Day20

After what happened yesterday, I thought I would spend the entire Saturday just resting and probably think about stuff. Basically, I was planning on just wasting the whole day.

I didn’t think answering the ringing phone would completely change my plan. I half expected it to be Miya who was calling, but the voice I heard was much softer than hers.

I was asked to come to the school. I would have preferred the park, but she said it made her feel uneasy going there. Upon getting close to the school entrance, I was pulled into the side by someone. I was surprised by the sudden pull, thinking I was attacked or something. But it was just Hitori.

“What the heck are you doing?” I snapped.

“She’s there!” he cried, pointing to the school entrance. “I left my chemistry book under my table and thought I’d come to take it today. But now I can’t go in!”

I turned my attention to the school entrance, looking for who he might have been talking about. But there was only one person there, Yumi. “Miharu?” I asked.

Hitori grabbed me by my shirt collar. “Wha- You know her name? How?” he asked, shaking me violently.

He talked a lot about his crush. I never thought it was Yumi who he was referring to the whole time. “I know a dark secret she has. I told her to come meet me today or I’d tell everyone.”

This made him more violent. “What the heck are you planning on doing to her?”

I thought that if I kept it up, I’d get beaten to death. So I first made sure that wouldn’t happen. I hit his arms away, making him let go of my clothes. I moved a couple steps away from him before I continued. “You wouldn’t want to know,” I smirked.

Hitori knew me too well to believe it. After I said that, he just sighed, his face told me he didn’t believe me anymore.

I really wanted to play around with his imagination. I knew I had to do something. “Let me show you then,” I whispered then walked to Yumi.

Yumi was wearing a black shirt, which enhanced the paleness of her skin, and a red plaid skirt. A brown checkered shawl was wrapped around her shoulders. I was very close before she noticed me. She tried to wave, but I quickly grabbed her hand and gently forced it down. “There’s someone watching…” I whispered to her. “Just follow my lead,” I added as I placed my right arm around her shoulder. Pulling her close, we walked away from school. Yumi was too confused to do anything else.

We were around the shopping district when I asked her to go inside a girl’s clothing store. I went to a spot Hitori, who was following us the whole time, was trying to hide in. “Now do you believe me?”

“You sick bastard,” he furiously cried. “I never knew you’re such a scumbag!”

I couldn’t take it anymore at this point and just laughed. I thought I should tell him the truth before he really got violent. “I was kidding! Miharu’s a good friend of mine.”

Hitori quickly calmed down, as expected. “So how DID you know her?” he asked again.

“I bumped into her one day and we got to talk,” I answered. “She’s also a good friend of Miya’s and she asked me to go with her to buy Miya’s gift.”

“Let me come along! Introduce me!” he begged. “Please! I’ll be your best friend.”

Of course, knowing now that she’s the one he had a crush on, I agreed. I thought it would benefit both of them since Yumi’s short on friends. Hitori followed me into the store where I asked Yumi to enter. Both of us searched for her. The store was a small one. Since we couldn’t see her, I thought she might have been trying on some dresses. I was right, of course. She walked out from a dressing room, holding about three clothes on her right arm. She returned them to the store clerk, telling him something. Afterwards, she ran towards me.

“I couldn’t find anything that suits Miya-sempai. But I got bored, so tried some on,” she smiled. She then turned to Hitori, who was behind me. “He’s the one who was following us, isn’t he?” she asked worriedly.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her question. “Well, yeah.” Patting Hitori on the shoulder, and moving him to in front of me, I introduced him. “This is Hitori. He’s my best friend… Of course, he’s nothing compared to Miya.”

Being in front of his crush, my words had no effect on Hitori. “H-hello!” he stuttered.

Yumi looked puzzled for a while then laughed. “I see. Nice to meet you, Hitori-sempai.” She paused after that. “Wait… What’s his last name?”

“Takashiro,” Hitori answered. “But I’m not fond of it, so you can call me Hitori.”

“I find it kinda cool, though. But if that’s what you want, Hitori-sempai it is,” she smiled.

Hitori was overjoyed upon hearing her words. I knew I had to stop him before he completely shows his idiotic side and told them that we should start searching for Miya’s gift.

“So it’s Rinei’s birthday… When, exactly?” Hitori asked us, while we’re strolling down the shopping district.

“Today,” I answered. “It was Miharu who told me though.”

“Izaki-sempai’s pretty mean to forget his girlfriend’s birthday,” Yumi pouted.

“I can’t help it. The topic never came up,” I complained.

“When’s YOUR birthday?” Hitori asked Yumi. “I promise I’ll always remember it.”

“May 16,” Yumi smiled. “But don’t worry yourself over me. You’re graduating before then.”

“Oh, but it’s my pleasure to celebrate such a beautiful girl’s birthday,” Hitori replied.

We were walking in such a way that Yumi was between the two of us. Upon hearing Hitori, Yumi nervously inched closer to me. Hitori kept quiet after that. At least he knew better.

It took a while before we could find a gift for Miya. We got her a white bunny beanie. We had a late lunch in a hamburger restaurant after that, around 1:30pm. Hitori paid for himself and Yumi, saying something about a senior taking care of the younger students. He got to talk a lot with Yumi. I don’t really remember what it was that they talked about since I wasn’t paying much attention in the first place. Hitori left after lunch, saying he still has to go get his book.

I asked Yumi if she knew where Miya lived, as I didn’t. Fortunately, she did.

“I asked her a few days ago since I planned to surprise her for her birthday,” she chirped.

“Well, that’s lucky,” I replied.

Yumi led me to Miya’s house afterwards. Miya’s house was a mansion compared to my house. It was at least six times bigger than mine, and this was the house alone. If I were to include her yard, and the area behind the gate surrounding her house, I’d think it was around twelve times my house. At the sight of it, I felt so embarrassed that I even showed her my home.

“Miya’s richer than I expected,” I whispered to Yumi as I stared at the place. The gift on my hand felt so worthless.

Yumi turned to me, with a questioning look. “How poor did you think Miya-sempai was?” she asked.

“Uh… You’re not surprised by the size of her house?”

“Well, it’s a little bigger than mine. But it’s pretty much what I expected.” She answered as she rang the doorbell.

I felt like a peasant after hearing her. I wondered how Miya saw me when she saw my house. She must’ve seen me as a penniless vagrant. To think that, all these time, I’ve been spending time with people way beyond my class.

“Who is it?” a female voice coming from the speaker above the doorbell asked. I quickly hid the beanie behind me.

“We’re friends of Miya-sempai!” Yumi chirped. “Is she here?”

“Miya-sama?” the voice asked.

“Hai…” I answered. Hearing her mention the word ‘–sama’ made me assume she was a maid of theirs, impressing me all the more.

“Please wait for a moment,” the voice requested.

Yumi and I both waited silently for a few minutes. Finally, the door was opened by a man wearing a red polo shirt and black slacks. He had grayish hair and mustache, which made me think that he’s Miya’s father.

“Izaki and Miharu, I presume?” he asked. The tone of his voice made me nervous.

“Hai!” Yumi chirped. “We’re here to give something to Miya-sempai.”

“Miya’s not here at the moment, and she won’t be coming back anytime soon. Perhaps some other time.” He replied.

“Then…” Yumi looked at the beanie I was holding behind me. I pulled it out and held it out to him. “Can you please give this to her when she comes back?” Yumi asked.

“Okay,” he answered as he took the beanie. “Is that all?” he asked.

Yumi and I looked at each other. Turning back to him, Yumi answered, “Yes. Thank you very much!” We both bowed down and he closed the door.

Looking up, I could see the second floor window above the wall surrounding their house. Behind the window, I saw a concerned Miya, her fist raised to her chest, looking at me. We walked away from the house, to the direction of the school.

“I wonder where Miya is,” Yumi asked, worriedly, as we walked. “It’s her birthday. Yet, she’s not with her family or with you.”

To refrain from worrying her more, I decided not to tell her what I just saw. “I’m sure she’s fine. After all, her father was at the house. Maybe she’s with her cousins or something,” I answered, reassuring her.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she sighed in relief. Turning to me, she added, “Well, it’s too bad we couldn’t get to see her. Do you want to go tomorrow?”

Considering what I just witnessed, I declined. “I wasn’t able to spend last Sunday with my mother. I want to be with her tomorrow.”

“Aah, family day, is it?” she smiled. “That’s nice,” she whispered looking back in front of her.

“Don’t you have that with your mother?” I asked, turning to her.

She shook her head. “I think my mother is afraid of being with me,” she whispered. “She must’ve felt guilty at her trying to distance me from others and wanted to leave me alone. I tried approaching her several times, but each time I did, I only made her feel more awkward.” She turned to me with a small smile. “It’s like I’m the parent, isn’t it?”

I placed my hand on her head, rubbing it. “It seems that way. You’re really more mature than you look.”

“Have you fallen in love with me a little?” she playfully asked.

“You’re only mentally mature. Miya is mature in both mind and body!” I laughed.

Yumi pouted. “Not nice!” she whined, looking down.

“So what do you do on weekends?” I asked.

“I finish homework on Saturday and go out on Sundays,” she answered, looking back in front of her.

“All by yourself?” I asked.

She nodded in reply.

“So you’re going to do your homework tomorrow instead?”

Yumi shook her head. “I had a hard time sleeping last night, so I did them then. We didn’t get much homework for next week.”

I realized what happened yesterday must still be on her mind. I tried imagining how it must’ve been like living in her shoes. She was always alone. Her mother kept her from being with other people and also left her side. She must’ve felt so lonely strolling down the streets all by herself every Sunday, surrounded by other families and groups of friends. Suddenly, I didn’t feel poor at all. Even though our house wasn’t big, mom worked very hard for us to be able to live there. I was lucky to have such a loving parent.

“Do you want to spend the day with me and my mother tomorrow?” I asked Yumi.

Yumi turned to me, surprised by my offer. “Okay,” she smiled and nodded.