"You do know what I was referring to, don't you?"
Mitsui closes his eyes against the gentle morning sun and lets out a soft, blissful sigh.
"Yes," he replies without opening his eyes. "Very well. Although I do wish you'd forget about it."
I chuckle to myself. Two years have not changed him at all. He's still obsessed with that tiny thing called Pride.
"I have. Your 'what's so private about poetry' line simply brought it back."
Mitsui is looking at me as though I were an idiot. "Do a'hou," he spits jokingly. "That's not forgetting."
I almost didn't recognise him at first, when I turned to glare at the offender. It was only until I spotted the blue streaks that I realised Mitsui Hisashi was staring at me.
Make that Hisashi with short, almost neat hair.
He was mind-blowingly gorgeous, more so without that crazy long hair. His cheekbones were sharp and angular, his eyes almond-shaped and intense. Or maybe it was just the way he was staring at me.
No wonder Michiko was obsessed.
I nudged Michiko in the middle of the teacher's translation of some Japanese sentence and whispered, "Seen Mitsui's new haircut yet?"
Immediately alert, she spun around, and, to my embarrassment, let out a sharp yelp.
Everyone turned to stare, the teacher included. Mortified, I sank a little into my seat.
"You did not have to do that," I hissed.
Her face was red as a tomato. She tried to avoid the teacher's irritated look, but to no avail.
"Michiko-kun, what is the problem?" he bellowed.
Michiko gulped, but this was too huge a situation to fit into her tiny throat.
"Um...I..."
"You're so good at English, eh?"
"Um...no...I..."
"Well, form a sentence for me using the word 'myriad', then!"
Michiko's eyes widened, a clear sign that she didn't know the meaning of the word. She kicked me under the table, somewhat desperately, for help, without giving a thought to my physical welfare.
"Well? Hurry up! We haven't got all day!"
Another kick under the table. I sighed in resignation. I decided quickly on a course of action and formulated a sentence in my head. Discreetly, I scribbled it on my notebook under the table while Michiko pretended to think. When she kicked me again, I almost tore out the page and crumble it, but sympathy won and I nonchalantly put the notebook back onto my table, where Michiko could see.
"Um," she said. She cast her eyes downwards and stole a quick peek at my notebook. "Um," she said again. "'Myriad bright stars shone in the sky above.'"
The teacher was momentarily stunned into silence. Recovering quickly, he looked suspiciously at me, but I answered by feigning a look of wonder and admiration. It did the trick; the teacher looked away.
The teacher coughed. "Very good. Turn to page forty-six."
I stifled a laugh as Michiko gave me a hug, behind the teacher's back, of course. I pushed her away playfully as I wondered, at the back of my mind, what a certain Mitsui thought of all this.
Without warning, against my will, I turned around.
Mitsui looked straight back at me. His expression was unreadable, except for the small smile playing on his lips.
"Hey."
It was a low rumble, with a gruffy edge to it. The monosyllable was delivered with apparent nonchalance, but I knew whose mouth it escaped from and was not fooled the slightest bit.
I looked up from my food. Mitsui was leaning against the wall with his school jacket slung over a shoulder, his face expressionless.
In front of me Michiko's eyes almost popped. She choked on her water, which caused Mitsui to look at her, which made her choke even more.
Rolling my eyes, I ignored her. "Hey, Mitsui."
"Can I talk to you for a while?"
I shrugged. "Sure." I remained in my seat and looked at him expectantly.
He tugged at his now-short hair and shifted the weight on his feet. "In private, I mean."
Michiko's eyes had officially popped. She choked on her sushi, and proceeded to be caught up in a coughing frenzy, making Mitsui frown at her as though she'd grown a second head. The poor girl.
I stood up, flashed the choking Michiko a smirk, and joined Mitsui at his wall. He led me out of the cafeteria and into the school yard, where there were less pupils around.
"Okay, what's up?"
Mitsui's eyes were fixed on the ground as he thought about what to say. Finally, he spoke.
"I'm thinking you want to know what happened," he began. "I saw you outside the gym yesterday, and I know you saw me, and I thought I should explain."
I touched him lightly on the arm. "It's okay, I don't need an explanation." That was a half-truth. I didn't need to know, but I definitely wanted to. Judging by the way he looked as if he was about to throw up, however, I'd rather he didn't tell me anything.
"No, no," he said, shaking his head. "I um, I have to tell you. But I can't. So if you want to know, go to the gym after school at 3 o'clock." He looked at me pointedly, as if revealing a major secret. "You'll see."
"Oh, okay," i said slowly. I searched his face for the slightest clue to tell me what was going on, but his face was guarded, except for the pained look, but it too, was beginning to fade.
"Okay," I said again. "I'll be there."
"Good, good," he murmured, more to himself than to me. I thought we were done, but he went on, "About Sunday, at the basketball court..."
"I thought you forgot about it."
He stopped short,
and threw me a quizzical glance. "Why?"
"Well, you're not looking at me like you hate me anymore."
Mitsui's features finally relaxed. He made a sound that sounded like laughter, but I wasn't sure.
"That's not forgetting. But um, I uh, am...um, sorry" -- he stumbled over the word and avoided my eyes -- "about blowing up at you. You know, that day."
I nodded and smiled.
"Don't worry about it."
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magenta blues: Thanks for the feedback. When I was writing the thing I didn't know where it was headed either. Haha it showed eh? I have a clearer idea now, don't worry, but because I'm used to writing short stories (blame it on school), I suck at plot development so bear with me. and yes, horrors of horrors, the words 'mitsui' and 'idiot' cannot exist in the same sentence! That is like, totally wrong! (Thanks for reviewing 'Sky'.)
idiotic_moron14: Yeah! Another anti-Lakers person! Who're you supporting? Thanks for the review. :)
mskitsune: Thanks too. I like your s/n.
Keep the reviews coming. You all rock.