One Step Closer

Inside the locker, on top of Kurosawa’s shoes, was the last page of Shiori’s book. Immediately after she saw it, she snatched it and placed it where it was supposed to go inside the book.

Kurosawa fumed with anger. “I’m going to have a word with that Ichinose. When I get a hold of her, she’ll wish she hadn’t messed with us!” She stormed off down the hall, searching for Ichinose.

Shiori held her book open, holding the page down to ensure it didn’t fall out. Her body started to tremble.

Even though Yuta could only see her backside, he could tell she was about to start crying. He pulled her to him and held her against his shoulder as she began to bawl.

“I thought… when I transferred schools… no one would be mean to me anymore…” She sobbed during each pause.

He gave her head a few comforting pats. “No matter where you go, there will always be a few bad people. But there will also be many good people. Just know that you’re not alone. I’ll always be here when you need me. I’m sure Kurosawa and Hitomura feel the same.”

She gripped his shirt as she cried into him. He felt her tears soaking through his uniform. He stood there for several minutes until her tears stopped.

“Thank you… I don’t know what I would do on my own…” She rubbed the remaining tears away and smiled sadly.

“I may only be your tutor, but I’m here for you. If you’re ready, would you like to go home? I’ll walk you there.”

She simply nodded and waited for Yuta to move past her before she turned and walked with him.

The whole way to her house, Shiori was silently staring at the ground.

Yuta watched her through the corner of his eye. ‘I tried so hard to keep the bullying a secret from her by removing the notes that were left in her locker every morning… I wonder if there was anything I could have done to prevent this from happening…’  He sighed the thought away and continued in silence until after he had returned home from dropping Shiori off at her home.

Kaori greeted him at the door along with a few customers she was waiting on. After she had taken their order, she approached him. “How was school today?”

“The class rep forced me to rest in the nurse’s office since I had a cold, and I had to deal with someone getting bullied.”

“You have a cold? You should have told me! I would have taken care of you before you went to school.” She put a hand to his forehead and was relieved to find that he didn’t have a fever.

He waved her hand away. “I’m fine. I just wish I didn’t have to miss out on my classes today.”

Kaori motioned for him to walk with her. “What’s this about bullies?”

“Someone had stolen the book my client spends a lot of time reading and ripped out the last page.”

“Oh, that’s terrible… Whoever they are, they should be ashamed of themselves.”

He stopped in front of the counter. “I’ll let you get back to work now. I’ve got some studying to do.”

“Okay, have fun!” She waved before heading into the kitchen.

Yuta traveled upstairs and opened the door to his room. He sighed upon seeing Kotori laying on his bed again.

She noticed him and sat up. “Yuta! I got here about ten minutes ago, but Kaori said you weren’t here, so I waited in your room for you!” She hopped off the bed and ran up to him. “You’ll spend time with me now, right? Right?” Her eyes were gleaming in excitement.

“Aren’t you a teenager? You should act a little more mature.”

Kotori pouted. “I can act how I want!”

He sighed. “Kotori, I really need to study for the exam.”

“The exam two months from now?”

“Yes. I need to get perfect scores.”

“What you need is a life. You need to learn to have fun!” She crossed her arms.

“Look, Kotori. I’ll spend more time with you once the exam is over. But for now, I need to study. Okay?”

She took a moment to think. “...Alright. As long as you promise.”

“I promise.”

“You better keep it!” She exited his room and paused to look back before hopping down the stairs.

…

It was lunchtime, and Yuta sat in his usual seat in the library. Across from him was Kurosawa, with Hitomura sitting on her left. Kotori sat next to Yuta with her arms around him, and Shiori sat at the end of the table, diagonally across from Yuta.

A textbook lay on the table in front of Yuta, Kurosawa, and Shiori. Hitomura was on his phone, undoubtedly playing a dating sim.

Yuta noticed Shiori wasn’t looking at her textbook, but rather was staring at her lap. She looked upset, likely due to the events of the previous day. “So how was your trip to the library last week?”

Shiori looked up, puzzled. “The library?”

He nodded. “You went with Kurosawa to the library last week, right? How was that?”

“It was… fun…”

Kurosawa leaned over and grabbed a book from her bag, showing it to Yuta. “Ozaki recommended this, so I checked it out.”

As Yuta looked over the book, Shiori turned red. “The Adventurous Boy and the Studious Girl, huh? That sounds like something she would read.”

Shiori took a book out of her bag and placed it on the table. “K-Kurosawa recommended this one…”

Yuta took one look at it and laughed. “A manga about tennis?”

“W-What’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just that it seems sports is the only thing Kurosawa can think about.”

Kurosawa narrowed her eyes. “What’s wrong with liking sports?”

“Nothing, nothing. Usually, people have more than one interest, but I guess there are exceptions.”

“Coming from the guy that does nothing but study.”

Yuta was about to fire another remark, but stopped when he heard laughter. He turned to see Shiori giggling.

Kotori let go of Yuta and sat up. “Now, now, let’s not fight. We all know studying is the only thing on Yuta’s brain.”

Hitomura put his phone face down on the table. “By the way, Ozaki, I wanted to ask you something.”