Ichiro Kojima ventures into his principled self.

Ichiro Kojima

As I stood behind a wall, the spectacle before me played out just as I had imagined, and that made me upset. Okumori, in raging anger, stomped his way out of the cafe without uttering a single word, all while Iwasaki sat in her seat with a shameful look planted on her face.

Then, I looked at Miyake who had already been giving me a stare. She didn’t say anything, but simply nodded, before running after Okumori outside with haste.

I groaned in reaction to her nod until I pushed myself away from the wall.

The waitresses had already been on the scene, cleaning the broken mess that Okumori had created on the floor. I decided to help because I, unfortunately, accompanied Okumori here therefore it was my responsibility too.

Seriously, where are your manners, Okumori?

Once we were finished, I brought myself beside Iwasaki. She still refused to talk and just continued staring at her drink that had been gradually melting and barely touched.

"Still mad at him?" I asked as I set my hands on the table.

Iwasaki looked up at me silently, then looked back down. She slowly nodded.

"What do you plan to do then?”

"I don't know." She now replied anxiously.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

Iwasaki then grabbed a hold of my jacket, pinching it with her finger and thumb. She didn’t let go of it and tightened her clamp the longer she held it.

"I don't know if I should apologize." She then said,

"Well… Do you think you're in the wrong?" I asked.

"No." She replied with uncertainty.

"Then do you think you're in the right?"

Her hushed reply was enough for me to understand.

"Don't you think you should apologize? I mean, you yourself don’t even know if you’re doing the right thing here.” I sighed, “Honestly, when you told him to get over it, that was pretty dumb. What did you really expect him to reply with? You could already see your answer just by the way he walks.”

“What do you want me to do?! I just don’t want him like this anymore!” Iwasaki retaliated. “Is he really going to live like this for the rest of his life?! He’ll just regret it in the long run! Frankly, just seeing him made me angry!”

Iwasaki gasped in shakily once she was finished. I looked over and noticed that she had begun crying, but she attempted to hide it from me by consistently rubbing her eyes on her sleeve.

“Don’t look at me! My eyes are itchy, okay?! I’m not crying, I swear!” She said unsteadily.

"Iwasaki-san."

“What?!”

“If you apologize I’ll buy you cookies.”

“Ah… N- No! I’m not gonna take it!”

“Sugar cookies.”

“... No!”

“Big ones. Like, really big ones. Do you want it handmade, too? I can do that.”

“Stop trying to bribe me, Kojima-kun! I won’t do it!”

“Okay, okay, fine. I’m just kidding.” I surrendered as I laughed. “I can’t force you to do anything. I’m not you.”

She now looked outside the window and hugged herself. “Even if I do apologize, I wouldn’t know what to say… He might just get mad at me even more. Besides, he’s very stubborn. It wouldn’t be a shock to me if he doesn’t acknowledge my apology and just despises me altogether.”

“I see.” I replied. “Well, in the end, it’s up to you.”

She then let out a giggle.

“What’s so funny?” I asked, a little puzzled.

“Nothing. It’s just… You were trying so hard to convince me to say sorry to Okumori-kun that you began to offer me cookies earlier. What happened with that, hm?”

I scratched my chin with my finger and chuckled. “I guess I was just scared of making you even angrier?”

She sniffled and pushed herself back onto me, then dumped her head on my right shoulder. I could feel the tears from her eyes soak into my jacket almost instantly, but I didn’t dare to complain about it.

I shut my eyes once she laid on me.

She smells so sweet… Thank you, God. I prayed.

"You know... He's right."

"Okumori-kun?"

She nodded. "He's right about me not getting over it. That I try to act happy or delighted."

She wasn’t wrong. Iwasaki's attitude indeed had changed once we entered high school. Back when we were younger, she didn't talk much and had a short fuse, but now she was more civil, outgoing, and talkative. Maybe this was the reason why?

“Well, just don’t take it personally,” I said, trying to seem unbiased about it.

I now gazed at my sweaty palms. It wouldn’t be wrong for me to say that my hands were like this because Iwasaki was resting herself on me, because it was really toying with my thoughts. Seriously, if she accidentally touched my face, I probably would go ballistic.

But ignoring that, this whole conversation was just me being a complete total hypocrite, and I downright dislike myself for becoming so. I too, also have to atone for my sins, so why do I bother telling somebody else to do something that I tend to dither so much about?

I’m no better.

I’m just a big prevaricator if anything.