Chapter Seven: Going Home

Izumi sat on a bench, walking away from the crowd. She felt like being alone. Takuya, Tomoki, Junpei, and Kouichi were all her friends, but she didn't feel like hanging around them at the time being. She got up and walked to her first class. Time went unusually slow for her today. Kouji wouldn't come back for a week, sitting in a bed watching television. Izumi sat in a desk in the middle of the room, in her mathematics class, tapping a pencil. She played with her calculator while the teacher went on and on about geometric functions. Izumi only wrote them down and stared into space, or the clock. She began to play with her pencil until her teacher said, "Okay, it is time for a quiz, class." Izumi widened her eyes. Izumi hadn't been paying attention! "Oh crud…" Izumi thought as she was handed the quiz papers and had no idea what to do at all. She just haphazardly wrote in what she wrote in her notes and filled in the blank wherever she could. When the quiz was finished she luckily got sixty-five percent of the problems right. Izumi sighed as she didn't do her best, but slid by with below average.

She walked off to her next class, which was an elective. She saw this as the easiest one and didn't pay much attention. Junpei was also in this class like she was, and often paid much attention to her. Izumi began to see that her own behavior was changing, like her mother said. Having her mind and heart elsewhere other than school was bringing her grades down, which would not make her mother happy. Izumi immediately shook off her thoughts and tried to focus. If she were an honor student, which she already was, maybe Kouji would be impressed with her intelligence than her just thinking of him all day. Izumi did what she was told and listened attentively in class. Junpei also noticed this behavior change from her. It was not like Izumi to not pay attention, nor talk at all, and walk off wherever without saying good-bye, or saying so. The entire week seemed to drag on and one day took one year for her. Izumi decided not to come by to visit Kouji as often, because it looked way too obvious that she liked him, and she didn't want that to show, although it was quite typical of her to speak whatever was on her mind.

For Kouji, well he was having a fine time. All he had to do was eat, sleep, watch television, and play video games whenever he wished. His father and stepmother often visited him, and Kouichi and his mother came also during the week. The only thing he didn't like was when Takuya walked in with a handful of homework that he couldn't figure out without someone tutoring him on it. He occasionally wondered where Izumi was. She didn't come anymore, and he was looking forward to her visits. But she never came. He picked up the card from the nightstand and stared at it. "So… I guess she doesn't," he thought, and put the card back down. The week passed by quickly and the hospital finally discharged him, and his father and stepmother took him home. He walked to his room, his left arm in a cast tied with a sling. He finished the remains of his homework that he didn't do while he was in the hospital and brushed his teeth. When he went to sleep, he had an annoying time getting to sleep. His cast kept poking him, plus he couldn't move it around. "Arg, how am I going to do this for half a year!" Kouji managed to get to sleep. When he woke up the next morning, he realized all the restrictions he had of only being able to use one arm. He couldn't play his guitar, and he couldn't walk his dog anymore. His stepmother drove him to school. On the way, she asked, "Kouji, you'll be all right, won't you?"

"Yes, mother," Kouji muttered, looking out the window.

While on the way, his stepmother stopped by the market, delaying him a bit. Kouji wanted to see if Izumi was at school.

Izumi woke up on a cloudy Monday morning. "Another long week ahead of me," she thought, while putting her school clothes on. She went downstairs and quietly munched on her breakfast, told her mother good-bye and walked to the subway to school. She looked in her wallet. She now had more than enough money since she hadn't visited Kouji at all. She wanted to, but at the same time she didn't. She arrived at school and went into the library since it was cold outside and read a book. Just then, her friends whom were mad at her a couple of days ago entered. They motioned to sit with Izumi and sat down with her. Izumi resumed reading her book. She was afraid they would yell at her. But instead, her friends told her sorry for being so mean over such little things, and Izumi smiled. Everything seemed to be back to normal. Everything except one thing.

"He's not here," she thought.

She said good-bye to her friends and met up with Takuya and the gang. They were standing at the front gate. She walked up to them and asked, "Who are you guys waiting for?"

"Me," someone said quietly behind her.

Izumi spun around. It was Kouji! She stared at him. He looked the same, but his left sleeve seemed awfully chubby because of the cast, and it was tied with a sling around his neck.

"Hey, Kouji, you're finally back!" Takuya said, walking to him.

"Its good to see you back," Kouichi said.

Junpei didn't say anything and just handed him a chocolate bar, the kind he liked. Tomoki walked up and gave him a smile. Izumi on the other hand, just stood there, feeling bliss on her mind.

"Thanks you guys," Kouji said.

They walked to their usual spot on campus, Takuya and the other three, except Kouji, played soccer as usual. Izumi set her bag down and sat on the low tree branch like she always did. Kouji sat in the grass six feet away from her, watching them play. Izumi just stared at the back of his head, glad that he was back. She longed to tell him, but no. She didn't want to. Kouji stared with his eyes to the side wondering, "What is Orimoto doing behind me?" and held his hand. It was beginning to ache. Just then, Takuya kicked the ball straight up in the air, like usual, he yelled out, "Heads up!" But the ball was heading for a direction that would hurt Kouji. It was going to land on Kouji! Izumi gasped, she didn't want Kouji to get hurt again when she was there to protect him. She jumped off the tree branch and ran in front of Kouji and….

End Chapter Seven: Going Home

Onto Chapter Eight.