Chapter 44: A Moment of Normalcy

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: A Moment of Normalcy

Junpai monologue, POV

------------

?Several minutes back.

?The fountain was louder than I remembered.

?Water poured from the mouths of three stone animals in the center, hitting the basin below with a constant rushing sound. Every few seconds, a breeze carried tiny droplets toward the benches surrounding it.

?I sat down and leaned forward, resting my elbows against my knees.

?My legs were tired—well, not painfully tired, just enough that sitting down felt necessary.

?We had only gone to the shop because Aki wanted something to eat, then he wanted something to drink, and of course, he saw another shop. Then, somehow, twenty minutes had disappeared.

?I still wasn’t sure how he managed that.

?Aki dropped onto the bench beside me with two plastic bags hanging from his fingers.

?"Man," he exhaled dramatically.

?"My legs are dead."

?"You said that like—" Inosuki started.

?"Yeah. They’re even deader now," Aki interrupted, already knowing what Inosuki was about to say.

?Inosuki looked at him. "...That’s not how legs work."

?Aki ignored him.

?Mataguchi stood beside the fountain instead of sitting down. He had one hand in his pocket while the other held a bottled drink he’d bought from the shop.

?He hadn’t said much since we’d left. Not that he usually did.

?I looked around; Shion and Nanami still weren’t back. I wondered how long they were going to take. Then I immediately realized I’d been thinking about Nanami again.

?I looked away.

?Aki noticed.

?Of course he noticed.

?"You’re doing it again," Aki immediately inserted.

?"Doing what?" I frowned, but annoyingly, he grinned.

?"That."

?"What?" I asked again. I really didn’t like where this was going.

?"That face." Aki pointed before dropping his hand back.

?"What face?"

?"The face you make when Nanami isn’t here," he answered bluntly this time.

?I stared at him.

?"Wait, I don’t have a face?" I replied, trying to complicate the conversation.

?"You definitely have a face." Aki didn’t seem to get it, though.

?"Everyone has a face," I added.

?"You know what I mean."

?"....." I just kept quiet at this point. What was the point of even answering?

?Aki leaned closer.

?"You keep looking over there." He pointed toward the path we’d come from.

?I looked at him, then at the path, then back at him.

?"I was checking if they were coming," I replied. Bro, I was already placed in a nerve-wracking situation all through this morning, so please don’t make it worse.

?"Sure," Aki repeated himself.

?"They’re supposed to meet us here," I added. This time, I was starting to wonder why the fuck I was so desperate to convince this guy.

?"Sure," he still repeated himself, but this time a flick of amusement was visible in his expression.

?Bro, come on now. It wasn’t that deep.

?"I don’t understand what’s funny," I asked.

?Aki smiled. "Nothing."

?"You’re annoying." I immediately narrowed my eyes.

?"Thank you."

?"That wasn’t a compliment."

?Inosuki opened his bottle. "You’ve been checking the path every thirty seconds."

?"You too?" I turned toward him.

?"I’m just stating what I saw," Inosuki added, trying to defend himself.

?"....." I didn’t reply. I mean, what was I going to say?

?"Okay," Inosuki muttered while he took a drink.

?That somehow annoyed me more.

?"Why do you always say ’okay’ like that?" I questioned.

?"Like what?" Inosuki replied in visible confusion.

?"Like you don’t care."

?"I don’t," Inosuki deadpanned immediately after.

?Aki burst out laughing; I just sighed. These guys are stupid.

?I leaned back against the bench. "I was just checking for Nanami."

?Aki immediately turned toward me. "I didn’t say you were."

?...

?I immediately froze.

?Aki had already smiled before I realized my mistake.

?"Ah."

?"See?" He pointed at me.

?"Shut up."

?"You exposed yourself," Inosuki inserted.

?"I didn’t expose anything." How could it be considered me exposing myself when you guys already knew about it from the beginning?

?Oota sat on the other side, not bothering to involve himself with any of this. He was completely focused on his phone, writing a new Chapter for his novel.

?"You literally said her name," Aki chuckled a bit.

?"Because you were talking about her!"

?"I didn’t say her name," Aki replied, pointing out an obvious fact I had not noticed before.

?I stopped. Aki was right. My eyes shifted to Inosuki; he was looking down at his drink.

?Then at Mataguchi. Bro was still standing there, while of course Oota was occupied.

?Neither of them helped me. I’m screwed.

?"You’re all annoying," I muttered.

?"Don’t worry, Junpai. It’s normal." Aki slapped my shoulder.

?"Normal?"

?"Being nervous around your girlfriend."

?Right, that. It must have been fun seeing me like that. One of these days, when you guys quit being bums and get a girlfriend, I’ll tease the hell out of you guys.

?"I’m not that nervous, though."

?Aki’s smile widened.

?"You were nervous the entire time."

?"I wasn’t that—" I stopped. "Yeah, whatever, man."

?I was just reminded of the mistake I had made earlier, calling out Nanami like that. My actions would have led to a very disappointing end.

?Not to mention I’m the one who approached her and instigated the whole date thing. That’s like minus 100 points already; I’ve got to keep myself together.

?"You couldn’t even look at her properly," Aki’s voice suddenly volumed out near me.

?"I was looking at her," I replied.

?"You looked at her for half a second and then looked at the floor."

?Says the dude who’s been moving nonstop.

?"I was thinking."

?"About what?" Aki questioned.

?"Things."

?"What things?" Aki questioned further.

?"Normal things, dude! What other things am I supposed to be thinking?"

?Aki laughed. "Normal things?"

?"Yes."

?"Like?"

?I stared at him. "I don’t have to tell you."

?"Because there weren’t any."

?"...There were, okay, so stop. Can you mind-read or something?"

?"What were they?"

?"I forgot." I subconsciously shifted my eyes away from him.

?"Exactly." Aki leaned back, satisfied.

?I rubbed my face. This was going nowhere, and the worst part was that he wasn’t completely wrong. Whenever Nanami was around, I became aware of everything I was doing.

?Where I was standing, what I was saying, whether I was talking too much, whether I was bothering her, or whether she was having fun.

?Even stupid things.

?Earlier, when she’d smiled at me, I’d spent the next several minutes wondering if I’d imagined it. Now, after everything that had happened...

?I wasn’t even sure what I was supposed to think after what I did earlier, too.

?I still hadn’t completely processed it. I looked down at my hands.

?"Bro, it’s alright," Aki’s voice became quieter.

?I didn’t answer immediately.

?"Yeah."

?He stopped smiling. For once, he didn’t make another joke.

?"Kind of messed up," he added.

?"Yeah."

?"The situation is more complicated than it looks." Inosuki looked toward the path. I turned my vision to him.

?"What do you mean?" I asked, a bit curious about what he had said.

?"Nothing, apparently serious." He took another drink.

?I frowned. I knew he was the one who saved me earlier, but come on, I hate suspense. "You can’t just say something like that and then say nothing."

?"I can, though."

?"Why?"

?"Because I just did."

?Aki chuckled. Bro must have been holding it in for a while now. Yeah, laugh your stupid ass out.

?I looked toward the fountain. The water kept falling; people passed around us.

?Some were laughing—apparently not everyone was having a bad day.

?Some were taking pictures. A kid ran past holding a balloon while his mother shouted after him.

?Everything looked normal.

?That made it feel stranger. Nanami had been standing among all of us only a short while ago. Talking, smiling, acting like everything was fine. And now... I don’t even know what she is thinking.

?Aki nudged my arm.

?"Hey."

?"What?"

?"Don’t get too depressed. Sometimes it’s like that. Not to mention it’s your first experience, so there are bound to be several mistakes."

?"I’m not depressed."

?"You did look depressed. That’s why I was just advising you."

?Yeah, why don’t you go get a girlfriend, then maybe I could listen to your advice.

?"I always look like this. And keep in mind that you also did—" I countered, but was cut short by Aki, who seemed a bit aggressive with his pressing.

?"No, you don’t."

?"How would you know?" I asked.

?"I’ve known you long enough."

?Yeah, the childhood card. He gave me a small smile.

?"You’ll figure it out."

?Yeah, I think I would have to find a way to apologize to Nanami later.

?I wasn’t sure what Aki meant by that. Before I could ask, Inosuki spoke.

?"He’s also probably going to spend the next hour wondering whether he should apologize to Nanami."

?Bruh.

?I looked at him. "Why would I apologize?"

?"Exactly."

?"What does that even mean?" Bro, I was already confused about his character and behavior, but not his spitting things that seemed disconnected to the conversation.

?"It means you’re already thinking about it."

?I opened my mouth, then closed it. I didn’t know what to say at that point.

?Aki started laughing again. He’d been laughing at everything.

?"He’s right," Aki muttered while he laughed.

?"He’s not." I protested, but yeah, he was still going to ignore it.

?"You were," Inosuki nodded.

?"I wasn’t... okay, can both of you stop?"

?Aki leaned toward Inosuki. "He’s definitely going to apologize."

?"Probably," Inosuki nodded.

?"Stop agreeing with him!"

?"I wasn’t agreeing with him, though." Inosuki shifted his eyes to me and Oota, then back to Aki.

?"You literally said ’probably’," Aki uttered, leaning back.

?"That’s not an agreement."

?"It sounded like an agreement," Aki protested. Wait, so now it’s a debate between themselves?

?"That’s because you heard what you wanted to hear," Inosuki added.

?Aki stared at him for a moment. Yeah, nothing to counter that with, it seemed.

?"...That’s annoyingly reasonable."

?Inosuki shrugged. I couldn’t help but smile.

?For a few seconds, none of us said anything. It was stupid.

?We’d just gone through something serious, and somehow we were arguing about whether I was nervous around a girl.

?Maybe that was better. Maybe normal conversation was exactly what I needed.

----------

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ’What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’"

---------