like I'm about to pass out. Or break down crying. Or both. Damn it. Damn it all.

"Sir? Is everything alright?" That's the bus driver.

"Call the police-"

"Let go of him! That's my boyfriend!"

...Huh?

He relaxes his grip just enough that I can turn my head to see what's going on. There's Hashigami's legs, and her jacket, and I thought that was her voice, but she wouldn't do something like that...because she hates me...

"Miss, it's alright. You don't have to make excuses-"

"I said let go of him!" This time her shriek is louder. "Did you not understand me?"

"I'm serious. You didn't have to lie about this creep. We all saw him feel you up. There's no way a guy like this would ever have a chance with-"

Out of the corner of my eye, I see it. A shiny, black, patent-leather penny loafer, attached to a leg covered in navy tights, slams into the guy's crotch like a bullet.

Oh, God. I felt that. I felt that and I wasn't even the guy getting nailed. I think every single guy on the bus felt that.

He gasps and falls to the side, and I'm free.

Before I can register that the pain has stopped and I can move again, a warm, soft hand, half the size, wraps around mine, pulling me to my feet.

"Sakuta, we need to get out of here!"

"Ma'am, stop-" The bus driver doesn't even finish his sentence until Hashigami blows by him, literally pulling me along so hard I think that my arm might rip in two. All I can do is keep running as fast as I can to match her in the cold November air.

I wasn't dreaming. She really did take my side.