Let's End Today Early...

There’s 2 weeks until the Okinawa trip. After the Okinawa trip is the 5 week-long summer break, and Tsukasa’s birthday is during the break. Exactly 2 weeks after his birthday, it’s mine, which is August 31, which is also the day we get back from break. I’m not sure when Aki’s is. 

In the cafeteria, Aki, Tsukasa, and I are hanging out as usual— I’m sitting on the bench, Aki sits on the table, and Tsukasa stands.

I sigh. “I was afraid you guys wouldn’t be here again, like yesterday when you abandoned me to do whatever y’all did.”

Aki and Tsukasa look at each other, look away, and giggle a bit.

“Honestly, I wish you would just tell meee…” I groan and put my head on the table.

“Anyways, guess what!” Tsukasa jumps around feverishly.

Both me and Aki reply synchronously, “Hm?” My answer was muffled in the table, and Aki’s answer sounded apathetic.

Tsukasa smiles brightly and pulls out random sunglasses from his back pocket. I sit up and lift my head off the table, and look at Aki. We exchange expressions of confusion.

“I’m going to America!!” Tsukasa poses like an action star.

“Pfttt, what are you, Tom Groose??” Aki slaps her knee, laughing and pointing at him.

Tsukasa points back at Aki, with an annoyed look. “Hey, it’s Tom CRUISE!! CRUISE!!”

“Well, I’m sorry I don’t know my American movies very well! I bet you don’t know about the new Japanese movies!!”

Aki and Tsukasa bicker and bicker, and I interrupt. “Wait, when are you going to America?”

Tsukasa takes off his sunglasses and puts it back in his pocket. “My parents surprised me for my birthday. I’m leaving right after the field trip and coming back the day before break ends.”

“What?! When would we celebrate your birthday??” I exclaim in disappointment.

Aki makes little claps of happiness. “Oh, Tsukasa, it’s your birthday after Okinawa? That makes it…” Aki counts the days on her fingers. “…in 5 weeks? I can’t wait! What should I get you??” She starts bouncing around excitedly thinking about it, and Tsukasa joins her.

“Weren’t you guys fighting about Tom Cruise just now…?” I comment to myself, and I laugh weirdly.

I shake my head in realization: I still haven’t asked them about if they’re going on the trip! I suppose Tsukasa is going, because he said he’d go to America “after the field trip”.

“Hey, are you going to Okinawa?” I ask Tsukasa.

“I think. How ‘bout you, Aki-chan?” Tsukasa takes a seat next to me, tired from jumping around with Aki.

Aki, also panting, goes back to sitting on the table. “I wasn’t planning to. How ‘bout you, Katsuki-kun?”

“I’ll go if Tsukasa’s going.” I tried to answer as normally as I could, so it wouldn’t seem like I’m some lonely kid who only goes when I have someone to go with. “You should go, Shirasawa-san.”

“Huh? Oh, I’m not sure about that.” Aki seems like she’s thinking hard about whether she wants to go or not.

The bell rings, and we close up our conversation.

Before we split up, I pull Aki to the side. “Hey, Aki-chan, come here really quick.” I take her by the wrist away from Tsukasa and towards the empty locker rooms.

“H- hey! What is it?? There’s 1 minute until the period bell!” Aki nags at me. I brush her off.

“No, just listen to me. So you know how Tsukasa’s going to America for his birthday?” I explain in a rush. Aki nods in agreement. “I’m planning to hang out with him in Okinawa since he won’t be in Japan for his actual birthday.”

Aki simply answers, “Are you? That’s fun.” She tries to walk away from me and get to class, but I pull her back. She gets a bit shocked by my sudden action, and I apologize quickly.

“O-oop, sorry. Anyways, don’t sound like that. You should be happy. You should spend some time with Tsukasa on the field trip too.” I suggest, and nudge her with my elbow.

“I’m probably not even going. And why would I want to do that?” She rolls her eyes wearily.

“You know why.” A suggestive smirk runs on my face, and I nudge her more with my elbow. My eyes glance towards Tsukasa waiting for Aki outside the locker room.

“Stop it with that!” Aki’s face turns a bit red and she whacks my arm.

“No~” I tease, and Aki chases me out of the locker room, flustered.

I let Aki go back to Tsukasa, and before we all go, I remind them about the trip. “Let me know if you guys are going, k? You better go.”

They both nod in approval and head to class. I watch them from the stairs again, as they laugh together running to their next class.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Ugh… Can’t we end today’s session early?” I gripe. Today, I am not in the mood to study. I’m bored here, and tired, and my brain is worn out, and—

“No way. Keep working.” Aki answers without even looking at me. She continues to scroll through her phone.

I try to persuade her, and put on fake puppy eyes. “But didn’t you see my 92% on the test today? I’m doing really well…”

Aki finally puts her phone down and sighs. My eyes light up in excitement. Is she really gonna agree to leave early?!

“The 92% that you changed from the original 29%? Keep dreaming.” She rolls her eyes and goes back on her phone.

“Ugh.” I groan. But I won’t give up. “Let’s go shopping, Shirasawa-sensei. We can go and find a gift for Tsukasa’s birthday.” I tug on her sleeve.

“Shopping??” “You can find Tsukasa-kun a present yourself. Keep writing.” Jeez, Aki’s so stubborn about making me study. But she’s not even helping me! She’s just on her phone, and I’m just doing boring worksheets!!

“We can stop by the-“

“No.”

Then, an idea pops up in my head. With a naughty grin on my face, I lean back in my chair, then put on a fake pout. “Man, that sucks. I heard NewJeans’s new album was released yesterday. The concept photos were really pretty. If only I had the album… Am I right, Shirasawa-sensei?”

Aki thinks for a moment. She looks like she’s struggling in her mind. She begins to nod yes, but stops halfway. “…no! No, no, no way!” She shakes her head, trying to stop herself from getting caught up in my temptations.

“But… I know you want to. You’re listening to the album right now, aren’t you? And probably scrolling through the concept photos.” I lean close to her headphones and whisper in the lowest voice I can. I will do anything to get out of studying right now.

Aki bites her lip and closes her eyes in an attempt to resist. “… fine.” I evil anime laugh in my head! “But get away from me!!” She pushes me away from her ear and hides her face in her long hair. “Pack up your things.”

I fist pump and sighing, Aki walks out of Boba Fans, and I jump after her.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After a few minutes of searching the humongous, maze-like shopping mall, we come to the store we were looking for.

Standing in the entrance was a life-size statue of the mascot bunny of NewJeans, the music group we came to explore today.

Aki takes a quick selfie with the big bunny, and we hastily run in.

The store is lit up with neon lamps, and tall beige bookshelves cover the walls. The shelves are lined with music albums, from the most recent releases and all the way back from 2011.

Both me and Aki gape at each inch of the shop. It’s a music wonderland. I definitely wouldn’t be reacting this way if I came here a month ago, which was before I met Aki. After all, I only got into this kind of music thanks to her.

Anyways, it’s really just me running around the shop, touching basically anything I can get my hands on. For some reason, she’s just following me around.

“Shirasawa-sensei! Look at this!” My eyes sparkle. “Isn’t this adorable!” I blurt out.

But like I said, she’s just following me around. I know I was the one who incited our shopping outing, but I still expected her to be more excited than this. “What’s wrong?”

“Huh? Nothing. I’m ok. Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Uhm… Katsuki-kun, look over there!” Aki seemed like she was spacing out, but she regains her senses, then points to a shelf behind me. Her eyes widen in surprise.

I spin around and my eyes trace to where she’s pointing. My eyes widen too. We both exclaim, “It’s the album!”

On its own pink shelf, it stands out from all the other albums. NewJeans’s new album, the one Aki and I have been talking about since we left Boba Fans.

We run towards it and we gaze at it like a special treasure.

“Oh my, this is so beautiful. Which version should I get?? Wait, I should search which one is the best. This one is the one I saw before, and this one…” Aki pulls out her phone to search up the differences in the versions. She’s red in excitement, and her feet won’t stay still.

As she looks into the different album versions, I explore a nearby table, filled with small trinkets. I pick up something I found on that table. “Aki-chan, look over here.”

“Don’t distract me. I’m researching these amazing albums.” Aki doesn’t spare a second to look at what I’m holding.

I hold it right in front of her face to get her attention. “You should buy this for Tsukasa. There's a box full of them on the table.”

It was a silver bracelet with a pink, heart shaped-gemstone pendant with yellow sparkles.

Aki’s face quickly heats up red. She stumbles away from me and the bracelet, and violently whips her head no. “N- no! That thing is basically a love confession!”

“Exactly~” I walk towards her with the bracelet in my hand, grinning, almost like a psychopath. “And, since he’s going to America for his birthday, you can give it to him on the field trip. Along with a confession.”

“No. And I’m not even going on the field trip. Let’s just get the album.” With the red tint on her cheeks still lasting, she runs back to the albums and continues admiring them.

I sigh. I put my hands in my pockets and trudge back to her. “Fine. My sister’s waiting for me anyways.”

Aki and I finish up, and Aki gets in line eagerly. I get in line behind her, with my own item to buy in tow.

By now, it’s nighttime outside. Once we get out of the mall, we didn’t realize how late it was already, so we decide to depart as soon as possible.

As we walk home, I glance at Aki, who’s still awestruck at her new music album. “Your eyes are sparkling, you know.” I smile warmly, but Aki probably can’t even see it under the dim street lights.

“So are yours. Quite literally.” Aki looks up at me, with a little giggle.

“Yeah yeah,” I chuckle and shrug, “my ‘hazel, countryside-Hokkaido’ eyes, right?”

I notice Aki’s grip on her album tightens a bit, and she softly adds, “Those “hazel, countryside-Hokkaido” eyes are what I can’t forget since that night…”

“Huh?” But I couldn’t hear her. “You spoke too quietly. The buzzing street lamps were even louder than you. What did you say??”

“N- nothing.” Aki turns away from me, and I can’t see her face. Why is she always like this?? So weird.

We continue our steady pace back to our homes. The night is silent, but it’s not awkward with Aki here.

“By the way, what did you buy from the store? You were in line behind me.” Aki tilts her head in curiosity.

But I wave my hands in a ‘no’ symbol, and shrug it off. “I just uh, got something small. For my sister.” Unlike Tsukasa and Aki, I’m a good liar.

After about 5 minutes of walking, we arrive at the intersection of where we split.

“I’ll see you after Okinawa.” Aki waves. I can’t see her face right now because it’s too dark, but the tone of her voice had me imagining her with an inconsolable look on her.

I have no choice but to… “No, you’re going on the field trip though.” I pull out an extra field trip slip I got, and I offer it to her.

But all Aki does is look down at it, and pushes my hand with the paper down. “I don’t need it. I said I’m not going.”

“Just take it. It’s due by tomorrow.” I push my hand back up, and I’m steadfast in making Aki go. “You do want to, don’t you…?”

Aki stands there for a while, fidgeting. She takes quite some time to think, but in the end, sighs and takes the paper. “Thanks, Katsuki-kun.”

The last words I leave her with tonight are, “See you on the field trip, Shirasawa-san.”

We both take our leaves for the night. I didn’t want to force Aki into going, but she seemed like she really wanted to. Plus, it’s the perfect chance for her to spend some time with Tsukasa, and to tell Tsukasa about her feelings!

I clutch my newly bought item in my pocket, and ramble on home.