Peaceful atmosphere wrapped around the rooftop like a comfortable blanket. Sharp contrast to it, a certain golden brown-haired teen felt an anxious and cold feeling bubbling up inside of him. His gaze locked on a certain jet-black-haired teen in front of him who stared back at him with amused look on his dark red eyes and knowing smile on his lips.
Various questions swirled around his mind just like the whirl wind. And so far, he could only find blank answers to it.
He knew, the only who could fill the blank was only Mikami Kyousuke. He knew, the easiest way to get it was asking him directly. Even so, somehow he wasn't sure the other boy would give him a straight answer. Furthermore, because he couldn't help but worry about the possibility if the answer turned out to be something too scary or terrifying for him. If that was the case, he didn't mind admitting that he rather not knowing about it in the first place.
He sighed inwardly. At this rate it was going nowhere.
Steeling himself, Yoshinaga Izumi stuttered, "H-how did you know?"
"The simple answer is because you're easy to read, obviously," Mikami said lightly.
Never dropping his gaze on the other teen, he asked, "What do you mean by that?" Somehow he felt uneasy after hearing the other's nonchalant answer. It was too simple for an answer. It didn't seem to be a lie, yet there was something didn't feel right about it either.
"Hmm? It's exactly as I say," the other replied while munching some potato chips.
It looked like Mikami wouldn't give him a straight answer, after all. Or maybe, actually, he didn't even want to answer his question?
"But… That isn't all, is it?" Izumi questioned in a small voice.
'There's no doubt that there's more into it,' he thought to himself.
"Do you really want to know?" Mikami countered with a question of his own, a meaningful smile playing on his lips. "I would give you the full answer of your question, only if you yourself want to hear it. If you're not even sure about it, you better of not knowing. Don't you think so?"
"…Eh?"
A pair of brown eyes widened as the owner felt as though the other boy had just read his mind. What the other said just now was exactly what he thought a moment ago.
'Don't tell me… he really could read my mind…?'
No, it couldn't be that Mikami really could read his mind.
When Izumi came up with that silly musing, he was only joking around, hardly serious about it. It was just his stupid speculation. He felt quite foolish for even thinking about it. Logically speaking, that kind of ability only appeared in fiction. There was a ninety nine point ninety nine percent chance that wasn't possible in real life.
Then again, what if that was true? What if he really could read his mind? If Mikami was truly a mind-reader, it would explain a lot of things. It would be reasonable how he knew all of those he shouldn't have known. As unlikely as it sounded, he couldn't just dismiss the possibility of it either, especially after hearing those words.
He sighed inwardly. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became.
"You sure worry too much."
The sudden comment from Mikami snapped Izumi out of his reverie. He glanced over at the other boy who had been looking at him with an incredibly amused smile on his lips as if he was enjoying something. The brown-haired boy dropped his gaze to the ground instantly, a bit embarrassed being caught daydreaming. Not to mention that the object of his musing was sitting right in front of him, waiting for his answer patiently.
"So, how is it? Do you really want to know?" repeated Mikami.
Even if he had doubts in his heart, actually still bothered by his assumption about Mikami Kyouske, he had to admit that he was curious. That's why, after a moment of silence, Yoshinaga Izumi looked up at the other boy and gave a nod. Then…
"…I guess so," he added a bit hesitantly.
"Now… where should I start…?" Mikami wondered between bites.
"The beginning?" suggested Izumi, somewhat anxious.
"Hmm? The beginning? Okay…," the troublemaker agreed easily as he continued eating his snack. "I'm going to explain it in a way as simple as possible so you could understand. Please correct me if I am wrong and keep it in mind that this is just a possibility. So there is no need to get work up over it. Okay?"
'Did he just indirectly call me stupid or something?' Izumi thought with a frown.
"For one, how did I know you hadn't had breakfast? It's simple. This morning, on your way to school, you dropped your half-eaten bread after someone accidentally bumped into you, right? I happened to be in the area at that time and happened to see it myself."
"What? You were there?" Izumi asked in half-curious, half-disbelief voice.
"Yeah. You just didn't see me, so of course you didn't know."
"Ah, I see…"
Now that he mentioned it, Izumi didn't seem to see the other boy nearby when he tried to recall the scene from this morning. And even if he did, he wouldn't have recognized him given that he didn't know Mikami's face before the incident with the three bullies.
"Point two, it's lunchtime and yet, you didn't seem to carry any bento with you. Why?"
Fidgeting nervously in his spot on the floor, Izumi wondered if he should answer it or how he should explain it without embarrassing himself. Before he could do anything, Mikami opened his mouth to continue.
"Let's see… You look like the type who would like to bring their own lunch, a homemade bento, to school. Thus, I guess you're from the bento group. You are, aren't you?"
"T-that's right…," Izumi answered quietly.
"When you encountered three bullies this morning, clearly they didn't take your bento from you. So, it crosses the first possibility of you losing it. Then, the second possibility… it could simply be because you left it in the classroom. However, wouldn't that be strange? Why would you not just eat it in there? Why would you leave it just like that when you haven't had any breakfast? That's unreasonable. So, it's a no. It was unlikely you did something like that. Besides, I don't think you're that stupid."
'…He called me stupid again,' Izumi remarked inwardly, annoyed.
"Judging from your disheveled appearance this morning and how you ran to school, it was easy to tell that you were in a hurry. When someone is in a hurry, it's not surprising if they end up forgetting something. For example: their wallet, cell-phone, or perhaps…bento."
Izumi tensed, wide-eyed when he heard the last word.
Mikami paused momentarily to put a handful of the chips in his mouth before carried on. "Which means…the third possibility is more likely to happen: You forgot to bring your bento in the first place. Instead of leaving it in the classroom, you left it on the dining table or something," he concluded. "Am I wrong?"
'Ugh. He's right,' the brown-haired boy answered in his mind as he looked the other way. He could feel his cheeks heat up from embarrassment.
Taking Izumi's silent as a cue to continue, the black-haired boy went on with his explanation.
"Moving on the next point, point three," he uttered, finishing the rest of potato chips, "By the way, if there is someone from the bento group forgets to bring their bento, what do you think they would plausibly do? They would have no choice but to secure some foods from other source. In this case, the easiest way is to buy something from the cafeteria—anyone could manage it, as long as they don't mind the chaos in that place. Don't you think so?"
"Uh, yeah," Izumi replied nervously.
He didn't know what to say other than that. It was clear to him what the troublemaker trying to say. The hidden meaning beneath his words… The unsaid question that echoed clearly in his ears: you went to the cafeteria, didn't you?
Opening a bag of crackers, Mikami asked, "Curry is the cafeteria's menu for today, right?"
He said it in a way that sounded more like a statement than a question.
Izumi nodded curtly, "Yes…"
As if reading his mind, the black-haired troublemaker stated, "Although normally student doesn't need to go to the cafeteria to know about the menu since there's always a notice on the bulletin board… You, on the other hand, knew it because you went to the cafeteria yourself."
"…"
"Don't worry; I won't accuse you like that without any evidence. There is some evidence for that statement: there are some curry and juice stains on your indoor shoes," he spoke while chewing some crackers and pointing his finger at Izumi's indoor shoes to prove his point.
"Eh!?"
The boy blinked and looked down at his indoor shoes. True enough, he could see the stains. It must be from when the plate and glass hit the ground. He didn't even realize it until Mikami pointed it out. Still, he didn't like it the way the other teen said it to him. It was almost as if…
'…He wouldn't hesitate to accuse me of anything as long as there's a proof?'
He wasn't a criminal or something, thank you very much.
"Now, for the point four… You said that 'someone' chased after you, right? Since you were in the cafeteria at that time, it's only natural to think you met 'that someone' in the cafeteria. If so, it raised a certain question: why did that someone chase after you?"
For some reason, Izumi was starting to get a pretty bad feeling about this.
"There is no way 'that person' would chase after someone without any reason. Big or small, it doesn't matter. There is always a 'trigger', a piece of event that initiates the reason. So, what kind of trigger was it? What could it be…?" Mikami wondered.
With his bad feeling growing bigger and bigger by the seconds, Izumi froze on his spot. When he wanted to hear Mikami's explanation, he never expected it would be something like this, which he had to admit quite surprising…
'…in a dreadful way,' he added mentally.
"Given that you looked so pale and terrified when you came up here, it didn't look to be something trivial. You understood that it wasn't a small matter, that's why you ran away from 'that person'. That's why you escaped, didn't you? You must have done something to 'that person'—something that unforgivable," Mikami said without any hostility.
At that moment, Yoshinaga Izumi could hear it…
There was a silent question rang loudly in the air.
—What did you do to them to warrant their wrath?
'…Ugh.'
Even though he wasn't a bad guy, even though he wasn't a criminal, somehow at this moment, Izumi couldn't help but experience the same amount of pressure a criminal had when they were being interrogated by the police. He felt as if he had committed a hideous crime. Especially, after he heard the other boy's last sentence.
"I'm pretty sure I've figured out what's going on," Mikami Kyousuke continued casually, oblivious to Izumi's inner turmoil, "The hint is the curry and juice stain on your indoor shoes."
Izumi kept quiet and started staring at the floor like it were interesting in some way.
"All the menus on cafeteria are always sold out around fifteen minutes after the lunch break starts. Some students wouldn't even get to buy any food. From that fact, the first possibility is somehow you managed to get a curry and somehow you also managed to lose them right after—like what happened to your half-eaten bread this morning."
The black-haired teen opened another bag of potato chips before saying, "Which, in my opinion, that's kind of reasonably foolish and rather pitiful, really… Then again, considering the cafeteria group is relatively a rowdy bunch… I suppose, it's not so strange if they were the one who cause it to happen in the first place. But, I don't think the first possibility is right, because it doesn't explain why you needed to escape if you were the victim."
'If he knew I was the victim, then don't treat me like I'm the bad guy,' Izumi grumbled in his head. 'And, he called me stupid again, didn't he?'
"The second possibility, you didn't manage to get any curry and yet, in some way, you managed to get yourself into trouble instead—like what happened with the three bullies this morning. In a chaotic cafeteria like that, it wasn't so surprising if you ran into 'someone' and caused a certain incident. Most likely, it was what had happened, since it certainly explained why you ran away."
"…"
Izumi didn't answer, but his silence alone was enough of an answer.
He could not argue about this because he knew it was true.
"What kind of incident? Obviously, you accidentally ruined someone's lunch, making it fell to the ground—and perhaps you also inadvertently made that person's clothes dirty. The stains in your indoor shoes are the solid proof of it," Mikami confirmed what he already knew.
A moment of silence fell between the two boys.
Halfway through Mikami's explanation, Izumi had buried his head in his hands. His face burned in embarrassment. Actually he had wanted to bury himself on the ground if possible. Sadly, he was currently on the rooftop, which obviously far from the ground, so that kind of wish was not possible. It couldn't be help. So all he could do was hiding his head in his hands instead.
Meanwhile Mikami was busy stuffing his mouth with his potato chips, not noticing what happened with Izumi, or…maybe he just didn't care.
"Hey, are you going to eat it or not?" the black-haired boy questioned, breaking the silence.
"Eh?" Izumi shot his head back up from his makeshift hiding place.
"Onigiri. Are you going to eat it or not?"
"Ah, y-yes," he replied, stumbling over his words. He was so glad his stomach didn't start growling at the reminder of food. "Thank you for the onigiri," he said, bowing slightly.
"No problem," Mikami replied casually before returning to his snacks.
Izumi looked down at the onigiri in his hands. It was a simple onigiri that could be found in any convenience store anywhere. Even so, it was better than nothing, he supposed. Besides, it's not like he was in any position could be picky. After muttering "Itadakimasu" (thank you for the meal) quietly, he took a bite into the onigiri.
In that moment… he felt that somehow it tasted better than any onigiri he had eaten before. For some reason, this single onigiri made the day seemed a bit better.
Casting a brief glance toward Mikami, he swallowed the bite of onigiri in his mouth. "Umm…," he stammered, scratching his cheek awkwardly.
Mikami looked up from his snack, "Hmm? What's wrong?"
"About the incident in the cafeteria…," he trailed off as he averted his eyes.
"Oh, that. Don't worry; I'm not blaming you about it. It was an accident, right? Whatever the case I won't ask you about it."
"Eh? Why?" Confusion settled on his features.
"Why indeed." The other boy looked thoughtful for a moment before his gaze shifted to him. A knowing grin appeared upon his lips. "Maybe because I got a feeling that you're not going to tell me about it even if I were to ask. So I won't ask. It's as simple as that."
Izumi was quite taken aback by Mikami's words.
'How he could tell?' he wondered silently.
Slowly but surely, it was starting to look like his theory about Mikami could read his mind might be true. But before he could ponder more on it, the other boy started his explanation again.
"Let's move to the point five. The last point to explain is about 'that person' you bumped into in the cafeteria. Who was 'that person'?" he questioned in a jovial tone.
"…"
After a short pause, Mikami continued. He didn't wait for Izumi's reply since he never planned to hear it anyway. "It was unlikely that it was one of the teachers. They prefer to spend their lunch break on the teacher lounge. They don't need to wait in line in the cafeteria either, as their food is delivered directly to the teacher lounge. What a convenience privilege."
"Y-yeah…" Izumi nodded in agreement.
Finishing his onigiri, he reflected upon what Mikami said. The teachers were allowed to order their food from cafeteria by phone. And the cafeteria agreed to deliver the food straight to the teacher lounge. Therefore, the teachers didn't have to experience the chaotic lunchtime in the cafeteria. Yes, he couldn't help but agree how unfair it was.
"So, there's only one possible explanation left. It was one of the students. However if it was a normal student, I don't think they would go to such an extreme length like chasing after you just because they were angry. It could only mean that 'that person' was one of the bullies. Is it wrong?"
Izumi nodded then said, "Uh, that's right…," after a brief moment of hesitation.
"That being said, I don't know which one, though."
"Eh? You don't know?"
That was surprising. He thought Mikami would surely know about it as well.
"There are a lot of bullies in this school. It's okay to have some theory; I suppose. However, I'd rather avoid making speculation without any facts, clues, or proofs that could back it up. Otherwise we wouldn't realize the real answer."
'In other words, he doesn't want to falsely accuse someone.'
As that thought drifted to his mind, the realization dawned on him. Despite all the bad rumors, Mikami Kyousuke was not as bad as he first thought. Yes, he had witnessed it himself how the other teen jumped into a fight without a care like this morning. But he did it to help Izumi out, to save him from the bullies, in his own dangerous way.
'Perhaps those rumors about him are only rumors after all. They're just some speculations that run out of control and become bad rumors instead.'
When he looked over Mikami, he found the other fixing him with a calculating look and a hint of a knowing smirk, making the brown-haired boy slightly shivered.
"Point six, the hidden point," the teenager said suddenly.
He blinked, "Eh? What do you mean?"
"It seems you had made a wrong assumption and jumped into a conclusion. As much as how interesting it is, I feel that I need to clear up the misunderstanding. I'm not a mind-reader. I couldn't read your mind or other people's mind. When I said 'you're easy to read', it was exactly because you're easy to read, not because I could read your mind."
There was a beat of silence, and then…
"…Ah," Izumi murmured distractedly.
The next moment, he groaned and buried his face in his hands, embarrassed beyond measure.
"Looks like you finally understand what I mean," Mikami commented in carefree tone.
'If he already realized it, why he didn't just clear it up right away!?' Izumi screamed in his head.
Come to think of it, didn't the other boy say something about it? It was interesting or something like that. Did that mean Mikami didn't tell him because he was enjoying the misunderstood Izumi? Izumi felt his stomach twisted in a knot as he finally came to a realization. Even without that kind of ability, Mikami still could 'read' him like an open book.
"Hey, how long are you going to keep sulking?" Mikami asked, munching some potato chips.
"I'm not sulking," mumbled Izumi in reply.
"Of course you are not. I won't call burying a face in the hands as sulking."
There was a hint of laugh in his voice.
'He really enjoys mocking me, huh?' Izumi thought sulkily, annoyed.
"Oh well, I guess I really have no choice. Listen to me carefully, if you don't look up in the next second you'll get hit in the head."
"…Huh?"
Confused and slightly curious, Izumi looked up just in time to see something flying towards him. Instinctively he caught it albeit a bit clumsily. He looked down at the thing in his hands, an anpan (sweet red bean paste bread). He blinked in surprised; it was his favorite food after all. It wasn't hard to guess who had thrown it towards him. He glanced over at the culprit—Mikami Kyousuke—and gave him a questioning look.
"For you," the black-haired boy said simply.
Izumi was stunned, speechless, at how straightforward his words were.
"…Thank you," he muttered softly.
"You're welcome."
The brown-haired boy lowered his head as he let out a defeated sigh. He leaned his back against the door and began eating the anpan, his favorite food.
He still couldn't believe that just from their short encounters and meaningless conversation, Mikami could obtain necessary information and draw a right-on-the-mark conclusion easily just like that. It was scary. Moreover they only met by chance and they didn't know each other—well, he did know the other boy, but only from the rumors, not personally.
If he didn't know any better he would think that Mikami secretly was his stalker.
Then, Izumi froze.
'…It can't be… right?' he thought.
Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought right away after it popped up in his mind. That was not the right way of thinking of someone who had helped him twice. It was an ungrateful act and borderline rude. Nodding to himself, Izumi enjoyed the anpan in his hands.