I stood there, not really believing what I was seeing?
Was it him?
Was it actually him?
"Shion, darling. What is it?" Mother asked,trying to pull my attnetion back to her. But my eyes would tear off of him.
He, Nezumi, just smirked.
"Shion darling? How embaressing for your mother to call you that." He snarked, and my heart soared. It really was him! Because the Nezumi I met that day would have said the exact same thing!
"Nezumi! It's you!" I blurted out, and mother looked at me, puzzled.
And much to my horror, so did Nezumi.
"Yeah, it's me. And you are?" He asked, and in that moment, I sort of felt my heart break. I just stood there for only a moment, confused.
"Y-you don't remember me?" I asked, and Nezumi folded his arms.
"No. Should I?" He asked, now sounding angry. I blinked a few times, not believing. This couldn't be happening.
I mean, first off, there would be no way I was lucky enough to meet up with Nezumi again. But also, there's no way he wouldn't remember me. We hung out that whole entire day, and so much happened.
"How can you..?" I started to ask, when mother walked up.
"Shion, what's wrong? How do you know Nezumi?"She asked me, and I wasn't sure what to say. I just looked up at Nezumi.
I looked into his eyes, silently pleading that maybe if he looked long enough, he would remember me. Because there was no way this was someone else. This was Nezumi.
He just didn't remember me.
"We don't know each other. I just have to do a play with stupid No. 6 Academy." Nezumi began to say, before walking over to me. I saw that he had bruises and cuts, probably from many scuffles that he's gotten into.
"I don't know how you think you know me, but you don't. I would never talk to a stuck up No. 6 kid." Nezumi told me, his voice dead serious.
"Um..let's not fight, alright?" My mother suggested, and I looked at mother.
"He wouldn't fight for no reason, mother! You don't have to be so on edge." I told her, and mother stared at me, wide eyed.
"Okay." She spoke, as Nezumi turned to me.
"You think I don't fight unless I have a reason?" Nezumi asked, almost smirking. I just nodded. Because I recalled that the Nezumi I knew would never hurt someone, at least seriously, unless he had to.
Suddenly, Nezumi twisted my arm behind my back.
My eyes widened.
"Nezumi!" My mother yelled, as I turned my head to look at Nezumi.
"You can still do that! You're so cool!" I cheered, and Nezumi looked at me as if I was crazy. Mother stomped over, hands on hips.
"Let go of him right now. I will tolerate violence of any kind." Mother advised Nezumi, not even raising her voice. But in her voice, was dead seriousness. Nezumi just looked at her, and then let me go.
I instantly turned around.
"How can you not remember me? You did that to me that day we met! It was years ago, but-" I began to say, when someone suddenly came in the room. I felt deflated, as I looked at Nezumi, hoping it would have sparked some sort of memory.
"Hello, Karan. It's a pleasure to meet up with you under better circumstances." A man spoke, walking over. Mother bowed, and I followed suit.
The man looked down at me, and smiled.
"Is this our Julietto?" He asked, and I stood up, my face getting red.
"U-um, yeah. It's great to meet you." I told him, and the man smiled, sticking out his hand. I reached forward, and shook it back.
"I'm West Block's head chairman. My name is Rikiga, and it's a pleasure to meet you." He told me, and Nezumi scoffed.
"You're so fake." He told Rikiga, and I just stood there, as Rikiga turned towards Nezumi.
"Yeah, well you're a rat." Rikiga told him, and they both broke into an insult war. Mother and I exchanged glances, as Rikiga would call Nezumi things like 'Garbage kid' and Nezumi would call Rikiga things like 'old man who went to college with Jesus.'
They kept doing that until mother finally cleared her throat, grabbing their attention.
"Let's please stay on track. We have a lot to discuss. And that's not even keeping in mind that we'll have to hand out both of your scripts." Mother spoke, grabbing two thick packets from the table.
She plopped the script in Nezumi's arms, and then turned to me. She handed them to me, but since she did it with so much force, I was dragged down.
"Wah!" I called out, as Nezumi broke out laughing.
I wasn't sure if I should be embaressed that he saw it, or if I should be happy that I got to see Nezumi laugh.
As he laughed, I watched Nezumi.
Do he really not remember me? Did that day mean nothing to him?
Nezumi saw me looking, and looked at me. My face flared red, and Nezumi raised his eye brow at me.
"What's up with you weird kid?" Nezumi asked, and my face got even redder. Rikiga threw his hand forward, slapping Nezumi on the back.
"Let's not be a bitch, Nezumi." He said, his voice laughing, but everything underneath sounded angry. Mother folded her arms.
"I thought I said I won't tolerate this." Mother added, and Nezumi turned towards mother.
"You said you won't tolerate violence. You didn't say anyhting about words." Nezumi told her, matter of fact. I just took a step towards him.
Nezumi noticed me, and looked at me.
"What are you doing?" He asked, and I looked down at the ground. My heart was pounding, mostly out of nervousness, and confusion.
"Nezumi, do you really not remember me? We met in the rain. You were protecting a kitten. And we did so much that day." I shakily said, still not able to look Nezumi in the eyes. Time slowed down, as I waited for him to answer.
Finally, he scoffed.
"No way I don't remember you. You're a freak. And we never met. So get that through your thick skull, you freak." He told me, and his words stabbed me straight through the heart. My eyes widened, as I remembered the day.
Him protecting the kitten was just the start of it.
We went to many places, did many things, and even ended the day with a snowball fight. I started to like him that day.
"I can't believe it." I mumbled.
"What?" Nezumi asked, not hearing me.
"I said I can't believe it!" I yelled, shocking everyone in the room.
"How can you not remember? I always knew that the day probably didn't mean as much as it did for you, as it did for me. I knew that. But..but now you're telling me that nowhere in your memory do you remember me?" I asked, my voice shaking.
I bit my lip, as I looked around the room.
"No, I don't. So quit making stuff up." Nezumi told me, and I snapped.
"Fine!" I yelled, once more shocking everyone in the room.
"I'll stop talking about it! But only because you're not worth it!" I barked, before I then stomped out of the room.
As I walked down the hall, I questioned if what just happened was actualy real. It all happened so fast, and seemed so unlikely, that I thought maybe I made the whole thing up.
But no, I'm not that lucky.
And I told Nezumi he wasn't worth it. My heart squeezed in pain. I shouldn't have said that. No one should hear those words.
I sat down outside in the school garden, as people walked passed me. Some of them gave me angry looks, I guess really not liking the play idea.
Others just waltzed by in our white and yellow school uniforms, laughing with their friends.
"I don't think this is a good idea." I whimpered, as Nezumi was already on the other side of the building. He rolled his eyes, as Meow-chan sat by his feet, looking up at me.
She was wondering why I didn't just jump, like Nezumi.
"Don't look at me like that, Meow-chan. You didn't jump, either. Nezumi carried you." I told her, and Meow-chan just flicked her tail.
"Quit talking to the cat. You're so weird." Nezumi told me, and, I heard people running towards us.
"Just jump. I do it all the time." Nezumi told me, and I shook my head, tears coming to me.
"Nu-uh." I stubbornly said, as Nezumi looked at me, now pissed off.
"Get down, Shion. You're being a little weirdo." He told me, and I looked around. I heard people chasing us still. I looked behind, knowing that they couldn't reach us. They sounded like they were on the ground, and Nezumi and were on roofs.
"Shion." Nezumi spoke again, and to my surprise, his arms were held out wide.
"I'll catch you." He told me, and my heart squeezed.
"You prormise?" I asked, and Nezumi rolled his eyes once more, as Meow-chan meowed once more.
"I promise." He told me, and I smiled, brighter than the sun. I then took a few steps back, an leapt off the building, knowing that Nezumi would catch me.
I looked around, now out of my imagination.
He really doesn't remember me.
I stood up, and began to walk back to mother's office. A soft breeze blew by, right before I walked back into the school.
As I walked down the hallway, my embaressment grew, but I pushed it away.
Right before I opened the door, it flung open, hitting me.
I tumbled backwards, as I hit the ground.
"Ow!" I whimpered, as I looked up to see Nezumi. He looked down at me for a few moments, before shutting the door.
"What are you doing on the floor?" Nezumi asked, and I looked at him, dead pan.
"Seriously?" I asked, before I stood up.
"So, are you back to yell some more?" Nezumi asked, and as much as I wanted to get angry, I pushed it away. Sometimes, if you're wrong, you had to suck it up and make things better. And I called him not worth it.
Which is wrong.
I just bowed, surprising Nezumi.
"I'm sorry for pushing you. And I'm especially sorry that I said you weren't worth it. Because I know..I know that you are." I finished, my face getting red. I would have stood up, but he probably would have made fun of me for making such a face.
I finally stood up, and once I did, Nezumi flicked my forehead.
"What was that for?" I barked, as Nezumi looked at me, questiongly.
"Do you really have to ask?" He asked, and I let out a sigh.
Something told me that this wasn't going to be easy.