Love's Magic
Episode 02

"I'm sorry, Sempai... I just can't love you."

Takeo's eyelids fluttered open for about the tenth time. His night had been absolutely sleepless, filled with the painful memory of Sae's face as she had spoken to him on her front porch the evening before, followed by her retreat into the house after he had confessed his love for her. It was all too hard to bear-- his fantastic final semester was looking more and more like a nightmare.

He glanced over at his alarm clock. It was ten minutes before six, his alarm clock would ring in a few minutes anyway to get him up for school. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to black out everything that had happened. Two inevitable things would happen within the next seven hours-- first of all, he would see Aburatsubo, they walked to school together. Secondly, there was a Magic Club meeting after school, and he would have to face Sae. It was almost enough for him to roll over and try to forget the day had ever begun.

Instead, he pulled himself up from the sheets and staggered into the shower. The hot water did nothing for him, he didn't even feel the temperature as he brushed his teeth, dressed and exited his apartment building, setting off for school. As usual, the stoplight at the end of the block changed from "walk" to "don't walk" as soon as he even thought of walking to the other side of the street, and of course he tripped over the same crack in the sidewalk that had had ever since the second grade. It was just an ordinary day, and the waving image of Aburatsubo outside his apartment on the next block should do nothing to affect him.

It did. It did in every way, shape, and form, more than Takeo had ever known. It angered him. It saddened him. It made him believe that there were certain things in the world that couldn't be fixed by magic, another harsh reality. He had faced far too many of those in the last twenty four hours, his friend had betrayed him and his love had dismissed his feelings without a passing glance. Takeo felt his hands curling into fists as he approached Aburatsubo.

"Takeo-kuuuun!" the overexaggeration in his voice was clear, now. Takeo continued walking as Aburatsubo's arms were thrown around him in the same affectionate way they had always been, but without any sleep Takeo didn't have the strength to dismiss them. He continued walking, Aya dragging behind him as he filled his thoughts with mindless chatter. None of it mattered to him now. No matter what happened, he would always feel a sense of underlying betray from Aburatsubo. He was the one person he thought he could trust with his secret about Sae, and he had turned on him. Sae was right, love was the biggest problem in everyone's lives. The only trouble was that everyone faced it, and everyone expressed emotion towards everyone else. It was neverending.

They arrived at the school shortly afterwards. It was then Takeo finally lifted his head up and found away to get out of Aya's tight grip. His gaze hovered over every bit of the high school-- the tennis courts, the soccer fields, the tall brick buildings that housed the academic classes. It was only a matter of weeks before he would leave this place forever, and never look back. It was certain that he could last that long without speaking to Sae. In fact, it was absolutely possible. If he could just avoid Club, and senior class meetings, and the festival, and-- he could just hide under a rock for the last weeks of school, the most important and most fun of a student's school career. It would be worth it, if only--

"Nanaka-chan, wait for-- ungh!"

Takeo's head spun around at the sound of her voice. She was running up the stairs into the school now, late as she often was. Nakatomi Nanaka, Sae's best friend had always walked to school with her. Nanaka had a cross attitude, and it wasn't beyond her to get frusturated with Sae for her tardiness. In Sae's rush, her naturally clumsy ability had helped her to slip and fall flat on her face in front of the entire student body. Everyone was laughing, and no one made a move to help her up. Every bit of Takeo's being wanted to run over and help her up off the floor, but he knew he couldn't do that. She had clearly told him to keep away from her, for whatever reason, and in his blind love for her he ought to just accept that and move on. He figured he would start by turning around and walking to homeroom.

"Are you alright, Takeo-kun?" Aya was still milling about like a fly, and it was beginning to get irritating.

"I'm fine, Aburatsubo." Takeo turned swiftly into his homeroom class and shut the door behind him.

***

Class that day was a blur. Takeo could somewhat remember taking tests, doing work, and running the track in gym class. He spoke little or nothing and debated even going to club after school, but he knew that Nanaka and the other member, Aikawa Akane, were depending on him. It was important that he get there and see to it that they learned the magic they needed to learn. Of course, all the while he knew he was kidding himself. The only reason why he bothered to go at all was to see Sae.

He slid into the club room first and set his bag down behind the table. Pulling the chair out, he sat down at it and rested his head down on top of the hard, sturdy cover of the magic book. Home seemed like such a far and artificial place from all this, all that mattered. His room could be his hiding place, he could stay there and not go out, it wouldn't matter in the least to anyone, obviously. Well, except to one person... maybe.

"Takeo-kuuuun! I'm so glad you're here." Aburatsubo dashed inside the club room, flinging his tennis bag across the room and purring at his side. "Now that it's just the two of us, let's do something fun."

"Are you supposed to be seductive?" Takeo muttered, probably a bit too coldly. "I'm just not in the mood for putting up with you today."

He watched Aya's face fall as quickly as his hand did from Takeo's shoulder. He took a step backwards. "Something's wrong, Takeo-kun. I want you to tell me what it is. Despite what you're thinking of me right now, I do care."

Takeo slammed his fist on the table. "That's why I'm angry! You care too much. Far too much. I've already told you, I'm not interested."

Aburatsubo's eyes widened. "Are you having a bad day? I'll give you a back rub--"

"No!" Takeo stood up from the table and advanced on Aburatsubo, his fists clenched. "I'm not kidding, Aya. Leave this be. Stop loving me, I'll never love you. We've almost graduated. It's almost time you know that, that you hear it from me straightforward and as plain as it gets."

Aya withered somewhat like a plant that had been cut off from water. He opened and shut his mouth a few times in an awkward way before attempting to speak. When he did, the tone in his voice reached anger. "It's all because of Sae, isn't it! It's all because of that bitch!"

"Don't talk about Sae in that way, not to me, not to her, not to anyone!" Takeo slammed his fist into his best friend's stomach, watching his face contort into the same painful shape he had seen Sae's in the night before. Just to make sure Aya understood, he did it twice more before turning and sitting down again at the desk. He covered his face to try and ignore his friend's startled sobs. Aya never cried. They had grown up together, and Takeo knew that for sure. When most other boys would bawl hysterically when they skinned their knee or they didn't get the candy they want, Aburatsubo didn't. He was always so calm and serene about whatever he said and did. It almost made him seem better than anyone else.

The voice from the other side of the room was almost impossible to interpret. "I... I love you, Takeo-kun."

For a moment, Takeo laughed, almost cynically. "I'm sorry, Aburatsubo... but I just can't love you." His laughter slowed to a soft chuckle. It really did make him feel better to say those words to someone else, to make them feel the pain he had felt the night before when he had been left alone on Sae's doorstep, and the tearful walk home afterwards. He cried, and Aya would cry, and that would only be the fair way to settle this.

"What..." there was a pause. "What does Sae have... what can Sae do that... that I can't do for you?"

"Sae?" Takeo turned on the chair to face Aburatsubo as he leaned against the desk. "Sae can do plenty of things for me that you can't. She is a girl, after all. Most importantly, though, I'm sure she'd never turn on me. I'm sure she'd never go through such drastic measures to hurt someone to get another. It was too much, Aburatsubo, and you made a mistake. Get up off the floor and get over it. I'm going to manage just as well too."

Aburatsubo nodded slowly in understanding. He got up and picked up his tennis bag. "I don't think I'm going to stay for club today," he said softly. "I suddenly remembered-- I remembered something else that I have to do."

Takeo pressed his forehead against the desk and sat there in silence for a good while. It was important that Aya know where he was coming from, he reasoned, and it was even better now because he knew not to disilliusion himself in the same fantasy world he had since they had become adolescents. It saddened him to know that he had hurt someone who had always been so devotional loyal to him, but it couldn't be helped. It was all a sign of growing up, and soon they would be going to two completely different colleges and would hardly see each other anymore, except maybe on breaks. Aya could deal with things so easily, by this time next year he'd have a girlfriend and a sports car and be the head of his class. Those were things Takeo could never even hope to attain, and it was all the better that he had always somewhat hid in Aburatsubo's shadow. It was time to change that.

With that thought, he got up and grabbed his jacket and bookbag. Slowly, he turned and examined the room and stepped out, shutting and locking the door behind him. He could be difficult, too.

He wasn't going to club, he had better things to do.