tomodachi - III. Smiling
~友達~
~tomodachi~
III. Smiling
“Shh!” Ohkura smiled slightly as he hushed Ryo, reminding him to keep his voice down, as to not disturb the stillness of the library. Papers rustled, people busied by, and voices merely had to whisper to break the silence.
“Sorry,” Ryo grinned sheepishly. “I just got excited; I finally understand some trigonometry!” he laughed. “For the first time ever, I actually get this! Ohkura, you’re amazing!”
The younger boy felt a touch of embarrassment at his cheeks upon hearing the outburst of praise, but quickly shushed Ryo again, while reminding himself there was nothing to be blushing about. He wasn’t going to let himself be entranced into some sort of strange, trivial schoolgirl’s crush.
But Ryo had apparently warmed up to him already, as he swung an arm over Ohkura’s shoulders in thanks. “You make a pretty good teacher, you know?”
Ohkura rolled his eyes in mock annoyance, pushing the older one’s arm off. “No, I didn’t know. But I guess it’s good that I found out,” he smiled slightly.
“Good for you and for me,” Ryo nodded. “But doing all that math tired me out, I’m so hungry…” he leaned his head onto Ohkura’s shoulder in mock fatigue.
Ohkura laughed. So that’s why he’s being so friendly with me… “All right, I’ll buy you some dinner, even though we’ve only done half the worksheet… I think you deserve a break. Besides, I’m pretty hungry myself.”
Ryo’s eyes glinted with excitement. “Great!” he grinned.
“So wait… where are we going?”
~~
Night fell quickly. An avalanche of darkness smothered the earth. The fresh scent of rain lingered in the air, clinging to their shoes and tickling their ankles. Ohkura made an effort not to voice his concern when Ryo insisted he would drive the both of them, as that would mean he was essentially entrusting his life to the older boy, and Ohkura wasn’t exactly sure if he had enough faith in Ryo to do so. At least, not yet. But it would be rude to suggest otherwise.
Sitting down tentatively into the passenger seat, Ohkura carefully made sure he had his seatbelt buckled tight before turning to Ryo, telling him he was ready to go. At first, everything seemed to be going fine. The topic of conversation remained light, trifling, cheerful, and Ryo was able to easily concentrate on his driving. But then…
“…But you know who really hates me? Our math teacher,” Ryo sighed, rolling his eyes at the thought.
“I’m sure he doesn’t,” Ohkura attempted to smile, not liking how the atmosphere had seemed to darken all of a sudden. “Teachers can’t really hate their own students.”
“He does. He hates me, but honestly, it must be a real hatred.”
Ohkura frowned, disappointed that Ryo seemed intransigent to reason. “Why would you think he hates you?”
“He… he just does,” Ryo answered hurriedly.
“Well if there’s no reason…”
“Does there have to be?” Ryo demanded, his annoyance rising.
“I would think there would be!” Ohkura scoffed, turning his gaze to stare out the window at the scenery whipping by, now so quickly that only vague outlines of houses could be discerned from the dimness of the streetlights.
Wordlessness engulfed the rest of the ride.
After what seemed like hours had passed in solitude, Ryo finally pulled into a small parking lot beside a rather quaint café off the side of the road.
“We’re here,” he stated indifferently.
Ohkura said nothing, getting out from the car and slowly, almost unwillingly now, followed Ryo inside.
As soon as they had walked in, the first thing Ohkura realized was that Ryo had brought him to a very warm restaurant. Not warm like referring to temperature, but warm like family…. He wasn’t sure if that made sense, but it was the only way Ohkura could describe the feeling of being inside the café. Bustling talk and bursts of laughter erupted from all the tables, as people of all ages gathered together, smiles abound. It seemed that everyone here was, quite simply, happy. A strange feeling, isn’t it?
Contrary to the rest of the diners, however, the two of them were not smiling. In fact, even when the waitress came by and handed them the menus, greeting them cheerfully and offering them drinks, they replied apathetically and refused to look at each other. Ryo didn’t understand why, but he felt like if he were to look at Ohkura, he would be admitting he had forfeited the battle to the equally obdurate tutor of his. What they were fighting over, Ryo wasn’t sure, but he sure wasn’t going to lose.
The waitress left with a scowl on her face, evidently irritated by the unfriendly attitude she had received from the two. Ryo felt a little guilty at this, but as soon as he mentally decided he was going to apologize to the waitress once she returned, his attention was diverted to a little girl that had popped her head over Ohkura’s shoulder, staring at him with wide eyes and a puzzled look. After a few minutes of awkward staring, with Ryo trying unsuccessfully to avoid her gaze, he decided he had to say something.
“Is there anything you want to ask?” Ryo addressed her softly, trying not to scare her away, as fear already seemed to be reflecting in her eyes. “Go ahead,” he urged gently.
Ohkura raised an eyebrow at Ryo’s question, having not noticed the girl behind him. “What are you talking ab-”
“Go on, it’s your chance,” Ryo smiled encouragingly.
Ohkura turned his head slightly and his eyes drifted back to see the little girl crouching timidly in her seat. He chuckled slightly, realizing what was going on. But he’s just scaring her even more… Ohkura thought amusedly.
“Why…” She began quietly. “…do you stare with such an angry gaze?” the girl asked meekly.
Ryo smiled in amusement at her words, “You think I have an angry gaze? Do you think I have one even now?” he inquired playfully, trying to convince the girl of otherwise.
She nodded.
Ohkura had to force himself to stop from laughing at Ryo’s failure.
“Really?!” Ryo exclaimed in childish shock. Playing along with the little girl, he successfully encouraged her to smile. “Well…” he began, thinking quickly of an answer that would keep the girl from shying away again. “…everyone was born with their face, and I was born with a stare like this…”
Ohkura stifled another laugh.
Ryo ignored this and continued, asking the little girl, “What would you say if someone asks you, ‘why do you have such a pretty face?’”
A bashful smile served as her only answer, before she quickly turned around, her back now facing their table. Ohkura found himself smiling in wonderment, too, at the surprising sweetness of Ryo’s remark.
“So you can be nice, too?” Ohkura asked, leaning back in his chair now that the little girl had left.
“I never said I couldn’t… Wait, are you trying to say I’m not nice?” Ryo questioned suspiciously.
“You seem… angry. A lot.” Ohkura muttered, averting his gaze.
“Oh. Sorry.”
“You should try smiling more, it’ll let other people know you’re not just always mad at them,” Ohkura smiled, as if in example.
“I’m not always mad at people, though…”
“So let them know. It feels like you’ve been mad at me ever since I met you. I think today was the first time I ever saw your smile.” Ohkura thought back to confirm his statement. “You should smile more often, if you smile, then someone else will smile, too,” Ohkura encouraged.
At this, Ryo couldn’t help but comply.
~~
“…And then you just factor out a two and divide by the remaining binomial, and you’ll get the answer, five over three cosine theta minus two sine theta. Did you get that?”
“I… I think I get it now,” Ryo answered hesitantly.
Ohkura smiled softly. “Are you sure?”
“Maybe… I think I was just confused by all the different variables…”
“It’s really not all that different, Ohkura tried smiling supportively. “Just think of it like-”
“Are you actually attempting to teach Ryo?” the teacher’s voice rang out shatteringly in the otherwise peaceful classroom. He laughed loudly at his own rhetorical question. “You, kid, stop being so stupidly naïve. There’s no way Ryo will ever be able to learn anything, let alone from you. What’s your name anyway?” he demanded at Ohkura.
Ohkura opened his mouth to answer, but before any words formed on his lips, Ryo put his hand on his shoulder gently, his touch drawing Ohkura’s attention, and as Ohkura turned around, he saw that the older boy’s gaze had hardened with intensity.
Slowly, Ryo shook his head.
Ohkura watched in astonishment as Ryo then stood to his feet. The teacher heaved a melodramatic sigh. “Must you be so ignorant? I not only was not addressing you, Mr. Nishikido, but I also believe that the last directions I gave you, which remain unchanged, but of course you failed to obey, were to sit-”
“No.”
As storm clouds rolled dangerously in the darkening sky, thunder rumbled forebodingly in the late afternoon. And for a fleeting moment, Ryo’s refusal resounded indefinitely in the stillness. No one spoke; no one even dared to breathe. It was only Ryo who was bold enough to continue.
“You have no right.” He stated in a low, almost muffled voice. “You have no right to treat him with such rude, blatant disrespect. You may have no respect for me, and you may have numerous insults to dump onto me, but you have no right to mistreat him.”
Ryo pointed at Ohkura, his arm shaking from exerting so much force out of his anger. “I don’t care if you make fun of me, laugh at me, ridicule me, or do whatever else you like doing, to belittle me to the smallest degree. But I do care about you turning your demeaning acts towards my friend, just because he’s trying to help me. Is it just that you can’t bear to see me try to even attempt to succeed? Is it just that you want so badly to make me suffer? Or is it just that you’re frustrated that my friend has managed to teach me something, proving a mere college freshman to be a better teacher than you?”
Silence gripped the room.
Ryo’s questions were left dripping menacingly in the air, unanswered; they stifled the breath in Ohkura’s lungs.
The teacher narrowed his eyes, glaring with cruelty. “See me after class, Ryo. If you don’t, you will be expelled.”
~~
A/N: Sorry for not posting in a while! I have more tests lately! arghh!! >< I probably won't get to post very consistently, but hopefully it'll still be interesting to read? (doubtful, but I can still hope... XD) Anyway, did anyone notice the scene that I kind of stole from the NEWS Pacific DVD?? lol! Ryo is so adorable with that little girl <3