Author's Note:
If I finish it.
It was getting chilly and dark, and Ryouta's mum would be worried. Where was Nageki?
Ryouta closed his sweatshirt around him better and fixed his sideways tie. He looked around, watching in concern as the sky turned a deeper blue with what seemed like every minute. He refused to believe Nageki had stood him up, or had forgotten, because Nageki wasn't like that.
Ryouta shivered and watched the distant school doors, hoping to see the mourning dove walk out and wave at any moment. But… Ryouta checked the time on his phone and frowned. It was 55 minutes past the time they were to have met.
Ryouta sighed, and considered just going home. He didn't want to believe Nageki had forgotten or stood him up, but there were few other options to believe otherwise. Just for extra measure, and to pity himself a bit, Ryouta stood an extra few minutes. Because of this, he was there when Nageki finally did exit the school.
Relieved his friend hadn't abandoned him, and disregarding the mysterious bird he was huddled against, Ryouta called out to Nageki. The bird he didn't know, who appeared to be a quail, turned and glared at the rock dove, despite never meeting each other. Nageki, hearing his friend, burrowed his way through the quail's arm and signed a "sorry" before turning back and huddling closer yet.
A little confused on what had happened and who this new bird was, Ryouta, a little sad, gave up and went home. At his humble abode, he lay on his bed and looked at the ceiling, wondering what had gone wrong. He knew the bird Nageki had been with could not be bad, as it was Nageki who was nuzzled close, and his panic didn't seem directed towards the mysterious bird.
And it suddenly hit Kawara.
Nageki had been scared.
He replayed the evening in his head, and remembered what Nageki's facial expression had been. Most of the time, Nageki was usually content, if not a little sad looking, or he was laughing. He had never seen anything other than those two emotions, not until now.
Ryouta tried to think of what could be the issue. Perhaps that quail was angry with him, and he was afraid to be in trouble? But, then why would he be so huddled close? Ryouta huffed and blinked slowly. He turned his head to look at the clock on his left. It read 8:34.
Too early to go to sleep, Ryouta thought, but how he wanted to. He tried to tell himself Nageki in no way planned this, and had even apologized accordingly, but it still felt as though he had somehow been kicked to the curb. Perhaps it was the glare that bird had given him. It was no ordinary glare. It was full of anger and hurt, and a vague fear similar to Nageki's, but maybe even worse. Maybe that quail hadn't even meant to glare at him.
The rest of the week, Nageki didn't come to school. The maths teacher announced he was quitting, but wouldn't explain why. He simply apologized for the inconvenience, and continued on to say he wouldn't even be finishing the year. What was beneficial, however, was that he would be replaced almost immediately.
Ryouta wasn't paying attention, however. His eyes were resting on Nageki's empty chair, and he was flicking a pencil between his thumb and index finger. He wasn't thinking about anything, really, but sort of absent-mindedly trying to understand Nageki probably wasn't coming back. He felt like crying.
It was Friday, and what Ryouta was referring to as the "incident" had occurred on Tuesday. It had left him worried every day Nageki had missed. Ryouta had tried calling the dove multiple times, but had always gotten voicemail. Oh yeah, Nageki was never coming back, and Ryouta would never see him again.
On the weekend, things went as usual. Ryouta tried to figure out how to move on. After all, they had only known each other 6 months. That was nothing compared to real, developed friendships, right? He was being the big baby he really was.
But come Monday, Nageki miraculously returned. Ryouta tried not to let his over joy show, but it was hard to contain. Ryouta had convinced himself Nageki hated or couldn't see him again. He was tearing at the seams with questions about what had happened, but he didn't want to strike a nerve and have his assumption become reality.
"Good morning, Nageki," Ryouta tried saying casually, as though Nageki had been at school as usual.
Nageki smiled faintly and signed good morning. Ryouta took note. Due to Nageki's silence, he showed a lot of expression when talking, so this was unusual to be so subtle. For a nearly mute kid, Nageki would talk a lot via his hands and expressions.
Typically, he had something to say. Be it "I managed to download this old horror game on one of the library computers and my favourite is the bear" or simply "I saw a rat and gave them some crumbs because I wasn't really hungry anyway", he was never not talkative. This was odd indeed.
"Are you ok?" Ryouta said, still containing excitement, and now what was crawling in as worry.
Nageki nodded and tried smiling again. He had different bandages. They weren't on his head, neck, or stomach (though he hadn't checked, that would be uncalled for and rude), like they usually were. This time, they were on his fingers.
Ryouta almost wanted to ask what they were, but he was afraid. He had never felt afraid around Nageki before. Nageki was a nice kid, and he wasn't very intimidating unless you dropped book. Then it was pure fire and fury, and Ryouta learned his lesson on that one. But now, it wasn't because he feared for an angry Mourning Dove. It was… something else, Ryouta couldn't quite pin.
"Are you sure…?"
Nageki nodded and made an "O" with his hand, meaning "nothing", though his face was still in an odd, hard-to-read expression.
Ryouta frowned. This was suspicious indeed. Unable to help himself, he pointed to Nageki's bandaged fingers (on both hands, he noted) and asked "what are these from?"
Nageki's face dropped. He looked at the floor and almost looked guilty. He looked as though he may have signed "nothing" again, but his hand carelessly dropped to his lap just as quick as it had risen.
Shit, shit, shit! Wrong thing to say! Ryouta panicked. "I-I'm sorry, that was-"
"No, it's ok." Nageki said aloud.
Ryouta sat back in his seat.
Nageki tried his hardest to smile, but it looked more like a wince. He sat for a bit, motionless (because silence would not have been a change), as though pondering his answer.
Then he rose his hands again and signed "sorry, I can't say."
"I-it's alright… Are you ok, though?"
That was no better of a statement- now Nageki looked as though he would burst into tears. In fact- he did.
"Ohmygosh, I'm sorry! Wh- please don't cry… don't cry… shhh..!" Ryouta said frantically, glancing about the room and hoping no birdie was worrying other than himself. He put his hands on Nageki's shaking shoulders. He patted them, he tried to look in to Nageki's eyes, anything that would calm him down.