Well, normally that would have been it. Case closed, game over. I mean what more is there to tell? I failed. That's what I think at least, but regardless there is more to say. I'll be honest, the next day I felt like shit, both physically and mentally. So I did what anyone would do and stayed home. It seemed like the safest option and the only scenario where I didn't end up jumping off the school roof. So I wallowed in my filth the whole day.
I watched trashy romance TV shows, which didn't help. That is quite literally all I did for most of the day. I didn't eat, I didn't shower, I did nothing. That was until I got a knock at my door. I checked to see who it was, dreading any form of human interaction. It was Yuzu, believe me, I have countless questions. I let out a huge sigh and opened the door, staring at her blankly. "Hey" is all I decided to say.
"Hey yourself, why didn't you come to school today, I have to give you the money I owe you." She said in response. I could frankly have cared less if she never paid me back.
"I felt like shit after yesterday so why would I go to school like that, frankly I'm more shocked you did than anything," I said kind of rudely, being pissed off with just about everything.
"Well sorry that I'm actually a good student!" She snapped back at me.
"Listen I'm not trying to start a fight. Real talk though why are you here by the way, also how do you know where I live?" I decided to try to be reasonable.
"I got your address from Hiro, you two are like always together so I figured he would know it. As to why I'm here, like I said I need to pay you back for the ice cream yesterday."
"You decided to come all the way to my house just to pay me back, you know you could've just done that at school tomorrow. Also, how do you know me and Hiro always hang out?"
"Well, I just wanted to give it to you today, who knows if I would've remembered tomorrow? Also, all three of us are in the same English class so of course I would notice that."
Okay I'll be honest I had no clue that we were in the same class, I'm not particularly great at remembering people in my classes. Now I'm not going to tell her that obviously, so what I said was "Oh yeah I know, I just didn't know you noticed that. Still, though you're definitely an interesting person to go through all that trouble to give me a few dollars."
"Well, I mean… actually, it's nothing. Here's your money."
"Uh, thanks." I'm honestly not even sure what to say at this point, I mean this whole scenario is kind of awkward in my opinion. Part of me wanted to invite her in for a cup of tea or something but I figured that would be kind of weird, especially since we barely know each other. We both just kind of stood there for a bit and didn't say much of anything.
She was the one who decided to speak "So, I'm gonna get going. See you around sometime Ichi."
I don't know why, but I didn't want her to leave so soon. So my dumbass decided to speak "H-hey, want to come in for a cup of tea. I mean you went through the trouble of getting here after all, it's the least I can do." Yeah, I can't believe I asked that. I mean it just kind of came out, I barely thought about it, it just happened. Not to mention after yesterday my fear of rejection was through the roof, I mean how could it not be? So I prepared for the worst.
"Sure, if you don't mind that sounds nice." She replied, to my disbelief.
"Come on in then," I said, pointing my hand toward the entrance. "Sit anywhere you want, I'll go put on the teapot."
Okay, for real what the hell am I doing? This is the opposite of anything I would normally do. The only person I've ever had over my place before was Hiro so this is really uncharted territory for me. What am I supposed to do go and talk to her, stay here until the tea is done? I decide to do the latter. I made up the teas once they were done and took them into the living room. I handed her the tea and sat in the adjacent chair. There we sat, in silence, just drinking our teas. I got the feeling neither of us knew what to say.
I decided to break the silence "So, yesterday was definitely crazy."
"Yeah, you can say that again," she says laughing a bit, although it seemed kind of forced. "So what do you think the next move should be?"
"The next move, what do you mean by that?"
"Well I mean, are we just going to leave them be, try and break them up? I wanna know what you're thinking."
"I don't plan on interfering or anything, that's not my place. Hell, I hardly knew her."
"Huh? What do you mean you hardly knew her?"
"I mean exactly that, I had only spoken to her in class once. Then I stupidly decided to give her that love letter."
She started laughing hysterically "No way, you barely knew her!" she said as she continued cackling.
"Come on, It's not that funny."
"No, it is." She said finally calming down. "Man, I needed that laugh, thanks for that. But wow you sure are an interesting guy."
"I'm not sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult."
"Let's just say it's both." She says with a dumb big smile on her face. What exactly she means by "both" I have no idea. After our spout of pointless banter, we went back to sitting in silence for a bit. Once we both finished our tea I took the cups inside. Part of me didn't even want to go back out after that. I just wanted to call into the other room and say she could leave now, but I also didn't want to be a jerk. I headed back inside and found her flipping through a manga I had sitting on the coffee table.
"Hey, you know you should ask before just touching other people's stuff," I say, not particularly caring in all honesty.
"Oh I know, I just figured you wouldn't care." Okay, now she's reading my mind I guess. "I'm gonna get going, it's kinda late." She says with an almost sad look on her face.
"If you want I can walk you to the station." I offer, hoping she says no.
"That would be nice." She says grinning, probably knowing I didn't want to.
So we head out to the station, walking in more silence. Being with her is weird to me, sometimes I can easily make conversation, but other times it feels hard to. I can't explain it much better than that. Without me even realizing it we make it to the station. I decide to wait for the train to come until I leave.
"Oh, Ichi, could you give me your number." Yuzu suddenly asks.
"Sure, I guess I can. Why though?"
"Well, just in case you don't come to school again tomorrow I can pester you."
"Come on I wouldn't skip two days in a row."
"Regardless just give it to me," she says holding out her phone for me to put my number in. I comply and do it. I don't understand what she would want to do with my number, but in all honestly, it feels nice having someone else's number besides Hiro's and my parents. As I finish typing it out the train comes into view. She sends an emoji so I can add her back. Then she slips her phone back into her pocket and heads towards the train, which has now arrived.
"Bye-bye Ichi," she says waving as she gets on the train.
"See ya, Yuzu," I respond, waving back. The train doors close and it departs. I head back to my place reflecting on the day. At least seeing Yuzu took my mind off yesterday. Now that I think about it she never really talked about how she felt about the whole situation. She acted like she was fine, but was it a facade or did she actually just accept it? I would have thought she would be worse than I was since it seemed like she knew the guy she asked out. Well, I guess in the end it's not my business.
I got back to my place and got ready for bed since it was pretty late. Before I went to sleep though I had a thought about whether Yuzu had gotten home safely or not. I felt awkward doing it but I decided to text her to make sure. Just a simple "You get home safe?" After about ten minutes she responded with a cute bear giving a thumbs up. I feel content knowing she got home so head to bed, looking back on the day with some genuine happiness, and smiling a bit.