I woke up the next morning in a cold sweat. I had some kind of nightmare, although I don't remember what it was about. It was five in the morning, but I wasn't falling back asleep. I figured I'd just get ready early. I went through my normal morning routine and then made myself some breakfast. After I ate, I decided I'd head to school. It was peaceful outside with not as many people; I enjoyed it.
By the time I made it to school, it was seven—still an hour early—but it had just opened, so I just went to class to wait. Now that I thought about it, my first class is English, so I will probably see Yuzu today. I'm sure she has other friends, so I doubt she'll acknowledge me. Heck, we might never talk again. I don't know why, but that thought made me a bit sad. That's just life, though.
I ended up falling asleep before class. I was woken up by Hiro slapping me on the back. I jolted up and saw him standing in front of me. "Come on, man, you could've woken me up more gently," I say groggily.
"Hey, just be happy I woke you up. Where were you yesterday, by the way?"
"I wasn't feeling great, so I stayed home," I said, not wanting to go into detail.
"Huh, I'm gonna take a wild guess that you got rejected," he said, smirking.
"You would be correct, my friend," I said, pointing a finger gun his way.
He started laughing. "It doesn't even seem like you care, man."
"Honestly, at this point, I could care less. I found out she had a boyfriend anyway."
"Wow, you really blew it, man."
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
"Oh yeah, by the way, why did Yuzu want your address yesterday?" Hiro asked, his expression indicating he was suspicious of me. I had to think about how to answer this one. I didn't want to get into how the two of us met. I decided to just tell him it was because I let her borrow some money the other day; I didn't elaborate as to what it was for. Hiro accepted it and then went to take his things out for class.
Thinking about Yuzu, I found myself looking around the classroom for her, to no avail. Maybe she was running late or something. However, class came and went and she didn't show up. I mean, it really wasn't my business, but it made me wonder where she was. Perhaps she came down with a cold, or maybe she just skipped. I figured the latter wasn't true since she mentioned yesterday how she doesn't skip class.
For some reason, her not being there was the only thing on my mind the whole day—well, except in math class, since I was concerned about the girl who rejected me being in it. Luckily, she just didn't acknowledge me like normal, which I was more than happy about. I hoped it would stay like this for the rest of the year.
The school day came to a close. I'm part of the going home club, so I made my way to the exit. As I was on my way back home, I found myself looking at the contact list on my phone, specifically Yuzu's name. Part of me wanted to text her and ask where she was today, but I felt that was too personal for someone I barely knew. Regardless, I kept staring at the message screen.
Since my head was looking down at my phone, I accidentally bumped into somebody like an idiot. What was worse, though, was the fact that the bump accidentally made me hit the dial button. I stood there staring at my phone as it rang, dumbfounded. I debated hanging up but knew she would see that I called regardless, so I just let it ring, hoping she wouldn't answer. It made it to the last ring, and I thought I was home free, but then she answered.
"Ichi?" she said in a quiet voice. I was startled, so I took a second to compose myself before answering.
"H-hey, Yuzu," I mumbled.
"Did you want something?" she asked innocently.
I couldn't just tell her that I accidentally hit call. I figured I would be truthful and responded, "I was just wondering why you weren't at school today."
"Oh," she said, sounding surprised, "I wasn't feeling well today."
"Did you catch a cold?"
"Not exactly. I just got some upsetting news."
"What was it?" I asked without realizing how bold of a question it was before it came out of my mouth.
"That's a kind of personal question," she said, sounding a bit standoffish.
"Sorry, just forget I asked that! Me and my big mouth," I said frantically.
"No, it's fine. I don't mind telling you." I felt like I'd surpassed a boundary here that I shouldn't have. "You know the guy I asked out? He called me this morning. He told me he'd rather not be friends anymore since he thinks I'll interfere with his love life," she said as her voice grew a bit more raspy; I could tell she was starting to tear up.
"Oh, God, that's awful. I'm sorry to hear that," I said in disbelief. I mean, I hardly knew this guy, but he must be one hell of a scumbag to say something like that.
"It's fine. I'll get over it," she said, trying to laugh it off, but I could clearly hear her choking back the tears by that point. "Hey, listen, I'm gonna hang up. Thanks for the call," she said after a bit of silence. Before I even got a word out, she had already hung up.
I'll be honest, I had no clue what to say. I'm not great with emotions like this; in fact, I'm downright awful. Of course, there's part of me that just wants to say, "It'll all be okay," but I think we both know those are just false motivations. Maybe I could tell her that he's a jerk, but that won't actually help her either. In the end, words are just words at times like these; they can't magically fix strong emotions. So I rashly decided I would act.
I called Hiro and asked if he knew her address. Luckily, he was still at school, so he asked a girl she normally hangs out with and got it for me. See, he's quite the popular guy among our peers. If I were to go up to someone and ask for Yuzu's address, I'd get called a creep. Regardless, after I acquired the address, I realized it was only a few stations away from my house. I went and bought some ice cream from the store for her and headed over to the place. I know it's not very original, but it's the thought that counts, even if we did have it two days ago.
Now, let me be clear: this is not the normal me. I tend to stay on the sidelines and not involve myself with others. However, I came to a realization, that the reason why Yuzu came to my house yesterday wasn't just to give my money back; it was to try and cheer me up. Even in her own sadness, she decided to try and cheer me up.
I'd be no better than that jerk who rejected her if I didn't attempt the same; even I know that much. So there I stood at her front door. Now that I was actually there, I was nervous, but I persevered. I rang the doorbell and waited. After a minute or so, the door creaked open, and Yuzu stood in the entranceway. Her eyes were bloodshot; it was clear she had been crying.
"I-Ichi! Why are you here?" she said, confused.
"Hey there, I brought some ice cream," I said, holding up the bag in my hand with a faint smile on my face.
"You came all the way here to bring me ice cream?"
"Yeah, I did," I said, just being honest with her. "Wanna talk for a bit?"
She looked to the ground and thought about it for a second before she mumbled, "If you wouldn't mind, that sounds nice."