Part Four: At Last...

Chapter 15: Kouji and Izumi Meet

"Kouji? Kouji? Is that you...?" Izumi asked, standing up, walking to him, her boots making loud noises throughout the whole shop. A silence billowed through the entire store. Izumi stared at Kouji, whose back was turned. "…K-kouji? It's me, Orimoto Izumi," she said quietly, but tearfully.

"...No..." Kouji hesitated. He was so shocked that it was really Izumi, he wanted to hug her, but he didn't want to show feelings. And he didn't want her to know. He wanted to tell Izumi what he felt… but couldn't find the courage at all. "...My name is Hashimoto Kogyo..." Kouji lied, going back to his post at the coffee processing station. He couldn't believe he did that. He faked cleaning by quickly grabbing a rag, faking to clean the table around him, when Izumi could clearly see that the table was sparkling clean. She was also in a state of shock. She saw that when the mysterious figure she thought as Kouji, when he walked away, she saw her favorite fuchsia hat sticking out of his jet black pants. It WAS Kouji. Why did he lie to her? Kouji was what Izumi had been dying to see for seven years. She stood there, in a sad state. Kouji didn't like her anymore? Or was it he wanted to keep the hat so badly? What would Kouji want with a silly old hat that would not fit him and not meant for boys to wear? Kouji kept faking wiping the area while thinking, "Why did I lie to her? I missed her all these years, and I lie to her…" Izumi eyes began to fill with tears, but she wouldn't let it out. She grabbed her coffee from the table and walked quickly out the door, into the rain. She didn't go to her car and walked one block away from Jiyuugaoka Coffee shop. She just stood there, the rain dripping into her coffee and hair. "Did everyone forget about me?" Izumi asked herself, cringing in her own sadness. "I should've just stayed in Venice." Kouji walked outside from his work. It was raining, and Kouji put on his bandanna to not get his hair soaked. How could he do this? He had to admit, in his mind, he liked Izumi, the separation made him like her even more. He missed her. Why'd he have to lie? Was he that afraid? Afraid of what she thought of him? Izumi's jacket was getting really wet, so she turned back to her car, near Jiyuugaoka Coffee shop. Izumi's boots clacked, as she saw Kouji, with his back turned, black pants, his same blue jacket as he'd always worn, standing in the rain. She went to her car to get her black umbrella. She walked slowly to Kouji. Kouji thought it was just some pedestrian, so he didn't bother turning around. "I miss her…" he thought. He looked down on the sidewalk, water drops from the sky dripping down his face and being absorbed by his clothes. All of a sudden, the water drops stopped falling. Kouji turned around. It was Izumi, with her umbrella, with him. His face was too close to hers. He took a step back. "Hello, Kouji. It's been a long time," Izumi said very quietly.

Kouji blushed fiery red. "How did she know it was me?" he thought.

"Hello, Kouji," Izumi said again. Kouji said nothing and stared at her emerald green eyes with a sad gaze.

"Its nice to see you again," Izumi said once more.

Kouji couldn't think of anything to say. He kept looking down at the wet asphalt.

Kouji immediately turned red, but didn't say anything. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"May I have my hat back?" Izumi asked.

Kouji clenched his hand. It was the only thing he had left of her. He felt that Izumi didn't feel the same about him. But he reluctantly listened and got her hat out of his pocket. He slowly handed it to Izumi.

"Here."

"Thank you, Kouji," she said silently, touching Kouji's hand without knowing it. Kouji was shocked for about a second and dropped the hat. "Oh! Gomen nasai! I'll pick it up," Kouji said in surprise, "No, I'll get it," Izumi said. They both bent down to get the hat, and both knocked each other in the head. "Ow!" Izumi said, falling onto her bottom upon the wet sidewalk, water splattering on the bottom part of her jacket. "Great… I just dry cleaned this jacket, and my pants are wet," she though. "I'm sorry!" Kouji said, holding his hand out. Izumi remembered that from Iwate-san Mountains. Izumi accepted, her hand touching his rain-covered hand. Although Kouji helped, Izumi didn't feel that Kouji would want to be with her. "I'm very sorry, Orimoto-san," Kouji said, with a bit of disconsolation in his voice. "If you want, I'll dry clean it and pay for it," he said, trying to make an offer.

"No, it's all right," Izumi said, standing there, waiting for Kouji to say something. Kouji thought he might as well say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth to say two words, Mr. Yasuyuki, his boss, yelled from the coffee shop,

"Minamoto! Get your butt down here! There's customers waiting! What are you doing out there? You know well enough you're not to leave your post till you finish your shift, you moron!"

"What a mean boss," Izumi thought.

"Sorry, Mr. Yasuyuki," Kouji said submissively, walking back into the shop. He had the expression of hatred for his boss clearly marked on his face.

Izumi stared at him from outside the shop, water splashing upon the umbrella and running down the umbrella. She thought for a minute. She marched into the shop; Kouji looking up to she what she was going to do. Izumi walked right up to Mr. Yasuyuki, and said, "I'm very sorry if I slowed down progress. I told Kouji to go outside."

"Oh." Mr. Yasuyuki said with no look of interest.

Izumi excused herself and walked outside, boots making noise and all. Kouji excused himself right in the middle of taking a customer's order and slammed the door open.

"Orimoto!" he called to Izumi.

"Yes?"

"I…I'm sorry I lied to you about who I was."

"Kouji…why did you lie? There's nothing to hide from."

"Well, uh…"

Izumi just stared at him, puzzled. Kouji kept looking at the ground, yet again. "What are you trying to say?" Izumi finally said. Kouji couldn't say anything. Kouji looked up and stared at her. "I can't do it…" Kouji thought. He slowly put his arm around her neck, and held her tightly. Izumi was shocked and dropped her purse on the soaked ground. She stood there like a branch, like Kouji would when she hugged him. Kouji remained silent, as he did not want to look stupid or lovey-dovey in front of her. He kept hugging her tight, as a showing of how much he missed her all the years. Izumi was still shocked, because Kouji was the last person she'd expect to show affection for anyone. Kouji was cold as stone, in her opinion. But she missed him very much throughout the long seven years, and to her surprise, she dearly cared for him, even if he was cold. Kouji cared for Izumi dearly, but couldn't find the words to say anything or even wanted to say anything. She finally hugged him back, the rain both dripping onto them. As she didn't want the moment to end, Kouji broke away and ran back into the shop.

Izumi walked back into the coffee shop, seeing Kouji hastily taking orders from people. Izumi stood at the far end of the shop where the door was, standing there silently. She smiled serenely and left, walking into the rain and back to her car. Izumi silently drove back to her house, the rain quietly pattering and splashing among and along her car. She stared right through the dashboard; the windshield wipers just passing back and forth to her like it wasn't there.

The customers had left, and Kouji was staring into space like there was no tomorrow. He wondered and pondered why he hugged Izumi. He continually stared, thinking about her. She had changed a lot as what he remembered of her seven years ago. Izumi no longer had the cheerful spirit she used to. She was now quiet and had developed a "no-nonsense" attitude and didn't wear fuchsia, her most favored color. She seemed to now like black and white. He also noticed she had become more serious and all the naïve-like persona had left her. He also observed that Izumi aside from her more beautiful complexion, was now a lonely soul, just like he was. Izumi was just like him. Yearning for friends and joy in her life, yet she couldn't show it anymore due to being isolated for seven years. As he gazed into space, it had hit him. It finally came to him that he dearly cared for Izumi and he didn't want to say it or even think of it, but he loved her, not because she was beautiful, but because of who she really was. After all that thinking, surprisingly, his shift was done. All his musing and contemplating took up an hour. He hung his apron and said, "See you tomorrow," to his boss. He walked out the door, his gray sneakers making noises while walking. He walked to his car, the rain splattering on his indigo bandanna, and drove back to his dormitory.