My mind felt wide awake as if I didn't sleep, yet my body felt so refreshed that it feels like it was able to get a good rest.
"Huh…? a… dream…?"
For some reason I suddenly felt fear, my chest tightened, and felt a slight panic occurring within me.
"No, no, no, no… no way that was a dream! It felt too real and I remember everything so clearly!"
The uncertainty of whether it was real or not left me with pain and an empty feeling inside. I then gripped my hands and started breathing deeply so I could calm down. As I was used to the feeling of pain and emptiness, I was able to calm myself quickly and began thinking rationally.
"Calm down… take a step back and think. This might be a new way of my mentality breaking down, maybe it's somehow possible to remember a dream fully just like that…"
My mouth shivered as it felt so hard for me to accept despite saying it out loud.
"Damn, that's hard to swallow…"
My eyes became watery as for some reason I felt so sentimental that I almost wanted to cry.
"what the hell…"
I wiped my tears and tried my best to suppress whatever it was that was going on inside me.
"What the hell is going on with me… Am I actually losing it?"
When I think about it, the last thing that happened was so confusing, terrible, and scary… yet, why do I feel some sort of attachment to that world…
"Huh…? that world…?"
Suddenly my phone rang, shocking me back to reality as I was about to go into deep thought.
I picked up my phone from the ground and read the name of the caller.
"Iris…"
I slapped my face all of the sudden to prepare myself and start thinking straight, avoiding any further thoughts.
"Just stop thinking about it for now…" I mumbled as I reached my fingers to the answer button.
Click*
"Hello…"
"YOU FINALLY ANSWERED!" Iris shouted almost immediately after hearing my voice, "Where are you right now!? How are you doing? Are you ok?"
"Wait calm down… I'm fine and I just woke up, what's going on?" I replied, trying to calm her down with a gentle tone in response to her barrage of panicked-sounding questions.
"It's already nine am! And you have school today, don't you!?"
"C… calm down, I just got up late and…"
"Where are you right now? Where the hell did you sleep? Because we know it's not freaking here!"
"We…? Wait, by here… are you, by in any chance, inside my house?"
"Riyoko…"
Suddenly, I heard Giyu's calm and gentle voice in comparison to Iris which felt like a nag.
"Where are you right now, bro? we'll come to you so we can talk properly, is it ok?"
If I refused now, it would only make me feel bad after what he just said, so I just told them to wait inside since I'm on my way back, if it was ok with them.
--------------------------------------------------
Later.
Reaching the front of the door to my house, I stopped in thought for a short moment, feeling somewhat nervous.
"it took me longer than I thought… I wonder if they actually waited?"
As I was about to look at my phone for the time, the door suddenly opened, slightly pushing me back.
"Ah…"
Walking out of the door was Iris with a worried expression as she seemed like she was about to head out in a hurry.
"Ri…" Iris froze, looking at me in the eye.
"Wait, Iris!" Giyu said, following her, "He said he'll be coming soon so let's just wait for him and… Oh, you're here,"
Iris looked down and pulled me inside the house.
"Umm…"
As Iris closes the door, I stared at the floor not knowing how to face them.
"Now we want to ask what happened and where you've been…" Giyu said, glancing at Iris as he let out a relieved smile, "But first…"
"You Idiot!!" Iris shouted.
As I closed my eyes in preparation for being punched, I suddenly felt a gentle warmth surrounding me.
As I slowly opened my eyes, I was shocked to see Iris with teary eyes as she embraced me with her soft and warm body.
"You idiot…" She repeatedly said quietly as she buries her head on my chest just below my neck.
"I went to your house a little late that night to deliver you some food, just like we talked about… I thought you just couldn't hear me from your room because of the rain so I walked inside with my spare key, only to find out that you weren't even there…"
She grabbed my shirt tightly, "I thought I should just wait for you to come back, but then the rain got stronger and stronger. I tried calling you but I couldn't reach you for some reason! I became so worried that I asked Giyu if he knew where you were. And when he replied…"
"It ended with just both of us worrying so I went here first thing in the morning," Giyu said.
"guys…"
I felt touched, but the strong sense of guilt in me somehow overpowered it as I felt I troubled them by worrying them too much.
"I… I'm sorry…"
"Save the apologies! Just tell us what happened and we'll call it even…" Iris said.
"Then first of all…" I gave the bag containing the game I bought to Giyu, "here, you asked me to buy you one too…"
"Thanks… but where's yours?" He asked in concern.
"Riyoko… didn't you have two back then? What happened to the other one?"
I hesitated for a bit but after all the worrying I caused them, I thought I might as well just give them what they want and told them what happened yesterday after I left the shop.
Iris scowled and gripped her hands in frustration, "those bastards…"
"I think I know whom you're referring to…" Giyu said with a serious look, "they're delinquents from our school, aren't they? How long has this been going on?"
"it was just the usual harassment I face from time to time up until recently. this is the first time they did something like this…" I said.
"Well we can't let them continue on with that now, can we!?" Iris said, incredibly furious.
"Also, you said usual harassments… didn't it already stop?" Giyu asked with a concerned and confused look.
"Well…"
"He still faces them from time to time, they'd bad mouth him or even talk shit about him in public right where he is…" Iris said, interrupting me.
"What!? But we already did something about that, didn't we? Why didn't you tell me about it?"
"Look Giyu… what we did had a great effect, it's just that you can't stop everything with just a single move. Also, even though I said harassment, it's already at a point where it can't bother me at all. All they have are just words and they're afraid to go further… except for the guys yesterday…"
"Don't worry… That's as far as it'll get," Iris said with a serious and intimidating tone.
"From your tone…" I said, feeling pressured by the familiar feeling she was emitting, "it seems you thought of something already…?"
She nodded with dead serious eyes, like a predator locking its eyes on its target prey.
"Then once again, I'll be relying on you… thanks,"
I felt somewhat relieved, knowing Iris who is incredibly smart and capable and with a family that has a good influence in not just our town. However, the guilt I felt became stronger as I made Iris do something for my sake again.
I suddenly noticed that both of them are looking at me with concern.
"Hey, Riyoko…" Giyu said as he approached me.
"Yeah?"
Suddenly, he smacked me on the shoulder quite hard and smiled, "are you tired right now or anything?"
It was obvious from his tone that he could be insinuating something. However, because of the bright mood he was emitting, I couldn't help but answer honestly.
"to be honest, despite sleeping outside, I feel like I had a good rest,"
"Then that's great! How about we all go out to eat and just hang out for the day?"
"Eh? But isn't there school today?" I asked.
"I already missed half the day, why not just take this day as our early long weekend?" Giyu said.
"I'm not thinking the same as him, but I agree… How about we just have fun for today,"
"Even the honor student said so!?" I said in complete shock.
"oh come on…" Iris said, slightly looking embarrassed, "doing things like this isn't so bad once and a while. Also, he's got a point. we already missed half the day, why don't we just take the whole school day out?"
"S… sorry…"
Noticing that their actions began to seem like they were being wary of me in worry, it felt like they were handling me with care, as I felt the words they uttered just now seems as if they had talked about it.
And so, I instinctively apologized.
"Stop it with the apology!"
"Stop it with the apology!"
They said in sync, replying to my depressed-sounding apology.
"If you want to make it up to us then have fun with us today!"
Giyu nodded, "yeah, it's your birthday, isn't it? Just use this day as a reason for all of us to forget everything and just enjoy ourselves. I also have that promise to treat you too, don't I?"
I know what they're saying and doing is all for me, even though I know this is something I usually feel guilty about, I can't help but feel grateful I have them and feel a sense of happiness flow through me. And so, I nodded and let out a genuine smile.