"Ah." Kitamoto suddenly stopped in his tracks. It was after school and he and Nishimura were just about to head to his house to hang out when he spotted a familiar face near the turn to a cake shop called House of Cute. A face he didn't want to see again if possible or maybe he did just so he could give him an earful.
"Kitamoto?" Nishimura paused his babbling when he noticed that his friend got distracted by something and turned to look too. "Hmm. He looks familiar. Was he a classmate from junior high? That uniform isn't from around here though." He said as he examined the guy who then spotted the pair as well.
The guy's face brightened and jogged at their direction. "Excuse me." He said. "You're Natsume's friends, right? Do you remember me?"
"What do you want?" The taller of the two asked coldly. A far cry from the usual attitude the boy usually possessed. "As you can see, Natsume's not with us."
Nishimura didn't know if he should reprimand his friend from his animosity or berate the stranger instead. If Kitamoto was this angry, that means this guy has done something really bad, right?
The stranger's face fell and sighed. "I see. So you're no longer with him, huh? It's not like I don't understand you though; Natsume is a little weird."
"I remember now!" Nishimura suddenly interjected. "You're that jerk who came to talk to Natsume before!"
"Eh? So you didn't know who I was up until now? And I thought I made a pretty big impression too." His face showed mock hurt for a moment, but it quickly turned into a sneer. "Aren't you two jerks too then? Leaving the guy because of his ability. Not like I'm one to talk though."
"Ability?"
The two friends were confused, but Kitamoto focused on the other part of his statement. "Natsume's not with us at the moment; he's with our other friends." This guy seemed to think that they were no longer friends with Natsume and being the way this stranger talked to their friend before, he was sure that he'd laugh and ridicule him again for not being able to keep his friends.
"So he has more than two friends?" Shibata's eyes widened in disbelief which made the other two even angrier.
"Just because Natsume didn't have any friends before, doesn't mean he still won't have any now. Natsume's our friend and that won't change no matter what." Nishimura said firmly. It was a good thing he wasn't alone then because if he was, he would've lashed out at the guy. He didn't want to get his more level-headed friend into trouble after all. Plus, he knew Natsume would blame himself for it later if he found out.
"No matter what?" Shibata repeated as a sneer crept back up his face. "How can you say that when it seems like you don't even know his secret?"
That was it. That was the last straw. Nishimura stomped closer to the offender and was about to lunge at him when his friend grabbed him by the shoulder. "Kitamoto!" The words of reprimand failed to escape his lips as the next scene played before his eyes.
Kitamoto swiftly moved forward, took the offender by the collar and slammed their foreheads together, knocking the other off his feet. He stood there looking down on the fallen boy who looked at him in disbelief.
Nishimura's jaw almost dropped. He couldn't believe that the friend that he had just thought of as level-headed, hit someone in a verbal fight.
"Listen up, Natsume's ex-classmate," Kitamoto said in a commanding tone as he pointed a finger at the still shocked boy on the ground. "Natsume's our friend. We eat lunch together, we head home together, we ride bikes together, we catch fish together, we study lessons together. We even go on trips and visit each other's houses. He's kind, he's thoughtful, he's too reserve for his own good, but he's happy now and he deserves more than to be associated with the likes of you who treat him as if he has some sort of disease! So if you came here to cause him more grief, I suggest you leave now before I do something even more painful."
Everyone was silent. Nishimura was still watching in silence at his friend's behavior, Shibata was still on the ground with a palm on his forehead, and Kitamoto looked down expectantly at Shibata for an answer.
"Eh? Shibata? Nishimura and Kitamoto too, what are you guys doing here?"
All three heads turned at once at the familiar voice. It was Natsume with his ugly cat on his shoulder. The pair knew that this wasn't the way to the boy's house so they had no idea why he was there right at that moment.
"Pfft." Shibata suddenly burst into fits of laughter which earned the confusion of the rest of the party. He was laughing so hard that he even had to clutch his stomach in pain. When he was done, he got up from the ground and handed Natsume a paper bag which was leaning on the wall with his school bag. "Well, I was in the area so I thought I'd drop by. Here, souvenirs."
"Oh, thanks." Natsume smiled at the gift.
"Eh? Natsume?" The two friends looked confused. Natsume and Shibata's attitudes towards each other were a far cry from how they were when they met last time. Are they friends now...?
Kitamoto, Nishimura, and Nyanko-sensei too all peered into the bag over Natsume's shoulder. It contained snacks of all kinds and the cat's eyes turned into hearts the moment he saw them.
Kitamoto started piecing things together and when he did, his face turned into an unbelievable red all the way to his ears. Nishimura caught up too and patted Kitamoto's shoulder comfortingly while trying so hard not to laugh.
"By the way, Nishimura, Kitamoto, this is Shibata. He was a classmate of mine. And Shibata, these are Nishimura and Kitamoto." Natsume wondered why everyone was acting so strangely, but decided to let it slide.
"I'm Nishimura. Nishimura Satoru."
"Shibata Katsumi." He then turned to Kitamoto. "Thanks a lot for earlier."
"Earlier?" Natsume asked.
"I-it was nothing!" Kitamoto blurted out. "I'm Kitamoto Atsushi. Nice to meet you."
"Huh? Kitamoto, your face is red. Do you have a fever?" Natsume asked as he concluded that that must've been the reason why his friend was kind of out of it. "Shibata too, your forehead looks swollen."
"N-nah, they're fine. Don't w-worry too much, Natsume." Nishimura reassured him in between giggles.
"Yeah, we're fine." Shibata picked up his bag. "Well then, I'm done here so I'll be going now."
"So soon?" Natsume asked. It was not often that they see each other so Natsume thought that they could've at least gotten some tea together. It was a good chance for his friends to get to know each other too. Their first meeting wasn't exactly a good one after all.
"I don't want to ruin your plans for the afternoon. Besides, it'd be dark out by the time I get back if I don't leave soon."
They said their goodbyes and Shibata left for the station. Behind him he could hear the three friends talking to one another and Natsume saying, "Tanuma and I finished earlier than expected so I thought I'd follow after you guys." Shibata smiled to himself. "You've found yourself good friends, Natsume."
Author's Notes: I had the urge to finally write this since Shibata appeared again in the manga and this time, he met Kitamoto and Nishimura again! They did have a bad start so I guess their next meeting would be bad too, right? So I thought of this story. I hope you enjoyed it!
By the way, how do I add Shibata as one of the characters? His name is not on the drop-down list. :(