Hating You
Squit Ayumin

Chapter 8: Past Memories

Rika sighed, flipping another page of her newspaper.

"…And so I was ten when my mum died. My father remarried when I was fifteen, which is when I moved to Tokyo…"

Her mother and Mrs Akiyama had suggested they share their life stories in order to understand each other better. So, they were sitting across each other from their kitchenette table, Ryo having the first go at his tale.

As of now, Rika found no reason to like him any more than she did.

He glanced at the sheet of paper that would reveal the flavour of his jellybeans. "Yuck, liquorice." He set the candy back in the box.

"Gross," Rika muttered.

"I know. I hate liquorice."

"I mean you touching it and putting it back!" Rika snapped.

He ignored her. "And the rest of my life story I'm sure you've heard from school. Your turn."

She narrowed her eyes. "You're pretty emotionless over telling me about your dead mother."

"I've gotten over it." His fingers moved along the jellybean box, seeking out certain colours. "I claim the blue raspberry ones."

"Maybe she hated you to death," she pressed.

"Maybe."

She frowned. "You're heartless."

"You're the one telling me that my mother died of hating me." He rolled his eyes. "Your turn."

"Hmph."

Rika wasn't about to play this game. No way. Ryo Akiyama had no business in her life.

"Dang, TK, that's one heck of a bruise," his friend said piteously.

"She bloody slammed our front door on my arm!" TK explained, rolling his sleeve back down. "I thought I was going to die! Who does that?"

Cody shrugged. "You must have been a real jerk if she did that. She always seems so nice at school. I can't see her doing something like that."

TK grew annoyed, though he knew Cody wasn't trying to annoy him.

"She's crazy," TK mumbled.

"I don't know. Maybe you should just apologise."

"Apologise?" TK spat. "I don't want to apologise to her, Cody. I want to give her a piece of my mind!" He quickly added, "But her older brother is scary and will beat the crap out of me."

Cody gave a slight smile. "I don't know. If you're going to live with her for a couple months, the least you guys can do is try and get along, right? Who knows? Maybe she's sorry too."

TK scowled. "Yeah right. Good joke, Cody."

TK placed the sincerest smile he could conjure up. "Good afternoon, Mrs Kamiya! Is Kari here?"

Kari's mother looked delighted to see him, her eyes shifting to the bouquet of flowers in TK's hand.

"Oh, my goodness! TK, you are too sweet! Please, come inside." She sighed. "Kari's been looking a tad upset since last night, but she hasn't told me why. Have you any idea what's wrong with her? She wouldn't even tell Tai!"

At the mention of Tai's name, TK felt a rush of panic sweep through his system.

Tai was a nice guy, but only when the wellbeing of his little sister was intact.

"Tai's here?" he asked before clearing his throat. "Er, if Kari's not feeling well, I could always come back—"

"Oh, don't worry about her. I just made some brownies. Would you like one?" Without waiting for an answer, she called, "Kari! TK's here to see you!"

"I'm not here!" came her response.

Mrs Kamiya smiled. "She'll come around. I'm going to go grocery shopping, but you can stay. After all, you're practically family."

She winked and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, no, it's fine. I can just…"

TK's words drifted as he saw Tai walking out of the kitchen.

"Hey kid."

"Tai! I, er, I was just leaving."

"Why?" he asked. "Stay. Mum made brownies!"

Tai smiled. TK wondered for a moment if it was a I'm-going-to-kill-you-when-my-mum-leaves sort of smile or just a genuine one.

"That, er, that sounds… great."

Mrs Kamiya seemed satisfied. "Well then, have fun you two! I hope Kari joins you soon!"

TK stared at her back as she left the flat, hoping he could telepathically tell her not to leave him to die in the hands of her son.

TK was actually capable of defending himself, but he doubted he could take on a guy like Tai.

In fact, scratch that. He knew he couldn't.

"Flowers?" Tai queried, looking at the bouquet in TK's hand.

"They're, er, for Kari… I guess…"

Tai raised an eyebrow. "Why are you so nervous?"

"Nervous? Do I sound nervous? I'm not nervous!" TK laughed nervously.

Tai didn't respond.

TK cleared his throat and thrust the bouquet towards Tai. "Er… here."

He didn't know why he had offered them to Tai.

"You shouldn't have," he joked, not accepting them.

"They're, er, for Kari. I should go, but if you could—"

"Come on," Tai interrupted, walking to the kitchen. "Stay and try some of my mum's crap."

Not knowing exactly how to tell Tai that he didn't want to without risking Tai's wrath, TK set the bouquet back to his side and slowly walked into the dreaded kitchen.

"You jackass!" Tai bellowed, throwing a rock-hard brownie at TK's eye. "You're fucking dead for what you did to my sister!"

TK's left eye widened in panic. "But I—I didn't—what did I—"

"Shut the fuck up!"

Tai then proceeded to use his entire strength to hit TK on the side of the head with the brownie pan, throwing TK to the ground. His head pounding, TK guessed it was because his brain had split open from the force.

Kari was standing by the kitchen entrance, arms crossed. "See what happens when you mess with me, TK!"

"But I didn't do anything!"

"Didn't I just tell you to shut up?"

Tai used his soccer legs to give TK a swift, hard kick to the ribs.

And then he died of internal bleeding.

"TK?"

Reality set back in, and he jumped as he saw Tai waving a plate of brownies in front of him. "Tai!"

"TK!" Tai mimicked good-naturedly. "What's wrong?"

TK touched his rib. They were intact. He touched the side of his head. It didn't hurt.

He let out a sigh of relief as he reassured Tai and took a brownie from the plate.

It had only been a daydream.

"Come on. Eat up!"

Tai then hit him directly on his bruise. The touch was so unbearable that he almost felt his eyes water in pain.

Whether Tai had hit him there on purpose, TK did not know.

Rika rolled her eyes.

After their life story bonding experience ended up in failure, their parents forced them to get lunch together.

Of course Ryo made her walk to the other end of the world to visit his "favourite" restaurant—which happened to be some run-down shack.

"You didn't eat anything," Ryo pointed out as they left the restaurant. "Diet?"

She scowled. "For the millionth time, I can't eat grilled meat until dinnertime."

"So, you're on a diet," he concluded. "Who knew you cared about your body so much?"

"I'm not on a diet,, I just don't like eating it before dinnertime," she snapped.

He smirked. "Suit yourself."

Lunch had gone by passably. Rika had simply sat there with her arms crossed, occasionally cursing at a fly.

Ryo preferred her quiet. At least she was pretty.

He wanted to also point out that she was following him—because she was—but decided he didn't want to handle any more of her dramatic tantrums.

"Can we go home now?" she whinged.

"Nah," came his only reply.

He stopped in front of a vending machine. As expected, she impatiently stopped with him, her perpetual scowl in place.

He pretended to be very interested in the selection.

"Hurry up!" she snapped.

"Rika, Rika, Rika," he said sympathetically. "If you keep yelling at me, I just might have to take the long way back to our cosy little hotel."

She let out a frustrated. "Honestly, how do you even have friends? You're the most annoying person on the planet!"

"I could ask the same for you. Your personality is that of a stump."

"Well, first of all, I don't treat my friends like—"

"'Friend,'" Ryo corrected matter-of-factly, inserting some coins into the machine.

Rika frowned. "You are such a jackass."

He reached below to get his can and tossed it at Rika. "Just telling the truth. Coffee?"

Frowning, Rika opened the can and held it out to the side, upside-down, so that the contents splattered onto the sidewalk.

He smirked as he inserted more money. "Who's the jackass now?"

She threw the empty can at him. "Cut the bullshit, Akiyama. Tell me how to get home?"

"Home? Why?" he asked behind laughing eyes. "I'm not ready to go back yet, are you?"

TK's eyes shifted up as Kari finally walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Kari!" Tai greeted happily. "Have a brownie! Mum made some!"

Kari thanked her brother but chose to ignore TK completely.

Cursing at her under his breath, TK took a large bite of his brownie.

"So, what'd TK do now that's gotten you so angry?" Tai asked loudly.

TK then proceeded to swallow the bite he had taken whole.

He coughed violently. He felt his head grow in colour and pressure and began to hit his chest with his fist.

Tai and Kari, he noticed, simply watched him.

He reached for a drink, only to notice he didn't have one. He coughed even more violently.

"What's wrong with you?" Tai asked solemnly.

Kari had given in first. After what seemed like a century, she finally came to TK's aid, offering him her milk. She even patted his back as he drank it.

He managed to gasp a thank-you after his final coughs, but Kari simply got up and sat back in her place at the table.

Tai ignored the entire scene.

"So, don't you have something to give to my sister?" Tai asked matter-of-factly, setting the tray back down.

"Oh!" TK took the bouquet of flowers from the table and held them out awkwardly to Kari. He cleared his throat when she didn't look up. "…Kari?"

She finally glanced at him.

"Er…" He looked at Tai, who had his eyes fixed on him. He quickly turned around again. "I'm really sorry… about what I said… yesterday…"

"You call that an apology?" he heard Tai mutter.

"Please come home?" TK guessed somewhat pathetically.

"Takeru! Takeru! Guess what!"

TK, then thirteen, froze at the sound of his best friend's voice.

He hurriedly threw his books into his locker and shut the door, hoping to slip away before she could reach—

"Hello?" Kari asked, annoyed, as she appeared beside him. She waved a hand in front of his face. "I'm talking to you! I got an A on my diagnostic test. High school is going to be great! Did you make the basketball team again?"

"Er, yeah," he answered dismissively.

"What?" She smiled widely. "That's so wonderful! I'm so happy for you!"

He smiled weakly, but even that faded when he saw his new teammates walking towards him.

"I have to go," he said, a tinge of panic in his voice. "I'll see you later, Kari."

"Where are you going? I was hoping we could walk home—"

"Takaishi!"

Too late. TK stood helplessly as his teammates made their way to him.

"Ooh, introduce me!" Kari whispered.

"Ah…"

One of the older boys on the team, the captain, sneered at Kari once they got to them. "You're… Kari Kamiya, right?"

"Hi!" Kari greeted friendlily. "Yes, I am."

"Tai Kamiya's kid sister?"

She nodded.

He scoffed, "Soccer."

She looked confused.

"We don't associate with the soccer team," he said. "That especially includes bratty sisters of Kamiya. Come on, Takaishi. Let's go."

Kari's smile disappeared, replaced with one of anger.

"What? Takeru's my friend. Come on. You don't need this jerk."

"Ah…"

"Big brother isn't around to make calls around here anymore. The basketball team will be put back in its proper place as the sport of this school." The captain smirked. "Come on, Takaishi."

"This is over some stupid competition? Forget it! Takeru isn't that superficial!" Kari retorted confidently. "Besides, my brother happens to be a friend of Takeru, isn't he?"

"Er…"

The captain frowned. "Takaishi, we're going to go eat. Are you coming or not?"

"Of course not!"

TK looked apologetically at Kari. "I'm sorry, Kar. I'll, er, I'll see you around…"

Without looking at her response, he walked towards his new friends. Though he couldn't see Kari's response, he saw the captain giving Kari a triumphant smile before turning to let TK walk behind him.

"'Takeru'? What a little kid name. It has to go, Takaishi."

"I still can't believe you wouldn't pay for my bus fare when I paid for your lunch and your coffee!" Ryo uncomfortably wrapped his arm around a support pole, his legs bracing themselves on the floor of the wobbly bus. "The least you could do is give me your seat."

She irritably pushed his stomach. "Get your nasty body away from me!"

Ryo swayed backwards, which resulted in other annoyed people pushing him straight back to where he had come from. He stumbled.

"Rika, I know you like to think the universe revolves around you and all, but this is a crowded bus, so don't—"

"I said go away!" Rika snapped, pushing him harder.

"Piss off!" another rider yelled. He threw Ryo's body back to its place, resulting in him hitting his head on the pole.

"Ow!" Though he wanted to do it a lot harder, he lightly kicked Rika's ankle. "Stop it!"

"OW!" she cried loudly.

"Why are you so socially unacceptable?" He took her arm and tried to pull her up. "Come on! Get up!"

"No!"

"Let the old woman sit down, Rika!"

Rika immediately stood up and looked around for said woman. Ryo took the opportunity to quickly switch places with her.

"I don't see—Hey!"

"Thanks."

Rika frowned. She opened her mouth and yelled, "STOP THE BUS!"

Passengers screamed as the bus driver stopped abruptly. He did not seem amused either. "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"Rika, what the hell are you doing?"

Rika raised her arm. "Sorry! That was me! I just realised I got on the wrong bus!"

Ryo stared as Rika stealthily made her way through the crowd and out of the bus. He looked outside the window. "Rika!"

He got off his seat and tried to follow suit, but people seemed more gracious to move for a lost girl than a panicked guy, such as himself.

"Oops! Sorr—"

A piercing screech deafened him.

"You touched me!"

Ryo looked down to see a young girl—probably in middle school—pointing accusingly at him.

"There's a pervert on the bus!"

Nobody in the bus seemed to care.

"What? I—"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

She slapped him across the face.

"What the f—"

"PERVERT!" she shrieked again, now slapping him everywhere else.

"I didn't even touch you, you little brat!" He gave her a death glare. "Let me off!"

"Hey, keep your little sister quiet!"

"She isn't my—I need to—Rika!"

He frantically tried to make his way to one of the doors as the bus lurched forward, but nobody moved for him and the schoolgirl, despite her screams, clung to his sleeve.

When he finally got close enough to a window to look outside, the bus had begun moving once again. From the pavement, he saw Rika smirking, waving her fingers teasingly at him.

Kari sat in TK's car, arms crossed in discomfort.

TK had made a pit stop at the school on their way back to their flat, saying he had forgotten his maths book in his locker.

She hadn't wanted to forgive him so easily back at her home, but she admittedly felt bad for him.

He had looked so pathetic. She hadn't told Tai what had happened, fearing for TK's life. Judging by how nervous TK had been in the presence of Tai, she could tell he feared for it too.

She saw him jogging back to his car, and for a second she considered jumping into the front seat and driving way.

The only thing that stopped her was really the fact that she had yet to get her licence.

He gave her a weak smile as he opened the door to his car. He threw his maths book in the back and sat in the driver's seat.

"Here you go," he said carefully, stretching an arm out. In his hands were two ice cream cones. "You like chocolate, right?"

She stared at the pair of cones in his hand. One chocolate, one vanilla.

"I thought you were going to school," she said stonily.

"I was, but I thought I'd, er, stop be the kiosk on the way," he said unsurely. "I have a vanilla one too, if you want it."

"It's winter."

"Yeah, but it's, er, it's ice cream. I eat it all year round."

She didn't respond.

He cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable. "Look, Kari, I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday. It was out of line." He paused. "I didn't mean it."

"You did, but it's fine," she said dismissively.

"And thank you for not telling your brother about what happened," he tried again. "I really appreciate it."

"It's fine."

"And for helping me when I was choking," he continued.

"It's fine."

He looked at her awkwardly before starting the car. "Anyway, I'm really sorry. I hope you can forgive me."

"I want the vanilla."

"Vanilla? Er, are you sure?" he asked confusedly before handing it to her. "Here, it's going to melt."

He gave her a small smile before putting the car in reverse.

Kari watched as he drove, noting that he didn't touch his cone. It was true that she would have preferred chocolate over vanilla usually, but for some reason, she didn't want TK to think he still knew her.

Because he didn't. Not anymore.

Ryo held his breath as he swiped his key card. After losing Rika on the bus, he was scared she wouldn't be back.

His life was on the line. What would he tell his parents and Rika's mother?

"Oh, sorry. I made Rika so mad that she ran away and got herself lost in the middle of a foreign country. I hope you don't mind."

His mother would probably faint. His father would probably kill him. As for Ms Makino, he couldn't imagine her not to be secretly pleased that he got that parasite of a daughter off her hands.

"Back already?"

Ryo let out a sigh of relief when he saw Rika at their table, eating an apple.

"Where the hell did you go?" he snapped, though he had promised himself not to yell at her until she yelled at him first.

"Here," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I just searched the whole city for you!" he snapped.

"Aw, you do care!" Rika pretended to be flattered. "You searched a whole, what, twenty minutes for me?"

He threw himself on the couch beside her and reached over to drink some of her juice.

"Ryo!" she screamed.

"I'm thirsty," he said matter-of-factly before standing up. "I'm taking a shower."

"You're so gross! That was mine!"

"Oh no, cooties." Rolling his eyes, Ryo opened the bathroom door and walked inside.

Rika opened Ryo's laptop. If he was so keen on sharing things, she figured he wouldn't mind her using his personal laptop.

The browser was open to his emails, and the first one caught her interest.

It was from Hina Itou.

Rolling her eyes, she opened the mail.

"Ryo, I hope your holiday is going along well. Just so you know, Rika's allergic to raspberries. Love, Hina."

Rika frowned. Hina was such a bitch.

She opened his sent folder to read his response.

"Raspberries, huh? Thanks for the info."

And Ryo was such a little bastard. She furiously shut the laptop.

She'd give him a piece of her mind later.

Once they had gotten home, they spent most of the day apart. Kari stayed within her room, and she only assumed TK did the same.

It was around dinnertime that TK had knocked on her door and asked her if she wanted to get dinner with him.

She would have said no if she didn't feel so bad for him. She knew she shouldn't really have a reason to pity him, but she couldn't help it. Even with the years, TK had maintained his youthful, innocent looks. And despite everything, he really did seem to be making an effort to be nice.

"Why are we going to the other side of the city to buy pizza?" Kari asked finally.

They had left their flat nearly half an hour ago, and although they had passed plenty of pizza parlours, TK seemed to have his mind on a particular place.

"It's the only place where they have the toppings I like," TK explained. "It's good, I promise."

"I never knew anybody could be so dedicated to pizza," Kari muttered.

He raised an eyebrow. "Say you hated pepperoni pizza and all the pizza parlours around here only sold pepperoni pizza except for one that was a bit further than others. What would you do?"

"I would pick the pepperonis off."

Silence.

"Let me rephrase that. You like Hawaiian pizza, right? Say there's only one shop that sold Hawaiian pizza. Wouldn't you walk the extra distance?"

An awkward silence fell between them.

He was so weird. He had worked so hard to break his friendship with her, and now all of the sudden he wouldn't stop bringing up all the things he remembered about her.

"I guess I'm not as picky as you." Kari said finally.

"Guess not," TK said, grinning. "Well, this pizza is very important to me, so I don't mind the walk. It's good exercise too."

Now that she thought about, she did remember him liking a certain type of pizza. It was a peculiar and rather disgusting combination, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Half peanut butter and pickles."

Gross.

"Of course." The waiter nodded knowingly. "So a medium pizza, half Hawaiian and half TK?"

TK grinned. "Yeah, thanks for naming that after me."

"You're the only one who ever orders it," he responded, laughing. "The Hawaiian is new, but so is the lady. She your new girlfriend?"

"Actually, she's my, er, my friend," TK said awkwardly.

"Well, your, er, your friend is cute," the waiter teased, winking at him. "Pizza'll be out in a minute."

When he walked away, TK looked at her awkwardly, probably trying to figure out what her response would be.

"You're really gross," she said finally, cracking a smile.

He smiled too—genuinely, by the looks of it. "Hey, I don't see ham and pineapples being that great of a combination either, but I don't insult it, do I?"

"I guess not."

TK stirred his drink with his hand, probably trying to pass the time.

"Hey Kari?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you probably don't want to hear me say it again, but I'm sorry for what I said yesterday."

She wondered how to respond correctly but gave in. "Don't be sorry. You were right. We aren't really anything anymore, are we?"

He looked up. "Ah…"

"Friends drift apart," she concluded, smiling at him. "No need to hold onto grudges, right?"

"Er…"

"Don't feel bad, TK."

"I lied." He stirred harder. "You aren't nothing to me. You were a really good friend of mine, Kari." He looked up. "Hey, even though I can't really say we're friends anymore, let's just try to make the next couple months as pleasant as possible."

She smiled, extending a hand. "Deal. I guess that's the least I can do for my fiancé."

He smiled back and shook it.

I hope everybody in London right now is safe. xx