Chapter VI
If Push Comes to Shove
The statement confused me at first. I rubbed my eyes to help clear my dry-eyed vision and think. To mind, the only thing I could think to be wrong would be the bruise on my forehead, which I had covered with a bandage. A bandage couldn't appall someone. So what could it be? "What?" I asked.
Mamimi gazed at me strangely before answering, holding the box to a slant so the pizza dangled out, "What are those plastic things on your face?" She asked. My hands immediately found themselves cupped over my eyebrows when I realized what she was referring to, though I had no idea how they got there.
I don't know how but the pair of fake 'brows that Amarao left behind for me were now fixed over my real ones. I commented with a silent swear as I futilely tugged on one of them slightly.
"And what's with the band-aid?"
"I hit my head at school." I answered giving up my struggle. "Where have you been?" I asked.
"Why are you wearing those things?" I wondered, was she avoiding my question, or was she that preoccupied by my eyebrows?
"For medical and safety purposes." I said since I had no real actual explanation. "Just leave it at that."
"Riight," She responded in a very sarcastic manner as she moved closer. "They look silly," She said as she eyed them. "You should take them off."
"I can't." I said which wasn't completely a lie. I couldn't seem to get them off, even if I wanted to. Besides that I wanted to make an excuse out of them to get me out of school for the following day. I could so easily skip but I needed the excuse to keep Mamimi off my case and if I stayed home, I'd have more time to spend with Mamimi.
"So you'll go to school like that then?"
"No. I can't go back until I get them taken off and I don't know when that'll be."
"You can't just skip school like that!" She snapped, throwing her arms back and inadvertently tossing the pizza from its box.
"You used to skip all the time. I don't see what the big deal is." I said and got a very hard glare in returned. A slightly chilling one.
"Ta-Kuuun!" She lazily snarled.
"What?"
She paused for a moment and took a deep breath to calm down before speaking, "What'll it take for you to take those things off."
Besides solution or a jackhammer to break them off there was nothing I could do to get these things off.
On the other hand, if I were willingly able to remove them, there was plenty Mamimi could offer but nothing I could possibly have or ask for without expecting a hard slap in return.
Either way, I was never able to answer. Before I could Mamimi moved in close to me. I paused in shocked confusion as she leaned in and planted a short, supple kiss on me. Her lips were as soft as cotton and as sweet as candy.
My mind was unable to grasp the situation and it seemed as if I had blanked out because before I knew it, the kiss was over and Mamimi was walking away from me. Without a single extra word, she vanished upstairs while I stood there and melted in temptation, confused.
I wondered whether I should have followed her or if it was best that I just stood there like I did. Inside my once blank mind I suddenly found thoughts and questions swarming. Questions about what had just happened and assumptions to answer them. Like—perhaps—Mamimi did like me after all.
Be that the case or not it seemed strange. Very strange, even for her. Come to think of it, that whole entire day was odd. Strangest of all was the way it ended. Just before I decided to go upstairs, me dad came in, stumbling and speaking gibberish. I don't know where he had come from but upon his return home he found himself on the floor after he slipped on the pizza Mamimi had dropped earlier. He landed face first in sauce and had cheese all over himself but he never moved. I suppose he found it a fine place to sleep for the night.
I took my time on the way up as I was still unsure of what to make of that kiss and I still had nothing to say in return. Fortunately, Mamimi was sound asleep when I arrived or faking it very well with the snore. I decided that it was best not to wake her. I was tired and everyone else in the house was asleep. I needed to figure out how to get these damn 'brows off my face and what I was going to say to Mamimi tomorrow. Besides that, Ninamori would definitely be over in the morning so I really needed the rest.
I went to sleep grunting, hoping that tomorrow would be more promising than today.
/\
My day was strenuous. I was glad that it was finally over and I could finally relax. Now was the time when I could put everything behind me and escape to my dream world. There was once a time when I felt that my dreams truly were an escape from reality, back when they were pleasant. Now, I usually find myself drawn into a more unpleasant place. Somewhere I'd rather now be.
Tonight was no different, even though the scene was different. It wasn't blank like before. This time I knew where I was. I remembered it.
From the moment I closed my eyes I saw Mamimi and I saw her smiling, happily cuddled with my brother, Tasuku. I saw myself sitting by, watching with an envious heart. I remember that day.
This dream showed me the day before Tasuku left for America, the same day he made me promise to take care of Mamimi. The day after, I asked him why he wanted me to do it. He never answered; he only asked me a question in return. He asked me if I would do him that favor and then he was gone.
A moment later my mind took me to a chaotic day. The day the giant hand came. I was brought to the day when I confessed my feelings to Mamimi, only to be crushed in return. Then the dream faded and took me to an unfamiliar scene.
This time the scene wasn't based on a memory. This time I saw only myself, surrounded by a pile of rubble. In the background I could hear frantic screams and see ravaged buildings, fires and a dark cloud of smoke filling the sky. On top of that pile I stood, looking over it all with a stern face, holding Haruko's guitar in my arms.
Before I knew it the dream was over and I thought to myself for a moment how weird it was. The moment was short as I was awakened by the smell of rubber, strong and annoying. The rubber from a pencil eraser that somehow became jammed in my nose.
Opening my eyes and looking I wasn't at all surprised to see the culprit. Ninamori, dressed properly in her school uniform and here in my house and six-thirty in the morning, two hours before school even starts.
"Just when I think I'm safe," I said with a yawn and stretch as I sat up. "You find a new way to disturb my sleep."
She giggled a little and said, "Well, I couldn't hit you with a book this time so I thought I'd try something new."
"But why so early?" I asked. I rubbed my eyes to clear my dry-eyed vision, and then I stopped and looked at Ninamori. It was somewhat pleasing to look at her in her uniform. It actually doesn't look as bad as I sometimes say it does. I noticed too how she looked at me, smiling strangely. "What?"
"Oh, nothing." She said, giggling more. "I just came over early to see how you were doing so I could make it to school on time."
"Well I'm doing just fine."
"What did the nurse say yesterday?"
"Oh. She said I'll need to stay in bed until the bump goes down."
"I see. So I'm guessing those things on your face have something to do with your little bump?" I put my hand on my face and felt around until I found the eyebrows. Realizing I still had them on I slapped my hands over them while Ninamori sat back laughing.
"Oh yeah." I said. "These are a new kind of strip. Medicated. To help with the bruise." I admit that I wasn't too good a liar so I tried to ignore Ninamori's continuous giggle by looking up on the top bunk to see if Mamimi was still asleep but she wasn't there.
"What is it?" Ninamori asked.
"Nothing. Did you see Mamimi when you came in?"
She shook her head, no. "Did you want her for something?"
"Not really," I answered hesitantly. "Just to talk to about something that happened yesterday," even though I still hadn't figured out exactly what to say.
"Oh. What happened?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it." I said. "It's not that important."
"Then you can tell me, right?"
"No. Forget I said anything."
"Tell me." She insisted.
"No."
"Come on, Naota. Tell me."
"No! Don't you have to be getting to school?"
"Not for another hour or so." She responded. "I've got time."
I sighed a stressful sigh and got out of bed finally, walked past her in my shorts and out the door toward the stairs. She avidly followed.
I noticed the muddle left behind as my father made his way from where he fell, over to the couch in the living room. I ignored the mess, going straight to the kitchen to fix a glass of orange juice to drink. I tried ignoring the girl following me as well but her peskiness annoyed me and eventually got to me.
"So, you gonna tell me?" She asked as I drank.
"There's nothing to tell."
"Did she do something to you?"
"No." I answered.
"Ah hah. I knew it. What's she do?"
"Would you just drop it already?"
"Not until you tell me what happened," she said teasingly as she grabbed my arm. "I won't leave until you tell me."
"Okay, fine." I said eventually. And here I learned my first lesson: Sometimes it's better to just keep your mouth shut.
I told Ninamori everything that happened after Amarao left, everything that went on. From the time I woke up to the time my dad fell in the pizza. I didn't think it would, or at least not as much, but it seemed to bother Ninamori. She seemed glum somehow.
"I see," She said timidly. "Well, she probably likes you is all." Then she turned her back to me. "Do you like her?"
Here I learned my second lesson: To a question like that, you shouldn't just shrug and explain your uncertainty like I did. For that I didn't even get a goodbye when Ninamori left. She just told me she needed to go and was gone, not even retrieving her books from my room. That was the last I saw of her.
