The hot spring vacation ended so quickly in the blink of an eye, and yet the issues and premises of returning home with the same grogginess that he hated to feel consumed him slowly.
They were like echoes ringing in his ears, saturating him and engulfing him with their impulses, in a fatal numbness.
The house with its heat enveloped him and protected him from all the harmful things coming from outside, contrasting with everything he was forced to deal with in order to have his happiness guaranteed. Overall, you get nothing in life for free, and Naoki knew that better than anyone that the things he sought to obtain would not come to him for free as if by magic.
Despite the fact that his house was warm, there was a cold inside that he couldn't describe, or even put into words, because everything seemed so confusing when he wanted to feel it.
Vague aspirations would be the term in terms of the level of sincerity used on his part…a loneliness that was filled with another loneliness, and the place did not stop growing somewhere in his chest.
He kept his fears to himself, his silence filled him with another silence, and things were falling behind, that is, half-hearted. Making everything clear or leaving everything in nothing, was not something he knew how to do as if it were a reinforcer. In few descriptions, he was a man of few words and several times he would repeat it when the situation required it, or simply when he wanted to avoid an uncomfortable subject. A theme called love.
It tore him to know that he was an idiot, to know that he was completely disoriented in that subject that encompassed his feelings for Kotoko. Feelings that he was feeling, and that with the passage of time he became aware of an entity existing within his body, unable to wriggle out or detach himself from his place, because he encrusted himself with hardness with the intention of never disappearing from his interior.
The earth compressed his actions, limited him to exerting movements freely, affecting his consciousness.
With each silence emitted by his person, the songs that reminded him of Kotoko emerged through the always sunset dawn in which his eyes were opened every morning and with the anticipation in which they were closed every night in which he let himself be carried away by his dreams eternally still.
His vacations ended with those thoughts, but they did not close an end to his jovial existence, but constantly expanded and extended it. They entangled her and shook her, submerged her in a sea of sensations and her background is not the same, on the contrary, her heart kept skipping every time her eyes fell on Kotoko. Every time ... every time.
He returned to school with his head erect, saturated to the point of having to deal with the activities that being a student implied and being close to certain did not mean being one of his qualities.
Fortunately, they would already give him the grades on whether or not he passed the medical exam and if he passed, it meant that he would enter his 2nd year of University in the medical department.
His hands were sweating as a student of such a prestigious career, and just imagining it made his skin crawl with excitement.
He would tell Kotoko when he found out the result, she definitely deserved to be the first to know if his effort was in vain or not.
The fatigue and every thing that haunted him were not enough to stop him or even direct him towards failure, which in any case, would not be a failure, because he claimed success.
Just as he was passing the university campus, where some trees were located in the passage, he saw Kotoko with her two friends behind her with the face of being out of breath, and in front of Kotoko a boy who he had never seen nearby took possession. to her. What's more, it was the first time he saw him.
He frowned completely out of himself.
Who was the boy who approached Kotoko?
What he could see was that the boy held out his hand to introduce himself and Kotoko looked at him petrified, as if not knowing what to say or how to react to such a presentation.
A pulsation in the palm of his hands made him enter their boxes, although he did not know how it was that his mind ordered him to carry out that action, his precedents did not testify as a bad moment, on the contrary, he approached Kotoko in a promiscuous impulse, taking away a sidelong glance from her who thanked her for his meddling.
"Thanks" She chanted, striding behind her. "I didn't know what to do back there"
"Who was that guy?" He asked scornfully.
"It's Nakagawa Taketo" She replied in some surprise. "I remembered him, but not in that style, he had longer hair before and his complexion was a little thinner" She continued describing him as he used to be before, but that there was something about that boy that he did not give to him a good thorn. "He told me that since high school he was in love with me, and now he still is"
"What?" His voice came out rough. Yet another suitor?
"He asked me to give him a chance" She continued cautiously, catching up with him. "But I'm not sure"
The feeling of joy at knowing his test results went overboard, since now his mind wandered on another matter of a greater nature, that is, of greater importance. How to act if Kotoko has a strong suitor?
"Don't worry" She said, holding up her thumb. "It's not of great importance."
"What is not of great importance?" He asked dryly.
"Give it a try" She specified. "You know I like someone"
"Yes"
"So I will tell him he can be my friend." She nudged him casually. "Don't worry"
"Who said I'm worried?" He complained, shoving both hands into his pockets. Although, she was right again as was the custom, since in fact, he was quite worried about having to deal with another opponent on his way; If, in itself, it was already a nuisance dealing with Ikezawa, adding another suitor to the list implied another difficulty with which he would be envisioned to solve.
"You don't have to say it" She dissuaded with her hand. "I know that inside you, you are worried, even if you deny it"
"Excuse me?" He pretended to be offended.
"Don't listen to me" She opted, changing the topic of the conversation in reference to her intervention. "Why is it that you wanted to talk to me, Naoki-kun?"
"Today they will give me my transfer results" He notified with a hint of piled excitement. Kotoko's eyes widened, and she suddenly started to jump slightly with anxiety.
"Oh, what an intrigue!" She exclaimed, putting both hands on her cheeks.
"It is" He said between his breath, still weighing in his mind about that boy who was looking to have a chance in Kotoko's life, and his chest contracted in full uncertainty, suddenly part of his vision became blurred and that fear he intoxicated his senses with soporific disdain.
What was needed to overcome the obstacles? The answer is very simple: courage. But he did not always have the courage to face the hardships of life, despite being only nineteen years old, everything emotional was difficult. Distinguishing what to do and what to say was not an easy task for everyone, especially for someone like him.
They arrived at the university offices, where they transferred him to another cubicle in the same building so that the school control could give him his results. Kotoko stayed to wait for him in the office at the entrance of the building, leaving him at the expense of what a simple paper would say.
"Irie Naoki, right?" The school control man named, looking at him through his glasses that hung from the bridge of his nose. He nodded. "Well, congratulations on your transfer." He handed him the paper where his results came from, glimpsing from his pupils his excellent grade taken from the transfer exam. "You will enter after the rest because we know that you are a student prodigy and therefore we will see the transfer papers here if you like tomorrow at the same time" He suggested cautiously. "Of course, if you have time to do the transfer process"
"I do have time" He said politely, suppressing the huge smile from ear to ear that threatened to escape his lips.
"Perfect." The school control man took some sheets from his desk, and handed them to him. "They are the requirements to make the transfer and the data sheet comes" He explained what he should fill out and the documents that he would require for said transfer, but the only thing that was going on in his head was the big smile that Kotoko would outline for him. him for his individual triumph. "If you have any questions, my number comes on the requirements sheet, but I don't think it does, but in case you can call me during the day"
"Thank you very much." He bowed his head in thanks and prepared to leave the office.
At least one good thing was happening to him recently, and more because it was an achievement he accomplished on his own.
