We sat on the bench out in the hallway. The very same one where Sasaki once dumped all his love life problems onto me. With only a few minutes left of the break, Ashida cut right to the chase.
"Well... Aichi's pretty much still the same. She's down, but talking to the other girls seems to make her forget the pain a bit. I wanted to ask how things were going on your end Sajocchi."
"Preparations are underway. Should be done in time"
"Look at you, scheming behind our backs, hehehe"
"Don't underestimate the leader of the Natsukawa cult"
"That's a thing?! Then as the self-appointed second-in-command, I wish you luck and will continue watching from the sidelines!"
"Great help you are" I sighed
"There's really not much that I can do to help you out this time. I'm already doing my part by supporting Aichi" she shrugged.
She was right. This was something that only I could fix, since I was the one who broke something inside of Natsukawa.
"Sajocchi you've been acting kinda weird you know. Like, colder the usual"
"You think so?"
"Yeah. Kind of like when you um... you know, when you came down with a cold and all..."
I tilted my head at Ashida. I was so out of it back then that I couldn't remember. But I supposed it made sense, as I wouldn't have been able to put on a mask in the condition that I was in back then.
"Hmm how do I put it... I just decided to stop going with the flow, and start being more serious."
Looking at things objectively, after I stopped chasing after Natsukawa, my friendship with her was only possible thanks to a mask I put on. Ashida's refusal to help me out this time around, and the sudden distance Natsukawa put between us... Those things were like a slap to the face for me. I felt like I did back when I stopped chasing after Natsukawa. Almost like someone poured a bucket of ice-cold water on my naked body, waking me up from a trance.
"Is that so... I don't really get it, but you seem determined. You'd better not hurt Aichi again though"
"Yeah yeah, you don't need to tell me that" I sighed as we walked back to class together.
*
I was at the shoe lockers when I noticed someone gazing at me from the front courtyard. Classes had ended for the day, and I had delayed my departure in order to avoid an awkward encounter with Natsukawa. With most of the students gone, it was easy to notice this person staring at me from outside.
I sighed and made my way out. I pretended to not notice, attempting to walk past her and head on home.
"Wait!"
"My Lady. How can I help you on this fine evening?" I said with a cold sarcastic tone. This girl was the reason Natsukawa found out the truth about my injury. In other words, she was the cause of my current troubles. Seriously, she seemed to bring me nothing but problems. How could she show herself after what happened last time?
"Stop it with the My Lady nonsense. Talk normally will you?" said Claumaty. Okay I did it on purpose this time. Even an idiot would have memorized her name (Shinonome Claudine Marika) after the recent incidents.
"What's up?" I said curtly.
After the 'incident', I got to know a new side to Shinonome. A side that's less of a confident aristocrat, and more of a normal vulnerable high school girl. However, she looked especially fidgety today. Her driver stood a few paces away, his wrinkled lids almost closed.
She moved a lock of her golden hair out of her face, securing it behind her small white ear. Her eyes shifted left and right, often stopping at my injured left hand.
"Tomorrow.. at lunch time. I'll come to your class. I want to talk to you about something while we eat"
Huh? Did she want to publicly execute me?! Eating lunch with Shinonome was bad enough. The girl attracted too much attention. And doing it in my classroom on top of that?! Under my classmates' (and Natsukawa's) watchful eyes? I wouldn't let that happen. Also, frankly speaking, I didn't want anything to do with her.
"Here we are. Chatting. Can't you just tell me now?"
"No, I'd rather do it during lunch. It might take a bit of time"
Her eyes reflected a kind of resolve that told me she wasn't going to back down. I glanced over a gramps, then back at Shinonome.
"Didn't you say we could only interact under supervision?"
"You don't need to worry about that. I.. managed to make it work. This one time"
I narrowed my eyes at the old man. Did she bribe him? No... surely not. Maybe her supervision period was over? Or nearing it's end? I was sure there was something to unpack there, but she said it wasn't something I needed to worry about. So I took her word for it.
"Fine. Let's do it in the cafeteria though"
I didn't want to agree to this, but I also happened to have something that I wanted to tell Shinonome. I had to put a stop to those regular interactions between us. Afterall, even though it hadn't come to pass by a stoke of luck, this girl still had it out for Big Sis. Not to mention the whole ordeal with Natsukawa. I needed to make that clear to her. As such, I agreed to meet up with her the following day.
After declining Gramp's offer to drop me off, I made my way home. Even though I'd stayed back at school for a bit, my parents were still out at work. A familiar scene greeted me in the living room, with Big Sis slouching on the sofa, watching TV.
"Here you go"
I pushed a shopping bag onto her. The object inside was, of course, a steamed bun, which I'd bought on the way.
"I said it could wait till after you've recovered"
I pushed the bag onto her again, letting out a sigh. She snatched it and started munching away at the steamed bun.
I was seriously done with people treating me as if I was completely incapacitated and couldn't wait to take my bandages off. Speaking of which, I needed to change my bandages. So I went to the bathroom, took them off and inspected my injury.
The hole I'd gouged into my palm was startomg to fill up nicely. It was still dark red in colour, the skin yet to grow back. It was most likely going to leave a scar too.
Oh well, scars maketh man. I'd also have a cool story to tell my grandkids in the future, hehe. Maybe I should come up with a better story though. Something like being a samurai? Or a ninja who fought bad guys? Hmm... Nah, that would sound lame to anyone but elementary school kids.
After having a bath (and taking extra care not to wet my bandages), I stretched out on my bed and sighed the exhaustion out of my body. I then sunk into deep thought. I've known Natsukawa for almost 3 years now, ever since Middle School. I was enchanted by her kindness, her caring side, her hardworking side. All of it. And as such, I lied to myself. I thought I was someone worthy of her. After years of chasing after this girl which I valued most in this world, I came to realize that she was truly out of reach. Countless rejections have made it clear that she harboured no feelings for me. Yet, despite all that, she seemed to have given me a small corner in her heart, as someone she wanted to stay in contact with. A friend, classmate. The label didn't matter. What mattered was that this special relationship between us led to me hurting Natsukawa. Perhaps stabbing my palm made her question whether she truly knew me well as a person. Was she shocked that someone like me got close to her little sister? Maybe that had something to do with it as well.
Either way, what I had to do was simple. I had to remove the mask. Show Natsukawa that I was still the same type of person she always knew, even if it risked destroying this unique relationship that we had. Afterall, if I did nothing, then our bond was going to break anyway. It was a risk that I had to take. But... How was I going to show her that I was still the Sajou Wataru she'd always known?
I grabbed my phone and noticed that I had unread messages from Ichinose-san.
"Good evening Sajou-kun, how are you? I hope you're injury is recovering well."
"Evening, Ichinose-san. I'm doing well thank you. The pain in my hand is getting better each day"
"That's great to hear!" She responded almost immediately.
"Ichinose-san, I need to go shopping for a present this weekend. I was thinking, would you like to join me so we can pick out a bookshelf for you?"
The following Saturday fell on the 28th of October. Natsukawa's birthday was on the 31st, a Tuesday. I was planning on buying her gift this weekend, and maybe help Ichinose with her request as well.
"Are you sure? Your arm hasn't fully recovered yet."
"It'll be fine. There's something I want to buy anyway. As for the bookshelf, you're having it delivered to you, right? So no manual labour involved!"
"Okay, sounds good then!"
A few moments later came a message that made me panic.
"Shall we inform Natsukawa-san and Ashida-san of the new plan?"