Chapter 3 - Letting go
"Hey..". Hikaru answered, the girl, no the young woman in front of him. With her hair so unusually short, he started feeling like he didn't know her, as if it was an entirely different person. A person much more distant and unfamiliar.
Both stood there, as if frozen, until Akari took a few steps forward.
"Well, I guess I'll go now… I have class tomorrow, so…" She said, tucking a few strands of hair behind her left ear.
"I'll walk you, it's getting late.." He offered.
"Okay." Was the quiet reply.
They walked in silence, enjoying the light breeze. Hikaru was racking his mind for something to say, but couldn't come up with anything. Therefore, he stuffed his hands deeper into the pockets of the jacket and kicked a few pebbles on his way.
"So..Did you have any matches lately?" His companion broke the silence.
"Yeah, err… I did have a few…" He proceeded to telling her about the matches, though, remembering her last words to him upon their previous meetings he tried to keep his talking less technical and more general, taking his time to explain the rank and experience of his opponents.
After a while he relaxed into the memories, and failed to notice that he was now striding alone.
"I appreciate it, but you don't have to put so much efforts into making your talking understandable, you know." He heard her say, turned around, and saw she was leaning the fence of the park he passed a few moments ago, not looking his way.
"Err, it's ok… I mean, I thought about what you said… I sometimes get carried away and forget that not everything revolves around Go… So I'll try to keep myself in check, from now on…" He gave her a sheepish look, hoping for her to look at him.
She tilted her head slightly, and gave him a questioning look, while raising her brows slightly.
"Alright, alright!" He threw his arms in the air in defeat. "I might have said some things I shouldn't have during practice, and well, since I started playing Go. I'm sorry, Okay? I know I can be a jerk sometimes…" He added and turned to study the trees in the park.
Akari looked at the young man, whose reactions were still ones of a child and smiled to herself. Out of every possible thing she imagined him saying, she didn't expect him to apologize first.
"You know, Hikaru." She began, picking up her bag and advancing in his direction. "First, I'm sorry about what I said, and how I behaved myself…That argument wasn't just your fault… I overreacted…" She was now standing in front of him, looking up, facing him.
"But, I think that there's a person who deserves that apology more than I do…"
Hikaru blinked in surprise.
"Huh? Who?"
Akari tilted her head again.
"Your mom, you goof."
"My mom?" Now he was confused.
"Well, yeah, do you have any idea how full of yourself you can be sometimes, how impossible?" Her index finger was almost painfully poking his sternum. "I get to hear your ego talking a few times a month, at most. You mom has been hearing that everyday, for the past twelve years!" The assaulting finger withdrew itself away from him.
Hikaru stood in a daze, nobody never talked in such a straight forward fashion to him before, unless it was related to Go, of coarse. Sure, his parents talked to him about being too rude sometimes or disrespectful, but he admitted to himself that he always waved all those talks away.
He started laughing, a snort at first, then he was walking towards the fence, for support.
"What?! What's so funny?" Akari demanded, brows knit in frustration over this uncalled for reaction to her scolding.
He took a few deep breaths, and wiped his eyes.
"Nothing really, sorry. It's just that, I liked you best when you were acting normal, with your chit chat and dopey smilimg face. But, I'll admit, this Akari's not bad either…"
Now it was Akari who was laughing, or crying, he couldn't really tell, because she covered her face with her hands and was crouching beside he bag.
"Wha.. Hey, what's wrong?" He crossed the space between them and bent in half, trying to get a glimpse of her face. He was about to touch her shoulder, when she rose to her feet.
"Shindo Hikaru! You're absolutely impossible!" She told him and picking up her bag, started walking away.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!" He dashed after her.
She stopped with a sigh.
"When I'm trying to get you to notice me, you're behaving like a jerk, then when I finally, give you the scolding you deserve, you tell me you liked me the way I was."
Hikaru felt his mouth opening and closing a few times, before he could sort his thought into a coherent sentence.
"Notice you? We're childhood friends, of coarse I knew you were there. I mean we joined the Go club at middle school together, remember?"
She turned away again.
"Why do you think I ever joined in the first place?" She muttered quietly, he almost didn't hear her.
"Because you liked Go? Why else?" He really didn't see what she was trying to tell him.
"It wasn't only that! It never was only that!" Her voice shook and she raised her free hand to her face.
"Then what?!"
She didn't reply. They were standing in silence again, until a soft breeze caressed the tops of the trees producing a series of soft sounds.
"Never mind." She finally said, not turning to face him. "I should really be going now. Thanks for walking me… Let's just forget it, okay? Let me know if you have free time to stop by our club" With this she waved him a goodbye and quickly turned around the corner.
…
The front door of the Shindo household closed. Mitsuko Shindo, peeked from the kitchen and adressed her son.
"Hikaru, do you want to take some snacks with you tomorrow? You seem tired lately.., Oh, your suit is in your room…" She paused and looked at her son.
"Hikaru, is everything alright? " Her son, however, didn't answer, but silently dropped into the closest chair.
"Did you two fight?" The older lady tried again.
"Yeah, Akari said I'm an arrogant jerk towards those who are not involved in Go… So I guess I'm sorry…" He rubbed his neck while giving his mother a nervous glance.
Mitsuko sighed and gave her son a warm smile.
"You are a bit… Unpleasant to talk to, sometimes, but I know you don't mean it. Your grandfather used to be like that too." She smiled.
"It wasn't easy for us when you barely attended middle school, when you decided to give up on further education. But we love you, so we will always support you." She put her hand on his shoulder and pulled his head into a hug.
"Thanks mom…" He said, feeling slightly embarrassed. Suddenly a thought flashed his mind and taking covering his mother's hand with his own, he remembered how Sai was always good with stuff that had to do with emotions, and other things he never got. He remembered how Sai had a very prominent feminine side to him, due to his upbringing. Hikaru decided to take the risk.
"Hey, mom, why would a person do something they are not interested in?"
"What do you mean?" His mother released his head and was now looking at him, surprised at his sudden urge to discuss such matters.
"I donno, like joining a club, when you're not really into it, or something…"
Mitsuko released a silent "humm" and patted her son's head.
"Is that something Akari-chan said?"
He paused, he wasn't sure it was wise to be honest with his answer, since he had the suspicion it might lead to sum unwanted assumptions.
"She didn't say it like that, besides, she said a bunch of other things as well. I'm just trying to understand her." He said. "And honestly, this whole argument is starting to get on my nerves." He added in his head.
"Well, sometimes people do things they don't like in order to be able to stay close to other people." His mother said and giving him one final pat on the head, wished him good night and disappeared in the hall.
…
"Sooo, Akari, how's it going with your Go-Pro… Friend?" Asked a young woman with long dark hair and a small button shaped nose, before sending a piece of fried salamon into her mouth.
"Nothing. I'm thinking of quitting the club, anyways." Akari answered her friend, trying to sound as indifferent as possible.
"Ho? Quit? Wow, that's extreme." The dark haired woman said. " I don't get it, you've known each other for, what, most of you lives, right? Why didn't you just confess at some point?" She added while balancing another piece of salmon between her chopsticks.
"Mika!" Akari exclaimed, almost choking on her own salmon. "It doesn't work like that for them, I told you… It would've just made things awkward…" She added after taking a few deep breaths.
"Doesn't work like that for them? What's that supposed to mean? They are people, too, they marry and have kids at some point. Besides, I don't see how different it could have been from what you are trying to do now."
Akari sighed.
"It doesn't really matter anymore, anyways. Can we talk about something else now?"
"Sure, but I'll just tell you this." Mika took a sip of water. "When you like someone you've known for a long time, you need to be assertive. Boys just tend to take it for granted, that you're just there and don't give it much more thought."
"Mika! Please!"
Mika raised her right index finger and continue, ignoring her friend's plea.
"Even though Kouta claims he would've asked me out eventually, we both know it's not true. He just needed a little… push." She finished with a satisfied grin.
"Push? What did you do?"
"Let's just say, that we sped things up a bit." Mika gifted her friend a flirty wink and stuffed a large piece of fish into her mouth, signaling the termination of the conversation.
Author's random drabble corner:
Yeah, cheesy. I know :P
