Five: Karaoke after class

As soon as I arrived home, I headed straight to my room and lay still on the bed for a few minutes. I dropped my back on the floor and rolled over to the other side to face the wall. Before I was so close to dozing off, I remembered I had to make a group chat. I pulled out my phone from my blazer pocket and quickly opened the messaging application to add everyone else to the group.

[Ikeda: hello! i got everyone’s contact info cause of fujimoto. this group chat is for the science lab group 3]

Not long after, Fujimoto and Eri replied right away.

[Fujimoto: no prob. thx ikeda]

[Eri: hello~! thank you for adding me! ^^]

I noticed that Takahashi hasn’t replied yet and suddenly remembered that she was still at club practice. This led me to how I couldn’t help but overthink if Takahashi was really fine with wearing my gym shoes. I understand that my feet are smaller than most, but she’s still a girl after all. What if she wouldn’t be able to play well with those? Or worse, what if she tripped and got injured… And she will be unable to play basketball forever?

Realizing I started having negative thoughts again, I shook my head and decided to get up to prepare dinner for myself.

It was 4:02 PM.

Since I felt that it was still too early to eat, I grabbed my bag and decided to do my homework while waiting for time to pass by. I headed over to my desk and started working on them. It’s definitely in moments like these where I wished I wasn’t so stubborn to join a school club just like how Rin advised me to.

My phone dinged and lit up, revealing a text message. It was from Rin, speaking of the devil.

[Rin: i think u left early?? wanna karaoke?]

I placed my pencil down and picked up my phone to reply to him.

[Teruhiko: im doing homework]

[Rin: stop being such a nerd. lets go out]

I sighed and pondered on whether I should go out or not. I just started working on my math assignment, and I still had two more subjects to go through. Once more my phone rang and I looked over and saw Rin added another message.

[Rin: cmon pls? soccer ended early for us cause coach had another one of his dramatic walk outs. he said that we can’t play today cause the guys from last yr’s regionals failed to win. i didn’t even play last yr why am i punished also?!?!]

[Teruhiko: sorry to hear that haha. ill catch up with u guys after this. just text me the location]

[Rin: okay!]

I placed down my phone and continued with the math problem. I am unsure why it’s hard to say no to Rin sometimes. But then again, he’s a friend I would never want to lose so I guess I just deal with it – his energy, I mean.

By the time I finished answering math and science, I moved to social studies which was the last homework I had. As if on cue, my phone beeped and I got another message. Thinking it was just Rin sending a message from the karaoke place, I ignored it and continued writing the social studies essay. But then it rang again three more times, so I had to check it out.

[Takahashi (to the group chat): hi! thank you teruhiko for adding me]

[Takahashi (to me only): hello! wanna say thanks for the shoes :> i’ll clean them before i return them tom don’t worry]

[Takahashi (to me only): sorry they called for me i can’t stay long bye bye]

I swear, why does she keep calling me by my given name? I don’t think we’re that close enough for her to casually call me like that. Trying to think of ways to bring this up, I grabbed my phone and replied to her direct messages instead.

[Teruhiko: ur welcome]

I resumed writing the essay and after a few minutes or so, I was finished already. I got up to change out of my school uniform and into a casual shirt and pants. I went to the toilet to do a quick fix on my hair, before taking the essentials with me and exiting the house.

I opened my phone to check the time and saw Rin's message to meet up at the karaoke shop by 5:30 PM. One of his club mates owns the shop and they’re having an anniversary promo, wherein the prices are marked down for the day.

4:58 PM. It was still a bit early to go there, considering that I live near the location of the karaoke, but I decided to go first anyway.

People say it's good to step out of your comfort zone, so I believe it never hurts to hang out with others outside my friend group every once in a while. Although when I say friend group, Rin is probably the only person in that circle.

In just a few minutes, I'd already arrived and I made my way inside the shop. I sent Rin a message to inform him of my early arrival and placed my phone back in my pocket.

One of the workers behind the counter motioned me to come closer and I timidly walked my way to her.

“Are you classmates with Akio?” The lady asked. I rambled through my brain, trying to think of anyone named Akio in my class.

“Oh, Suzuki? Yes, I am.” I told her.

“There are already a few people inside, do you want to wait in the room instead?” The lady said.

I stood there for a few seconds, feeling unsure whether or not this Suzuki Akio is part of the soccer club or not. After all, I was merely Rin's guest, and I was planning to just follow him and his plans, whatever they may be.

“It’s fine if you want to wait here for someone else though.” The lady at the counter smiled. Perhaps my emotions were showing too much on my face.

“No, it’s okay, I’ll just go in,” I said as I asked her which room were the others waiting. The lady called another employee to help assist me and I simply followed suit as the other guy instructed me to go with him. We went to the second floor and he pointed to the room beside the staircase, telling me that we’d already arrived. I said my thanks to the employee and knocked on the door. Guessing that they couldn’t hear me over the loud music playing inside, I opened the door and got inside the room.

“Hello–” I greeted.

“Ah! It’s Ikeda, hello!” Eri yelled over the microphone, causing her voice to echo throughout the room.

I looked around and saw that the people inside were indeed my classmates and a bunch of others who I didn’t know. At the corner of the room, near the mini-platform, sat Takahashi wearing a shirt and a school skirt. I guess this is what she meant when she said that they were “calling for her”. She and I exchanged glances but before I could even get a word in, my phone rang, and saw on the caller ID that Rin was calling me.

“Hey, where are you? My clubmates said that they already went inside, but I’ll wait for you in the lobby.” Rin said.

I hurriedly exited the room where the others were and rushed down the stairs to see Rin sitting on one of the center sofas. I ended the phone call and approached him instead.

“Yo,” I said. Rin turned around with a very scared expression on his face. He clutched his chest and let out a deep breath. “Man, stop that. You popped out of nowhere.” Rin scolded me.

I chuckled and explained to him how I arrived first and that I saw a bunch of my classmates in one of the rooms upstairs.

“Right, yeah, I forgot to explain that. Your classmates were the ones who invited us, soccer club people. I wanted it to be a bit of a surprise since I know how much you’ve wanted to mingle with your class, yet, you’re still in that weird awkward phase of yours.” Rin said, slinging an arm over my shoulder as we made our way upstairs. “I thought to myself of how genius I would be if I invited you as well. I think this is a great opportunity, no?” He added.

I sighed. Rin knew me too well.

“I think I love you, man.” I joked. Rin lightly slapped me across the face and made fake gagging noises.