"Konomi and I are NOT dating, for the final time!" Yuuki scowled at his friends. "I wouldn't even date her, first of all, and second of all, we're in sixth grade! Who has a girlfriend in sixth grade?"
"YUUKI AND KONOMI SITTING IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-I-N-" sang Abe, one of Yuuki's close friends.
"Shut up!" Yuuki scowled. "Don't give her any ideas! And I'm NOT dating her!"
"But you spend so much time together, you lovebirds! Always walking home together, eating lunch together?"
"Huh? I never eat lunch with her though!" Yuuki said surprised.
"Well you will soon! Here comes your girlfriend!"
"I'm not his girlfriend. But I'm his friend!" a soft, cheerful voice pipes up suddenly. "Yuuki-kun believes that sixth grade is too young to date, and he says that he never will even in his high school days." A worried look is shadowed on her face for a second. "And even if he did date, it wouldn't be me. But being his friend is great! So that's okay."
"Yuuki-kun, Yuuki-kun! Always taking his words like he's some sort of God," Abe said teasingly.
"Quit it, you two." Yuuki muttered, pointedly ignoring the whole "dating" conversation. "Konomi," he said, his voice getting to a louder volume, "what are you doing here after school?"
"I wanted to walk home with you," she replied, eyes lowered bashfully. "So can I? Please? We're friends after all, I got 97th place on the scoreboard after the exams!"
"You never take no for an answer, do you, baka? Fine. Whatever. You won't stop pestering me if I say no."
"Yay!" Konomi shouted, one arm in the air like Superman.
"Abe, do you want to walk with us?" Konomi asked.
"No, thank you, Konomi-chan. My father will pick me up soon."
"See you tomorrow, Abe-kun!" Konomi waved as she left with Yuuki.
"Abe? Konomi? At first name basis now, huh? Don't steal my friend away, you cow." Yuuki said.
"I won't, Irie-kun! So how was your day?"
"Frankly, terrible, because you wouldn't stop torturing me with your requests for me to help tutor you more."
"Oh, about that...I have a math test two days from now, would you please help me study?" Konomi asked.
"Ugh, fine. You're so annoying, Konomi."
"Thank you so much! I swear, you saved my grade by fifty points this whole year!"
"Probably not even fifty points, more like eighty," Yuki muttered unkindly.
"Well, today, I went to the stationery store before school started because I was early. I bought these kitten-shaped erasers for Kotoko-nee-san."
"One idiot wasting money on the other, huh? Why?" Yuuki asked, genuinely curious.
"She's really nice! And she helps me with stuff!"
"Like what?"
"N-nothing," Konomi stammered. The tips of her ears turned red. She couldn't tell him that she asked Kotoko for love advice regarding Yuuki!
"Whatever. So you're coming to my house today, huh?"
"Yeah, I need to drop off the erasers for Kotoko. Also, you need to help me for my test."
"You absolute idiot. Fine. My mom really likes you, I have no idea why."
"Oh, I'm sure he does!" a new voice came out of nowhere.
"Shut up, Kotoko, or they'll hear you!" A male voice.
Konomi and Yuuki looked behind them and found two lumps hiding behind a fire hydrant.
"We can see you," Yuuki deadpanned.
Sheepishly, two figures came out. One was obviously Kotoko with a high-quality camera in her hand, and the other was Irie. (Naoki)
"Sorry, Brother, Konomi, Kotoko roped me into this." Naoki said with a sigh.
"I'm going to go to the print shop to get these printed! I'll send you copies!" Kotoko dashed off, only to be herded the other way by Naoki, who explained tiredly that the print shop was the other way.
"Let me walk back with you guys," Naoki smiled. "Konomi-chan, how are you doing?"
"I'm doing very well, thank you, Irie-san. And how about you? How's your doctor job going?"
"Very nicely," Naoki said the same time Yuuki scowled, "He doesn't want to talk to you!"
"Yuuki, calm down," Naoki ordered. "Keep your insults at bay. So what's new between the two of you?"
"Nothing. Konomi got 97th on the exam board, so now I'm stuck with her as a friend. She's annoying," Yuuki said in his trademark tone.
Suddenly, Irie started to laugh. "Oh, Yuuki, if only you knew," he said between giggles. "I'm going to go back to the print shop," Naoki said, after checking his phone, "Kotoko forgot her wallet. You go on ahead."
"Goodbye, Irie-san!" Konomi waved excitedly.
"Bye Konomi, bye Yuuki," Irie said formally, and then walked away.
"Wait!" Yuuki said loudly. "Konomi wanted to give Kotoko these stupid erasers, and the dumbo that she is, she forgot to give it to her."
Konomi tossed the eraser package to Irie, and he walked on.
"You remembered!" Konomi said, eyes shining.
"It was just a bunch of erasers, no big deal," Yuuki grumbled, suddenly unable to look at her too-bright eyes.
-three years later, ninth grade
"You've grown quite handsome, Yuuki!" Kotoko said surprised one day, Kotomi balanced on her hip, wearing a sparkly pink onesie that Yuuki was sure that Kotoko had bought when Irie wasn't looking.
"I'm aware," Yuuki grumbled. "I've been getting love confessions left and right."
"Just like your brother in his glory days," Kotoko said dreamily. "Well, don't be too unkind to the girls! Has...has.."
"What, has Konomi confessed to me yet? You seem to think that we're some married couple. No, she isn't going to confess to me. She's just a stupid girl."
Irie walked in and coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'wedding bells' and Yuuki scowled.
"Stop corrupting my brother, Kotoko!"
Konomi was waiting by the street intersection that she lived on.
"Hello, Yuuki-kun." Somehow, in the three years of their bumpy friendship, she started getting in the habit of calling him by his first name. Puberty had also made her voice softer, and more whispery. But her boisterous personality hadn't changed at all.
"Come on, you idiot. Let's get to school. We have to pick up Abe on the way too."
"He moved recently, right? So now we can walk with him!" Konomi grinned.
"I told you this five times on the telephone last night, and you didn't even remember once," Yuuki scowled.
"Well, you didn't remember my birthday after three years, so yours is the worst crime!" Konomi jostled Yuuki teasingly.
He hadn't forgotten her birthday. He had bought her an elephant plushie, and left it anonymously in her locker. That had been Yuuki's style for every birthday of hers, and somehow that dumbo hadn't caught on.
"I...never mind." Yuuki wasn't about to tell Konomi that he spent time on her presents and actually considered her as a close friend. "Anyway, look, this is Abe's house right here."
Abe came out of the house just as Yuuki said that, carrying his school bag.
He had changed too, from the tiny shrimp he was back in middle school. He was taller now, with a shock of brilliant black hair and sparkling eyes.
"Abe-kun, good morning!"
"Good morning to you, Konomi-chan!" Abe replied jovially. "And to you too, Yuuki-kun."
"Good morning, Abe."
"Yuuki-kun is always so nice to me, and so mean to you! I wonder why…" Abe trailed off, even though he knew well why.
"It's because she's an idiot, and you're not." Yuuki said shortly.
"Come on, bro, her grades don't justify her worth, okay? I apologize for him, Konomi chan."
"Don't worry about it, Abe-kun, I'm quite used to it by now. " Konomi chuckled, but still she looked at him with her (as Yuuki mentally called it) "stupid shiny eyes."
Something in his gut twisted uncomfortably and his mood was soured, for a strange reason he didn't know.
"Come on, Abe, Konomi. We're going to be late for school." Yuuki said shortly and kept walking.
"Oh, someone's curt today!" Abe said, mock-offended. "Maybe we should walk without him next time, Konomi-chan?"
Konomi just laughed.
"I forgot, our Konomi won't go anywhere without Yuuki!" Abe teased jokingly, and slung a playful arm around Konomi's small shoulders. "Would you do the same thing for me?"
"Maybe," Konomi replied with a smile on her face, and Abe laughed loudly.
Suddenly, Yuuki started walking ahead.
"Wait up, Yuuki!" Abe and Konomi shouted.
"I know you're on the track team, Yuuki-kun, but that doesn't give you a reason to run ahead of us!"
Yuuki slowed down. "I'm surprised that you didn't join the track team too, Konomi, after you found out that I did." He remarked cuttingly.
"I'm not Kotoko, Yuuki." Konomi replied, hurt. "Why are you acting so strangely today?"
Abe tried to break the tension. "If a girl joined the track team for me, that would be just the sweetest thing ever!"
"Dream on, Abe," Yuuki muttered, and they all laughed. For now, that strange tension was gone.
10th grade, one year later.
"Yuuki-kun! A new movie came out. It has really good reviews. Would you like to go see it with me?" Konomi asked excitedly during study hall.
Yuuki didn't look up from his work. "What movie is it?"
"Attack of the Blob! I know how much you like sci-fi movies. Come on, let's go!"
"Ugh. Fine. That movie's supposed to be second-rated anyway."
"You'll never know for yourself until you watch it!" Konomi insisted.
"Well, I guess that's true. Now stop bothering me, baka. I have homework."
"Okay," Konomi replied, going back to her own homework.
An hour later, school was finally over.
"It's a bit too cold to walk to the movies. Maybe Kotoko is off of her shift now. Want me to ask her to drive us?" Yuuki asked. Of course Kotoko would think that they were dating and say strange stuff, but Konomi had just recovered from a cold, and he didn't want her to collapse.
Why do you care so much anyway? A voice inside his head asked him. He admitted that he didn't know.
"No, I would really like to walk there, if that's okay with Yuuki-kun. After all, snow makes me very happy. I love it very much." Konomi's eyes were shining a little strangely when she said that, like it was a secret of some sort.
"Fine, but don't complain if you trip on ice. You're so stupid, that's probably the first thing that would happen once we stepped outside. You're so clumsy."
"I won't deny it," Konomi laughed.
At the movie theather, they waited ten minutes before the theater showing their specific movie opened up. Yuuki looked casually around-there were many movie posters.
"Hey," said Kotomi in an unusually nervous tone. "Is that kind of woman your type?" She pointed at a poster. The movie was called Agent Alice 3, and the woman on the poster was tall, gorgeous and held a gun in her hand very confidently.
"Hmm? Is that kind of woman my type? Without a doubt, yes. A woman who is tall, capable, mature and knows what she's doing. She cannot be clumsy, or be in F class, and she can't love peach tarts."
Yuuki inwardly grinned as he noticed how Konomi completely failed to register the specificity of that list. She just looked sadder, expression drooping.
Suddenly, Yuuki's heart panged in his chest. Back when they were twelve or even thirteen, he wouldn't have told her he was joking, and pretended to walk away in a "hmmph!" while secretly watching her reaction, because even back then… he couldnt bring himself to finish his sentence.
He decided he couldn't see her being sad anymore, for some strange reason.
"And my type of girl also...has no hair."
"Huh?" Konomi suddenly burst out of her reverie. "That's weird!"
"Also, she has no skin. Or bones. And she's blue."
"Wait...you mean to say your ideal type is the Blob?"
They both broke out in laughter.
"And when I go on a date with the Blob, she'll ask for some of my food, and go like THIS!" Yuuki reached and tickle-attacked Konomi. She laughed harder while begging him to stop. They stood there for a while, just laughing. Yuuki smiled fondly. No matter how much he pretended to hate her and make fun of her, the truth was-
"Konomi-chan!" Yuuki looked up, and suddenly reverted back to his usual 'cold personality'. He saw Abe running towards them, long legs flying.
He finally stopped when he was right in front of them, out of breath.
"Hey! What movie are you guys watching?"
"Attack of the Blob," Konomi said. "You know, the one that's directed by that bigshot one, Mayao Hiyazaki?"
"'Course I do, Konomi-chan. I bought a ticket to that a week in advance."
"Woah! That's a super coincidence!" Konomi said, her eyes wide.
Though Abe was one of his closest friends, Yuuki strangely felt like strangling him.
"Hey, Abe." Yuuki said warmly, trying to ignore the cause-unknown desire to kill his best friend. "How are you doing? I don't get to see you often now that you've joined the school swim team."
"I know, right? I miss you, bro! So are you and Konomi finally dating?"
"What? No, of course not! Why would we be?" Yuuki, of course, went by the path of extreme denial that he always took.
"Let me see, because she's kind, talented, and did I mention that she's very pretty, Yuuki?" Abe said quietly to him so Konomi wouldn't hear. She was looking down at the floor, again disheartened by Yuuki's denial.
"Is she? I never noticed." Yuuki replied stubbornly.
"Do you have eyes, bro? The reason none of the guys went after her is because we all thought you were in a serious relationship!"
"Do whatever you want," Yuuki growled. "Date her, marry her, have darling little children who have your eyes and her hair…"
"Listen, Yuuki. I don't know what your deal is with Konomi. But if you don't do something, I will."
TBC