It Starts With You: Part Three

The train lurched—then slowly started rolling forward. The clacking of the wheels on the rails grew louder and more frequent.

Makoto and Kaede wanted to continue arguing, so they decided to sit right next to each other, allowing them to do so more effectively.

The train’s interior was seats lining the walls with space inbetween for passengers to stand. Because of the adults' urge to argue, Katsumi and Mayumi were forced to sit across the aisle from them, cramped next to each other.

A few minutes of quiet arguing about the most meaningless subjects passed. It drew attention from some of the nearby passengers while Katsumi and Mayumi sat in silence.

Eventually, fed up with listening, Mayumi pulled out her cellphone and headphones, adjusting herself to get ready for a long train ride.

I’m too close to her… I’m not just too close, we’re pressed up against each other. I don’t know if I can take this for the entire train ride. I pray it’s not like this on the next one… I hope I’m not making her uncomfortable or anything… I mean if I was her I’d definitely ask Hirano to switch with the guy. Or if I could switch with Makoto. What if she’s too nervous to ask? No no, that’s probably not it at all. She’d just say it outright if she was. Arata probably isn’t even thinking about this.

Katsumi glanced from the corner of his vision at what Mayumi was doing. She was looking through a music playlist, a lot of them were older Japanese songs from the 80’s and 90’s.

She really listens to that? I mean the only reason I know any of these is because my mom listened to them all the time. The last person I would’ve expected to like that stuff is Arata. Why are her fingers so shaky while typing though? Is she nervous?

Katsumi looked up from Mayumi’s cellphone to her face. She wore an expression that radiated anxiety. Her eyes were opened wider than usual and was blinking often—her cheeks were a light shade of red.

No way… She’s even more conscious about this than me? Someone that’s…. stoic like her cares about being close to a guy? Knowing Arata, there’s a high chance that’s not it. What if she’s just having an awkward conversation with her mom or dad? That could be it.

Kaede and Makoto’s argument had subsided after a long ten minutes back and forth. However, this left the four in an awkward silence. With Katsumi overthinking things, Mayumi overly nervous, and the two adults refusing to speak to each other, this trip started seeming like a poor choice.

The two younger ones were each lost in their own ideas. While the should be, “mature adults”, were giving each other the silent treatment.

The first leg train-ride was almost over and Kaede sighed. She turned to Makoto and reluctantly broke the silence.

“Matsushita, I think we got off on the wrong foot. I don’t know why my first reaction was to say I’m married, it was most likely because of the bad relationships I’ve had in the past. So I’d like to apolog—”

“Nope.” Makoto cut her off.

“Ha~!? What’da ya’ mean no!? I didn’t even finish!”

“Nope as in, I don’t accept your apology.”

Kaede leaned into Makoto’s ear, “Okay, then let’s at least compromise. If you don’t want to like me that’s fine, but let’s act nice to each other for the kids. This trip isn’t about us, right?”

Makoto considered what she said for a moment. “You’re right, I don’t like you.”

Kaede pressed down hard on his foot with her heel. “Hm? What was that?”

“Ow— Ow— Okay okay, let’s do it for them.”

“Thank you.” Kaede leaned back, crossing her arms and legs.

“Katsumi, have you ever rode the Shinkansen?” Makoto asked.

“Hmm… Maybe when I was really young with my parents, but I don’t remember if I did.”

“It’s nothing really special if you ride it a lot but the first time is a fun experience. You don’t really realize how fast it goes until you actually ride it.”

“The only thing I’m thinking about related to the Shinkansen is that it means no smoking for five hours.”

The two were at Tokyo Central train station, waiting for the arrival of, not just Japan’s, but one of the world's fastest trains.

Makoto took his cigarette out of his mouth and blew a wispy cloud of smoke. “Addict.”

“Say’s you.”

“Mm~ This one’s just for fun. I used to be back when I was your age, sure, but I did some growing up.” Makoto looked at Katsumi and gave him a smile. “We gotta board soon, come on, let’s go get the girls.” He put out his cigarette in a small metallic tray.

The two entered a gift shop that was in the train station. It had an entrance framed with wood while the interior had the usual modern look you’d expect.

The girls, Mayumi and Kaede, were near the back inspecting a shelf of miscellaneous items.

“Katsumi, watch this. They didn’t notice us yet so I’m gonna get back to Hirano.” Makoto started quietly approaching her from behind.

This guy… I thought he was an adult I could rely on. There’s no way he’s the same one giving me lectures on maturity…

Makoto was standing about a foot from Kaede, he held a large Oni mask in front of his face.

He took another step forward and was now mere centimeters from the back of Kaede’s head.

Mayumi had seemed to notice but didn’t give away Makoto’s surprise.

A few long seconds passed before Kaede turned around.

She yelped and without even taking the time to see who it was behind the mask, slapped Makoto in the face with all of her strength. But realization quickly hit her back.

“Matsushita! Why’d you do that!”

“I should ask you that!” I was just trying to scare you! You hit me! And it was really hard too…”

“You shouldn’t come up behind girls like that! You deserved that slap! And grow up, it wasn’t even that hard.”

“It was…”

Why did I invite them… Katsumi came and joined the three. “We oughta get going, come on, enough messing around Makoto.”

Makoto grumbled as the four boarded the Shinkansen.

The order we’re walking in and the way we’ll naturally sit down I’ll be right next to Arata again… and for five hours this time. With no smoking too… I don’t think I’ll make it.

As the bunch boarded, Katsumi's worries washed away. He was expecting the Shinkansen to be like any other normal transit, but that was far from being the case. The interior was more like a plane, or a coach-bus, with individual padded seats.

I worry too much. Some of these things do just work out on their own sometimes. But why was I so freaked out about sitting next to her again? It’s something that’s almost meaningless, yet it lives so persistently in my head…

Kaede got in a seat by the window and Makoto plopped down right next to her, sporting a massive smile.

“Mayumi, Katsumi, please… one of you switch with me. I beg you!” Kaede pleaded.

Neither of them responded to her call for help though. This left Mayumi and Katsumi sitting in the same aisle together.

It’s not as worrying as I make it sound in my head. But that doesn’t mean I can just tell myself to stop agonizing about it and then magically It clears away. It’s not how my brain works, no matter how much I’d love it to.

Katsumi angled his head to look at Mayumi, who’s gaze was fixated at the passing city outside of the window.

It’s kinda funny, thinking back on what Nara said a few weeks ago, ‘Oh? is this the start of your little rom-com?’ It feels like that sometimes, but if I were to have that stereotypical kind of love story I’d imagine it’d be with someone kinder… Maybe more expressive too.

Mayumi was fixated on the passing cityscape, presumably lost in thought, or maybe excited about the trip to come. She sat with her legs crossed, her hands resting in her lap. The morning sun shined through the windows of the train, illuminating her face with a ray like an angel.

I think I would have to be different too…

She’s kind… But it’s in her own way. Not like how Nakagawa is outgoing and… excitable? She’s like a golden retriever, always excited to do everything and meet people. I’d say Arata is more like a cat that doesn’t show outward affection towards its owner, but always expects to be fed on time nonetheless. Is that rude? I probably should never say that to her face or to anyone she knows for that matter. I’m getting distracted, I have to remember the purpose of this situation. This trip serves as an apology to Arata. Not as a ‘beginning to our love story’ or something like that. She isn’t someone I should be involved with, for her sake and for mine. Our involvement has only helped to hurt her so far… The incident in Tokyo, the goddamn hole in her wall, my mirror, my phone… I have to make sure that I let her down easy. After this trip, I’m done with Arata.

“Murakami? Is something wrong?

Katsumi cleared his throat. “Nothing, I’m fine, thank you. I was just enjoying the ride.”