"speech"
'thoughts'
POV of a character
TENZAI
Chapter 7
Kikuchi's POVKanzaki can be a pain in the neck sometimes.. You must have thought I'd be used to her by now since I'm her closest friend, if she even considers me one, in the gang.
But no! No one can ever fathom what's running through that mind of hers. What with an intelligence quotient that can rival lots of famous geniuses. Even I can't tell what plan she's got in store for us for the future.
Take my experience for example. I bet she pulled out that stunt a few minutes before I came back from getting my mobile phone in the house. She was just arguing with me about the rain and empathy. That's one typical Kanzaki for me, I guess.
When I saw somebody almost drowning in the ocean, I immediately thought of rescuing the person. When I realized that it was she, I actually doubled my efforts of saving her. Like I said, I did care. Why shouldn't I? We're partners in this stupid experiment. Now that I mention it, I wonder why we were chosen to do this. Even Onizuka can do simple things like these.
As I was saying though, I actually got scared at the thought of her drowning. I got this unexplainable poignant feeling when I imagined her completely drowning and dying there.
Alright, then, I cared not just because we're partners in this experiment but also because she was my friend. Erm.. My friend, okay? My friend. Why does it seem like I'm convincing myself here?
Anyway, before that statement leads somewhere else, I laboriously took her out of the ocean. She must be really good in holding her breath 'coz she was under the water for such a long time. I'd at least give her credit for that.
At any rate, why do I feel my conscience tugging at me? I shouldn't be sorry, right? After all, she was the one who did something wrong. I can't even think of a good reason for her to do that. She must have wanted so badly to make me look so asinine. She must've have found it highly entertaining.
That's a big ego bruise for me. The weird thing is, I feel like I should go apologize to her. Maybe because I also acted a bit rude to her. Yes, she deserved that but I shouldn't have reacted that way. I've been shouting her since the morning for different reasons and I regret it now.
It's unfair that the guys should do all the apologizing even if the girls were the ones who did something wrong. 'We would appear even worse in the eyes of the people if we don't. Plus, we actually feel sorry for certain things we do even if we don't show it all the time due to one thing called pride.
Well, not all men do that. Insensitive, obnoxious guys will never do that. But I'm not obnoxious and insensitive! So I guess I'd better say sorry to her then. After all, I really am sorry. But I am not sorry for telling her the truth that if she continues doing stuff like those, no one will help her when the time comes that she really needs help. I meant every word I said. I will just be saying sorry for the way I told her all of those.
Right. That is the most logical solution I can find to my problem.
It's a good thing that Sakurai-sensei arrived after Kikuchi's conversation with himself. It made all his thoughts dissolve for a while.
"Kikuchi!" she shouted from the shore.
Kikuchi has maneuvered the yacht to the semi-port a while ago. It was a good thing that he has changed into his casual clothes again, thinking of letting their school's head to rest first before doing their job.
He went down and greeted Sakurai sensei. He noticed that the driver was carrying her luggage, which was not at all many.
"Good morning, Sakurai-sensei," He faced the driver and said, "The house is there. Please feel free to rest there for a while."
He nodded to Sakurai-sensei and headed to the four-walled confinement that housed them for the past week. They entered and Kikuchi immediately went to the kitchen to prepare their two visitors a few snacks.
The headwoman sat in the couch of the divan of the living room and commented, "This is one cozy place, ne?"
Kikuchi nodded while preparing coffee and said, "Yes, it is ma'am. It has been exceptionally blissful these past few days, except when the storm came, I guess.." He mentally added, 'Except until this morning came.'
Sakurai-sensei headed to the dining area as Kikuchi was setting the coffee and a few pastries on the table. She sat down and asked, "Where's your partner, by the way?"
Kikuchi, who has just sat down, began to wonder where she actually was. He hasn't seen her after that incident.
Suddenly, a cheery girl, blonde girl to be exact, came from upstairs and greeted Sakurai-sensei with a smile. "Here I am, guys..!" Behind her were the two landlords who have been taking care of them.
Kikuchi looked at her surprisingly and asked, "Since when did you arrive here?"
Kanzaki unflappably looked at him and replied, "Since the yacht arrived in the shore, silly."
Kikuchi gave her an is-that-so? look before sipping on his coffee, although deep inside he was irritated at how happy she could look like nothing happened. 'Why is it that I'm the only one affected in here?' he thought.
"Anyway," Kanzaki started, "I called Ryoko-san and Koji-san to meet you, Sakurai-sensei."
The three elder people greeted each other and proceeded with their formalities.
"Hi, I'm Sakurai Ryoko, the headmaster of Seirin," the latter said.
"Oh, we have the same name!" Ryoko-san said.
Ryoko, the headmaster smiled at her and said, "Isn't that great? We'll be having two Ryoko's in here until tomorrow."
Kikuchi interjected, "Yup, and her husband has the same name as Sanomaru-sensei."
Koji-san just scratched his head and said, "There are only a few names that the population shares, I guess.."
They shared a hearty laugh and went on with their snacks. The husband and wife suggested that the Sakuraisensei sleep for a while before they go on with their experiment.
Later that afternoon, the three people met in the shore to continue their experiment. Kikuchi let the headmaster in the yacht first for her to get a nice view of the ocean before they proceed.
While she was going around and observing the yacht, Kikuchi decided to approach Kanzaki. 'It's now or never,' he thought.
Kanzaki's POV
Again, it's a wonderful thing that I get to enjoy the limpid view of the waters and the wonderful feeling of the wind blowing around. It's a pity that Sakurai-sensei didn't get to travel going here as we did. She must have suffered long, boring hours of sitting in that cramped car.
I was beginning to wonder when Sakurai-sensei would come. It took her so long to walk from the parking area outside to here. I have already played drowned and stuff and she still hasn't come.
Oh no, I remember that drowning incident again. As much as I hate to admit, Kikuchi's statements have hit me hard. I guess it's true. I knew that from the start. That I will eventually lose people who will help me in the future due to my rash behavior and evil schemes. But I never cared. After all, I was used to being alone and not helped all along.
Maybe that's why I felt sorry when I realized that Kikuchi actually cared when he thought I have drowned. I didn't know how to react since I haven't felt cared for for a long time. It touched me and at the same time aggravated me. I was touched because I never knew he'd care for me enough to find ways to revive me. I saw the look n his eyes that time and even if I said it was funny, I had this queasy feeling at how concerned he was for me. At the same time, that is the same reason that I am aggravated. I'm not used to such treatment and I am certainly not used to feeling sorry for the pranks that I pull.
Sure, it was a joke at first but I didn't think it'd affect us both that much. I was just pretty bored, maybe. To add up, he was rather touchy since morning and you know how I love plotting schemes that could trigger the mood of the people, or worsen it at times.
Now I am feeling sorry for what I did. And I don't know how to react to this. I may be a genius but I've locked away such emotions as compassion that I considered might ruin my already ruined life even more. That's why I don't know what to do with this feeling of being sorry.
Hey wait, isn't that Kikuchi approaching? Speaking of the devil. Right, just what I need right now. Why could he be here? He should be accompanying Sakurai-sensei instead. And why is he looking so.. in concentration?
Kikuchi approached her. He didn't know how to say what he wanted so he decided to get straight to the point. "Hey, Kanzaki.."
Kanzaki immediately looked at him with a mixture of emotions. She didn't know either how to talk to Kikuchi in such state. So she decided to go for the usual Kanzaki reply. "What do you want? Here to give me another homily?"
Kikuchi flinched a bit at her harsh words and thought, 'So she really is not affected by this, huh? I might as well get it over with easily before I cower here..'
He shook his head and stood firm with a very resolute look, though he couldn't help but show an I'm-sorry look. He needs that for this, of course.
"I just came to say sorry."
Kanzaki's irked look transformed into a completely shocked one. She blinked once, and twice..
Kikuchi stepped a bit closer to her and chuckled a bit.
"I never thought I'd see the day Urumi Kanzaki becomes speechless."
Kanzaki raised her eyebrow at him and hit him in the arm.
"Don't get any idea, mister!"
"So," Kikuchi said, "does that mean I'm forgiven?"
Now it's time for Kanzaki to chuckle. "You're stupid, you know."
"What?" Kikuchi said disbelievingly. "No one ever told me that before. And certainly, no one has ever told me that saying sorry is stupid."
"Funny. I should be the one doing that, you know," Kanzaki said with her head bowed, like she just admitted being the master mind of a massacre.
"You know what?" Kikuchi said, "I also never thought I'd see the day Urumi Kanzaki contemplates on apologizing. That's why I came here to do the honor."
Kanzaki harrumphed and said, "Is that an insult or a compliment?"
"Depends on how you take it," Kikuchi answered with a smirk.
Kanzaki thought for a while and raised her head. "I'll take that as a compliment then."
"Hmm.. I wonder why.." Kikuchi said, also thinking. "Anyway, I want you to know that I said sorry not because I was sorry for what I said. I'm sorry for how I said it. I realized I was being hot-headed since morning."
Kanzaki just nodded, seeing that the brown-haired guy was being serious again,.
Kikuchi looked her in the eye and said, "Meaning, I meant every word I told you."
Kanzaki looked at him accusingly and said, "Even the "I actually cared" part?"
Kikuchi just blinked and muttered a "Well.."
Kanzaki chuckled and said, "I never thought I'd see the day Kikuchi Yoshito becomes speechless. Alright then, seeing that you're serious enough to be speechless, you're forgiven. Am I?"
Kikuchi looked at her and said, "If you change that attitude of yours."
Kanzaki pouted, crossed her arms and said, "That's not fair! I'd change my one and a half decade habit just because of a ten-minute conversation with you? You think so highly of yourself!"
"Then you're not forgiven yet," Kikuchi said, laughing.
At that point, Sakurai-sensei arrived and said, "I see you're getting acquainted. Maybe I came in at the wrong time?"
"No ma'am," Kikuchi said, stopping his laugh.
"Nothing's going on here. We better get on with this experiment."
They went to their rooms to change into their diving clothes, with a twinkle of suspicion in the eyes of the headmaster.
The three did the experiment under water. Just for the record, echolocation is the location of objects by their echoes - a highly specialized faculty that enables dolphins to explore their environment and search out their prey in a watery world where sight is often of little use.
They had fun while doing it because they were able to see different plant and animal lives underwater. It was a bit difficult, though since sound travels four times faster in water than in air, the sharpness of the sounds could sometimes be painful. All in all, it was an amazing experience for them because it was like "seeing through sounds".