Chapter 14: After Hours
"Come on! Are you wearing lead shoes or something? Pick up the pace already!"
As I began to see stars and my vision began to fade out almost completely, I heard that frustrated voice cut through the fog and call out to me.
Blinking through my drooping eyelids, I saw a woman dragging me by the hand (with a vice grip, I might add) and looking back at me with a scowl clearly painted across her face.
"You hear me? We're almost there! Now is not the time to drag your feet!"
With a firm shake of my head, my vision finally became more clear and my senses more focused.
I heard the loud honking of the cars in the street as they sped beside me on the road. Awash underneath the neon glow of billboards and signs overhead, I saw perplexed faces and raised eyebrows pointed in my–no, our, direction as we hurried past them in the crowd.
Right. Suddenly, I remembered.
Me and Hiratsuka-sensei had been all but sprinting through the bustling crowds of downtown Ichihara after we'd realized that we were running incredibly late for our showing of Metalloid Cruiser: Panic at the Strobemare: The Movie.
When we had first left the restaurant, despite my big talk, I hadn't necessarily seen the urgent need to rush, as I figured we could have simply driven to the theater in her car, but a quick jumbled explanation of "no there's no time I'd have to find parking on the busiest street in the district which would add way too much time I can't afford to lose so hurry the hell up and grab my hand NOW" came pouring out of Hiratsuka-sensei's mouth, and my feeble protests were all but left in the dust.
Fast forward to the present where my lungs felt like ash and my legs like little pieces of linguini.
"I thought you said… it was close…" I panted through dogged breaths. We'd been running for what felt like at least fifteen minutes by now and we were still going full throttle.
"I said relatively close," she muttered through her own rhythmic breathing. "Like I said, we're almost there, so save your breath… and use that oxygen to make… those legs move faster."
"I'm already… completely… out of oxygen…" I panted. "I can try and use… anaerobic respiration… but I'm pretty sure… I'm already in full blown… lactic acidosis… at this point," I managed to choke out between coughs.
She somehow had enough energy to laugh heartily at that. "Wow. And I thought... you were a bottom-of-the-barrel student in the sciences. I guess something stuck in that noggin of yours... after all, huh?" she responded without breaking stride.
Truth be told, the only reason I remembered a single thing about the human body's metabolism was because of that one manga I'd read about cute little cells doing their jobs a few summers ago, but I wasn't going to tell her that.
"How the hell… can you still keep pace… with those... smokers' lungs... of yours? Are you… a cyborg… or something?!" I cried out.
"Ha! I've told you this before but you really need to work on your… endurance!"
I grumbled to myself and pretty much shut up after that. I was already on my deathbed and trying to eke out another sarcastic response through rasping breaths only to have it fall on Hiratsuka-sensei's deaf ears would simply be wasteful.
"I see it! Just around the corner!" she yelled over her shoulder.
I was starting to see white, but I gave her a stiff nod regardless. Given that sweet relief was finally in sight, I felt a second wind rising in my chest.
After a painstaking few final steps, we finally arrived in front of the large doors of a movie theater.
I nearly doubled over in a coughing fit, but after a long minute, I was able to at least partially collect myself and give Hiratsuka-sensei a weak thumbs up.
"You sure you're good? I was going to give you another five seconds or so before pulling you along again."
"I'll be alright… and I'm genuinely surprised at that," I muttered. "I figured you'd have been willing to drag my corpse in there if it meant getting in on time."
"Oh, come on! I'm not that heartless!" she protested. "...Although, to be fair, we did get here a bit earlier than I expected so it looks like we won't be late after all!"
I gave her the evil-est evil eye I could muster at that moment.
She just laughed. "My mother always told me it was better to be an hour early than a minute late," she chuckled.
"You owe me a new set of lungs," I mumbled.
"Put it on the tab."
I rolled my eyes. "Uh huh. Let's just head in."
She nodded and laughed.
Given that I'd never been to this part of Chiba and seen this particular theater before, I stood in awe. It was way bigger than the local theater near my house–several times bigger in fact. It had "CINEPLEX" plastered in neon near its roof and there were several long lines of patrons that practically extended outside the doors.
I pulled on Hiratsuka-sensei's sleeve and flicked my finger towards the crowd. "They all here for the Metalloid Cruiser movie, you think?"
"Oh, I'm sure," she responded. "I told you, didn't I? The movie's been sold out for weeks. More than half the suckers in this line aren't going to get in. If they were smart, they would've planned ahead like yours truly," she smiled, pointing to herself.
"I've gotta ask again, who are you and what have you done with the Shizuka I know and sometimes like?"
She laughed. "She's been replaced by the Shizuka that you always like."
I snorted. Smooth…
After reaching the front booth, Hiratsuka-sensei pulled out two printed tickets from her coat and proudly brandished them to the employee. "That's two tickets for Metalloid Cruiser: Panic at the Strobemare: The Movie please!"
She was all but yelling as she said that. Almost immediately, I felt the heads of about a hundred glaring patrons turn and stare us down.
Were they jealous that we had reserved tickets? Or simply annoyed at Hiratsuka-sensei's powerful set of lungs? It was hard to say.
Regardless, like a kid on Christmas day, Hiratsuka-sensei was positively giddy, and she seemed not to notice them at all. Instead, she did one of the most complex chi-unlocking finger combinations from the show and shouted "THAT'S MY ARC-RANGER CREED!"
Her booming voice echoed through the auditorium and I winced. Despite the amount of people in the building, I swore it fell silent for a full second.
To my surprise, the employee in front of us put both of her hands in an "X" across her forehead. "Godspeed arc-rangers. Your top-secret mission awaits in auditorium four!"
Hiratsuka-sensei giggled like I'd never heard her giggle before, before grabbing my hand and once again dragging me along with her.
As I was pulled past throngs of other movie-goers, I asked her, "We're trying not to get noticed tonight, aren't we?"
"Huh? Yeah, of course," she responded automatically without stopping to turn around.
"Making a declaration like that at about 200 decibels isn't exactly inconspicuous."
"Oh, was I that loud?" she asked with an unflappable pep. "Got a bit carried away I guess. That ticket taker just had an infectious energy, you know? Why don't you ever salute back to me like that when I declare the arc-ranger creed, huh?" she questioned.
Um… Because I'm not ten years old… I almostsaid. "Maybe I'll humor you one of these days…" I muttered instead.
"You'd better!" She said as we finally made it to our theater. As we walked to the front of those doors, her feet came firmly to a stop. I looked at her to see why she'd so suddenly and quietly stopped. "I know I called you out here on short notice to see one of my favorite anime, but I'm happy you said yes. I'm really happy we're out here together."
Her statement was simple, but I could tell it was her truth at that moment, and it's not like I disagreed. Despite a few small things, I'd really been enjoying myself tonight, and even though Metalloid Cruiser wasn't necessarily one of my favorite shows, seeing how excited my girlfriend was to see it was more than enough to make me happy.
"Same here," I said with my own smile.
"Really?"
"Yep. I'm excited to see if Akenmaru is actually dead this time or if the cursed black rangers have gathered enough soul fragments to trade with the Devil Reaper Above All to resurrect him with the Orsenggan Mantra."
"THAT'S WHAT I WAS THINKING!" Hiratsuka-sensei bellowed in response. "After the end of season 27, and with the death of a ranger like Jun, those scheming bastards surely were able to collect enough soul fragments. The storytelling just wouldn't make a lick of sense otherwise, right?!" she continued. "Don't tell me you've been reading the Metalloid Cruiser fan theory subthreddit too, Hachiman!"
"I may have perused a thread or two…" I answered honestly.
It wasn't like I had anything better to do on a Friday night… and, it's not like I actually liked the show or anything b-baka…
She beamed at that. "I told you it'd grow on you."
"Mhm… Let's go with that."
"You really won't admit it, huh?" She puffed her cheeks. "A Hiki-dere to the end…" she shook her head. "Whatever. Let's find our seats before the showing starts, shall we?"
"Ladies first," I said.
"Shit before the shovel," she riposted casually.
I balked at that. "There are children around, you know."
Expectedly, she simply shrugged at that.
I couldn't help but chuckle.
Upon entering the dark auditorium, I heard whispered, excited chattering. Like Hiratsuka-sensei had predicted, the showing was packed to the seat.
With a spring in her step, Hiratsuka-sensei all but ran up the poorly illuminated set of stairs.
"Oi, don't leave me behind," I tried to whisper after her. "At least tell me what seats we're in!"
"H-15 and 16. Just stay close!" she said over her shoulder.
I did my best to keep up after her, but given who I was chasing, I felt like I'd have better luck trying to land a lasso around a hurricane.
When I finally caught up, she was busy pushing through the legs of the other moviegoers in row H. I could see them shooting pointed glances at her as she brusquely shoved her way through to her seat; she either didn't seem to notice or care.
"Sorry… sorry… 'scuse me…" I whispered as I tried to slip past their pointy knees. Eventually, I found my way and exhaustedly plopped down into the cushy seat to the left of her.
"Is going out in public with you always going to be like this?" I asked with what I'm sure was obvious frustration in my voice.
She glanced at me with a puzzled expression on her face. "What do you mean?"
"I mean you randomly bolting ahead at hyperspeed every time you get excited and me feebly trying to keep up and failing miserably. Is this how all of our dates are going to go from now on?"
She looked at me with an almost confused expression before laughing. Her cool breath tickled my nose. "Maybe I just want you to chase me, Hachiman." She smiled that characteristically crooked smile at me.
I wrinkled my nose. The charm and playfulness of her voice caught me off guard. "Is that so..." I muttered. "Well, you know what they say about dogs chasing cars…"
Suddenly, she leaned over, and although the theater was dark, the bright bouncing light from the screen in front of us illuminated half of her face in an oddly mystifying sort of way. "...Are you saying you wouldn't know what to do with me if you caught me?" she said softly in my ear. "...You sure about that?"
I gulped. I peeled my eyes away from her and stared straight ahead at the screen. Her mood was seriously all over the place today… Was it because we hadn't seen each other in a while that she had so much pent up energy..?
Suddenly, I felt something soft and wet on my cheek. That soft feeling lingered there for more than a moment and made my heart begin to beat erratically.
I lifted my hand up to my face and felt the warmth there. I finally turned to face her. "A-Ah… What was that for..?"
"You can consider that my apology," she smiled quietly. "Am I forgiven?"
My face turned warm, but despite my embarrassment, I decided to push my luck. After all, I did have a reason to be a little annoyed. "Nah, you're not."
Her eyes widened at that, as if she were expecting her kiss on the cheek to completely and totally make up for all of the indignance and suffering she'd forced me to endure tonight. "Oh really?"
"Yep."
"What can I do to make it up to you then?" she asked, whispering into my ear in a soft and sultry voice. Her eyelashes batted at me slowly.
"Well, for starters, I'll take a large soda–half cola and half root beer and an extra large caramel corn with extra butter drizzled on top. Also, a box of Gummi Vitas–regular not the sour kinds."
I heard the creak of her chair as she leaned away from me slowly. Her eyes were slightly wide and her mouth slightly agape.
Suddenly she laughed loudly. Her arms wrapped her sides. "Soda, popcorn, and a box of candy? Is that really all it's going to take to win back your favor? Sheesh, Hachiman, you need to know your worth. You can't have such a cheap price! People with cheap prices get taken advantage of, and I might not always be around to protect you, you know."
I could feel people looking at us again. "Hey, we're at a movie theater, remember? Cheap isn't exactly the word I would use…"
Her amused expression began to fade and her brow gradually furrowed. "Shit… wait… no…" she muttered. "How about I just grab you all that from an 8-11 after the movie?"
"Hmm, nah. I'm feeling peckish right now," I responded.
She blinked. "B-But the trailers are going to start any second now..!"
"Better hurry then," I stated, tapping at an imaginary wristwatch.
"Why, you little…" she grumbled. Her eyes flicked back from the screen to my face and then to the screen and back to my face again before she groaned. "Fine! I'll be right back." She jumped out of her seat and once again started to push through the aisle.
I couldn't help but chuckle quietly to myself.
I waited there by myself for a few minutes enjoying a cheesy trailer before I heard annoyed curses to the left of me as a certain someone made her way back up to her seat.
To her credit, she'd made it back very fast.
A pile of overly sugary snacks suddenly got dropped on my lap with little fanfare. I was barely able to catch the over-sized cup of fluid before it toppled over and drenched my pants. "Oi… the soda almost spilled everywhere."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah… you're getting off easy," she said. "Now tell me beat-by-beat what happened in the trailers I missed!" she exclaimed.
"The only one you missed was some new Marvel movie that even I'm not interested in. Basically, you made surprisingly good time and you didn't miss much."
"Oh really? Okay, good," she stated. "Now, pass the popcorn."
"Get your own," I responded as I flicked a piece of popcorn into my mouth.
At that, she gave me a look that all but screamed "I'll kill you if you don't pass that goddamn confection this second, Hachiman". It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I quickly passed her the bucket.
She smiled. "Good."
A couple more trailers came on that we both ended up laughing at, and before we knew it, the lights began to dim, and the studio logos started to slowly splay across the screen.
Cheers erupted from every direction around us.
"Shh shh shh!" she shushed me. "IT'S STARTING!"
"I didn't say anything…"
"Oh, I guess not," she said absently. "Now SHH!"
As she said that, she abruptly grabbed my hand with her own soft one. I could feel the butter from her fingertips coat mine as she squeezed my hand tightly. In a normal situation, I might have felt disgusted by the grease and oil that had been so unceremoniously spread all over my otherwise pristine fingers, but in this case, I couldn't help but crack a small smile and squeeze back.
When the title of the film flashed on the screen, she screamed and hollered so loud I swore it could've shattered glass.
"Can you believe that they actually hand animated 100% of that last fight?! I had heard buzz on the internet that it was some of the best 2D animation ever put to paper, but I didn't expect it to flow that well and be that crisp! I feel like they always throw a little bit of CG in there to cut on the costs but if they did here, I didn't notice it at all! It was 2 hours of pure hand drawn bliss through and through!"
The person who said that had her hands balled up into cute little fists and had stars in her eyes.
"Am I right, Hachiman?"
Hiratsuka-sensei looked over at me with an expectant gaze.
"Studio Sapphire is literally the best when it comes to 2D animation. That whole last sequence starting from Akenmaru's revival to when the team finally sealed him using the Darken daggers was literally the best animation I have ever seen in my entire life."
Okay, to be fair, there were probably stars in my eyes too. Although I had never been the biggest fan of the series, I had to admit that the movie had blown my expectations out of the water in a way I hadn't been expecting, and the adrenaline and excitement I had gotten while watching was still making its way through my body.
The original series had grown on me a little too… but, I mean, what else would you expect to happen when you were forced to rewatch a 35 season show over and over ad infinitum…?
As we were walking down the dimly lit theater hallway, she suddenly stopped in her tracks. I paused and turned back at her. Her head was hung low and her eyes shaded.
Had I said something wrong…?
"You ok?" I asked with slight concern.
She paused there for a moment. Slowly, her head tilted up and her eyes looked wet. "I… I think I love you," she said with such heaviness and honesty in her voice that I almost felt offended.
I immediately picked up the pace and left her in the dust.
I heard the sound of scurrying footsteps behind me as (I assume) she was shuffling to catch up to my suddenly accelerated stride.
"Hey! What the hell? Slow down!" she remarked after grabbing my shoulder. "Do you know how rude it is to turn your back on a woman who's trying to honestly profess her feelings?!"
I slowed my gait. I turned around with half of my face aimed at her. "You need to get some new feelings." I resumed my purposeful stride through the dark hall.
When she finally caught up to me again, she grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. "What's got you so ornery?"
"Nothing," I shrugged.
She raised an eyebrow. "Oh… Is it because I said the "L" word?" she asked. I didn't respond. "Hmm, you're mad, because in your eyes, I tossed out that word too casually, am I right?"
I raised my own eyebrow back at her. "...And what if you are?"
"You're such a baby," she said as she smacked me on the back of my head.
That one really hurt. I cursed under my breath as I rubbed the back of my head.
Damn her hiki-vision. It really was too good.
After that exchange, we continued walking out of the theater and chatted more about the movie and which parts we found particularly exciting. After a few minutes of strolling through the dark halls of the theater, we made it outside into the chilly night air. The air was perfectly crisp and I could just clearly see my breath every time I exhaled.
I suddenly had the urge to yawn. I covered my mouth with my hand as a small little "ahh" sound came out.
"Hey, don't tell me you're tired already?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked. "...Or are you trying to say you're getting bored spending time with me?"
"Of course not," I shook my head. "It's just been a full day, that's all," I answered honestly.
"Well, you know what that means right?" she hummed. "It's milk tea time!"
I looked at her. "It's like almost 10 o'clock. Should we really be drinking caffeine at this hour?"
"Oh, come on. I thought you were Mr. MAX coffee or something. A little late night tea never hurt anyone!" she proclaimed.
"Hey, I happen to take my sleep very seriously. I only drink MAX coffee during my official working hours of 8 AM - 5 PM, thank you very much."
"God, for a 17-year-old, you really do act like an old geezer sometimes," she said with a scoff. "Ugh, whatever. I guess you can always get a taro or winter melon milk tea… if you're going to be such a chicken about it."
"Ba-bok-bok," I responded flatly.
Her eyes stilled and she glared at me for a long moment before suddenly laughing. After a moment, she sighed. "How is it possible that I find you so annoying yet somehow charming at the same time? What kind of hidden power is this? Is this your secret hikkei-genkai you're always going on about?"
"Hikkei-genkai..?" I muttered confusedly. "You mean my 108 skills? I don't recall ever saying anything so pathetically and outrageously otaku as 'hikkei-genkai' before..."
"Oh, haven't you?" she said, tilting her head to the side. "I guess your name is just too easy to make portmanteaus out of. You can't blame me for that."
"It's really not though…"
Come to think of it, why did everyone always make weird puns with my name? It was starting to become a bit of a pet peeve of mine. Hikigaya is a perfectly normal sounding name, damn it.
"Well, whatever. Are you sure you don't want to have some extra energy tonight? A little extra energy might not be a terrible idea is all I'm saying…"
I choked on my saliva for a second.
Such a dirty mind, my teacher.
Given our conflicted feelings towards each other lately, it had been a while since we'd… ahem...
It still caught me off guard to hear her say such a thing so casually, though.
"O-Oh… Is that right," I muttered. "Maybe I'll split the difference and go for a jasmine milk tea or something then…"
She grabbed me around my shoulder. "There he is."
I lifted my arm and instinctively wanted to wrap it around her waist but settled for a cough into my palm instead.
After all, there still were a lot of people around us. Although it wasn't likely anyone who could recognize us, it still felt a little risky to display affection so publicly.
"So what store is good around here?"
She smiled. "Come on. I'll show you."
As we walked closely together through the crowded, well-illuminated streets of downtown Ichihara, I took note of several interesting storefronts.
There were, of course, many restaurants and coffee shops, but there were also video game stores, shops that specialized in anime goods, and other unique and interesting novelty stores. I was surprised that so many of them were still open this late into the night.
It's a shame that this area was so far away from where we lived. If it were closer, I could easily see myself spending weekends here by myself if I ever got tired of lazing around at home.
After about ten minutes of walking and chatting, we arrived in front of a surprisingly large, somewhat dimly lit store called "Tea-Fortune".
On my part, I couldn't wait to get inside. It was freezing outside and despite my hands being jammed into the pockets of my coat, my fingers still felt like they were about to fall off.
"You wouldn't happen to have a flask in that big coat of yours, would you?" I asked half-jokingly.
I could see the silhouette of her shoulders shake from a chuckle. "Sorry! Not this time. I decided to pack light tonight."
"Damn," I said as I grabbed the handle of the door and made my way inside.
Despite the time of night, it was actually quite crowded. The tables that were set up around the store were mostly filled with what appeared to be young couples and large groups of friends. Normally, this is the type of shop I would avoid out of principle, but with Hiratsuka-sensei by my side, the atmosphere somehow didn't feel as oppressive.
Inside the store, it was dimly lit and it gave off a rather upscale ambience for a boba shop.
We stood off to the side and stared up at the large TV screens above us that displayed the menu in full. Like most modern milk tea shops, there were plenty of options–they had milk teas, regular teas, coffees, appetizers, slushies, and tons of other choices. There must have been over three dozen different drinks alone.
Given that I had already decided what I wanted earlier, things were greatly simplified for me. "What are you getting?" I asked the woman to my right.
Hiratsuka-sensei had her hand on her chin as she looked deep in thought. "Hmm… still deciding," she said quietly. "To be honest, it's hard to go wrong with any drink here, but I always get paralyzed by the amount of choices available. I never know if I want to stick to a tried-and-true option or if I want to experiment a little."
"Hmm. That is quite a conundrum," I responded.
"Just give me a few minutes," she said. "Why don't you go grab us a table? I'll get you your jasmine milk tea and bring the drinks out when they're ready."
"Sounds good to me," I answered. "With boba, by the way."
"Well, of course! Only the best for Hachiman," she responded snidely.
I cracked her a half smile. "I'll go grab us a table then. Good luck with picking."
With that, I sauntered off to begin my search.
Man, I could get used to this. Having a beautiful woman paying for my food, drinks, and entertainment all night was truly something else. It's true what they say–things really do taste better when they're free.
I wandered over to the seating area. Despite most of the seats being filled with other patrons, I did manage to find a somewhat large booth near the front of the restaurant. It even had a window next to it that gave a view of the passerbys walking past on the street.
"Score," I muttered under my breath before sliding into the far end of the seat.
While I waited for Hiratsuka-sensei, I idly played one of those gacha games on my phone in an attempt to kill time.
However, after about ten minutes, I began to wonder what was taking her so long.
I knew she was having a hard time picking a drink but even ten minutes allotted for both picking and waiting for the drinks to come out was quite a lot.
I slowly rose out of my seat and squinted my eyes in the direction of the cashier line.
They eventually landed on a tall woman with long, dark hair speaking to a tall man with short brown hair.
For some reason, I immediately felt my stomach twist.
Hiratsuka-sensei was standing near the register with two drinks in hand. From where I sat, I could only see the back of her head. The man's face, on the other hand, was something that I could see much more clearly.
He appeared to be in his mid-late 20s if I had to guess. I obviously couldn't hear what he was saying but his face alternated from a smirk to a laugh to a smile as he spoke with her. He was gesturing with his hands and his eyes stayed fixated on her face.
I felt my foot begin to tap against the ground absently.
Suddenly, almost as if they had minds of their own, my feet began to move towards those two. However, instead of fully committing to storming headfirst into that scene, I was able to slow my step and stand a few steps out of view to the side of the counter.
As I got closer, I started to better be able to hear the words that they were exchanging.
"...Come on, it's just one drink, onee-san," the man said. "My friend manages one of the best bars in this area. It's only a ten minute walk from here."
"I appreciate the offer but I'm here with someone."
"A boyfriend?"
"No…" Hiratsuka-sensei said. "My student." Her voice sounded soft and lacked its usual fire.
Despite the honesty of that statement, I felt a pang in my chest at her words.
"Oh, you're a teacher? Beautiful and smart? Why am I not surprised?" he laughed. "Isn't it a little late to be tutoring though?"
"Well… I never said I was tutoring him," she responded.
"Oh, right. Well, why don't you just have him call his parents? I don't mind waiting here with you while he does. He should probably be getting to bed soon, no?" the man asked with an easy smile.
At that point, I felt like I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I stood to my feet and walked towards the pair in front of me. I could feel my fingernails lightly dig into my skin as my hand clenched.
"Hey," I said.
"Oh. Hikigaya-kun," Hiratsuka-sensei said. Upon seeing me, her face took on a surprised expression with a slightly furrowed brow. She coughed. "S-Sorry to make you wait. I just got caught up in a conversation over here. I grabbed both of our drinks," she said, holding up the two cups in her hands.
I immediately noticed that she didn't call me by my first name.
"Oh, is this the student you've been telling me about?" the man asked with amusement. He turned his attention towards me. That must've been the first time he had taken his eyes off of Hiratsuka-sensei. "Hey, you're really lucky, you know. When I was your age, I would've killed to have such a gorgeous lady as my teacher," he said. He came close and almost whispered to me, "If I were you, I would probably make any excuse for some extra credit or after school tutoring too."
Despite the bravado and anger that I'd summoned as I marched over here, I didn't really know how to respond to his statement at that moment. As he loomed over me, I had a hard time meeting his intense gaze.
I looked at my feet.
"Uh-huh…" I muttered.
Hiratsuka-sensei coughed. "Ahem. Hey, Hikigaya-kun, let's head on over to the table and get to work on these, shall we?"
"You're not leaving so soon, are you?" the man asked. His attention fell back on Hiratsuka-sensei.
"Well the ice in our drinks is melting and when that happens, the flavor gets diluted which ruins the taste," she said simply.
"Oh? Well, I guess I can't argue with that," he chuckled. He suddenly came up close to Hiratsuka-sensei and asked, "Well, can I at least get your number? Maybe next time you're in town and you don't have to babysit, we can get together and do something?"
I felt my teeth grit. Suddenly, I said, "Hey–"
My feeble voice was interrupted by words that caught me completely off guard.
"How about you put your number in my phone instead?" Hiratsuka-sensei said.
My breath hitched in my throat. An emotion that I don't think I'd ever felt before suddenly washed over me slowly. I looked at the floor again.
"Of course! Yeah, that works too," the man said. I stood there awkwardly as I heard his fingers click away on the glass screen of her phone.
It felt like ages had passed when he finally said, "Well, it was lovely to meet you Shizuka-san. Can't wait for your call. I'll see you soon." He grinned at her. I avoided looking at her expression.
He suddenly drew close to me again. "Make sure to keep her safe for me, alright? There are a lot of unsavory men out there in this city at this time of the night. Some who really can't take no for an answer."
With those words, he left the shop, a small "ring" announcing his departure.
"...Hey, so shall we sit go sit down?" she asked after a period of silence.
I remained silent. I slowly walked over to our table without saying a word. I heard her steps against the linoleum of the floor as she trailed slightly behind me.
"This is ours," I said as I slid into the booth.
She slid in across from me as she set the two drinks onto the wooden surface of the table. She sat there with an awkward expression on her face before saying, "By the way, I didn't know what sugar level you wanted, but given that you're constantly sipping on those overly-sweet MAX coffees, I figured you wouldn't mind full sweetness. Here you go," she said as she pushed the drink towards me.
"That's fine. Thanks," I said as I pushed my straw into my drink.
I slowly sipped at the jasmine milk tea. It tasted bitter to my tongue.
"Oh my God, I forgot to mention it earlier, but remember that one scene where Juntaro was in the middle of fi–"
"Hey. I don't really want to talk about the movie right now," I said.
She stopped mid-sentence upon hearing those words. "Oh." Her grey eyes met mine. "Alright then. What would you like to talk about?"
"...Well, what was that?"
"What?" she asked. "...You mean that man?"
"Yes…"
"Well, there's really nothing to it other than what you saw," she said simply.
I couldn't help but stare at her. I felt my pulse start to race ever so slightly.
"You took down his number in your phone, didn't you? Why would you do that?"
She took a long sip from her drink before sighing. "...Can we just change the subject? I was having a good time before all of this."
I felt annoyance rise up at her nonchalant attitude. "No, I want to know why."
She breathed out quietly. "If you have to know, that was just the fastest and easiest way to end that situation."
"By taking his number? That's not easy at all... In fact, I'd argue that it's really pushing some boundaries…"
"Well, I didn't give him my number, did I?" she asked. I could detect slight annoyance in her voice. That only served to annoy me further. "That's why I told him to put his in my phone instead. That way I can just delete it after and not have to follow up with him. Is that really so hard to understand?" she asked tetchily.
My brow furrowed. "The Hiratsuka-sensei I know would've just told him to back the hell off immediately," I said. "Not take fifteen minutes just to spare some strange dude's feelings while I was left sitting here twiddling my thumbs like an idiot."
She raised an eyebrow at me. "Hey, no offense, but I really don't need your advice on how I should act in these types of situations."
I opened my mouth to say something at that, but nothing came out. I stayed quiet and continued to look at her.
"Look, Hachiman," she sighed. "If you want to know the truth, I deal with these types of situations constantly. He honestly wasn't even that forward or aggressive compared to some... It's just… a part of life for me. I didn't want to cause a scene so that's why I handled it the way I did."
Hearing those words made me uncomfortable.
Constantly…?
I had heard stories about attractive women being accosted by men every time they went out, but I always thought those were exaggerations at best.
Did she really have to deal with creeps like that all the time? How come she had never told me? How had it never come up even once?
...Why did hearing that make me feel so angry?
"I wish I could do something to help you when it comes to assholes like that," I ended up saying too quickly.
She paused at that, her eyes fixed on my expression. "That's... It's a sweet thought, Hachiman." After a beat, she gave me a tiny smile. "Given my youthful energy and looks, I'm sure it's easy to forget, but I'm a grown woman, and I can take care of myself just fine." Normally, when she used a word like youthful, her expression would morph into one of playfulness or even indignation, but in this case, her face was still and stoic.
I nodded at that and continued to sip awkwardly at my drink.
As my adrenaline dissipated, I felt a wave of shame wash over me.
I had gotten upset and confrontational with her for no reason.
Hiratsuka-sensei was the one who had had to deal with that jerk and here I was accosting her after the fact as if I had any idea what she had to go through.
"I think it's hard to truly understand what it's like to be a woman unless you are one," she said. As she spoke those words, she was absently looking through the large window at the people passing by on the street. "Well, I'm happy for you. It's not something I would necessarily want for someone I cared about."
I blinked at those cryptic words and averted my gaze to the view in the window as well.
We sat there for a minute quietly sipping at our cold drinks, neither speaking a word.
During that silence, I couldn't help but think on what she had just said. I felt equal parts confused and guilty, but to be honest, the worst part was that, for some reason, deep down in the pit of my stomach, I still felt... angry. And that only made the guilt stronger.
Damn it. We were having such a nice night and things had taken such an unexpected and fraught tone all thanks to me. Normally, I thought I was an expert at controlling my emotions, but if my relationship with Hiratsuka-sensei had proved nothing else thus far, it was that that wasn't true at all.
I wish I could say that emotional volatility was a habit I had unconsciously learned from my partner, but that wasn't fair at all... There she sat, calmly rebuking my little tantrum and talking me down from making an ass of myself, while I lost my cool and said more than I wanted to once again.
I let the straw fall from my mouth. I felt ashamed. I decided that the silence had lingered for long enough. It was on me to apologize this time.
"H-hey... I'm really sorr-"
My words were unexpectedly cut short by a quiet voice to my side.
"Oh wow. I didn't believe my eyes at first, but it really is you."
AN: Well it's been 2 years since the last update again, huh FF? My bad. Between work and grad school, I haven't had a lot of time to write lately, but I've been trying to squeeze in writing a few hundred words of this story every chance I get. Rest assured, I am still working on it, and although I can't promise that the next update will necessarily be timely, just know that I do intend to finish this.
This chapter was a bit difficult to write but felt necessary for the plot points that will follow. Thank you to all of you lovely readers and especially those that have been kind enough to leave a review(s). Reviews always motivate me to write more ;)