Chapter Eleven
Hints of smoke wafted from the kitchen and into the living room. I watched it inch across the ceiling in dread of the dinner that was to come.
"Kotoko!" I heard her father say, "I told you to watch the stove!"
"Sorry!"
A laugh escaped me. There was a clank in the next room.
"Ah!"
"Hurry, go get a towel."
Aihara busted through the sheen of smoke and ran at full speed to the hallway closet. I laughed harder.
Yuuki eyed her in disdain, "Stupid Kotoko. She's probably ruined the food." I composed myself. It was true, but for now I was enjoying myself in watching her fret about and trip over herself.
She dashed back to the kitchen with a towel at hand.
"Why don't you go to the living room and wait with Naoki and Yuuki? I'll finish up dinner." Her father said.
Aihara sighed, "Okay. Sorry I cause so many messes." She said and made her way to the couch, seating herself in dismay.
"Thank God," I said, "I was starting to think there would be no food left." She narrowed her eyes at me and sighed again.
A minute and she'd gone to her bedroom to wait for dinner to be done. Her father went about making the food and no more mistakes were made, at least not ones I could hear.
"Kotoko, come help me set the table." Her father called up the stairs after twenty minutes. She should've been able to do that simple task, assuming she wouldn't break anything or spill the food on the floor.
My family and I gathered around the table to see various dishes set out. Many of them appeared to be more than edible, the ones so obviously made by her father. But there were a select few that stood out in the fact that they looked awful. And I would not be trying those dishes no matter if my parents wanted me to or not.
"Wow, they look so good!" My mother said eagerly.
"You sure are a pro, Ai-chan." My father said. Yuuki pointed out a particular dish that I myself had been wondering about. It was so disgusting and messy, there was no way of telling what kind of food it was supposed to be.
"What is that?" He said and crinkled his nose.
"It's the fried tofu I made," Aihara smiled, her mood having improved, "It tastes better than it looks."
"I won't eat it." Yuuki said. Aihara's smile dropped into embarrassment.
"Me either." I said. The sludge on that plate wouldn't be coming within a foot of me.
"Naoki, Yuuki! Don't say things like that." My mother frowned at us.
"She's right. Let's just sit down and enjoy this great meal." My father slid into his seat, and I followed.
"I'll have some of the fried tofu." My father said and took the dish. He stabbed at and tried to pick up the tofu, but it was sloppy and hard to handle. Eventually, he was able to get some in between his chopsticks.
"If I eat this, so are you two. Got it?" He said and popped the piece of "tofu" into his mouth. When he didn't spit it back out immediately, Yuuki reached for some to try.
The pleasance on my father's face morphed into a mix of shock and disgust. His eyes watered and he near gagged before forcing himself to swallow.
Yuuki, on the other hand, spewed the tofu out into his napkin and wiped his mouth, "It's awful…" he said.
"As expected." I said as they struggled with the tofu.
"No, it's good. Really good." My father tried, but it wasn't very convincing. Aihara looked to the floor and bit her lip, cringing.
"You don't have to be nice. She's always been a terrible cook. I can hardly believe she's my daughter," Aihara's father said, "If it goes on like this, she won't be able to find a family to marry into."
"I'm sorry." Aihara said, sounding pained.
"You don't need to worry, Kotoko," My mother said and a look crossed her… one that said she had ideas. I'd never liked what that look resulted in in the past, "You can marry into our family."
I froze. Everyone stared at my mother, taken aback by this statement. When I looked to her, I glared. Aihara gaped.
"You should marry Naoki." My mother said. Aihara continued to gape, at a loss for words.
"Absolutely not," Yuuki intervened, "I object." Aihara returned from her wild imagination back to the dinner table.
"Right. Please don't decide these things without asking us first." She said.
"Stop playing with our lives." I said.
"Oh, really?" My mother pressed, "Because I think you and Kotoko would be great together. She's your type." A grin spread across Aihara's mouth, pleased with that idea, though it wasn't even close to the truth.
"Really? Is that so?" Excitement danced in her eyes.
"No, it's not so," I said, hoping to shut down these plans before they begin, "I'm not interested in you."
Aihara's expression hardened, "Well, I'm not interested in you, either." She attempted a glare, but she could never have pulled off any kind of menacing look. She was too soft for it to look legit.
And this was quite the interesting bit of information I was hearing, considering I'd found her last night with that love letter out on the desk. It would've been thrown out a while ago if she wasn't interested, or so she was trying to play.
"But didn't you write me a love letter? It was quite passionate." She dropped the act and her face drained. She stared at me in a panic.
"Dear Naoki Irie," I recited, recalling it from from my memory, "My name is Kotoko Aihara and I am from Class F. You don't know me, but I know you." Aihara stood from her seat. I wasn't sure if she was going to storm the room or if she was just in complete shock since she hadn't known I'd read it.
"Since two years ago, when you made your speech at the entrance ceremony, I have been admiring your intelligence and how handsome you are…"
Aihara slapped me. Not just a small slap either, but a hard one. It left a noticeable sting. I stood, outraged.
"What was that for?" I shouted at her.
"You're terrible! You read it?" She whined at me, hopelessly upset. She'd been outed at last.
"It was written to me." I said.
"You didn't need to memorize all the words!"
"I can't help it. If I read it once, I remember it!"
"You didn't have to recite it in front of everyone, though!"
My mother interrupted us, "Wait, hold on. Does this mean you liked him for a long time?" I realized then that this had been a bad mistake. What was intended to prove Aihara wrong had turned into bait my mother would take to make into this fantasy she'd conjured up. Bad move.
I reseated myself, "Tell them the truth." There was no way around it now. Aihara was silent. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, caught.
"I wrote a love letter." She said. She sat, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.
"So, my suggestion isn't so far off after all." My mother delighted. Her fantasies shot through the roof.
"I wrote it before we moved here. I don't like him anymore." Aihara said in desperation.
"Oh, don't say that. You should start liking him again," She turned to my father for approval, "Right, honey?"
My father scratched his head awkwardly, "Right, if that's what makes them happy."
The screeching of a baboon sounded at the patio door. Wait, no. It was only Kinnosuke and that gathering of idiots Aihara called friends. Just when I'd thought my night couldn't have taken a worse turn, that moron had to show up with his shouting and irritating voice.
"Open the door!" He screeched.
"Who are those kids?"
"Kin-chan?" Aihara said. Kinnosuke was going positively nuts on the other side of the door.
"Kotoko, open the door!"
"They're my classmates." Aihara made for the door and slid it open. That bunch chattered and yelled to the point I wanted to leave my own home. No doubt I would since they now knew where I lived.
"What are you doing here?" Aihara said.
"I'm sorry, Kotoko," one of her friends said, "We just wanted to see where you lived." Kinnosuke flew past the door and strutted toward me.
"Irie may be a genius, but he's also a guy. He could turn into a wild animal at any time." Aihara rushed up to his side and flinched at his yelling, "See, I was right about coming here." He yelled back to the others, "I heard him saying those things to Kotoko." I ignored him as best as I could.
"Who are you?" Yuuki said.
"Oh," Kinnosuke said, turning nicely to my family, "Pleased to meet you, Irie's family. I'm Kinnosuke Ikezawa. Kotoko's classmate."
"Then that means you're also stupid." Yuuki said.
"What did you say?" Kinnosuke bellowed.
"Stop that, Yuuki." My mother shushed.
Kinnosuke's demeanor changed again to easygoing, "Kotoko and I have a pretty hot relationship at school."
"Stop, Kin-chan, that's not true."
"Oh my, Kotoko is very popular, it seems." My mother said.
"Yes, she is." Kinnosuke said. He was leaving out the fact that she popular over mainly bad occurrences. Rejected love letter, collapsed house, and that she was living with me. There was only one single good thing that had spread about her, and that was the thing she'd blackmailed me into helping her achieve.
"Sorry about this." She said with a scowl. She grabbed Kinnosuke by the arm and tried to lead him to the door. He resisted.
"So, don't even try anything. Marriage? Forget it. It's not happening. Understand, Irie?" He said my name with such spitting malice that it made me come up with something I could say that would drive him nuts.
"I can't promise that."
"What are you talking about?" He stared down at me.
"People change their minds all the time. You hate someone one day, but like them the next." Aihara shone with the utterance of those words.
"You do like Kotoko, don't you?" Kinnosuke said with such idiotic anger.
"I'm not sure," I said and stood to leave the room as I couldn't handle another second of Kinnosuke's presence, "But remember that she likes me more than she likes you." Kinnosuke's face distorted with loathing.
"I'm going upstairs now. Enjoy your stay."
I left them, wondering if I'd done any of the right things tonight or completely screwed myself over.
