Chapter Twenty
A flash blinked across the table at breakfast.
"Looking good!" My mother snapped another picture, "Smile, Kotoko." Another flash blinded me. The hatred I held for her camera seized me and I bit my tongue as I migrated from the table to the couch.
"Oh, Naoki, you would be like that. It's your very last day of high school! Don't you want pictures?" My mother said with a dejected look.
"No, so please refrain from taking any of me." As if there weren't enough pictures she'd taken of me, what with those four photo album's worth of baby photos.
"Don't be like that." She said, but I ignored it. She wouldn't be having any pictures of me today, whether it was graduation or not.
Despite me, she tailed Kotoko around and snapped a million and two pictures of her. They eventually made it to the living room where Kotoko posed per my mother's instructions.
"Beautiful! Look up just a bit more, and…" A flash flooded across the room, "Click. Now, sit on the chair."
Kotoko danced over to the chair and made a bunch of cheesy poses. My mother took a few more pictures.
"Just pretend Naoki is behind the camera." She said. Kotoko's face reddened. There was another click.
"Okay, behind the chair." It took Kotoko a moment to grasp the new directions and then hopped up. She flew behind the chair and posed.
"So cute. Say cheese," She took the picture, "Lean a little more to that side… right, perfect!" Her father eyed them with a sad expression.
"I can't believe this is the last day seeing Kotoko in her uniform." He seemed ready to cry.
Kotoko grinned, "It's okay, dad."
"Let's take some pictures outside," My mother bounded for the door in excitement, then bounded back, "Wait, how about we take a picture of you and Naoki?" Initially, I grinded my teeth together.
Kotoko peered at me, as if knowing the answer without even having to ask. She was fixed with disappointment.
"I don't think he'd want to." She said.
Oh, so she thinks she can read my mind, can she? I made up my mind and made for the door.
"Only one." I said.
"What?" Kotoko was astonished and then she was ecstatic.
"Well, come on! I doubt we'd get another chance like this." My mother said, and that was true. But she should have blamed herself for the way I hated pictures.
They both skipped out the door. My mother directed us to the front of the house. Kotoko stood an awkward two feet away, smiling like an idiot.
"Get closer." My mother swished her hand in the air as if that would magically push us together. Kotoko scooched closer a few inches, sillily embarrassed. It was hard not to laugh at her.
"Closer!" My mother said. She wouldn't have been happy until I did, so I wrapped my arm around Kotoko's shoulder and pulled her the closest she'd probably ever been.
Her mouth fell open and she grinned the shock away.
"There you go, that's wonderful." My mother readied to take the picture and I got an idea.
"You've got bread crumbs on your face." I whispered to Kotoko. She pulled away the second the flash went off, looking mortified. I laughed at her.
"That's one. I'm leaving now." I said and reached inside the door for my coat. Kotoko rushed to do the same.
Halfway down the street, she ran up to my side.
"Since it's the last day, can we walk together?" She asked hopefully.
"Fine."
She looked so happy she could've popped. She was quiet for a few minutes and that was all. After that, she got started and didn't stop.
"Time sure flies, doesn't it?" She said, "I can't believe high school ends today. I enjoyed this year the most out of my last three."
"Is that so? I suffered more this year than the last eighteen combined." This did not faze her.
"Where are you going tonight for your graduation party? Class F is going to Katsu."
"I don't know." I said. She yakked for the rest of the trip.
At Tonan, we went our separate ways. In Class A, everyone was laid back and relaxed, all so ready to be done with Tonan and get on to college. With all of our work done, we (though more everyone else) conversed with each other about colleges, Hikari and Yoshida battled it out one last time, and the atmosphere was generally calm.
"Irie," Watanabe said, coming toward me with Wada, "We were just talking about where to go later. Do you have any suggestions?" I thought of something fun. It would definitely make my night more eventful.
"How about Katsu?"
"Katsu?" Wada said, "I hadn't thought of that place. I like it."
"Yeah, that sounds nice. Let's go ask Hikari and Yoshida. Unless there are any objections, that's the place."
I could already see Kinnosuke's reaction to Class A being in the same place as them. It was so satisfying.
No more than a minute later, Watanabe came back and gave the thumbs up. Katsu it was. This night was going to be entertaining.
We went about our class schedules for another hour and then we were dismissed to the gymnasium where rows of chairs had filled with students and their family members. I found my mother the moment another God-awful flash went off. She waved at me from the back of the room, and then at Kotoko as she and her friends entered.
The assembly began. Our school principal made a speech about our lives and how great a year it had been. After names started being called. Lines formed as diplomas were received by every senior at Tonan.
When my name was called, I couldn't help but notice the series of flashes coming from the back of the room.
The principal held out the diploma for me to take, "Congratulations. You have completed your high school education." I took it and bowed, returning to my seat.
Kotoko was called up some time later. She tripped going up and it made me snigger. Kinnosuke cried as he took his, which I rolled my eyes to.
"I bid you farewell, students. You are graduated." My principal said. People began standing and leaving. Kotoko and her friends bawled as they made their way out.
I prepared myself for leaving. With all the superstitions that went on about graduation day around here, I knew I was about to be swarmed.
Sure enough, five or so girls crowded around me as I left the building.
"Irie-kun, can I have your second button?" One said.
"No."
"Can I get a picture with you?"
"No."
"Will you sign my yearbook?"
"No."
If there was even a single person here that could have convinced me to do those things, it was Kotoko. But unluckily for these girls, they weren't her.
Hurrying to be away from this swarm of shameless girls, I ran into someone. Of course she would have been here in this crowd of insects.
"Irie… Can I have your second button?" She asked and gave me one of her famous smiles.
No, no, no, you can't just do that and think I'll say yes.
"No." I tried to escape her and the rest of them. She tugged on my arm.
"You don't have to be so mean. I just want something to remember you by." She said, which was a lie, considering that the whole "second button" thing had to do with someone's devotion to another.
"We're going to the same college. You don't need anything to remember me by."
"Oh, come on. Please?" She batted her eyelashes at me, smiling like mad. I stared at her.
"No."
"Please? It's just a button." Becoming agitated with the badgering, my resolve snapped in half. I just wanted to go home and get this all over with.
"Fine." I said. Before I could change my mind, I popped off the button and slapped it into her hand before squeezing my way through the crowd to go home.
"Thank you, Irie-kun!" Kotoko shouted through the crowd.
