Chapter Seven
After three days, Tonan's mid-year exams finished up. Aihara bounded from the school at the end of the day, her friends tailing her. Watanabe and I came through the doors, not far behind.
"We're done!" Aihara celebrated, "Let's go have some fun!"
"Let's go!" Her friends shouted in agreement. They were so needlessly loud.
"We're coming, too!" Kinnosuke skipped up to Aihara's side with his two moron sidekicks. His voice peeved me more every time I heard it.
Kinnosuke wrapped his arm around Aihara's shoulders in a tight hug, walking off with her, "I won't let you go." He said as she struggled with him.
"Come on! Let go." She said.
"I won't. I haven't done anything with you lately, so I'm not letting you go today even once." Aihara laughed and smiled.
"Ah," she gave in, "I guess it's okay. But, hey… where are we going?"
"Leave it up to me. Let's go to the cafe." Kinnosuke said and they herded out of the school gates ahead of Watanabe and I.
"Huh," Watanabe said, "Didn't she tell you she loved you? And she's already dating someone else." Were they dating? Kinnosuke sure seemed to wish they were, but I wasn't so sure about Aihara. If she'd changed her mind, I supposed that was good.
"It's not my business." I said.
"That's what I thought," Watanabe said, "By the way, people from Class A are going to the cafe. Do you want to come?" I thought for a moment. I would usually decline, and that was where Class F students were headed so I'd just overheard. Funnily, I didn't think it would be a bad idea. I was beginning to find Aihara rather entertaining to watch.
"I guess not, right?" Watanabe said.
"I think I'll come this time." I said.
"What? Are you serious?" I watched as Aihara and her friends travelled farther away. She stumbled over her own feet and a half smile dressed my mouth.
"You've never done anything like this in all three years here."
"At times, I've thought it could be fun." I said. That was a lie. I'd never thought of it before now as anything I'd be interested in. But there was a first for everything.
"Then let's go." Watanabe said, utterly shocked.
We caught up with a group of five other Class A's and followed behind Aihara and her group of Class F's on the way to the cafe. Though we were rather far behind them, I could still hear portions of their conversations because they were such a raucous bunch.
"My only plans are to marry you, Kotoko!" Was one specific statement I heard from Kinnosuke in the distance. It was one thing I could never understand… how a person could be so set on another that they revolve their life around that person.
"I hope those Class F's aren't going to the cafe. They'll ruin it." Hikari said. She was the highest-scoring girl in Tonan, always right behind me on the top 100 list.
When Aihara and the others turned into the cafe ahead of us, Hikari simply sighed. Another minute and the seven of us also turned into the little cafe. By the time we entered, Aihara and her friends were already seated at booths along the window. She was so busy with her friends that she didn't take notice of me or anyone else from Class A. I'd have known if she had.
We travelled to the back of the cafe where we sat at a table. A waiter brought menus.
"Ugh," Hikari said, "Isn't she that shameless girl who confessed to you?" She glanced back at Aihara, her disgust transparent.
I laid my chin in the palm of my hand and studied the menu, disinterested in this topic.
"She is," Watanabe said, "But do you see that guy next to her? She's already got another boyfriend." I knew better than to come to that conclusion. Stupid or not, Aihara didn't date for the sake of dating.
"I don't know…" Hikari said, "Look at the way she's leaning away from him a little." She was right. Aihara was leaning slightly away from Kinnosuke, but only slightly. And that didn't make any difference in the fact that his arm had snaked its way over her shoulders once again. I resigned to watching them, but everyone else moved on and away from the subject.
Aihara and her friends, the two girls (whatever their names were), conversed animatedly. One of her friends' eyes became big and said something in excitement, to which Aihara bounced up and down in her seat and laughed. Even from here, I could see the color on her face from all the smiling she'd been doing.
Aihara said something, gesturing and posing in a silly way. The movement caused a half-full glass of water to tip over. She grabbed at it, splashing water over the table and on herself.
I chuckled breathily and shook my head.
"What is it, Irie?" Another of my classmates, Wada, said. He glanced over to the booths.
"Nothing." I said. It really was nothing. They wouldn't have found it interesting, as it was just Aihara being clumsy yet again.
"How do you think you did on the exams?" Hikari asked Yoshida, "Think you beat me yet?" The competition was quite high within Class A. The students there always strived to do better and bump up on the top 100 list.
"You sure are confident. I would watch out if I were you, because I may very well take second place this time." Yoshida said. No, he wouldn't. No matter what he did, he was always behind Hikari, even if only by a point.
"Hah." Hikari said. I found it funny how, no matter the competition, everyone only ever aimed as high as second place. There was no beating my consistently perfect score, so to them, second place was the place to be. Just below me by a few points. Second place was bragging rights, though it went to Hikari every year.
Since this conversation didn't concern me and I wasn't in the race to get a better score, I went back to watching the Class F's. The lot of them were so lively. Their energy and blissfulness was unreal, despite how many of them (especially Kinnosuke) must have failed the exams.
They were without a care. It was so annoying, yet it amused me.
Kinnosuke said something, causing Aihara to stick out her tongue at him. She giggled and he stared at her in mock scandalization. And then he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Aihara frowned at him.
I looked away, becoming piqued with Kinnosuke the more I watched him. Every stunt he pulled was stupid and it was like he had no control over his own actions or words. He was like a five year old. I couldn't stand to see another second of his foolishness.
My group and I ordered food and drinks. As time went on, my mood took a turn. The others talked about their scores and portions of the exams, Hikari and Yoshida at each other's necks that they would claim second place.
Aihara and her group left before us. The cafe quieted down with them gone, the calm after a storm. Even Hikari and Yoshida gave up on arguing.
We ate our food and left.
