Mayumi's Side: Part Three

Oh no… I zoned out again. “Yes… sorry.”

The waiter was back and standing next to the table, he had already taken Saki and Yui’s order. He gave a warm smile down at Mayumi while Saki stared with a raised eyebrow.

Mayumi made her decision in a split second. “I’ll have the Risotto alla Milanese please.” She handed her menu to the waiter who was already holding the other girl’s.

“Good choice, thank you. We’ll have your food out in a little while.” The waiter disappeared into the kitchen.

In a harsh whisper Saki snapped, “What the hell was that?”

Mayumi remained silent.

“You blankly stared ahead for like, two minutes! What’s going on?”

“Kiki…” Yui said, trying to calm her down.

‘No, Yui, come on. You have to admit that was bizarre.”

Yui glanced over at Mayumi with a worried expression. “She’s right, that was weird, you weren’t blinking or anything…”

What do I tell them? My neighbor is a drug addict that punched a hole in my wall? Yeah it’s that simple, they will totally get it.

The other two girls kept looking at her intently, waiting for an answer.

No… I can’t use that, that’s awful. It would probably work but it’s something I shouldn’t say.

“Yumi?”

“I uh—” She cleared her throat. “I was thinking about my father…” Mayumi trailed off at the end.

Saki and Yui looked at her, then each other—they wore guilt-ridden expressions.

Saki spoke up first. “We— we didn’t know. Sorry.”

Yui quickly jumped in. “Yeah… we’re sorry.” She tried to laugh a little. “But let’s not let that get us down, come on. We still have all night ahead of us.”

“You’re right Yui. It’s alright, I’m fine, really.”

After a bit of silence, the conversation amongst the girls began to pick up again, and before they knew it they brushed off that awkward moment as if it never happened.

It was almost half-past ten now—the sun had long set and the city was now illuminated by apartment and office lights.

“Hey, Yumi?” Yui asked.

“Hm?”

“Did you leave your front door open by accident?”

Hearing this question, Mayumi looked down the hallway from the elevator and saw a light coming from her opened front door. She froze—only coming back when Yui said her name again.

“I think we need to call the police. Someone broke—” Yui tried suggesting but got cut off by Mayumi.

“I know who it is…”

“You know? What do you mean by that?”

The trains will probably stop running soon… I don’t think they’d be able to get home. I really don’t want them to see this. “It’s Murakami, and his friends.”

“Why is he in your apartment…?

“I don’t think you would really understand… I don’t really even get it.”

Some shouting could be heard coming from the opened door followed by a few different voices laughing.

“We need to just go kick him out and tell him that if it happens again we’ll call the police. Let’s go.” Saki took charge and started swiftly walking towards Mayumi’s apartment. “I’d honestly expect nothing less from a creep like Murakami.”

It’s not that simple Saki.

Saki opened the door wider and the three girls entered the apartment.

In the corner, next to the couch, three adults stood over Katsumi who was down on his knees fiddling with something on the wall. One of them was a girl wearing a baggy grey sweater. Another looked homeless, while the third adult was wearing a suit.

Saki grit her teeth and wanted to shout, she was barely able to contain her outrage at Katsumi. While Yui felt uneasy and speechless seeing these strange adults inside her friend’s apartment.

Mayumi didn’t have a reaction, she silently stood in the doorway with a blank expression.

The girl in the baggy grey sweater was the person Mayumi ran into on her way to the station—Shouko.

Shouko turned to see who opened the door and a huge, genuine smile grew on her face. “Oh hi! Mayumi! How’re you doing?” She walked over to the three girls. “It’s me, Shouko. Remember?”

Saki and Yui stared at Mayumi in shock.

The man in the suit approached the group. “Shouko, I think you’re scaring them. Do you have any idea where we are right now?”

“That’s mean, of course I do. We’re in Katsumi’s apartment.”

“Shouko—” The man sounded ashamed.

“Oh my god, no way… Your friends are so cute too~ What year are you three in?”

“Shouko, please. Do you really not recognize the situation we’re in?”

“Do you really not recognize the situation we’re in?” She mocked. “Makoto you sound like such a nerd. What’s wrong?”

“This isn’t Katsumi’s apartment. It’s this girl’s,” Makoto said, gesturing to Mayumi.

Shouko let her eyes wander around the apartment, she absentmindedly commented on how nice it was.

After a moment of the two groups silently looking at each other, Saki spoke up. “No. No. No, I don't care to understand what's going on. Yui, let's just go to Yumi’s room. I don’t want any part in this.”

“Huh? W-what,” Yui stuttered.

“No, come on.” Saki grabbed her hand and dragged her towards Mayumi’s bedroom.

Shouko gasped. “Oh no! Makoto! Do we look scary!?”

“You’re unbelievably drunk Shouko. Come on, let's get back to Katsumi’s place and lie down.” Makoto put an arm around her and tried to guide her away from the situation.

“No! I don’t wanna! I wanna talk with Mayumi and her friends.” Shouko pouted and broke away from Makoto—moving across the apartment.

“God damnit…” He sighed, following her across the room.

Why… Why did I know something like this would happen? I don’t even need time to process this… I knew from the second I saw the hole in the wall everything would only get worse by the time we came back.

The man with mismatched clothes looked over at Mayumi who was standing alone and motionless in the doorway. He then knelt down by Katsumi and whispered something in his ear. Katsumi paused what he was doing for a moment then waved his hand in dismissal and went back to whatever he was doing.

I pray that he’s fixed it. But I doubt it.

Mayumi came up behind the messily dressed man. “Excuse me sir, what’s going on here?”

He took his attention away from Katsumi and brought it to her. “We’re tryna fix the damage that Katsumi caused. Is this your apartment?”

“Yes.”

The look on the man's face grew a lot more solemn. He tapped Katsumi and said, “I thought you said this apartment was vacant?”

“I lied,” Katsumi responded without pausing what he was doing.

What is Murakami doing? Mayumi peaked over the man to see Katsumi struggling to glue pieces of drywall together.

“Murakami…” Mayumi sounded exasperated and defeated when saying this. Her tone filled with disappointment.

Katsumi's hands began shaking.

The sloppily dressed man took a step back. “...I— I’ll let you two figure out your relationship problems… I’ll get outta here.”

Mayumi took the spot next to Katsumi. “Murakami.”

No response came.

“I’m not angry with you.” Mayumi set a hand on his head.

“...”

“I just want to know what’s going on.”

Mayumi’s voice was like a mother’s. One that cared.

Katsumi slowly started turning his head.

What’s wrong with him?

Red lines ran throughout his massively dilated eyes. A dark stream of red ran down from his nose, pooling above his lip and flowing down his face.

Mayumi didn’t twinge at this repulsive sight, she kept staring right into his bloodshot eyes.

A grimace of pain was plastered on Katsumi’s face. A look that made him seem like he wanted to cry, but no tears fell. His white shirt was stained in blood—his hands covered in it too. He tried to wipe the blood off onto his shirt but most of it didn’t come off as it was already dried.

“Stop… don’t do that. You’ll stain your shirt even more.” Mayumi grabbed his wrists and pulled his hands away from his shirt.

“I’m here, right now. I have no idea what’s been happening these last few days, but this is real. Being calm is what’s important.”

That feels impossible.

Katsumi looked ready to explode.

Mayumi stared down into Katsumi’s eyes. They were frantically darting back and forth, seemingly looking for something.

In a short burst of action Katsumi broke his wrists away from Mayumi’s grip and lunged himself forward, trying to break right off her.

Without a second thought Mayumi dropped down and grabbed onto his torso.

“LET GO!” Katsumi shouted.

Mayumi didn’t respond, she kept holding onto him. Katsumi flailed and yelled, trying to get her off. More blood ran from his nose, staining both of their clothes along with the hardwood floor.

“M-Murakami—.” Mayumi was putting all of her effort into keeping him down, she struggled to get out words.

The normally weak Katsumi had immense strength, jerking and thrashing trying to get away from Mayumi.

Don’t let go—

“Mayumi you stupid bitch! Get off me!” Katsumi pushed at her face and kicked his legs at her. His right foot connected with her stomach, pushing her off of him.

“I— I can’t breathe… I can’t breathe… I can’t—”

Katsumi took his opportunity and got up. He attempted to make a break for the front door. However, when he was halfway across the apartment, Makoto came sprinting out of the hallway and jumped on him. The size and strength difference between the teenage Katsumi and the twenty five year old Makoto made it impossible for him to fight back. Katsumi was brought down onto the hardwood floor.

Makoto put his knee down on Katsumi’s back, pressing down until he stopped squirming and lied still.