"This is unnecessary." Hina Inoue protested.
"Well, it's not like I have a car that can drive you home."
People stared as a high school girl pushed another in a wheelchair. Her ears reddened.
Shelby lifted her nose to the air. "Besides no way Nurse and Coach would let you walk home in crutches if they heard you were still trying to work park-time!"
Hina Inoue felt drained just thinking about it. "Yeah, you're right. I suppose this is necessary."
Shelby narrowed her eyes at her, her lips pouting.
[So helping your Grandma even when you're hurt is necessary to you?]
-
"What are you doing?"
"Ehehe!"
When Nana Inoue put on an apron and wheeled herself behind the counter, Shelby appeared with one and wheeled her out the way.
"Shoplifters won't take a cripple seriously!"
Hina Inoue's mouth hung open but instead of protesting she finally sighed.
"Sorry to bother you like this, and also thanks, I really appreciate your help."
Shelby's smile stretched into a thin line.
"When you talk like that I feel oddly distant from you, you know?"
"Huh? Really?"
"It hurts!" Shelby marked an x on her left breast. "Right here."
"Is that so? Sorry!"
"Ts'all good."
"I'll be careful, wouldn't want you getting breast cancer..."
"Hey! That's not-
"Hehehe!"
On the way home, Hina Inoue apologized again.
"Don't be, Hinoue you're so perfect, being able to finally help you makes me happy!"
"Perfect? I'm not…" Recalling her failure to endure the ceremony as well as losing her balance this morning and falling off the railing, she felt tired. If she went home like this her grandmother would threaten to withdraw her from school again. How could she stall? No, stalling wouldn't prevent it. The scolding was inevitable.
Why wasn't she more careful?
Seeing a dark cloud over her head, Shelby nervously laughed.
"Ahaha! I got it, I got it! You don't like to be called that, cheer up already would you?"
"It's not that, just having to go home and explain-
"Explain what?"
A man with braided hair tied back into a long ponytail rounded the corner.
He was the drummer from last night, at times like her Grandmother's henchman, and her Father's best friend who had always been like an Uncle to her, Carlton Baptiste. He had opened a record store and a diner that sold Caribbean cuisine called Sunshine so he was busy during the day, as was her Grandmother.
So Hina Inoue's lessons didn't really start until he returned and so her morning disappearances didn't really count.
He stopped in front of the gate, his honey-green eyes flickering to them before he turned his whole head, eyes widening.
"Inoue-san? What are you doing out here?" He scanned her clothes. "Did you go to school?!" His vision zoomed in on her bandaged leg and he hurried over. "How did you get hurt?!"
It was the first time Shelby had seen him. His beautiful green eyes that contrasted with his ebony skin sent shivers down her spine when they finally laid eyes on her.
"You must be Shelby-san."
Shelby flinched, her mouth opened then closed then opened again before she quickly bowed.
"Y-yes!"
"He speaks Japanese," Hina Inoue reminded her. "Relax."
"Ah." Shelby's cheeks reddened. That's right he was speaking in Japanese just now, right?
"What happened?" His smooth yet husky voice left her mind blank.
He blinked at her.
"A-ah! I wasn't there! She got in an accident at school, I heard it was because the school rails were too short!"
Hina Inoue closed her eyes in mourning. Did she HAVE to put it like that?
Baptiste-san's eyes studied her for a bit.
"School rails?"
"Mmm. If they had just been a little bit higher she wouldn't have fallen, or so I heard, I didn't see the whole thing since we're in separate classes."
"I didn't fall." Hina Inoue grumbled at the ground.
Baptiste-san nodded as he listened, briefly scanning Hina Inoue's bandaged foot, knee, thigh, and forehead before returning to Shelby.
"...I see. Thank you for bringing Inoue back, you're a good friend. But with her injury, I'm afraid she won't be in school for a while."
"Ah..." It was just for a second but she felt the air around Hina Inoue spike.
Did she imagine the sudden spike just now? No the leaves were trembling or maybe it was the breeze? But there's no...
A gust of wind passed through the area, silencing Shelby's confusion.
Baptiste-san moved to take control of her wheelchair, without turning around she said. "Well...I gotta go."
"Oh yeah...get well okay?"
"Mmm. See ya."
"Bye!"
That was the last time Shelby saw Hina Inoue that month.