Act 2, Scene 8: Alone by Your Side
“So is this right?” Takashi hands over his homework.
“Almost. You made a small mistake here. Since this element lost its electron, it will be a positive charge.”
“So the element that got the extra electron would have a negative charge because it got an extra electron?”
“You got it.” I hand back Takashi’s homework. “But also remember that each ring has a set number of electrons before it becomes full, so to speak.”
“I think I’m getting the hang of this. Thanks,” he mumbles the last part.
About a week passed, and lately Takashi has been asking me to help him out with his homework. We had a quiz a few days ago and Takashi seemed to do bad on it, since he asked me for help again. It’s been awhile since I helped him out and last time kind of ended on a weird note, with him saying not to tell anyone that he needed help. But I guess he cares enough about his grades to ask me for help for a second time this week.
He seemed to be nicer to me the second time he asked for help. He pulled me aside after school and said he needed help with his homework in a crude manner. I didn’t want to help but he seemed to lighten up when he told me he doesn’t know anyone else that’s good at science. Today he asked for more help and here we are in the library. He seems to be showing a nicer side of him. Which may not be saying much.
“So is this right?” He hands me his homework again.
“That’s right.”
“Alright man, I think I’m going to call it a day. I got to meet someone soon.”
“Okay, I think I’m going to stay here and check out some new books to read.”
“You really are a bookworm, aren’t ya?”
“Well four months in the hospital with nothing to do, might do that.” I agree with him.
Takashi shakes his head, but I can see a smirk form at the corner of his mouth. “I don’t know about that, but I think I would find that a pain in the ass.”
“Well it can be.”
“What? Anyways, catch you later Hisao.” Takashi picks up his bag and leaves.
“Bye.”
I think he’s slowly being more okay with me. He’s a little rough around the edges, but I think he means well, despite looking like he might punch me if I get on his nerves. Well, you take what you get.
I put away my homework and take out a book I borrowed. I’m almost done with it and might as well finish it up before I check out some new ones.
This book is a good read; it’s about a boat captain obsessed with a whale. He’s been tracking this whale for taking his leg. Asuka told me that the book has been made into a movie countless times and said she might have a copy of one them if I wanted to watch it. I told her I’ll think about it. Mostly because I don’t have a DVD player.
“Hey Hisao.” A familiar voice calls me out.
“Hey. What are you doing here Molly? I thought you were leaving early today.” I close my book.
“I was.” She takes a seat next to me. “But…”
“But?”
“You busy at the moment?”
“Besides finishing up this book, nothing. What’s up?”
“Um.” She looks down nervously.
“You alright there, Molly?”
“Yes.” She looks back up, her face a nice hue of pink. “Would you like to go into town with me?”
“Yeah.” I nod. “You going to pick up some medicine?”
“No. Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know. You look like you might have caught something, since you look red. You want to see the nurse first?”
“I’m fine.” She takes a deep breath. “You ready to go?”
“Yeah,” I answer as I grab my bag.
Before we leave the library, I return the books. I think I’ll read this book tomorrow after classes to read the ending. We make our way down the stairs while the gloomy sky still lingers from today. I heard there was a chance it was going to rain this week, but it’s been cloudy the past few days with no signs of rain. I brought my umbrella for the first couple of days; cause it’s better to be safe than sorry, but today, I left it back in my room, since I figured I could run back to the dorms if it started raining.
“What do you have to pick up in town?” I ask as we reach the stairs, making sure to match Molly’s pace.
She laughs nervously, “Some stuff.”
“What kind of stuff? School supplies?”
“No. You’ll see.”
I shrug with a casual “Okay.”
I’m not sure what she means, but I think it’s best not to press further. We reach the first floor and I open the exit door for Molly. She smiles gratefully as we enter the gloomy world.
The dark gray clouds in the sky almost completely take over the blue skies, with some of the blue trying its best to not stay hidden by the clouds. The weather matches the gloomy sky. It is chilly but you can embrace the cold without wearing a sweater. I chose not to wear one. Molly chose to wear one. She is wearing a gray sweater. It’s like a charcoal gray but a little bit lighter.
“Aren’t you cold?” Molly shivers a little as a breeze passes by.
“Not really,” I answer. “I think I got used to the cold by running with Emi every early morning.”
“I see. Are liking your runs with Ibarazki?”
“I do enjoy it. Though I think it’s just routine for me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Emi is a fun person, but when it comes to running, she takes it to another level sometimes.”
“How so?” Molly shivers again as we approach the school gates.
“Okay. This may be embarrassing but I think it’s funny looking back.”
“Embarrassing?”
I look down for a bit, surprised that I’m going to tell this story.
“When I first started running with Emi, since it was my first week here, I was still in the process of getting used to Yamaku. Not only was it a new school, but it was also right after my parents told me that I was going here. Like literally the day after leaving the hospital.”
Molly eyes shift from watching where we are walking to me. Her face never changing expression, just fixated on my story.
“It’s bad looking back, but I hated this. I didn’t like that my old life was gone, and I’d pretty much written off my future as a broken person sent away to this school.”
“That’s a really bad way of thinking, but I can see why.”
I nod.
“I forget if it was the second or third day. The nurse approaches me and suggest running could help improve my health. I went along with the idea.”
We begin to make our way downhill.
“I was thrown off at first that Emi was my partner.”
“Uh huh.”
“She was happy to help out. She tells me to stretch first before running. I told her that I didn’t need to stretch.”
Molly’s pace slows down as the hill becomes steeper.
“What did she say?”
“Naturally, she got upset at me. Granted she is a runner and I am just some kid who tried to be a showoff.”
“Oh boy,” Molly lets out a small laugh at my mistake.
“The first lap I ran, I was already out of breath and sweating as if I just got out of the pool. Emi doesn’t break a sweat, despite running laps around me.”
“How did you feel?”
“I felt a little defeated,” I laugh. “But I think the second day was worse.”
“How so?”
“I finish my first lap, and Emi was passing me again. She looked back and gave me a friendly nod. I decided this time I wouldn’t let her pass me up.”
“…”
Molly continues to listen to my story; showing genuine interest when she makes glances at me.
“So me, trying not to lose to this girl, who has pretty much been running for her entire life, I pass her. Emi smiled and passed me again. So, I sped up and passed her again only for her to pass me again.”
“I see.”
“I tried to pass her one more time, but this time I my heart had enough. Next thing I was looking at the sky, with Emi freaking out.”
“Oh my god! What happened next?”
“She helped me to the nurse’s office and after a bit of recovery, learned it was probably best not to get in a race with a runner when you have a heart condition.”
“I’m glad that you’re okay.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time a girl sent me to the hospital,” I laugh.
But I think I’m laughing at my misfortune more than Molly is. She looks concern and kind of confuse.
“What do you mean not the first time?”
“UmI” Now I feel embarrassed. My face feels like I walked into an oven.
Molly still looks concerned, but she grabs my arm. “Sorry Hisao, but can I borrow your arm real quick? The slope is getting too steep for me.”
“Sure.”
She wraps her arm around mine as we make are almost at the bottom of the hill. This part is the steepest, but it isn’t to much of a hassle if you’re careful. We slow down our pace and I make sure Molly has a good grip on my arm. Her hand feels cold, but I feel it slowly warm up as we reach the bottom of the hill. She doesn’t let go, but I don’t mind. It feels nice.
“Where are we going again?”
“The Aura Mart,” she replies. “I want to get a snack.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Molly eventually let goes of my arm. She smiles while she tries to hide her blush after noticing she was still holding onto me. It’s cute to see her turn red, but I think I’m blushing a little. We walk down a block or two until we reach the mart.
“What are you going to get?” she asks.
“I’m not sure. Maybe some chips and something to drink. What about you?”
“I think some ice cream.”
“Ice cream?” I give her a weird look. “Isn’t it too cold for ice cream?”
“Maybe but eating ice cream in the cold feels right for some reason.”
“I don’t know. It’s interesting.”
Molly gives me a look. Not a look like she is bothered by my answer, but rather a look as if she is confident. As if she is going to convince me that eating ice cream in the cold is normal.
“Well, have you ever tried it?”
I was right.
“No.”
“Don’t knock it until you try it,” she says with smile.
“Alright,” I chuckle. She looks cute when she has that confident smile.
We walk down to where the drinks are and proceed to look at the vast collection of drinks. Some labels on the drinks stand out compared to others. This orange drink has a panda smiling while taking a sip, which looks exactly like another orange drink that has a pink rabbit taking a sip through a straw. They look pretty much the same, just different brands I think. I end up getting water. Molly gets the same.
The store has some students walking around, but I don’t really see anyone I know. There are also some adults here. They sometimes look at the students and one of them spots me looking at them. She looks back at the item she is holding. But she glances one more time in my direction before we enter another aisle. I guess it can’t be helped.
The aisle we enter is where the ice cream and some other snacks are. The snacks are mostly chocolate and candy. I am tempted to get this chocolate bar, but in the back of my mind, I hear Emi yelling at me. I continue to walk down the aisle, as Molly stares at the freezer. I guess she’s having a tough time making a choice as well. Her eyes shift from one ice cream to another as if she is picking an answer in a multiple-choice test.
I am having a tough time figuring out what I want to snack on myself. Eventually I decide on some banana bread. Bananas are usually not that bad tasting, plus it has bananas in it and it’s a fruit, so it can’t be that bad of a choice right?
As I decide on my choice, it looks as if Molly has made hers as well. She opens the freezer and shivers when the cold air hits her. She quickly grabs the ice cream and closes the door and heads my way.
“You sure you want ice cream? You were shivering a lot there trying to get it,” I tease her.
“Yes Hisao.” she changes her tone to a mock serious one. “If I get sick because of this, I expect you visit me.”
“I’ll bring ice cream to make you feel better.”
Molly gives me a look that says “Okay, let’s just go now.” I guess I threw her off with my reply. She didn’t seem to take offense, but rather she doesn’t know how to reply to that. So we leave it at that and head to the cashier.
There’s a line to checkout out our snacks. Not really a long one, just three people ahead of us. The cashier is an older man. In front of us is the lady that was looking at the students earlier. She looks back slowly and smiles as soon as she sees me. I think she is trying her best to be polite- which works, but it feels like it’s tacked on. I smile back at her before she turns back.
“What did you get?” Molly catches my attention.
“Banana bread. It sounds good, so I figured I’d try it out.” I show her the snack. “What ice cream did you get?”
“I got strawberry.” She hands me the small container of ice cream.
It looks like a foreign one, because I have a hard time trying to pronounce the name in my head, so I just look at the picture. The label seems pretty-straight forward. Picture of the ice cream with some patterns on it. Simple and to the point.
“It does look good.” I hand back the ice cream.
“I usually get the ice cream bar,” she says as she takes a step forward.
“Hello there,” the cashier greets Molly.
“Hi.”
“Did you find everything okay?”
“Yes I did. You have quite the selection of ice cream.”
“Ah yes,” he rings up her items, “I recently ordered some new ice cream since I heard this summer is going to be hotter compared to last year.”
“I’ll try my best to come again and try another flavor.”
“I would like that.” the old man smiles. “That will be 486 yen.”
Molly searches her bag for her wallet. It looks worse for wear but still holding together somehow. She pulls out a small handful of coins, slowly picks up the coins until she has enough and hands them over.
“Here you go.”
“Okay and here is your change. Have a nice day,” the old cashier smiles at Molly, handing over her change and receipt.
Molly takes her things and moves to the side as I approach the counter.
“Hello, young man. Did you find everything okay?”
“Yes,” I answer.
“Is that your girlfriend?” The cashier looks over at Molly. She smiles back at the cashier, though you can see that she is surprised by the question as I am.
“No,” we reply almost in unison.
“Sorry to assume that. I saw you two entered together, so I figured.”
“It’s fine.”
“Hisao, I’m going outside,” Molly says as she quickly walks towards the door.
“Okay,” I reply, but I don’t think she heard as fast as she is going.
“Anyway, that will be 559 yen.”
I reach for my wallet and pull out a 500 yen note. It has seen better days, as one of the corners is ripped off and its been folded too many times to the point where it droops like a wet noodle. I fish in my pocket for a 100 yen coin I might have. Lucky for me, I usually carry some around just in case.
“Here’s is 600 yen,” I hand over the cash.
“And here is your change. Have a nice day.”
“Thank you.”
“Hey lad!” the cashier calls out.
“What is it?”
“Nevermind. Sorry to bother you.”
I walk outside and spot Molly leaning against the wall. She is on her phone texting I believe. She doesn’t notice me, as she waits for a reply.
Outside it still looks gloomy, especially with the sun going down. It’s cloudy, but you can tell the sun is setting by how dark it is. The street lights turn on. Well some of them do. I’m starting to feel the cold weather hit me.
“Hisao?” Molly looks up from her phone.
“Yeah?”
“Want to go to the park?”
“Umm…sure. Where’s the park?”
“It’s about a block this way,” she says as she points to the left.
Molly gets up from the wall. I pick up her shopping bag for her as we make our way to the park. She smiles at me as we leave the Aura Mart behind us.
“So,” I speak up, “it sure got cold.”
She nods her head but, doesn’t look at me as she does.
“Any plans this weekend?”
Molly shakes her head. “Nothing really. What about you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe read some books like I usually do. Or take Asuka up on her offer and watch a movie with her.”
“You have any siblings Hisao?”
That came out of nowhere.
“No. I’m an only child.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Molly falls silent until we see the park at the end of the block. She slows down her pace to pull out her phone and starts texting rapidly with her thumb. When she closes her phone, she takes a few steps before having to open her phone again and repeating the process. The second time, she doesn’t move and waits for a reply.
I stand by a light post as Molly continues to have her text conversation. I try not to be nosey and look across the street. There’s a restaurant at the corner of the street. The sign reads Shintaro. It seems to be smaller than the Shanghai, but also looks modern. I am kind of interested in what kind of food they have. Maybe another time when my wallet feels heavier.
Behind me, I hear a phone close with click, follow by a long, tired sigh. I turn to see Molly looking down at the ground. I can’t make out her face because her bangs are covering up the upper half. I take a couple steps towards Molly. She looks up at me; changing her expression to try to mask what just happened.
“Are you okay, Molly?” I put my hand on her shoulder.
“…no,” she mumbles.
“What’s the matter?”
“Something that happened to my brother. He said he’s on his way to pick me up.”
“Is he alright?”
“He is. Just that the pass few weeks have been hard for him. I’ve been trying my best to cheer him up.”
“Well I hope things work out for him,” I smile.
She tries her best to smile back, “I hope so too.”
We make it to the park. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it before. Well, I don’t really go into town except when I go to the store or the Shanghai. There are some benches along the concrete path and a few gazebos around.
Molly and I take a seat by a bench nearby. I hand her the bag and she thanks me as she pulls out her drink. Then she takes out her ice cream. She shakes when she touches the cold container and places it on the bench next to her. Molly puts her hands to her mouth and warms them up with her breath.
“Are you sure eating ice cream in the cold is a good idea?” I chuckle.
“Yes.” She picks up the container and opens it. Molly takes out the small plastic spoon it came with and scoops up a small bit. “But you’re taking the first bite.”
“Why?”
“I want you to try it.”
She slowly raises the spoon of strawberry ice cream close to my mouth. I oblige and let her feed me. The cold ice cream sticks to my tongue and makes my tongue hurt a little as she retracts the plastic utensil. The cold snack begins to melt in my mouth and I swallow it.
“So?”
“I still think it’s too cold for ice cream.”
“Oh…” Molly didn’t want to hear that answer.
“But the ice cream is good. If it was warmer, I wouldn’t mind eating it.”
Molly scoots closer to me. She scoops up another bit and eats it. Her face shakes when it enters her mouth; probably stuck to her tongue as well, but a couple seconds later, her face shows joy as she swallows.
I open my bag and take out my banana bread snack. The plastic wrapper making all sorts of noise as I open it up. I pull apart the corner and look at Molly.
“Do want to try this? It’s only fair since you shared yours.”
“I would like to.” She moves her face closer to me.
I guess it’s my turn to feed Molly. I’ve never done this. My hand slowly approaches her mouth. She opens her mouth and I feed her the snack. I quickly retract my hand when she takes a bite. I take a deep breath to try to calm my heart.
“That’s really delicious,” Molly takes a sip of water.
I take a bite of the bread. It’s soft and a little bit moist. There are also nuts in it. After chewing for a bit, I figured out that it’s walnuts.
“I never had banana bread with walnuts before,” I comment.
“It’s really good. Can I have another bite?”
“Uh, sure,” I pull apart another piece.
This time I hand her the piece of bread. Molly takes it and smiles at me with a “Thank you”. Her face lights up as she eats the bread.
“I need to learn how to make this sometime,” she speaks up.
“You like to bake?” I ask.
“Um, I started to learn,” she answers. “Well to be honest, I only learned how to cook last year when I moved in with my brother.”
“I see. The only thing I can cook is cereal, if you can call that cooking.”
“It’s not.” She smiles. “I’m still learning. I used to know only how to make cereal too And toast”
“I should probably learn how to cook someday. I don’t know if instant ramen would be a good diet.”
“Maybe you should ask Takashi.”
“Why would I ask him?”
“Well, he taught me how to cook.”
“Takashi can cook?”
“Yes. He doesn’t look like it, but he is a pretty decent cook.”
“I’ll keep that mind.”
I finish up the banana bread and wash it down with water. Molly finishes her ice cream not long after. I offer to throw our trash away and she happily hands over hers. I walk to a nearby trashcan.
Out of nowhere, I feel something hit my head. It isn’t hard or anything, but enough to catch me off guard. Shortly after, I feel more things hit my head and see dark spots appear on the ground. It’s raining. I quickly toss away the trash and run back to Molly, who is walking towards me with our stuff.
“We should really get out of the rain,” I say as I reach her.
“There’s a gazebo over there,” she points to my left. “We can try to wait the rain out.”
I nod, and we make our way to the gazebo. It’s not raining hard, but it is drizzling to the point where if we were to walk back to Yamaku, we’d be getting soaked.
“I really wish I brought my umbrella with me.”
“I brought one,” Molly says. She opens up her bag and pulls out her clear umbrella.
“Should we head back to Yamaku?”
“You can borrow my umbrella. I told my brother I was at the park, so he should be on his way.”
“I’ll wait with you until he comes then.” I take her umbrella.
She looks down as she takes out her phone. I can hear it vibrate as she picks it up.
“Hello?”
“…”
“I’m at the park still.”
“…”
“I forgot to bring my umbrella. I thought it wasn’t going to rain today,” she lies.
“…”
“I know.”
“…”
“Okay. Bye.”
Molly closes her phone and puts it back in her bag with a tired sigh. Seems like she had this kind of conversation before. Well one kind of did happened early. I wonder how often this happens between them.
“He’s on his way.”
“Your brother?”
She nods her head.
The rain continues to fall as the minutes pass. The gentle wind blowing doesn’t help but makes me dread the long walk back to school. It’s really not long, maybe a fifteen minute walk uphill- but with the rain, it might add another five minutes. Still, I hope this rain is passing since I don’t want to get a cold.
“What’s the matter?” Molly asks.
“Just thinking about the walk back to school in the rain. I hope it lightens up.”
“I could ask my brother if he can give you a ride, but don’t expect one,” she says in a matter of fact tone.
“It’s fine. I have your umbrella to protect me from the rain.” I hold up the umbrella.
“I’m sorry Hisao.”
“For what?”
“For making you walk back in the rain.”
“It’s fine. Plus it’s my fault for not taking my umbrella with me today.”
“I know but I feel bad about it.”
“Molly,” I scoot closer to her. “It’s okay. It’s only rain. It’s not the first time I’ve walked in the rain without an umbrella.”
“…”
“Do you like the rain Molly?” I ask her.
“Yes, I do.” She closes her eyes, “It’s soothing to hear the raindrops hit the floor. What about you?”
“Apart from the getting wet part, I don’t mind it.”
“I think nobody likes getting wet in the rain,” she smiles.
“Yeah.”
The rain slowly begins to show signs of letting up. It becomes easier to see some of the buildings in the distance. Also the clouds are breaking apart with whatever remaining sunlight there is peeking out. I guess I might not have to walk in the rain after all.
Molly reaches for her bag again and pulls out her phone once more.
“Hello.”
“…”
“I see you. I’m over here on your right,” Molly waves her hand. She then closes her phone.
I follow her eyes to see a person walk towards us. I think it’s her brother. It’s hard to tell from this distance, and with the street lights not hitting him as he approaches. As the person walks closer to us, I start having questions.
“Is that your brother?” I ask her.
“Yes.”
“Hey Molly,” the person says as he approaches us. “Who’s he?”
“I’m Hisao.”
He doesn’t say anything. Molly’s brother doesn’t look how I expected him to be. Not that I had any idea what he would look like. The main one is that they don’t look like siblings. Molly is Indian, while this person looks Japanese. Is Molly adopted?
“This is Hisao,” Molly speaks up. “This is my brother Ichiro.”
“Hey,” he nods his head at me. “You ready to go?”
“Umm, yeah.”
“Let’s go then.” He begins to walk back where he came from. He seems not to care who I am, or really like to be here.
“Bye Hisao. See you tomorrow.”
“Bye Molly.”
Molly leaves and quickly catches up to her brother. I think I have seen him before, but I am having a hard time remembering. He has blonde hair like Takashi. His hair sticking out in some places. He also had a stoic expression. It’s getting on my nerves trying to figure this out. I give up and begin to make my way back to the dorm; if I remember how to get back.
“Ichiro.” I think out loud.
Previous Scene: Here With You Again
Next Scene: ???
