Toshiro Okumori
It didn't take me long to sense that we both disliked the odd circumstance we were in.
Heavily dislike.
While we walked at a sluggish pace, we both separated ourselves and desperately tried not to make the situation any more intolerable than it already was.
I had already accepted the fact that I had been holding an umbrella and was walking beside a girl. It wasn't that big of a deal to me, and I wasn't going to begin freaking out about such a trivial matter.
But, Miyake was the problem here. It seemed like she was the complete opposite of me, and it made me really uncomfortable. Just by taking a glance at her, and you'd immediately be able to spot her extremely bashful appearance.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ, ๐จ๐ข๐ถ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ? ๐๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ! ๐๐ต ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ!
The walk home was silent and agonizing, but we'd eventually push through it and made our way to my house. Once I could view my front door, I turned to Miyake and reached out the shameful umbrella I held to her.
Well, until she directed her finger over to her right, that is.
"Umโฆ That's my house, by the way."
I repeatedly blinked to make sure I wasn't seeing things. I looked back and forth at my house and hers.
๐ -๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
"Okumori-kun? What's wrong?" She titled her head in bemusement.
With my unsteady finger, I pointed to my house, which was right across from hers.
There was silence, then an outburst.
"That's your house?!"
I shamefully nodded.
Seriously, how bad could this get? We'd be next to each other almost twenty-four-seven, and I'm positive that I wasn't going to be prepared for the future circus acts she'd perform. It petrified me just imagining it.
Miyake, all of a sudden, was inches away from my face, sparking with ecstasy.
"We live next to each other?! That's so cool!"
I moved my head away from hers bitterly. While she celebrated, I could only feel melancholy in my body. Instead of exhilarated action, It was more of a: I want to die. I'd instead be living next to a dumpster. Anything else would be tremendously better.
"Seriously, what are the chances of that happening? Okumori-kun!" She grabbed my shoulders and shook me violently. "Why are you not excited? I'm excited! This makes the chances of us being friends so much higher! I think I'm going to celebrate when I get home. Do you want to join? You should come over, you know? It'll be fun! I'll definitely visit you. No, I should go there every day! I wonder what your mom is like. Is she also silent like you? Not to mention, we sit next to each other in class, too! We'll be together almost every day! That's so fun, isn't it, Okumori-kun? Right? Riiight?!"
The scariest part about her incessant rambling was she said all of it without any errors. I couldn't even remember a single word she had said, but I wasn't planning to attempt to either.
"Ooh, wait, I need to tell my mom about this! I'll see you soon, Okumori-kun! Bye-byeee!"
She grabbed the umbrella I handed to her and cheerily ran away back to her house. I watched her in dismay, all while the rain poured and gushed all over my body.
I can't escape her now, can I?
I didn't take any more time outside and jogged my way inside the house. I entered inside and dropped the plastic bags on the floor.
"I'm home," I murmured, still disconcerted.
"Toshiro! You're back!"
I saw my mom come out of the kitchen with a troubled look. She wore an olive green apron, with her silky dark black hair tied in a ponytail.
"You're drenched! Dry yourself quick, Toshiro! You'll get a fever! I'll take care of the groceries!" She panicked with a spatula in hand that whipped back and forth in a fearful way.
"Yeah, I willโฆ." I said with a groan.
I headed towards the bathroom, entered, shut the door, removed my wet, damp clothes, and slapped it on the floor. I turned on the bath and set myself down in the lukewarm, yet slightly cold water. I leaned back and gazed at the white ceiling that was above me.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ.
Miyake, the outgoing and sociable girl who I so solemnly disdain, is now my neighbor.
I'm the polar opposite of her. There's no compatibility between the two of us. It'd just be like forcing an impotent mouse to go against a vigorous cat.
I like to think of it this way: The manipulator can never be manipulated. The strong will stay resilient and celebrate victory, while the weak will remain frail as they suffer defeat.
While she may think of trees blooming, azure skies, and luminous sunlight as she so 'pleasantly' walks, I can only imagine an elegiac, gray-colored world that I unhappily step on.
Well, not that I'm fond of her genuine self, anyway. I'm probably just overthinking things. I'll just have to wait to know what lies in her soft-hearted personality.
Speaking of not knowing her, I wonder how she even dealt with lustful guys. I could recall her saying that she was confessed to a lot, and based on looks, I believed her.
Though, the problem probably laid with her. Her not knowing the consequences of rejecting the hearts of men worried me. She was definitely the type to reject your love offers with, "No, thanks! Good joke, though! Haha!" Or, even worse, she might go something along the lines of, "Really? That's cool! But you're not my type, though, so I don't really like you. Sorry! Try when I'm older!"
I feel for whoever felt the wrath of those coarse rejections. I guarantee they cried for a week straight. Oh, man, they must be ruined.
I mean, I know from experience. It hurts.
Before I knew it, it had already been around twenty minutes since I had been in the bathtub. I hurried on exiting and drying myself up, wrapping a towel around my waist before I could leave the bathroom.
"Toshirooo! Your friend is downstairs!" My mom's voice called out.
I became staggered upon hearing what she had said.
๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ? ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ?
My eyes directed over to the door, eyeing it in confusion as I pondered at whom it could've been.
๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ? ๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค? ๐๐ข๐ช๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ?
I swallowed and made my way downstairs. The hand on the towel wrapped around my waist was gripped loosely, with my black hair still being wet from the bath and limiting my eyesight as I took each step down.
Once I had reached the room where my mom and the random 'friend' of mine stood, I began to scrape the back of my neck with my right hand uneasily while I tried to spot who the person was. At first, I was oblivious to who had been in front of me, but as I gradually eyed the person head to toe, it didn't take long for me to perceive that it was a woman.
๐๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ช๐ณ๐ญ? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต?
I used my left-hand now to clear the hair that had been blocking my sights, pushing it above my forehead and squinting my eyes.
I turned frozen once I figured out who she was.
Miyake.
Her eyes were vast, and her whole face was flustered. She seemed to be looking down, not at the floor, but my waist. Her lips trembled, and her face became more crimson-colored by the second.
"Oops, Toshiro. Your towel." My mom pointed out with a toneless voice.
I looked down in uncertainty and immediately noticed that the towel that had supposedly been in my grasp was now miraculously on the floor. Realizing this, my face went ablaze.
๐๐ฐ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐'๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต?
"I-It's smaller than I initially thought..." Miyake commented.
๐๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ.
I grabbed the towel that was on the floor, hastened to conceal my lower body, and sprinted to my room in a flash without waiting for another word to come out from the two females.
I entered my room, banged it shut, and twisted the lock to make sure nobody could come in. I leaned my back onto the door and hyperventilated, traumatized by what had just happened.
๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ? Is ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ? ๐'๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ข๐บ? ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ!
I waited patiently until I felt safe and attempted to erase my humiliating thoughts in the meantime.
Once I had felt a little more composed and untroubled, I strode over to my bed and carelessly fell towards the mattress. I face-planted on the pillow and began to contemplate my life's existence.
โฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ? ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ.
"O-Okumori-kun! It's fine! It's my fault. I shouldn't have come so unexpectedly!" She cried while she knocked on the door lightly. "I-I-I won't tell anyone at school! I promise! Not a word!"
A muffled grumble came out of me.
I'm thankful for that, but it's you that I have a problem with, damn it! Why can't you just leave me be already?!
I rose from the bed and scowled at the door. I had to restrain myself from hurling my pillows at it.
"Um, I was planning to come here after I told my mom, but I forgot to tell you! I'm so sorry! I just came in without your knowledge! I-It's my truly my fault, though! I won't bother you anymore! Oh, also, your mom gave me your phone number! I'll text you when I'm coming over, is that okay?"
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต?
The feeling of timidity I had disappeared once I had heard her, and switched to a provoked one instead. I jumped up from my bed and slid on some clothes to cover my nude self, then stomping my way over to the door and slamming the door open with an agitated yet still heavily flustered appearance.
"O-Okumori-kun..?" She looked startled.
I ignored her surprised tone of voice and immediately went to search for her phone. I spotted it in her left hand and launched towards it without any reluctance.
"Huh?! Wait-"
She sidestepped and dodged me, while I fell forwards and thumped my face on the tatami floor with a loud grunt.
"W-What are you doing?" She said, horrified.
I set my right hand on the floor, and pranced up to her, this time successfully seizing her by wrapping my hands around her waist and pulling her down. I was now on top of her, trying to yank her phone away from her grasp. But, she resisted and tightened the grip on her phone.
"Remove my contacts!" I sharply muttered.
"Just wait a minute, Okumori-kun! Your nose is bleeding!" Miyake shrieked.
"Who cares about that?!" I aggressively spat back.
We both squirmed on the floor belligerently before she managed to grab hold of my face, and push me down with her surprising strength. She was now on top of me, now clutching her phone with both of her hands close to her chest.
"Stop it, already! The number is mine! More importantly, you're bleeding! I don't want to hurt you!"
I didn't stop and kept trying to snatch the phone away, both of our arms flailing around in desperation.
๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐บ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ!
"Ahh, jeez! I don't care anymore!"
Miyake, all of a sudden, raised her free hand in the air and brought it down with speed straight to my cheek.
๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ฎ๐ญ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ.
๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต.
We both were currently on our knees now, facing my mom in apprehension, who held a spatula in her hand as if it was some sort of weapon. There was a stinging sensation on my right cheek, and a small ripped-off piece of paper towel shoved in my left nostril to stop the bleeding in my nose.
My mom hit my head with the spatula with a dink, which caused me to grumble in resentment while I caressed the pain.
"She's a guest, Toshiro! Say you're sorry!" She bitterly spoke.
"Um, it's fine! It's my fault! I should be the one apologizing..."
My mom dropped her spatula and approached Miyake quickly, then grabbed her wrists and pulled her in close.
"I'm so, so sorry for Toshiro's arrogance! I'll make him do a week's worth of chores! I-I'll punish him! Just tell me what punishment would seem fair for you!"
Miyake stopped moving altogether, and I could sense that she was pondering the option of putting me through torture. Noticing this, I began to whip my head right to left repeatedly, and internally begged her to deny my mom's offer. She caught a glimpse of my attempt and revealed a sympathetic smile at me.
Miyake then faced my mom again and shook her head.
"It's fine! You don't have to punish him at all! I'm the one who hurt him too, so I'd feel even worseโฆ."
"Huh? Are you sure about that?! I can even tell you something about him!" Mom exclaimed.
Miyake's grin disappeared, now forming into an inquisitive expression.
"Tell me." She said with a grave tone.
Mom pulled away from her and raised her finger joyously. "Mm, gladly! One time, I caught Toshiro with his pants down-!"
I charged my mom and cupped my palm around her mouth, to which she continued merrily rambling but were muffled due to my attempt of silencing her.
"What did she say?" The airhead questioned in perplexity.
๐๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฐ๐ต!
I ignored Miyake and waited for my mom to finish her audacious comments. Thankfully, she stopped after a minute, but I could still feel her smile in my palms. I reluctantly loosened my grip on her mouth and retracted my hand away in a skeptical manner.
"Oh, also, he ripped his underwear last week!" My mom chuckled.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ?
"Seriouslyโฆ ?" Miyake was brave enough to question.
Mom nodded.
I could sense that Miyake was trying not to laugh, and it only made me feel more ashamed of myself.
She then peeked over my mom's shoulders and eyed me with a mischievous smirk.
"Okumori-kun, is that true?"
I immediately averted from her gaze and didn't respond. I could sense a searing feeling on my face as I looked away.
"Heheโฆ I won't say anything about that either."
๐๐ฉ๐ถ๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑโฆ
"Well, anyway, I should go now... I think I've stayed here for too long. My mom might get worried!" She lowered her head, then rose back up with a harmonious smile.
"Eh?! No, not at all! Stay as long as you want! I don't have a problem at all!"
My mom then death gripped my shirt and pulled me in close. "Toshiro doesn't have a problem, too, right? Right?" She said with a genial beam on her face, but tightening the grip on the collar of my shirt.
She then turned her eyes to me and whispered protectively. "She's such a cutie! Why wouldn't you let her stay?!"
"I don't like her..." I murmured back.
"Rude! How could you say that?! Have you taken a good look at her?" I could see tears on her eyelids as she puffed her cheeks.
I promptly nodded, which caused her to sigh and release the collar of my shirt. "Fine, but don't cry about it when you miss your chance!"
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ?
She then looked back to Miyake and waved. "Well, if you're going, I'll follow you out!"
"Um, okay! Bye, Okumori-kun!" Miyake swayed her hand right to left at me.
I sighed and didn't respond to her, and only pushed myself up from the floor to approach my room.
Or, well, so they think. I disappeared from their eyes, but was still in their presence. I hid behind a wall, and began to eavesdrop on their conversation, unbeknownst to what other embarrassing stories my mom could feed Miyake with.
But upon hearing what they conversed about, it wasn't long until I realized that it wasn't stories they were sharing.
Seriously, could this be any worse than it already was?