Chapter 4:

Like an owl, Youko Miyake only stares.

Accepted


Youko Miyake

We all left for the café, with the air between Okumori and Iwasaki still being rather tense. I could see them deliberately trying to avoid any communication with each other by distancing themselves. We eventually arrived, and took our seats in a booth. Kojima and I sat in front of each other, while Iwasaki and Okumori did the same.

When the waitress came for our orders, it stunned me to see that Okumori was quite cooperative with her. More cooperative to her than us, at least. He didn’t talk, as per usual, but instead only pointed to the drink he had wanted before facing back to the waitress with a composed, and peaceful look. After finally taking all of our orders, the waitress strolled away, only to come back a few minutes later and presenting us with our drinks.

I looked over to Kojima, who was staring at me intently.

"Kojima-kun… ?" I nervously called.

"Huh? Oh.”

Once he realized that I had caught his attentive eyes, he immediately ducked from my gaze and scratched his nape nervously again. "Sorry. It's just... I heard there was a new girl today at the school, and I was just checking you out to see if the rumors were true."

That’s just creepy!

"R—Rumors? What kind of rumors?" I then questioned.

Kojima only moved his head farther away from me, and it made me even more overwrought than I already was.

Oh.

"... They're terrible rumors, aren't they?" I sighed. "Well, I can't really blame them-"

Kojima cleared his throat loudly, causing me to stop in the middle of my sentence. He balled his hand into a fist, and punched his chest around three or so times, then taking a deep breath.

"No, they're not exactly terrible..." He pointed out.

I tipped my head to the left at him intriguingly.

"It’s just… Most of the guys seem to have an interest with you already.”

I could feel my face turning ablaze upon hearing his correction, and it made me anxiously face downwards to my lap and set my palms on my cheeks to try and cope with my burning expression.

"W—Well... I'm used to that too..." I tried to reassure.

“But don’t worry, Miyake-san. I’m not one of those perverted guys!” He coyly chuckled. “Iwasaki-san can attest to that! Right, Iwasaki-san? Iwasaki-san?”

I dropped my hands back onto my lap, and looked at the two.

Nervously, Kojima opened his mouth once more. “Iwasaki-san… ?”

Iwasaki simply sat down, appearing to zone out. She didn’t heed Kojima’s calling, and only had her eyes set on the hazel-colored table. Her expression was merely vacant, like a statue.

Kojima waved his hand in front of her face. Iwasaki eventually noticed his attention-seeking action, and blinked rapidly in realization.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" She smiled.

"Are you okay, Iwasaki-san? You were giving that table a pretty damning stare.” Kojima remarked.

"It’s nothing!” Iwasaki fluttered her hand at him. “Nothing at all!

“That didn’t seem like nothing… You thinkin’ of guys again? Did someone finally catch those picky eyes of yours?”

“Wha—?!” Iwasaki reddened to his assumption. “A-Are you crazy?!”

“I’m not the one giving the table a death stare.” Kojima absently responded and shrugged, “If anything, you’re the crazy one here…”

I should probably leave them alone…

While the two bickered against each other, I looked over to Okumori and spotted him staring out the window. It was evident that he didn’t want to indulge himself with any of us, and only wanted to remain in his own secluded mind.

Well, what did I expect? It’s not like he was much of a talker, anyway.

Then, the waitress from earlier approached us with another drink on her tray. She placed it down in front of Okumori, and provided him an amiable smile.

Okumori nodded back, taking his cup without recognizing the waitresses' cute grin.

He ordered another one! I mean, seriously, that first one he had was massive! Is his metabolism level that high? I'm so envious of it. Just eating a ton of food without any repercussions is such a dream for me! I'd feel insecure and heavy after drinking two large cups of Frappuccino's, yet here was Okumori, drinking away and still having a moderately fit body!

But not only that, did the waitress just smile at him? Do they know each other? Is it another person Okumori knows?

I looked back at the waitress, and saw that she had a slight blush present on her face, until prancing away.

It took me a few seconds to realize what had just happened.

People are acknowledging him…?

It was blatantly clear that the waitress had an interest in him, and it made me a little content. It's like my son won his first soccer game! I raised my fist in accomplishment, then merrily grabbed the straw that was inserted inside my cup and drinking.

I realized Okumori was staring at me in a displeased way. Assuming he had seen me celebrate, I awkwardly waved at him.

"I-It was nothing," I said, my words slightly muffled due to my lips still wrapped around the straw.

He slowly nodded.

"Stop looking at me like that. It's embarrassing." I pulled away from my cup.

He sighed and shook his head, which only made me feel even more ashamed of what I did. I shook off my flustered self, then started to decide what to talk about.

"Okumori-kun, you didn't write down the notes from earlier, right?"

He immediately froze. He lightly shook his head, not wanting to meet my gaze.

"Figures. You were knocked out on your desk." I sighed.

I grabbed my bag, took out my school supplies, and set them on the table. Okumori gazed at it in intimidation.

"It's your fault for not paying attention." I grouched.

I brought my drink and myself closer to Okumori to help him. I pointed at the first few sentences.

"Write this down first. It'll probably be on the test."

Okumori looked down at the notebook then back at me with a puzzled expression.

“You didn’t write down the notes earlier, right? Copy mine.”

He nodded slowly, taking out his notebook and placing it on the table. He looked at me again with a ‘You're sure?’ type of face.

“Yes, I'm sure," I replied lazily.

Okumori grumbled in return, then following my instructions. He hesitantly grabbed his pencil and started writing, looking back and forth between the two notebooks that were present on the table. While Okumori and I were busy focusing on the notes, Kojima interrupted us.

“Hey, Miyake-san, next week me and Iwasaki decided we’d go to a karaoke, do you want to come? You can invite anyone else, of course.” Kojima asked.

I looked up to him, astonished by his sudden invitation. "Huh? A karaoke? Erm... I'm not sure. I'll try to keep my schedule open!"

“It’s fine if you don’t make it. Iwasaki and I can always make up.” He looked over to Iwasaki with a nod, to which she nodded back nervously. It only made me presume that she didn’t expect such a bold question from Kojima either.

“Okay, sure.” I smiled.

A karaoke…? I kind of want to join...

After that small talk, I had the urge to use the bathroom. Since that Kojima was there, I felt safe that Okumori and Iwasaki wouldn't do anything terrible while I was gone.

"Okumori-kun, I'm going to use the bathroom real quick. Just keep writing, and I'll check to see what you've done when I'm back."

Okumori nodded, then continued. Seeing that he followed my order without any retaliation, relief flowed through my body. I then stood up and entered the bathroom.

Eventually, I finished and was now washing my hands, and considered whether bringing Okumori along was a good idea. I stared at the sink expressionlessly, zoning out. The water that flowed through my hands started to feel nonexistent, as well as the smell of soap fading away.

The tension between Okumori and Iwasaki had made me very troubled. I didn't like how they had been ignoring at each other in the slightest. Just one glance at them and I could already tell that there was some bad blood between them.

But, it also made me curious. Who was Iwasaki to Okumori? An ex-girlfriend? A friend?

It made me uneasy just thinking about it. Judging from how they treated each other, The two must have a very complicated relationship.

I wondered: Does Iwasaki have something to do about his cloistered life?

I hope not.

I shook my head rapidly, trying to remove the thoughts I had. I finished washing my hands, then exited outside and approaching the booth.

"... I still haven’t changed my mind." A girl spoke.

I instantly froze, then pulled myself back and hid behind a wall.

What’s happening?! I was just gone for a minute!

I slowly peeked over and noticed that Kojima was completely missing.

Where is Kojima at?! I trusted that he'd stay there, so where was he now?! I then moved my eyes over to Iwasaki, who had been giving Okumori a gloomy gaze.

"I haven’t either." Okumori answered back, but in a rather rough tone of voice, “I hate you, and you hate me. It’s fair that way, isn’t it?”

He continued eyeing outside the window, and didn’t bat an eye towards Iwasaki. She paused to his words, and seemed a little startled.

“What?” She then forced a jeering chuckle, “Did you become some sort of pessimist ever since high-school began?”

Okumori had no retort to her insult. He simply moved his head back and locked her gaze towards Iwasaki. It was a blank stare, yet it felt ominous.

I could see Iwasaki starting to get tenser by the second. She took a deep breath, and placing her right hand on her forehead in stress.

"You're still thinking about it, aren't you… ?"

Without a second wasted, Okumori landed his fist on the table with a loud bang. He removed his eyes away from her, and instead looked down at his lap. The surrounding people around our seats instantly directed their eyes over and became silent upon hearing it.

“Shut up already… Of course, I am...” He growled.

I widened my eyes upon seeing this agitated and distressed mood of Okumori. It was offsetting to me, because it was nothing compared to the usual irritated aura he had with me. I continued to pay close attention, yet also debating whether I should intervene before it got worse.

"Miyake-san? Oh, hey! What's wrong-?" A familiar voice called out.

I glanced over and saw Kojima, who was waving at me and making his way over. I immediately lunged forwards at him and grabbed his shirt, then pulled him aside and pinned him by setting my hands on the wall with my arms close to his head.

"M-M-Miyake-san?!"

"Shut up!" I violently whispered. “I’m hiding both of us!”

"Hide... Both of us?" He confusingly questioned.

I peeked over and checked to see what I had missed, with Kojima doing the same.

"Move on from it, Okumori-kun. She’s dead… You can’t change it.” Iwasaki’s voice shook.

… Dead, who?

“Shut up. I’ve heard that same apathetic sentence over and over again. Do you really think it’s that easy? Move on and disregard such a massive impact in our life? You’re not any better than me, Iwasaki-san. It’s undoubtedly clear that you’re just being a hypocrite. You haven’t moved on from it either, so what makes you think it’s even morally right to even say that to me?”

“Don’t make it sound like I’m the bad one here! I’m just trying to help you!

“I don’t care! Say it! say it already! I hate the way you try to act like this confident, assertive girl! It’s so obvious to me! Be more open! Be more honest!”

Okumori halted on his words. He appeared to be hesitating. His breathing started to struggle, and his arms began to shake even more due to how tight he was clenching his fists.

“Be… Be more sad about it!”

Okumori sounded desolate, angry, and terrified all in one sentence. I couldn’t help but watch in awe at his words. The café felt like a library. No one talked, or even moved because they could only feel astonishment. All we could do, was watch.

Okumori slapped his drink away from the table. It struck the floor, and broke into multiple shards of glass. It flew everywhere and clattered on the floor, with liquid splattering all over.

Iwasaki was speechless, and stayed in one position as she stared at him in disbelief.

Okumori then looked up. Now, he only seemed scared. He took a moment to scan his surroundings, and realized the gawking eyes that were aimed at him.

And then, he ran off.