I get to my dorm room right as Hisao calls.
"Hey, Hisao, what's up?"
"Just going to the store, I need to restock on a few things, if you know what I mean. And I'll get some for your room, I know you're running low, too." I blush at the thought of what exactly he's restocking. "Need me to pick up anything else for you?"
"Just a couple of liters of milk. I need it for a secret... ex-experiment."
"OK, now you're sounding scarily like Kenji."
I shudder a little at the thought of Setou. I have no idea why Hisao willingly associates with him, from everything that Lilly's told me about him.
Then again, he seems to have a habit of picking the strangest people to associate with. Setou. Shizune. Me.
"Except you actually l-like my experiments." I follow that up with a giggle.
"Not all of them..."
"H-hey!"
"OK, OK, all of them but the last one. That one was way too spicy."
"Just because you can't handle spicy food..."
"Oh, come on, I had to drink like three glasses of... Wait a minute, you're not planning on doing something extra spicy again, are you?"
Ahh, he's on to me.
"M-maaaaaaybe?"
"Alright, I'll be sure to get another liter for myself. Anything else?"
"No, thanks."
"Alright, I'll see you later, Hanako."
"Bye, Hisao."
I flip the screen on my phone shut, and look in my closet for an outfit to wear on our date. Um, our not-a-date. With Akira. I've got a little over an hour to get ready.
Nope, nope, nope... ah, this. This will do nicely. It's the outfit that I wore most of the time I needed something casual when I was at Yamaku. Denim jacket, pink blouse, slacks. With that decided, I hop in the shower once more. This time, it's a longer shower, and there's plenty of hot water. The water soaks away the soreness from both last night's "workout" and this morning's nap in class.
Satsified that I'm clean, I finish my preparations, and get dressed. Now, I had a hat that went with this, where did it... wait, why do I even have a hair tie?
Hmm.
Hmmmmm.
Can I pull that off?
I decide to try it, and pull my hair back into a ponytail. I feel... naked... having my face uncovered. I decide to look into the mirror.
The scarred part of my face makes a glaring contrast with the unblemished skin on my left side. There's nothing I can do about that. I've never been one for makeup, because my blemishes are simply too much for it.
I can't pull this off.
I remove the hair tie and let my hair fall into its natural position, covering the right side of my face. But this feels like... defeat. And I want to impress Hisao, too. Showing some confidence in my appearance is the best way to do that that I can do in public.
Besides, I can't let them
win.
I take a deep breath and put my hair back in the ponytail. I hear a knock at the door. "It's Hisao."
Well, too late to change my mind now.
I unlock the door to let him in, and he starts to hand me the things that he got for me, before he takes a glimpse at me. The shock of seeing me about to go into public without covering my face causes him to drop the bag. Luckily, the milk survives.
"Ha... What... Wow. I'm proud of you, Hanako." He's grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
This sends a wave of confidence through me. Even if our relationship is confusing and messed up, he's always been supportive of me. I hug him tightly. "Thought I'd t-try s-something d-different." I pick up the bag that he dropped, put the milk in the mini fridge, and the condoms in the nightstand's drawer.
Interestingly, I notice that Hisao's dressed up as well. Of course, his version of "dressed up" is a sweater vest. Seriously, I will never understand that.
"Well, shall we go?"
"Absolutely." I follow him out the door, locking it behind me.
And now for the frustrating part, where as soon as we’re in public, Hisao steps away from me, and acts like he barely knows me. In private, I’m Hanako, his... friend with benefits. In public, I’m Ikezawa, the person that he’s barely talked to once or twice in class. He claimed that this was because he didn’t want Shizune to know about our friendship, but how will Shizune find out
now? She’s 350 kilometers away, and Misha is on another continent!
Is this about my scars, or something? He certainly isn’t worried about them when we’re in bed together, though, and he was quite happy to see that I was able to show my scars today.
We’re coming up on an arcade, and I see a few middle schoolers come out. Uh oh. Sure enough, as soon as they see my scars, they begin leering at me. Reflexively, I put my hand in front of my face, and try to hide behind Hisao. When I do this, he tenses up, but he doesn’t actively avoid me like he normally does, until we’re well past the leering children. As soon as I’m out of danger, though, he resumes treating me as if we’re mere acquaintances. So it’s clear that he cares about me, and it’s not even the scars… but then what is it?
Before long, we’re at the karaoke parlor, and a suited blonde waves at us.
“Hanako! Long time, no see! And I like what you’ve done with your hair!”
“Akira! H-how have you been?” She looks the same as ever, so there’s really not much I can do to return her compliment. Well, I could simply try to make Hisao jealous… “You look g-great, by the way.”
“Eh, same ol’, same ol’, you know how it is. Buried in work and family bullshit, but you gotta do what you gotta do. How’ve you been?”
That’s a… hard question to answer. Hisao looks over at me while I contemplate that, and Akira takes the chance to look at Hisao. She almost looks like she’s trying to remember something, like she recognizes him but can’t put a face to a name. And Hisao has the same expression on his face, trying to figure out who Akira is. They couldn’t have met before, could they?
“I’m doing p-pretty well in my classes…”
“Well, that’s good to hear! So, who’s your friend here?”
“Sorry, I should have introduced you two! H-Hisao, this is Akira S-Satou, Akira, this is Hisao Nakai.”
Akira’s eyes suddenly light up with recognition. Hisao’s expression is one of abject terror, though. “Oh, Hisao, sorry I didn’t recognize you at first. You’re Shizune’s boyfriend, right?”
«An ill wind comes arising...» That was not what I expected at all. They must have met when Akira and Lilly were staying at the Hakamichi mansion, before their flight to Scotland, after Lilly left Yamaku for good. And, unlike Lilly, Akira gets along just fine with Shizune. Something brown and smelly is getting dangerously close to the fan, and Hisao looks far more terrified than I am.
«The world weighs on my shoulders, but what am I to do? You sometimes drive me crazy, but I worry about you.» Most of my brain is screaming for me to run from this situation, but a tiny part of me tells me that it’d be better for me to stay around. I decide to go with that part.
Hisao looks over to me, and then eventually croaks out, “Ye… Yes.”
“How have you two been?”
“She’s... been busy with her studies in Tokyo, so we haven’t been able to talk much, sadly. But my studies have been going quite well, at least.”
“Aww, sorry to hear that. And you better keep your grades up to keep up with Shizune, she’ll never let you live it down if you don’t.”
“I know, I’m doing fine there, thanks…”
Akira suddenly reaches for her phone, looks at the screen, and mutters, “damn them, trying to get me in on my free time. They can go fuck themselves.” She then pockets the phone and speaks up. “Well, let’s not waste any time, let’s get in there and have some fun.”
When we get in the booth, Hisao still looks really tense. I’m a little worried, actually, and had I known that Akira would cause him so much anxiety, I wouldn’t have suggested this to either of them. I certainly know what it’s like to be that anxious. But, it’s too late now. Unfortunately, this means that he’s keeping his distance from me still. If it were someone that he didn’t already know, I think he’d be fine. Unfortunately, because he knows Akira, and Akira knows Shizune, I’m Ikezawa now, not Hanako. Damn it!
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I think it will be interesting to see if they wake up to that fact that they really love each other and Hisao is chasing after Shizune in some sort of guilt-laden "I would feel bad if I dumped her" sort of way. He is an annoying white-knight after all.
