The Unfinished Story - Chapter Nineteen (Part 1)
Title: The Unfinished Story
Author: aemrith
Pairing: Yamada Ryosuke/OC, Arioka Daiki/OC, Nakajima Yuto/OC
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Family
Warnings: May take long to update.
Summary For Chapter 19: Wow. Things are turning interesting. As Line prepares for her trip to Gunma, things between her and Daiki changes - while Louise still battles hatred from some people. Oh. There's a rooftop, there's the storage room, the Foundation Festival, and that surprisingly interesting Quiz Show. These are the days before Christmas - anything could happen, ne? [I so suck at these summaries... darn it.]
A/N: Sorry for the ridiculously late update. T^T I could only apologize. Explaining wouldn't really change much, but if you are curious - academic life has been pretty... erm, tough. And my writing skills are getting rusty lately. There are days I feel like my confidence is deep down low it's so hard to pump it up. XD anyways, thank you for your patience! This is a pretty long chapter (not like the others are short, but oh well) and I feel as if a lot has happened. haha. XD
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“Sorry I’m late!” Then Yamada comes in, stumbling upon Kamiki right away. Suzuka beamed and gave him a hug. The scenery suddenly looked so confusing to her.
_________
The entire time, Louise busied herself with finishing some decors. While Suzuka and Kamiki were just nice enough to help out, she can’t bring herself to just be friendly with them right away. Louise’s a total anti-social, as you can say, when it comes to new people.
“I heard about the last game Ryosuke, I’m sure you still did great.” Suzuka uttered upon hearing Kamiki and Yamada talk about soccer.
Yamada smiled shyly, it is somehow a sad smile too. “Thanks Suzu-chan.”
“Things happen.” She uttered, “For reasons…” and continued, then she saw those set of huge cloths Louise managed to paint on. It’s for background-changes on the stage. “That’s just amazing.” She stated, looking almost mouth-agape at Louise’s direction. “Umiko-san, these are…” she stared at her works, “…just amazing…” seems like she couldn’t really find her tongue.
Louise, taken by surprise, stopped what she was drawing and looked at Suzuka’s direction. She’s not used to compliments - especially from people she hardly know; but she knew he has to say something back, so a small “Thank you” was what she managed to produce.
Suzuka replied with an assuring smile.
It seems as if time flew interestingly fast, and soon their teacher came to rattle them telling them that it's fine for them to go home, thanking them for willingly working even if it's a day-off - most of them decided to stay for a little while though… actually, almost all of them.
It's a Saturday, going to school and doing work, heck, there's no harm staying a little bit more since they're there already anyways. It is rather early though, just well after lunch time, but it seems that staff needs the gym vacant; thus they didn't have much choice but to leave and just continue on their work on Monday.
As Yuto mounts off the stage after putting away the instruments they’ve used and all that, he was walking towards Louise’s spot - and there he saw her with Yamada. They looked pretty busy arguing over something, design-concerns perhaps?
It didn’t really matter much to him. He knows Louise. He knows there’s really nothing he should worry about. Then again, that little thud inside his chest says otherwise, but Yuto decided to ignore this awful feeling welling up inside. Just as when he was about to go closer Louise and Yamada, he was stopped when Suzuka called out to him, and she’s actually standing beside him now.
“I wish you guys luck on your performances.” She said rather cheerfully. Suzuka has always been the calm, collected, nice-girl type. You can say there’s probably not one bad thing you can say about this person.
Yuto, the ever so friendly Yuto, gave off a smile and nodded, “Thanks Suzu-chan.”
The two ended up talking, most of those they used to do together when Suzuka was still at school. See, back in those days, she’s probably one of Yuto’s closest friends. Keito wasn’t there still, but back then, Yuto and Suzuka were like best of friends.
Others have concluded their friendship would go down the romance lane soon, and thus it did. Rumours spread that at the Foundation Festival just before Suzuka left, she confessed to Yuto which Yuto declined nicely. They’ve managed to part ways as friends and so making casual conversations like these right now possible.
“Umi-chan…” Yamada uttered. He’s been calling out to Louise for about thrice now, and since he got no response, he decided to exert more effort by pinching her cheeks.
“Stop touching me!” Was her obviously rude reply, but Yamada’s used to it somehow. Then again, when he saw the look on Louise’s face, he wasn’t sure what to say next. So when she asked him, “What?” He stared at her for a few more seconds just keeping his silence.
See, Louise was looking Yuto and Suzuka just now. Yamada noticed just as when he pinched her cheeks.
“Stop being silly, come on…” She uttered upon hearing no reply, and stood up, folding her fabrics. As she finished putting away her stuff, she can’t help but look towards Yuto and Suzuka’s way as they talk, laugh, occasionally she’ll hit him lightly and he’ll just give off that stupid smile. What surprises her is how she got irritated hearing Yuto’s voice doing a higher pitch. See when Yuto is amused, his pitch shoots up high. It’s sometimes annoying, but it’s one of his unique characteristics. Yamada on the other hand decided to just let her cool off whatever seems to piss her and kept fixing his own stuff.
It wasn’t long before Louise decides to leave the gym, head for the room, pick up her things and just get done with the day. As she passed by Yuto and Suzuka, she made a note to herself to just keep walking and not look at them, but she found herself being dragged to the spot, for when she passed by them, Yuto was quick to grab her forearm.
Yamada, who was still putting away some stuff sprawled on the floor, looked towards Yuto’s and Louise’s way, and he stopped what he was doing. Louise was looking rather pissed. He can tell. And now, he knows why.
“You’ve met Suzu-chan, ne Ruu-chan?” Yuto asked rather innocently, and Louise just eyed him before looking at Suzuka and managing a smile then bowing right away to hide her not so controlled face.
“She’s way better than you described.” Suzuka replied, as polite as ever.
Louise was expecting Yuto to laugh but what she heard probably was the reason why her cheeks suddenly felt hot. “This girl is just the best.” See, the way he said this, there’s this certain touch of seriousness one won’t really expect to come from someone like Yuto.
Suzuka managed a “Uh-huh…” and this caught Louise’s attention. She’s curious as to what this girl meant by that, but when she looked up, she was caught again off-guard as Suzuka just smiled at her and patted her shoulder. “You take care of Yuto, okay?” Her eyes were somehow just so easy to stare at, Louise felt trapped - but not in a bad way.
She did manage to frown though, and Yuto was looking rather confused too.
With these responses, Suzuka giggled, “He can be pretty difficult, but he’s a great guy.” With this, Louise can feel Yuto’s grip on her forearm tighten a bit. She looked at Yuto and he was just staring into Suzuka’s eyes which are staring at Louise’s (sorry, is it a bad grammar moment for me? T___T)
“…Suzu-chan…” Yuto managed but Suzuka cuts him off saying…
“He’s never looked this happy...” With one last look on Yuto’s uncomfortable stare, and Louise’s questioning ones, she continued, “Not even when he was with me.” She ended with a casual smile and started looking around for someone - it wasn’t long before Kamiki joins them and soon enough, he and Suzuka looked like they were about to leave. (My, my… these two. They can just come and go as they please, eh?) “Later guys!” She soon ended, and soon they were out of the gym as fast as when they came.
Louise felt a little, relieved perhaps, but that’s probably not quite the right term. It is though, as if she finally exhaled after holding her breath for a long time.
Yuto looked rather exhausted. But he fits the word ‘relieved’ a bit better than Louise. See, he looks like he’s been drained out of oxygen and now he’s been given some supplies. And no lies, he looks rather pale that Louise had to trash all the things in her mind and focus on Yuto. “Hey, are you okay?” She asked, shaking Yuto’s shoulder.
He bit on his lower lip first before nodding at Louise with a smile. At least she looks like she doesn’t really have anything inside her head that much. But Yuto knows that Suzuka could’ve said more but she decided not to. He’s thankful nonetheless - not even when Suzuka seems to have the intentions and reasons of telling stuff Louise might rather not hear yet.
As they head back to the room, and most of the people are gone - it is way past dismissal time, everyone has had their fair share of overtime for today, Louise, Yuto, Keito and Yamada were still inside the room, and a few more classmates.
Soon enough, “Ruu-chan, let’s go?” Yuto asked as he shoves his bag on his back.
Yamada was shuffling things inside his bag when he heard this and he looked up discreetly at Louise and Yuto.
Louise is also done with fixing her things but, “You go on ahead” was her reply, and this made Yamada stop what he was doing.
Yuto frowned a little; they always walk home together so…“You still have something to do?” He asked then glanced at Yamada’s way, then back to Louise, “I can wait for you…”
“It’s fine, you can go on ahead.” She said rather casually. “See you Monday.”
Without anything else to ask, and judging by her tone of voice, “…Jaa… See you then.” He tried to sound cheerful, but who is he kidding.
“Did you guys fight?” This was Keito’s question the moment Yuto left the room.
Louise looked at him as if he said something ridiculous -not that Keito doesn’t say silly stuff often- “Heck no…” she replied, sitting on her table. “What’s with that question?”
Keito shrugged, “Thought you guys did.” He said casually, walking over to Louise’s side and facing her. “Since you and Yama-chan suddenly end up not getting back in time yesterday, then you show up with a sprained ankle, perhaps… well…”
“I’m not Yuto’s kid that he can scold whenever I do stuff that he doesn’t know.” Louise was quick to counter. It’s awesome how she gets to read on ahead inside Keito’s mind.
“I’m surprised he didn’t act all panicky this morning.” Keito looked at Yamada who is now joining their little talk. “What did happen yesterday, huh Yama-chan?”
Yamada looked at Louise and after getting nothing but a shrug, he heads off briefly telling Keito about the little Mariya-Sawatari incident.
“Next time, you ask Yama-chan. He spills everything out.” This was Louise’s remark upon Yamada ending the story.
Keito had this really serious face fixed, and it really looks hilarious too. “Wow.” Was all he could manage and soon Louise has her backpack on and was on her way out of the room - Keito followed her and Yamada and the three were soon walking on the empty halls, down the stairs and out of the campus.
They’ve reached a point where Keito has to head on a different route while Louise and Yamada are heading the same direction. But before they part, Keito said this, “It sure seems like even after everything Umi-chan, there are still some left who wants you out of this place.” Keito looked like he’s trying not to be angry; this guy can totally keep his cool when he chooses to.
As they separate ways, Louise looked at Keito, and in fluent English she replied, “They won’t have to keep up with having me here for long anyways.” Yamada, who was walking a few steps ahead, stopped and looked back at Keito and Louise.
“WHAT?” Keito replied rather shocked, and Louise just stuck out her tongue, started walking and even grabbed Yamada’s hand as she picks up the phase and run. “Oi! Oi!” Keito called out but the two were gone. “What the hell was that about!?” He ended up shouting; he knows Louise heard it anyways.
As they slow down, Louise was laughing and Yamada was just looking at her. “You are just too hasty sometimes!” He complained; it’s great he didn’t have to hear what she said to Keito.
“Sorry.” She held her breath and then started walking. “Keito can be a pain when he asks questions.”
“It’s funny how you can run with that ankle.” Yamada noted as he watch Louise walk a little limply.
“Didn’t hurt…” So she keeps walking a few steps ahead. They’re just a few blocks away from her house. “You take the train to get home, right?”
Yamada let out a “Yep.” But he kept walking with her.
“Take the train. Go home.” She ended up saying after a few minutes of walking together in silence.
“Way to push someone away.” He said, pretending to be hurt.
Louise laughed though, “Wh- I was just trying to be nice.”
“How exactly?” he sounded amused.
“Well…” She tried to think of a witty way to say it, “It’s a Saturday. Great to be at home, taking a nap….”
“Nah… spending time with you isn’t so bad.” His reply came a little too sudden, and the tone of it - sounding rather genuine - gives Louise a foreign feeling so she ends up whacking his shoulder. “Why’d you hit me!?”
“Just felt like it.” She grinned and soon they’ve arrived at that oh-so familiar park. Yep. The river’s pretty quiet today. The weather’s pretty good - but it seems as though winter really is just a few days away.
They sat on a bench since Louise didn’t feel like going home yet, and she also said that Yamada would cry if he’s all by himself. They ended up just sitting there in silence. There sure is something wrong with Louise today if she’s this quiet. “Ne Umi-chan…” Yamada decided to talk, and Louise replied with a “Huh?” without looking at him. “Suzuka-chan…” he continued, waiting for a different reaction but Louise didn’t say anything. “Do you know about her and Yuto?”
Louise didn’t look at him, but she did twitch her lips and started swaying her feet - the usual way Yamada has always seen from her. Soon enough, “What’s there to know, and why should I know?”
Yamada chuckled. This person, she really knows how to use her words when she has to, “They’re really close. Like you and Yuto…”
This time, Louise stopped swaying, but still, she didn’t look at Yamada.
“But anyone who’s seen them before, and is seeing you and Yuto now, would know the difference.” His voice turned rather different, but Louise couldn’t quite put it into words what changed.
Intrigued, she replied, “What?” as simple as that.
Yamada pouted, as if looking for the perfect words to say, and also, trying to figure out how to calm his chest down since it seems like it’s losing some air - or so, that’s what it feels. “It’s just that…” he nearly whispered, “With you… Yuto is…” he kept thinking, but his head was blank.
What is he trying to do at this moment exactly? Is he trying to tell her that he thinks her best friend is in love with her? Is he trying to ruin that good friendship they have at the moment? Is her trying to sabotage Yuto? Oh wait… what if Yuto doesn’t really like Louise the way he thinks, what would happen?
Then again it hit him…
Yamada took a deep breath. Who is he kidding? It’s fairly simple. ‘I’m just trying to see what she feels about him.’ His head answered him pretty clearly, but his mouth was shut.
“Oi…” Louise nudged him, obviously his no-response would’ve piss anyone. “I’ll be going now.” She was already on her feet when Yamada looked up at her. “You better head home too. It’s getting freakily cold.”
Yamada just stood up, shoved his hands inside his pockets and nodded at her. “See you Monday then.”
“Un…” was her short answer before Louise runs towards the building’s entrance, that little question in her head as she stared at Yamada’s blank face. The things that guy keeps inside of him are some of the rare things she’s too interested about, sometimes she’s scared of them herself.
xXxXx
It’s a Wednesday. The 14th of December, and it seems like winter intends to enter without snow but with chilly winds.
“Dai-chan…” Daiki frowned, hearing someone faintly saying his name. It’s perhaps the second time already, but he just couldn’t quite put who it is. “… Are you okay?” soon he felt something on his forehead, and that made him jolt up.
“Ah!” he shouted upon seeing a face just about a few distances away from his. “A-asuka-san…”
“You fell asleep.” She said, moving away from him rather slowly - a slight disappointment from her face. “Classes are over about five minutes ago.”
Daiki’s eyes shot wide as he quickly packed his things and ran off, barely saying good-bye to Asuka. As he exits the room, past the door, he almost jumped when someone tapped him from behind. “Kei!!!” He sounded pretty pissed, “What the heck!”
“Whoa, calm down!” was Inoo’s amused reply, patting Daiki’s shoulder and continuing, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I woke up seeing Asuka’s face in front of me…” Daiki answered in a whisper, but in his voice you can catch some ‘piss-off’ tones in between.
“Oh… worse than a ghost then…” He looked sorry for his friend but he was also snickering as they both ended up walking towards their usual lunch spot.
As they got there, Line seems to be arguing with someone over the phone. She already has her lunch out, and a surprisingly large cup of probably café mocha sits on the table. “I don’t care, just leave it alone!” Was her final words as she hits the end-call button the moment Daiki and Inoo take their seats.
“You okay?” Daiki asked, and he noted how Line took a deep breath as if trying to regain her cool.
“…Just some stuff.” She uttered; maybe these are the rare times you’ll see Line not really being Line; if that actually makes sense though. “Ne Kei, do you mind if I ask you to come with me later?”
Inoo was just done giving thanks and was about to take a bite when he heard this, “Sure. Where to?”
“…Just outside campus. Not too far-off.” Line started eating and Daiki, who was sitting opposite of her, was just staring. “What’s up?” She asked, noticing how Daiki’s been staring.
It’s funny how she asks this. Ever since Line’s trip to Akihabara with Inoo, Yuya and Ruby (yes, minus dear Daiki) Line has been rather… elusive to Daiki. At first he thought that maybe it was just his imagination, but as days go by, he noticed that Line really is somewhat… avoiding him. Just now, he can’t help but feel a little pang on his chest as Line asked Inoo to come with her, and she talks as if Daiki’s not there.
“Oi Dai-chan, you still asleep?” Inoo was the one to burst the kind of awkward moment.
“Ah… maybe…” he managed to just get away by saying this. And that includes staring blankly at Line so she just shrugged and continued eating.
The silence afterwards was rather eerie, that Inoo ends up cursing after his meal. This actually got a violent reaction from Line since she whacked him with a notebook. “Watch your mouth!” She said and Inoo just pouted at her.
“What’s wrong with you two? You look like bad spirits took over you!” Inoo complained, hitting Daiki just as he was about to take his last bite, “Oi!”
“I’m eating, darn it!” Daiki replied, hitting Inoo back.
Line ends up rolling her eyes and just decided to start packing up her lunch. This is probably their messiest and weirdest lunch ever. Soon, she took out her netbook and just did some random browsing while Inoo bickers and Daiki weirdly stayed quiet.
As Line looks over her photos, she came across that same photo she used on her blog once - that entry she has about Daiki; that one that she deleted. After staring at it for a second, feeling her throat tightening and her hands getting a little cold, Line closed her folder and ended up browsing through the new sets of photos - those including her trip to Akihabara with Inoo, Yuya and Ruby. “Ah… Kei-chan, mite…” She uttered upon seeing photos of her in the train. “I didn’t know you took a picture of me. You…” she ended up sounding a little more like someone mocking an angry tone.
Inoo stood up, leaving all his complaints about the weirdness of today, and sat beside Line - Daiki discreetly looking at them. “Ruby took your camera.” He explained, pointing at the picture, “Ha, you look cute when you’re sleeping like this.”
“I didn’t know I fell asleep.” Line was pouting, “Weird…”
“Pfft… You were surprisingly heavy.” Inoo teased and Line started hitting him. “Oi that hurts! It’s true though!”
The two ended up bickering about some silly navigational errors through Akihabara that day, how there were several times they almost got lost and separated from Yuya and Ruby, it was a good stream of funny stories. They were laughing when Daiki suddenly stood up - they didn’t even notice him packing his stuff.
Inoo lost his smile right away, “Dai-chan, you off somewhere?”
Daiki didn’t look at them but he just shoved his bag over his shoulder saying, “Ah yeah… I forgot I have to finish something.” His voice was pretty hushed though as he looked at Inoo but not at Line, “Jaa…” his lips were tight-shut, no smile there, he just nodded and off on his way without even waiting for anything else Line or Inoo might say.
“Is he angry?” Line asked. This came out more like a sad thinking just put out to words.
Inoo chuckled though, patting Line’s back, “What do you think?”
“Will it kill you to be straight to the point sometimes?” Line asked. Inoo’s witty comebacks have some drawbacks when you have no time and patience to think.
But Inoo’s look on her tells her that if he does go straight to the point, Line might actually regret asking him to do so.
“It’s just that…” She ended up uttering while Inoo continued staring at her.
He again gave off a light chuckle and said, “You suddenly avoid him, what do you expect?”
“I wasn’t…” Like a little trip back in time, her guilt creeping all over her, Line remembered these past few days wherein she tried staying away from Daiki and even rejecting his calls. Why, you may ask? “I was just…”
“Will it kill you to be straight to the point sometimes, Line-chan?” Inoo shot her words back at her and Line can’t help but just try to hold her breath.
Thinking about Daiki, it makes her nervous. What Ruby told her the other night sure was enlightening but it didn’t really help her you see. What is she supposed to do anyway? How exactly would she do it? When would she? All these questions bombarded her altogether that she didn’t have time to think about it. Every time Daiki’s near, all she could do was just run away. “I was avoiding him…?” this was intended to be a whisper, but Inoo heard it well enough.
“Don’t tell Dai-chan I told you, but he’s been asking me every single day what he had done wrong for you to just walk away from him.” Its precious moments like these wherein Inoo gets to be sweet and serious that you wanna strangle him you see - too darn serious.
Line felt really heavy - what has she been doing exactly?
“Then I ask you now… What has he done?” Inoo asked, looking at Line with those eyes that say lies can’t get past them.
Line couldn’t look at Inoo’s eyes, thus she looked around the place, noting everything. “I don’t know…” She uttered, directing her attention back to her netbook. Upon clicking, there came another random picture of Daiki. This time, it’s a shot of the two of them.
“Maa…” Inoo felt like there really isn’t much he can ask so he just gave up on the topic. He stood up and went back to his original spot, that of opposite to Line.
“Ne Kei-chan…” Line uttered after looking that photo of hers and Daiki. “He’s not mad at me, is he?” She sounded more like a little kid, and Inoo can’t help but put up a smile.
“You’re Line-chan…” was Inoo’s simple answer, “It’s impossible for that guy to be mad at you.”
And with that, Line just stood up, left her things and started running towards where Daiki went off too.
Inoo tried to conceal it, yet his smile was just too sweet. Mumbling to himself, “Ganbatte Line-chan…”
xXxXx
Chapter Nineteen Part 2
Author: aemrith
Pairing: Yamada Ryosuke/OC, Arioka Daiki/OC, Nakajima Yuto/OC
Rating: PG
Genre: Romance, Friendship, Family
Warnings: May take long to update.
Summary For Chapter 19: Wow. Things are turning interesting. As Line prepares for her trip to Gunma, things between her and Daiki changes - while Louise still battles hatred from some people. Oh. There's a rooftop, there's the storage room, the Foundation Festival, and that surprisingly interesting Quiz Show. These are the days before Christmas - anything could happen, ne? [I so suck at these summaries... darn it.]
A/N: Sorry for the ridiculously late update. T^T I could only apologize. Explaining wouldn't really change much, but if you are curious - academic life has been pretty... erm, tough. And my writing skills are getting rusty lately. There are days I feel like my confidence is deep down low it's so hard to pump it up. XD anyways, thank you for your patience! This is a pretty long chapter (not like the others are short, but oh well) and I feel as if a lot has happened. haha. XD
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“Sorry I’m late!” Then Yamada comes in, stumbling upon Kamiki right away. Suzuka beamed and gave him a hug. The scenery suddenly looked so confusing to her.
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The entire time, Louise busied herself with finishing some decors. While Suzuka and Kamiki were just nice enough to help out, she can’t bring herself to just be friendly with them right away. Louise’s a total anti-social, as you can say, when it comes to new people.
“I heard about the last game Ryosuke, I’m sure you still did great.” Suzuka uttered upon hearing Kamiki and Yamada talk about soccer.
Yamada smiled shyly, it is somehow a sad smile too. “Thanks Suzu-chan.”
“Things happen.” She uttered, “For reasons…” and continued, then she saw those set of huge cloths Louise managed to paint on. It’s for background-changes on the stage. “That’s just amazing.” She stated, looking almost mouth-agape at Louise’s direction. “Umiko-san, these are…” she stared at her works, “…just amazing…” seems like she couldn’t really find her tongue.
Louise, taken by surprise, stopped what she was drawing and looked at Suzuka’s direction. She’s not used to compliments - especially from people she hardly know; but she knew he has to say something back, so a small “Thank you” was what she managed to produce.
Suzuka replied with an assuring smile.
It seems as if time flew interestingly fast, and soon their teacher came to rattle them telling them that it's fine for them to go home, thanking them for willingly working even if it's a day-off - most of them decided to stay for a little while though… actually, almost all of them.
It's a Saturday, going to school and doing work, heck, there's no harm staying a little bit more since they're there already anyways. It is rather early though, just well after lunch time, but it seems that staff needs the gym vacant; thus they didn't have much choice but to leave and just continue on their work on Monday.
As Yuto mounts off the stage after putting away the instruments they’ve used and all that, he was walking towards Louise’s spot - and there he saw her with Yamada. They looked pretty busy arguing over something, design-concerns perhaps?
It didn’t really matter much to him. He knows Louise. He knows there’s really nothing he should worry about. Then again, that little thud inside his chest says otherwise, but Yuto decided to ignore this awful feeling welling up inside. Just as when he was about to go closer Louise and Yamada, he was stopped when Suzuka called out to him, and she’s actually standing beside him now.
“I wish you guys luck on your performances.” She said rather cheerfully. Suzuka has always been the calm, collected, nice-girl type. You can say there’s probably not one bad thing you can say about this person.
Yuto, the ever so friendly Yuto, gave off a smile and nodded, “Thanks Suzu-chan.”
The two ended up talking, most of those they used to do together when Suzuka was still at school. See, back in those days, she’s probably one of Yuto’s closest friends. Keito wasn’t there still, but back then, Yuto and Suzuka were like best of friends.
Others have concluded their friendship would go down the romance lane soon, and thus it did. Rumours spread that at the Foundation Festival just before Suzuka left, she confessed to Yuto which Yuto declined nicely. They’ve managed to part ways as friends and so making casual conversations like these right now possible.
“Umi-chan…” Yamada uttered. He’s been calling out to Louise for about thrice now, and since he got no response, he decided to exert more effort by pinching her cheeks.
“Stop touching me!” Was her obviously rude reply, but Yamada’s used to it somehow. Then again, when he saw the look on Louise’s face, he wasn’t sure what to say next. So when she asked him, “What?” He stared at her for a few more seconds just keeping his silence.
See, Louise was looking Yuto and Suzuka just now. Yamada noticed just as when he pinched her cheeks.
“Stop being silly, come on…” She uttered upon hearing no reply, and stood up, folding her fabrics. As she finished putting away her stuff, she can’t help but look towards Yuto and Suzuka’s way as they talk, laugh, occasionally she’ll hit him lightly and he’ll just give off that stupid smile. What surprises her is how she got irritated hearing Yuto’s voice doing a higher pitch. See when Yuto is amused, his pitch shoots up high. It’s sometimes annoying, but it’s one of his unique characteristics. Yamada on the other hand decided to just let her cool off whatever seems to piss her and kept fixing his own stuff.
It wasn’t long before Louise decides to leave the gym, head for the room, pick up her things and just get done with the day. As she passed by Yuto and Suzuka, she made a note to herself to just keep walking and not look at them, but she found herself being dragged to the spot, for when she passed by them, Yuto was quick to grab her forearm.
Yamada, who was still putting away some stuff sprawled on the floor, looked towards Yuto’s and Louise’s way, and he stopped what he was doing. Louise was looking rather pissed. He can tell. And now, he knows why.
“You’ve met Suzu-chan, ne Ruu-chan?” Yuto asked rather innocently, and Louise just eyed him before looking at Suzuka and managing a smile then bowing right away to hide her not so controlled face.
“She’s way better than you described.” Suzuka replied, as polite as ever.
Louise was expecting Yuto to laugh but what she heard probably was the reason why her cheeks suddenly felt hot. “This girl is just the best.” See, the way he said this, there’s this certain touch of seriousness one won’t really expect to come from someone like Yuto.
Suzuka managed a “Uh-huh…” and this caught Louise’s attention. She’s curious as to what this girl meant by that, but when she looked up, she was caught again off-guard as Suzuka just smiled at her and patted her shoulder. “You take care of Yuto, okay?” Her eyes were somehow just so easy to stare at, Louise felt trapped - but not in a bad way.
She did manage to frown though, and Yuto was looking rather confused too.
With these responses, Suzuka giggled, “He can be pretty difficult, but he’s a great guy.” With this, Louise can feel Yuto’s grip on her forearm tighten a bit. She looked at Yuto and he was just staring into Suzuka’s eyes which are staring at Louise’s (sorry, is it a bad grammar moment for me? T___T)
“…Suzu-chan…” Yuto managed but Suzuka cuts him off saying…
“He’s never looked this happy...” With one last look on Yuto’s uncomfortable stare, and Louise’s questioning ones, she continued, “Not even when he was with me.” She ended with a casual smile and started looking around for someone - it wasn’t long before Kamiki joins them and soon enough, he and Suzuka looked like they were about to leave. (My, my… these two. They can just come and go as they please, eh?) “Later guys!” She soon ended, and soon they were out of the gym as fast as when they came.
Louise felt a little, relieved perhaps, but that’s probably not quite the right term. It is though, as if she finally exhaled after holding her breath for a long time.
Yuto looked rather exhausted. But he fits the word ‘relieved’ a bit better than Louise. See, he looks like he’s been drained out of oxygen and now he’s been given some supplies. And no lies, he looks rather pale that Louise had to trash all the things in her mind and focus on Yuto. “Hey, are you okay?” She asked, shaking Yuto’s shoulder.
He bit on his lower lip first before nodding at Louise with a smile. At least she looks like she doesn’t really have anything inside her head that much. But Yuto knows that Suzuka could’ve said more but she decided not to. He’s thankful nonetheless - not even when Suzuka seems to have the intentions and reasons of telling stuff Louise might rather not hear yet.
As they head back to the room, and most of the people are gone - it is way past dismissal time, everyone has had their fair share of overtime for today, Louise, Yuto, Keito and Yamada were still inside the room, and a few more classmates.
Soon enough, “Ruu-chan, let’s go?” Yuto asked as he shoves his bag on his back.
Yamada was shuffling things inside his bag when he heard this and he looked up discreetly at Louise and Yuto.
Louise is also done with fixing her things but, “You go on ahead” was her reply, and this made Yamada stop what he was doing.
Yuto frowned a little; they always walk home together so…“You still have something to do?” He asked then glanced at Yamada’s way, then back to Louise, “I can wait for you…”
“It’s fine, you can go on ahead.” She said rather casually. “See you Monday.”
Without anything else to ask, and judging by her tone of voice, “…Jaa… See you then.” He tried to sound cheerful, but who is he kidding.
“Did you guys fight?” This was Keito’s question the moment Yuto left the room.
Louise looked at him as if he said something ridiculous -not that Keito doesn’t say silly stuff often- “Heck no…” she replied, sitting on her table. “What’s with that question?”
Keito shrugged, “Thought you guys did.” He said casually, walking over to Louise’s side and facing her. “Since you and Yama-chan suddenly end up not getting back in time yesterday, then you show up with a sprained ankle, perhaps… well…”
“I’m not Yuto’s kid that he can scold whenever I do stuff that he doesn’t know.” Louise was quick to counter. It’s awesome how she gets to read on ahead inside Keito’s mind.
“I’m surprised he didn’t act all panicky this morning.” Keito looked at Yamada who is now joining their little talk. “What did happen yesterday, huh Yama-chan?”
Yamada looked at Louise and after getting nothing but a shrug, he heads off briefly telling Keito about the little Mariya-Sawatari incident.
“Next time, you ask Yama-chan. He spills everything out.” This was Louise’s remark upon Yamada ending the story.
Keito had this really serious face fixed, and it really looks hilarious too. “Wow.” Was all he could manage and soon Louise has her backpack on and was on her way out of the room - Keito followed her and Yamada and the three were soon walking on the empty halls, down the stairs and out of the campus.
They’ve reached a point where Keito has to head on a different route while Louise and Yamada are heading the same direction. But before they part, Keito said this, “It sure seems like even after everything Umi-chan, there are still some left who wants you out of this place.” Keito looked like he’s trying not to be angry; this guy can totally keep his cool when he chooses to.
As they separate ways, Louise looked at Keito, and in fluent English she replied, “They won’t have to keep up with having me here for long anyways.” Yamada, who was walking a few steps ahead, stopped and looked back at Keito and Louise.
“WHAT?” Keito replied rather shocked, and Louise just stuck out her tongue, started walking and even grabbed Yamada’s hand as she picks up the phase and run. “Oi! Oi!” Keito called out but the two were gone. “What the hell was that about!?” He ended up shouting; he knows Louise heard it anyways.
As they slow down, Louise was laughing and Yamada was just looking at her. “You are just too hasty sometimes!” He complained; it’s great he didn’t have to hear what she said to Keito.
“Sorry.” She held her breath and then started walking. “Keito can be a pain when he asks questions.”
“It’s funny how you can run with that ankle.” Yamada noted as he watch Louise walk a little limply.
“Didn’t hurt…” So she keeps walking a few steps ahead. They’re just a few blocks away from her house. “You take the train to get home, right?”
Yamada let out a “Yep.” But he kept walking with her.
“Take the train. Go home.” She ended up saying after a few minutes of walking together in silence.
“Way to push someone away.” He said, pretending to be hurt.
Louise laughed though, “Wh- I was just trying to be nice.”
“How exactly?” he sounded amused.
“Well…” She tried to think of a witty way to say it, “It’s a Saturday. Great to be at home, taking a nap….”
“Nah… spending time with you isn’t so bad.” His reply came a little too sudden, and the tone of it - sounding rather genuine - gives Louise a foreign feeling so she ends up whacking his shoulder. “Why’d you hit me!?”
“Just felt like it.” She grinned and soon they’ve arrived at that oh-so familiar park. Yep. The river’s pretty quiet today. The weather’s pretty good - but it seems as though winter really is just a few days away.
They sat on a bench since Louise didn’t feel like going home yet, and she also said that Yamada would cry if he’s all by himself. They ended up just sitting there in silence. There sure is something wrong with Louise today if she’s this quiet. “Ne Umi-chan…” Yamada decided to talk, and Louise replied with a “Huh?” without looking at him. “Suzuka-chan…” he continued, waiting for a different reaction but Louise didn’t say anything. “Do you know about her and Yuto?”
Louise didn’t look at him, but she did twitch her lips and started swaying her feet - the usual way Yamada has always seen from her. Soon enough, “What’s there to know, and why should I know?”
Yamada chuckled. This person, she really knows how to use her words when she has to, “They’re really close. Like you and Yuto…”
This time, Louise stopped swaying, but still, she didn’t look at Yamada.
“But anyone who’s seen them before, and is seeing you and Yuto now, would know the difference.” His voice turned rather different, but Louise couldn’t quite put it into words what changed.
Intrigued, she replied, “What?” as simple as that.
Yamada pouted, as if looking for the perfect words to say, and also, trying to figure out how to calm his chest down since it seems like it’s losing some air - or so, that’s what it feels. “It’s just that…” he nearly whispered, “With you… Yuto is…” he kept thinking, but his head was blank.
What is he trying to do at this moment exactly? Is he trying to tell her that he thinks her best friend is in love with her? Is he trying to ruin that good friendship they have at the moment? Is her trying to sabotage Yuto? Oh wait… what if Yuto doesn’t really like Louise the way he thinks, what would happen?
Then again it hit him…
Yamada took a deep breath. Who is he kidding? It’s fairly simple. ‘I’m just trying to see what she feels about him.’ His head answered him pretty clearly, but his mouth was shut.
“Oi…” Louise nudged him, obviously his no-response would’ve piss anyone. “I’ll be going now.” She was already on her feet when Yamada looked up at her. “You better head home too. It’s getting freakily cold.”
Yamada just stood up, shoved his hands inside his pockets and nodded at her. “See you Monday then.”
“Un…” was her short answer before Louise runs towards the building’s entrance, that little question in her head as she stared at Yamada’s blank face. The things that guy keeps inside of him are some of the rare things she’s too interested about, sometimes she’s scared of them herself.
xXxXx
It’s a Wednesday. The 14th of December, and it seems like winter intends to enter without snow but with chilly winds.
“Dai-chan…” Daiki frowned, hearing someone faintly saying his name. It’s perhaps the second time already, but he just couldn’t quite put who it is. “… Are you okay?” soon he felt something on his forehead, and that made him jolt up.
“Ah!” he shouted upon seeing a face just about a few distances away from his. “A-asuka-san…”
“You fell asleep.” She said, moving away from him rather slowly - a slight disappointment from her face. “Classes are over about five minutes ago.”
Daiki’s eyes shot wide as he quickly packed his things and ran off, barely saying good-bye to Asuka. As he exits the room, past the door, he almost jumped when someone tapped him from behind. “Kei!!!” He sounded pretty pissed, “What the heck!”
“Whoa, calm down!” was Inoo’s amused reply, patting Daiki’s shoulder and continuing, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I woke up seeing Asuka’s face in front of me…” Daiki answered in a whisper, but in his voice you can catch some ‘piss-off’ tones in between.
“Oh… worse than a ghost then…” He looked sorry for his friend but he was also snickering as they both ended up walking towards their usual lunch spot.
As they got there, Line seems to be arguing with someone over the phone. She already has her lunch out, and a surprisingly large cup of probably café mocha sits on the table. “I don’t care, just leave it alone!” Was her final words as she hits the end-call button the moment Daiki and Inoo take their seats.
“You okay?” Daiki asked, and he noted how Line took a deep breath as if trying to regain her cool.
“…Just some stuff.” She uttered; maybe these are the rare times you’ll see Line not really being Line; if that actually makes sense though. “Ne Kei, do you mind if I ask you to come with me later?”
Inoo was just done giving thanks and was about to take a bite when he heard this, “Sure. Where to?”
“…Just outside campus. Not too far-off.” Line started eating and Daiki, who was sitting opposite of her, was just staring. “What’s up?” She asked, noticing how Daiki’s been staring.
It’s funny how she asks this. Ever since Line’s trip to Akihabara with Inoo, Yuya and Ruby (yes, minus dear Daiki) Line has been rather… elusive to Daiki. At first he thought that maybe it was just his imagination, but as days go by, he noticed that Line really is somewhat… avoiding him. Just now, he can’t help but feel a little pang on his chest as Line asked Inoo to come with her, and she talks as if Daiki’s not there.
“Oi Dai-chan, you still asleep?” Inoo was the one to burst the kind of awkward moment.
“Ah… maybe…” he managed to just get away by saying this. And that includes staring blankly at Line so she just shrugged and continued eating.
The silence afterwards was rather eerie, that Inoo ends up cursing after his meal. This actually got a violent reaction from Line since she whacked him with a notebook. “Watch your mouth!” She said and Inoo just pouted at her.
“What’s wrong with you two? You look like bad spirits took over you!” Inoo complained, hitting Daiki just as he was about to take his last bite, “Oi!”
“I’m eating, darn it!” Daiki replied, hitting Inoo back.
Line ends up rolling her eyes and just decided to start packing up her lunch. This is probably their messiest and weirdest lunch ever. Soon, she took out her netbook and just did some random browsing while Inoo bickers and Daiki weirdly stayed quiet.
As Line looks over her photos, she came across that same photo she used on her blog once - that entry she has about Daiki; that one that she deleted. After staring at it for a second, feeling her throat tightening and her hands getting a little cold, Line closed her folder and ended up browsing through the new sets of photos - those including her trip to Akihabara with Inoo, Yuya and Ruby. “Ah… Kei-chan, mite…” She uttered upon seeing photos of her in the train. “I didn’t know you took a picture of me. You…” she ended up sounding a little more like someone mocking an angry tone.
Inoo stood up, leaving all his complaints about the weirdness of today, and sat beside Line - Daiki discreetly looking at them. “Ruby took your camera.” He explained, pointing at the picture, “Ha, you look cute when you’re sleeping like this.”
“I didn’t know I fell asleep.” Line was pouting, “Weird…”
“Pfft… You were surprisingly heavy.” Inoo teased and Line started hitting him. “Oi that hurts! It’s true though!”
The two ended up bickering about some silly navigational errors through Akihabara that day, how there were several times they almost got lost and separated from Yuya and Ruby, it was a good stream of funny stories. They were laughing when Daiki suddenly stood up - they didn’t even notice him packing his stuff.
Inoo lost his smile right away, “Dai-chan, you off somewhere?”
Daiki didn’t look at them but he just shoved his bag over his shoulder saying, “Ah yeah… I forgot I have to finish something.” His voice was pretty hushed though as he looked at Inoo but not at Line, “Jaa…” his lips were tight-shut, no smile there, he just nodded and off on his way without even waiting for anything else Line or Inoo might say.
“Is he angry?” Line asked. This came out more like a sad thinking just put out to words.
Inoo chuckled though, patting Line’s back, “What do you think?”
“Will it kill you to be straight to the point sometimes?” Line asked. Inoo’s witty comebacks have some drawbacks when you have no time and patience to think.
But Inoo’s look on her tells her that if he does go straight to the point, Line might actually regret asking him to do so.
“It’s just that…” She ended up uttering while Inoo continued staring at her.
He again gave off a light chuckle and said, “You suddenly avoid him, what do you expect?”
“I wasn’t…” Like a little trip back in time, her guilt creeping all over her, Line remembered these past few days wherein she tried staying away from Daiki and even rejecting his calls. Why, you may ask? “I was just…”
“Will it kill you to be straight to the point sometimes, Line-chan?” Inoo shot her words back at her and Line can’t help but just try to hold her breath.
Thinking about Daiki, it makes her nervous. What Ruby told her the other night sure was enlightening but it didn’t really help her you see. What is she supposed to do anyway? How exactly would she do it? When would she? All these questions bombarded her altogether that she didn’t have time to think about it. Every time Daiki’s near, all she could do was just run away. “I was avoiding him…?” this was intended to be a whisper, but Inoo heard it well enough.
“Don’t tell Dai-chan I told you, but he’s been asking me every single day what he had done wrong for you to just walk away from him.” Its precious moments like these wherein Inoo gets to be sweet and serious that you wanna strangle him you see - too darn serious.
Line felt really heavy - what has she been doing exactly?
“Then I ask you now… What has he done?” Inoo asked, looking at Line with those eyes that say lies can’t get past them.
Line couldn’t look at Inoo’s eyes, thus she looked around the place, noting everything. “I don’t know…” She uttered, directing her attention back to her netbook. Upon clicking, there came another random picture of Daiki. This time, it’s a shot of the two of them.
“Maa…” Inoo felt like there really isn’t much he can ask so he just gave up on the topic. He stood up and went back to his original spot, that of opposite to Line.
“Ne Kei-chan…” Line uttered after looking that photo of hers and Daiki. “He’s not mad at me, is he?” She sounded more like a little kid, and Inoo can’t help but put up a smile.
“You’re Line-chan…” was Inoo’s simple answer, “It’s impossible for that guy to be mad at you.”
And with that, Line just stood up, left her things and started running towards where Daiki went off too.
Inoo tried to conceal it, yet his smile was just too sweet. Mumbling to himself, “Ganbatte Line-chan…”
xXxXx
Chapter Nineteen Part 2