Toshiro Okumori
The weekend. It had been a week ever since that crazy-blonde girl had attempted interaction with me. Fortunately, she seemed to give up after that first day altogether and lied to her commitment of trying to converse with me further, to which I delightedly respected.
I mean, it was bound to happen, anyway.
"Toshiro…" A drowsy voice erupted from the living room.
The controller that had been in my grasp dropped to the floor, ensued with a deep exhale that left my body. I pushed myself off the floor and approached the living room.
I spotted my mom, who was currently dormant on the couch. There was drool that left her mouth, creating a large, wet circle on the mattress while she rested.
Her right eye eventually opened in a wearied form and caught the sight of me standing in front of her. She used the knuckles of her hands to rub her eyes, then push herself up from the couch.
"... Why do you look so disgusted, Toshiro?" She questioned with a yawn.
"No, it's just… You're drooling a lot." I replied.
"So? It's not like I'm embarrassed about it…." She tilted her head.
"T-That's not the poi- Never mind. What do you need?"
"I just dreamt of something tasty… So, I want to make something nice for dinner!" She hollered with her right hand in the air.
"I don't want to go outside-"
"Toshiro! Can you get some groceries for me?"
I closed my eyes and composed myself from doing anything rational.
Even though today was boring, I had no plans of leaving outside. I was fine with staying at home, even if today was monotonous and bland. But I knew I couldn't argue against my mom, because doing so would probably end up in a horrible mess.
I opened my eyelids and set my disgruntled eyes to her again.
"Fine..." I finally spoke, waving my hand at her.
"Yaay!"
She now had both of her hands curled up into fists in the air, with a mirthful smile while she celebrated.
"Just groceries?"
"Just groceries!" She nodded. "I'll text you the ingredients once you get there. Is that fine?"
"Mm. It's fine." I sluggishly nodded.
"Oh, and be careful, too!" She added.
"Yeah, yeah…"
I swear, you're too immature for your age…
Before I could leave the house, I approached my room, snatched a random black crew neck sweatshirt I had, and slid it on without any problems. Then, I made sure that I had my essential belongings: my phone, earbuds, and house keys.
I went back to the living room and looked at my mom, who had returned into her deep hibernation. It astounded me how quickly she had fallen asleep, and it made me consider if she was overworking herself. I didn't want to disrupt whatever dreams she was currently having, though, so I simply left the house through the front door in silence.
I began to listen to music as I strolled on the sidewalk calmly, with my eyes closed and taking small steps forwards. But, it didn't take long for that composed and tranquil feeling to fade away because soon, rain would start pouring down on me.
I had no umbrella nor a hood, so it was a matter of time before I would get completely soaked. The rain became more aggressive by the minute, and eventually, I had ended up getting drenched. My clothes felt sticky, and my hair felt cold while it stuck to my forehead.
𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.
And, as if I couldn't feel any sadder about this somber situation I was in, my earbuds would all of a sudden stop working. It made me sigh in exhaustion and remove them to insert them back in my wet pocket.
Soon, the sight of the convenience store would come across my gaze. Without a second doubt, I began sprinting towards it. Once I had eagerly entered inside, I would instantly catch the eyes of numerous amounts of people.
I looked down at myself and noticed that everything was sopping wet. To my hair, all the way down to my sneakers. Currently, there was a puddle that was being created as I stood in dismay, as well as a cool breeze that flew past me and making me shiver.
I took a step and heard the squeaking that my shoes created. I cringed upon hearing it, but continued, trying my best to keep my steps as noiseless as possible.
My phone then vibrated, and it made my heart drop as soon as I had felt it.
𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘱, 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘯?!
Without hesitation, I pulled it out with dread. And to my luck, it seemed perfectly fine. There had been some circle-shaped, liquid droplets on it, but it didn't seem like it was too damaging to the phone. I wiped them off with my hand and saw a message that was present on the screen.
I tapped on it and ended up seeing the ingredients I had to buy from my mom. Under that ingredients list, though, was another message.
𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙘𝙠, 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝! 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙠! 𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚, 𝙤𝙠𝙖𝙮?
I pulled up the text box and began typing.
𝙊𝙠𝙖𝙮
I shoved the phone back into my pocket and started to survey my area.
Now that I knew what I had to get, the only problem was that I had no idea where the majority of the ingredients were. But, I decided to take on the challenge. If it goes south, I'll have to ask the store employees for support, which I'll try to prevent as much as possible.
Noting this down, I got a hold of a shopping cart and began venturing the various aisles in the store.
After a few minutes of searching, I was blessed to find some onions and vegetables, blissfully placing the ingredients I had seen in the cart. In a matter of an hour, I would have found all the ingredients I had needed and now started making my way to the cashier.
But, as I walked, this feeling of satisfaction disappeared in a flash. There was the fragrance of strawberry conditioner that I could sniff out and a sound of a humming tune that followed with it. Upon realization, my eyes widened, and the grip that I had on my cart tightened upon smelling the aromatic scent that entered my nostrils.
"Okumori-kun?"
I looked over with a frown and met the sight of the girl that I had so profoundly scorned. She held a plastic bag containing groceries as she stood, wearing an oversized pink hoodie and a white ruffled skirt that only reached her upper thighs. She had speculative eyes as she inspected my drenched appearance, examining me up to down. Then, she let out an appalled gasp after realization struck her.
"Ohmigod, it is you! What happened to you, Okumori-kun?! You're soaking wet!"
I quickly ignored her and directed my gaze away, then beginning to push my cart forwards while I started walking.
"Wait! Okumori-kun! I can't let you go like that! You'll get sick!"
I didn't stop her yell and only continued walking away from her.
"Uh, um…" She stammered behind me.
There were sounds of light rustling and some grunting that came from behind me. Then, all of a sudden, I could feel something soft and cushy that pressed my head, with someone's delicate arm that arrived in front of my eyes.
"Here, dry yourself up!"
I gazed upwards and saw a pink sleeve that touched my forehead. It didn't take me long to realize what was on top of me, and when I did, I became beyond puzzled.
It was her pink sweatshirt.
"H-Hurry up, though… I feel embarrassed without my sweatshirt…." Miyake muttered.
I pulled the sweatshirt away from my head and gawked at her.
𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺? 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦?
But, these questions of mine vanished rather swiftly, because what she wore under her sweatshirt was something that even made me embarrassed.
In bright pink, an italic font was present on the white t-shirt, with three words.
𝙈𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙘!
Below was a picture of a girl with a pink dress, with wings erupting from her back, and holding a long wand with a star. The girl posed cutely; her wand lifted in the air, and her free hand placed on her hip. She had one eye closed, winking at me with an enraptured smile.
Miyake would soon catch my discomfited gaze and instantly began hitting me with her eyes shut closed, along with a large tint of red that coated her whole face.
"D-D-Don't look! I told you it's embarrassing! Stop it!"
Hey! You stop it! You're hurting me, you idiot!
"Just dry yourself already! Don't worry about me! Don't even think about me! Just give it to me back when you're done!"
𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩?
Eventually, she'd stop hitting me and instead now stood beside me with her arms crossed, pouting and avoiding the general direction of my eyes. Her ruby, flushed face didn't disappear, though, and was still present as if it was a shining light.
I took the time to dry my head, and only my head, since my clothes were most likely beyond saving. I didn't want to waste any more time with the girl, either, so I rushed myself with the hopes of leaving right away. Once I was finished, I reached the sweatshirt back out to her, yet still solicitously eyeing her.
Miyake lifted both of her palms and watched in uneasiness as I set the damp sweatshirt on her hands.
"... I wanted to wear it…" She sniffled.
𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵.
Once the sweatshirt had been out of my grasp, I relocated my hands to my cart and continued walking forwards.
"W-Wait! I need some help! Don't leave me just yet!"
I froze and returned a wry expression at her.
"Don't be so grumpy about it, jeez..." She sighed thankfully.
She approached me and stood beside me with her left hand on her waist, with a sticky note on her right. "I need to get some broth… Do you know where it is?"
I shook my head.
"That's a lie, isn't it?" Miyake leaned on my cart.
I gulped and wagged my head right to left once more.
I did pass the broth earlier, but I wasn't willing to share the information. I was just merely attempting to find an excuse to escape her. I didn't know whether it would work or not, but if it didn't, I was prepared to make a run for it.
"Okumori-kun, it's in your cart."
She reached over and grabbed a can of broth and presented it to me.
𝘖𝘩.
I had entirely forgotten that I, myself, had also needed broth earlier. In fact, I had thrown three cans in my cart.
I was caught. Red-handed.
Realizing this, I began to shake my cart vigorously to lose Miyake's grip. Her eyes expanded while she wobbled around in panic, gripping onto the cart tightly.
"Wai- Stop- Okumori-!" She shrieked.
Eventually, seeing that she wasn't going to give, I halted. I glared at her and waited for her to leave.
"That wasn't nice of you, Okumori-kun!" She cried.
I sighed and relaxed my elbows on the cart. Then, I pointed to the aisle where I had passed the broth earlier before immediately going back to shake Miyake off my cart once more.
She had a smile upon seeing my answer, but it became extinct in a split second once I resumed my attack, with her smile switching to a face of consternation.
"Wait-!" Miyake still clung on.
"Shoo! Scatter!" I quietly growled.
She lunged forwards and grabbed my wrist, and held it down. I ceased, feeling her cold yet delicate hands grip my forearm firmly.
"I'm going to throw up from shaking." She mumbled. "It's going to be your fault if we make a mess…."
Not wanting her to vomit all over the ingredients I spent around an hour trying to find, I loosened the grip on the cart handles almost instantly.
She then raised her posture and smirked at me after I had backed down. It jumbled my brain, but I'd soon realize what triggered her wry, snickering smile.
𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨.
"Lead me to the broth, please!"
I went back to shaking the cart more vehemently than before after spotting her sneer.
After the ruckus we had created in the store, it was only a matter of time before we would catch the workers' attention. Politely, they asked us to halt what we were doing, to which I complied within acceptance. However, Miyake was thanking them in high gratitude, as if they were some sort of saint, which made me appear as a random domestic abuser.
She didn't leave my tail, however, and continued following me while humming a felicitous tune.
"Tch..." I muttered.
Soon, we'd reach the aisle where the broth was located. Miyake would eventually pick out the can she had so despairingly needed, and it made me even more agitated while I spectated her.
It didn't take us long to reach the checkout section right after, with both of us currently checking out the things we had picked out.
"Hey, is there a reason you don't talk?" Miyake asked out of the blue.
As usual, I ignored her and simply watched the cashier put the ingredients I had gotten into plastic bags.
"I don't even know why I asked that." She sighed. "You wouldn't answer that at all, huh?"
I then took the plastic bags that the cashier prepared for me and gripped them firmly. Once I had all my desired needs, I began walking.
"You don't have any friends, either?"
I stopped and simply looked at her expressionlessly.
"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean it rudely!" She briskly lowered her head. "I was just going to say that I'd be your first friend, you know?"
"... You're stubborn." I finally said in a dull, blunt tone.
Before I could turn around and exit the store, her clamorous voice would interrupt me.
"W-Well, I want to be your friend because you treated me differently!"
I turned around, baffled.
Seeing how she had got my attention, her fingers would start to coil and fidget around in a tense and shy way, her eyes now aimed at the floor instead of at me.
"Most kids always act like I'm superior because of my looks or my attitude, but I don't necessarily admire it. You were the opposite. You simply treated me normally… Or trash, I should say."
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵?
Instantly realizing what she had said, she quickly flailed her hands around in panic. "N-Not that I'm into that or anything! I just meant that you treated me differently! Don't misinterpret it!"
I stared at her in revulsion.
"Don't stare at me like that! I didn't mean it in that way! I just want to be friends with you! Is that so hard?!" She cried.
It puzzled me as to why she was so adamant. Even if we did manage to be friends, it'd only be short-lived. Most likely, it'd reach about maybe two or so weeks before we'd find out the abominable sides of each other. A month of friendship would be generous, and two months would just be overextending it.
Miyake kept yelling at me non-stop, trying to justify what she spouted out earlier. They were feeble excuses, which made me enervated just listening to them, and it didn't take me long to urge my body to move forward finally.
I made my way to the store's front doors without giving Miyake a second chance to explain her reasoning.
"Hey, wait-!"
I stepped outside the store, only to meet the intense rain the splashed on the concrete road ahead of me. Instantly, my head became utterly blank while I absently watched the pouring of the deadly rain.
"Don't leave me all of a sudden, jeez!"
Miyake ran out of the store behind me but stopped as she gazed upon the loud, uproarious shower.
"Woah…"
I could sense a sardonic aura that came from Miyake.
"Ooh… You don't have your umbrella, do you, Okumori-kun?" She teased while peeking over my shoulder.
I groaned in return.
"It'd be a shame… I have an umbrella right here too."
She waved a pink umbrella she had in her hand to mock me.
I leaped forwards, snatched the umbrella from her hands, and pushed my thumb towards the button to open it. It spread out, with water sprinkling around us as it flew open.
𝘞𝘩𝘢-?
Second-hand embarrassment flowed throughout my body once I realized what I had just opened. I was stunned beyond belief.
The umbrella took the color of rosy pink, present with cute little dogs imprinted on it. There were some words in dialogue boxes too, saying things such as "Bones!" or, "Dogs are cute!" and even, "I want dog food!" that I could see.
We were both silent, looking at what was currently in my possession.
It didn't take long for Miyake to shatter the mute air between us. "I was going to give you another one."
That was a lie. I didn't see any other umbrella in her hand or anywhere at all.
"I-It's not what you think! I don't like dogs! I didn't even know that's what the umbrella looked like!"
𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦...
While she wailed at me with a bright, scarlet face, I took the chance to walk away with the umbrella above my head. I didn't care about the appearance anymore because my main concern was to get home without getting even more drenched than I already was.
"H-Hey! Okumori-kun!"
I stopped, already unhappy from how many times she had disrupted me. She lightly jogged over and stopped right beside me, right under the umbrella.
"I don't have a spare umbrella, so I have to make do!"
… 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶.