Saturday had finally arrived and it was a nice sunny day. A young teenage girl was mumbling profanities in her sleep as she rued the day she was born. She was abruptly awoken by a loud knocking sound coming from her door downstairs.
"Almost had a heart attack" she whispered as she held her chest and took a few breaths to calm down. She quickly got out of bed, put on her fluffy grey slippers and ran downstairs to answer whoever was at the door. She swung open the door and came face to face with-
"Yoichi..?"
"Hiya, Asami! It's such a nice day today isn't it!" He practically shouted as he moved past her and walked into the house as if he lived there. "What the hell are you doing at my house this early in the morning?! How did you even know where I live?"
"Oh, we're neighbours! I thought you knew?" He said casually.
"We are..?" She asked doubtfully.
"Yup! I only noticed a few days ago actually, I guess we went to different middle schools. Oh, by the way, you're super late, we agreed to meet at noon today and it's already 1 o'clock!" He said hurriedly as he probed her to go and get ready, lest they make their friends wait even more for them.
She begrudgingly walked to her room and started getting ready. A few minutes later she walked out in a simple outfit that consisted of a dark blue sweatshirt, some grey jeans as well as a black handbag and a few accessories to go with it. When Yoichi saw her come out he nodded in approval, took hold of her hand and dragged her out of the house.
They began walking quickly toward where they had planned to meet up with the rest of the group. After a few minutes of walking, they saw the group sitting at a bench near the shopping centre, some of them looking bored while others looked restless. When they saw Asami and Yoichi walking toward them they got up to meet them. Naomi ran towards Asami, enveloping her in a big hug and shouting "you're here!"
Asami giggled as she accepted her dear friend's hug, but her mood was ruined when she saw Katsu glaring at her from behind.
"You're here, thought you'd take another few more years till you came, would have been better in my opinion." He said as he scoffed in annoyance.
"Yes well, no one asked for your opinion, thanks." She said looking directly into his eyes.
"Woah, woah, woah! Calm down before you rip each other's heads off! Yoichi whisper-shouted as he pulled them both away.
Kyo also tried to lessen the tension in the air by saying "yeah, come on guys let's head over to my Aunts cafe and get something to eat why don't we? I'm starving!"
"Fine" mumbled Katsu as he broke eye contact from the staring contest they were having and started walking slowly toward the direction Kyo was headed.
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They arrived at the cafe where they were greeted by Kyo's Aunt. She had prepared a special table that was fit for the entire group. They all sat down and got comfortable, although unfortunately, Asami and Katsu had both been seated across from each other by accident, and now had to deal with being in each other's point of view.
Yoichi who was beside her whispered if she wanted to swap seats but she politely denied it before coming to an abrupt decision and speaking up.
"Katsu-san," she said trying to get the brown-haired male's attention. His head whipped up at the girl's familiar voice and he looked at her in suspicion. "What do you want?" he asked her hesitantly.
She took a breath before she looked directly into his eyes and said "Look, I know you don't like me, I don't know why but this isn't going to work if we're going to be hanging out in the same friend group. So what I mean to say is can we please put our differences aside and try to be a bit nice to each other?"
His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before he regained his composure and said, "will you let me think on it...?"
The entire group had been on the edge of their seats waiting for an answer but this was not what they expected Katsu to say. They thought he would lash out and disagree but he seemed to be handling it…well.
"You need to think about it...?" 'what would he need to think about it's a simple request!' she thought annoyed but agreed nonetheless. "Alright then, but let's be civil for the rest of the day." He nodded before focusing on the food he had ordered previously.
The day went on pretty well after that, considering what happened before and now they had all gone into different shops to explore the place. Asami went to the bookstore and Yasushi tagged along, saying he had also planned to buy a few books. She felt a little awkward being with the character she had deemed the 'worst and hardest route' but she couldn't do anything about it so she bared with it for now, and anyway what's the worst that could happen? Would he suddenly go ballistic and choke her with complex and educating books?
'That could be a possibility- ok now I'm sure I'm going crazy, no surprise there' she thought with a deadpan.
She was now peacefully strolling along the bookshelves looking for some novels in English and others in Japanese, as she was about to grab a book, someone else reached out for it. Both their hands brushed each other ever so slightly and they pulled away as quickly as they could.
She looked up to see who the tall book thief could be and saw it was Yasushi. He silently gazed at her and then spoke softly "Are you also looking to purchase a copy of 'No longer human' by Osamu Dazai?" she looked at the book he was now holding and nodded. He then spoke once again, his lips moving slowly and his eyes looking just at her, only her.
She snapped out of her daze immediately as she realised what she had been thinking, Yasushi waved his hands in her face, trying to get her attention and said "Did you hear what I said? I said I think this is the last copy of the book in this bookstore."
"Oh, well I wouldn't be surprised, Osamu Dazai's books tend to be popular worldwide," she replied hoping she didn't blush because of her thoughts.
"I know...why don't we both pay for it and then read it in turns?" he proposed.
"Sure, I don't see why not. Also...I didn't think you would like these types of books, I'm honestly surprised," she said hesitantly as they both walked up to the cashier.
As they paid for their books and walked out of the store Yasushi asked, "why would you think that?"
"Well, you just didn't strike me as someone who liked reading classic literature," she said
"Is that so?" he said while putting his hand to his chin and thinking about it.
"Mhm." she softly replied as she chuckled at his antics. He smiled at her when he saw her in a good mood. He then said,
"You know, I don't get why Katsu has a grudge against you, you seem like a rather nice person."
"That's what I've been saying ever since I met him! I didn't do anything against him and he just hates me for some reason she mumbled with a pout.
"Well don't mind it, I'm sure you'll both make up soon," he said before patting her head in an attempt to console her.
'Wow, he may just be the one person I come to tolerate in this group, and that would be ironic considering everything' she thought, her face heating up.
'Why do I feel embarrassed all of a sudden?' was her only thought now.
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The day ended soon and she headed home in a peaceful mindset.
"You seem in a happy mood," said Yoichi, nudging her for an answer.
"Well yeah, the day went nicely today, we should do these things more often," she said smiling as she walked towards her house bidding Yoichi a good night.
"We should," replied Yoichi as he thought of how Asami looked nice, 'she looks pretty with a smile on her face' was his last thought as he walked through the door of his house.
The day ended well, with the moon shining brightly, a girl sleeping peacefully and three boys thinking about the near future.