Now that I think about what happened back then, I can't help but wonder, what were we doing?
As I walked down towards the bar, I noticed Aki standing in front of it, his eyes red. I knew he had been crying, after all, he had been holding onto my shoulder at the funeral. I had been barely able to contain my tears, but now, I was stronger than before. All those years training with Takaomi had taught me something: Don't ever cry.
I remember when he had made me fight for the bunny those kids had took from me. I was more scared of him than I was of those boys. He had always scared me.
So I didn't cry for him; He wouldn't have wanted me to. It was so sad, looking at him sick. He had always seemed so energetic, always plotting something to ruin our lives. But as he laid in that hospital bed, it was like everything that had made him seem so young, was gone.
I nodded to Aki, holding his hand as I dragged him into the bar with me. I looked around the dimly lit room, finding Hayasaka and Yui in a minute. Hayasaka with his now dusty brown hair, and Yui with his same cut-short hair.
They seemed to be talking vividly about something, and it was so funny. The way Yui seemed to talk non-stop, his hands moving all over the place, trying to explain what he was saying, and Hayasaka looking like he was talking to an idiot. It was funny.
"Yo!" I greeted them. I chuckled softly when they both stopped their conversation;
"Mafuyu!" Yui greeted me back happily. Hayasaka seemed a bit more down at seeing me. I had told him that I was Usa-Chan Man. I couldn't have kept a secret for much longer, so during out last year of high school, I told him. He seemed so sad, I knew he would be.
I hadn't talked to him much, after that. It was like there was a distance between the two of us, now. I sighed softly, sitting next to Yui, as Aki took the seat that was next to Hayasaka.
"So, what have you guys been up to?" I asked them, looking at them curiously. I knew Aki had himself together, by being a Host. I knew he was going to go down that road, seeing as how he was so close to sweet talking women. I had no idea what the others were doing, however.
Yui grinned at me before quickly saying, "I'm currently working as a jiujutsu instructor!" I wasn't even surprised by that. We all just chuckled, knowing he was going to say something along those lines. It was to be expected, seeing as how obsessed with ninja stuff he was in High School. It was around the beginning of our third year when he had started getting into jiujutsu.
We all looked at Hayasaka to see what he would say, but he decided not to say anything yet. I guess it was my turn, then.
"Really, Yui? Not even surprised. I'm working as a make-up artist now. It's a lot of fun." They all stared at me in surprise when I told them that. "What?" I asked, feeling weird by their looks.
"You- Seriously?" Hayasaka, surprisingly enough, was the one to answer. He looked beyond surprised by me. "You weren't the most girlish girl during high school. What brought this up?" He asked.
"Yeah, seriously." I replied, grinning at him. I was happy to get a sentence out of him. "Well, I've always liked girly things, and such. When we graduated, I went to a beauty school. I went somewhere where no one knew me, or had even heard of me. It was nice."
Hayasaka shrugged, nodding. Yui still looked confused, though. "Wait, then why aren't you wearing makeup?" He asked.
"Because, who would wear make-up to a funeral? It doesn't seem right, you know. Why should I be all pretty when someone who I respected just died?" I answered him, but knew I probably shouldn't have been as harsh. He was just asking a question. But the fact remains that I knew him longer than they did. I had known him since I was little.
To lift the spirit, Aki, of course, decided to pipe in. "Well, I'm working as a host. Sometimes I get scouted to be a model, though." He chuckled softly, and for once, I'm thankful for him. He's the youngest out of all of us. He had the least time with Takaomi, yet he was still so close to him. I sighed softly nodding to him.
Yui was the one who smiled back, though. I felt weird now; everyone had become so mature, compared to what we were like during high school.
"I'm a teacher now." Hayasaka informed us. I turned to stare at him. All of us did. We hadn't expected that. Actually, it wasn't that weird. Sure, he liked to fight, but he was always so smart. He always marked notes in his textbooks and highlighted things in his notes. He was pretty good at explaining things I didn't understand, too. "I teach math."
"So… you followed in Takaomi's footsteps, huh?" I asked him, already knowing the answer. We had all respected the man, even if he had scared the living hell out of us most of the time. He was also the only teacher that managed to take care of the delinquents.
"Yeah. I did. I teach at Ga Oka. Everything is the same, except for the fact that we're not the students anymore. Actually, Okegawa is a teacher there. He teaches literature." What?!
I stared at him in surprise, as did Aki and Yui. "Banchou... He's a teacher?!" I screamed in surprise. This was definitely new.
"Yeah. Surprisingly enough, he's an awesome writer. I'm surprised he didn't tell you, Mafuyu. You guys were close." We were. We had stopped talking once he had graduated.
"Ah, we just kinda... Drifted apart, after his graduation." He frowned at that. Apparently I hadn't told him. "Ah, is that so? That's too bad… But yeah, he's a teacher now. A lot of the students were scared of him at first and the ones that weren't- well… They tried to pick fights with them. I informed the students that our teachers had been notorious for fighting in their teens, but, well- let's just say they didn't believe me. "All of us sighed, knowing exactly how Okegawa could be. Especially when he was challenged. It reminded me of the school festival incident.
"Do you guys remember the school festival incident?"
They all nodded their heads. "Of course." Yui said matter-of-factly.
"What was wrong with us, back then? We were always causing fights."
And then it struck all of us. "Takaomi." We said in unison. We all laughed at loud.
During our talk, we had been ordering our drinks here and there, and by now, I've got a nice little buzz going.
I sighed softly. "It's been so long since I've talked to you guys." I had honestly missed them. Almost 10 years had passed. It was so weird, seeing them all grown up, when the last time we had seen each other, we were just teenagers.
"Yeah… We just kinda drifted apart. Strange how-"
"Takaomi coming along brought us together, and now Takaomi going away brought us together again…"
"HEY! I WAS GONNA SAY THAT!"
"Shut up, Yui!" We all yelled at him.
We all busted out laughing, so used to this whole ordeal. It felt so weird, without Takaomi there to scare the living shit out of us. I hadn't been able to escape him, considering the fact that lived right next to him. It was horrible. At least, until his apartment became quiet from him being in the hospital. My apartment had gotten quiet, too. So I left, during the summer I got out of high school.