By animeninjaNIPPON
After the fountain incident, we called it a day. I was still confused, though- had I just imagined a hint of seduction in Haga's voice? Perhaps I was just desperate for attention. People who desire to be noticed are often convinced that anyone will like them given a dramatic circumstance, but if that was the case with me, then why was I still despised?
We spent practically every day together now, just hanging out, mostly griping about how the world owed us a favor. As the weeks went by, the public's animosity toward us dimmed, and we were beginning to find ourselves at a loss for conversation. At one point, we were completely silent for 15 minutes until we approached the pier.
Haga broke the silence. "Do you remember how we met?"
My heart began racing. Actually, I didn't remember – all that really mattered was that we had been friends (to some extent) ever since. "Not really," I admitted, wondering what can of worms I had opened with that statement.
"That's OK," Haga replied evasively. "Neither do I."
There was an awkward silence for a few minutes. I stared blankly into the sunset ahead of me, wondering how the sky could be blue one moment and orange the next. Then I realized that I needed to get a life.
"We need to get a life," Haga mumbled.
"I was just thinking that," I said, a little surprised.
"Sometimes I wonder…" he mused, then stopped.
"What?" I asked, slightly offended.
"Nothing!"
"Tell me!" I turned to face him. His cheeks glowed fuchsia against the lavender sky. My erratic heartbeat started up again, and I began to feel anxious.
"Why do we hang around each other?" he finally asked.
I really didn't like where this conversation was headed. I knew I wouldn't like it; I could feel it in the pit of my stomach. Casually, I replied, "Well, isn't that what friends do?"
"We're not friends." His response left me with a sort of sinking feeling.
"Why not?"
"Well," he remarked, "it's not like we have any reason to be. We don't have much in common."
How could he say that after all we'd been through? To say that we didn't have much in common was pure crap. We had dueling, at least…
"That's a damn lie!" I fired back. I quickly cupped my hand over my mouth. Haga stared at me with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "I- I mean…" I continued pointlessly, "We do have a few things in common."
"Well, if you count dueling," Haga said, rolling his eyes. "And the fact that everyone hates us. And we're only about a year apart in age, we're both Japanese, we both hate Yugi Mutoh and his friends…" He continued to list off things until the sky grew into a deep purple. "OK, more things than I thought."
"More things than I thought, too," I whispered.
End of part five