Chapter 47: Just Be Friends

Gah. I am so sorry that I didn't update earlier. Many things have happened, but hopefully as these months have passed, the feeling of the story doesn't. I feel kinda shaky with this chapter and the dialogue, buuuut here you go~!


That dreadful feeling stays overnight.

It greets them at the breakfast table the next morning.

Rin scans the Mess Hall, looking for familiar faces. No Luka, no Aito, and no Meiko... they were probably called down to talk to the teachers about the incident.

Someone bumps her side and motions to a table on their left.

"Wanna sit alone today?" Len asks, pointing at the empty far end of the table. Rin nods and follows him off to the seats.

She can't describe the feeling. It's just... there. A looming ball of lead just sitting on her chest. Or maybe sticky residue covering her lungs. It simply won't come off.

"Kaito seems sad about something. I'm thinking that maybe we shouldn't have left him with Miku yesterday."

Rin takes a seat in front of Len and looks up at him from her oatmeal. He's staring at his oatmeal, swirling the soppy mixture around. She's only seen that somber look a handful of times.

He really does care for his friends, Rin sighs and leans in under the table, softly touching Len's knee.

"Don't worry, when he opens up, you can talk to him."

She offers a reassuring smile, which he takes lightly, and shows her one of his own.

He stops looking at his food and instead looks around at the place. "But where's Luka?"

Rin sucks her breath in as Len holds onto her hand. "Apparently she got into a fight yesterday."

Len leans in, noticing the people around them. They both lower their voices. "A fight? With who?"

"Meiko. Haigo Meiko."

"Why would those two get in a fight?" Len asks. "They barely even know each other."

"That's what I want to know too."

Rin sighs again and grabs her napkin. She starts pinching off the sides.

"I don't know, I've had this weird feeling lately. Nothing having to do with Meiko, but just noticing all these signs from Luka. I don't know, has she gotten a bit quieter to you?"

Len just stares back at Rin. She finds no reassurance in that.

"Well, I guess you wouldn't know because you don't know her like I do. I take that back. She may not be getting quieter, but she has gotten a bit more distant. I mean, I rarely talk to Aito anymore. And I don't hang out with Luka like before because she hangs out with Kaito. But maybe I'm just getting too clingy or something, it's only been a couple weeks. Maybe all friendships get like this. I don't know..."

Rin looks up from her little rant, scratching the back of her head. Geez, I should have combed my hair more... I bet it must be really frizzy.

It's like Len didn't even listen. His eyes are milky, still thinking about his own problem.

Again, no reassurance in that. She can't help but frown a little.

Well, I guess I don't need any help in this. Yeah, that's selfish of me. Len has a bigger problem than me. I'm just over here whining and whining and gah, I must sound so annoying..., Rin thinks and sighs again.

"A-Anyways..."

Len's eyes look at her small, dry lips.

Noticing the odd attention to her mouth, she licks her lips quickly and takes a spoonful of oatmeal. Cracking a smile from the dryness, she starts again, "S-So, what about that dare, huh? You never really owned up to it."

Len turns red and laughs a little. "Oh, you meant you were serious about-"

"Would you stop following me around?"

The entire mess hall becomes quiet as two figures stroll down the left aisle. Luka, with her hair still in a bun and all messy, and Aito, covering his red eyes and yelling at the ground, trying to get away.

Luka tries to pull onto his sweater, but Aito pulls away and walks towards the door.

"I was fucking kidding, okay? Joking! As in it was all a lie!" he yells again, looking at her and raising his hands up. He attempts to laugh, but it comes off nervous and broken. Suddenly, the weight of the room's eyes take a hold of him and he begins to realize all the whispers going on around him. Has he ever felt embarrassed from all these judging looks? Since when is he the type to care about what others think about him?

One look at her and he breaks down again.

He's always cared.

Before anyone can say anything else, before the teachers come up to the two and start asking questions, Aito turns around and walks out of the Mess Hall.

Gumi quickly places her napkin on her plastic plate and gets up, trailing him along.

"Aito! Aito! Wait up, what's wrong?"

Luka looks around at the sea of eyes in the Mess Hall. What do I do? What do I do?

Her blue eyes look over to find Rin's. What do I do?

What do you do when your best friend walks out on you like that?

Trying to keep her legs stable, Luka walks out of the area.

What do you do when friendship isn't enough?

"I think you're going to be a great friend of ours, Defoko."

With a pop, Defoko slides out the raspberry lollipop from her mouth and nervously smiles at Mimi. It's still weird, hanging out with a group of friends.

How?

Well, it'll only feel weirder from here, Defoko thinks, trying to piece together how they will even stay in contact when school begins again.

"Soooo," Harmon-e starts, cracking open a can of Coca-Cola, "What the fuck happened at breakfast today?"

"My god, Harmon-e, you're like a gossip queen," Mimi mutters, picking at the peeling bark from the nearby tree. Ritsu jumps right on the subject though.

"Rumor has it that Aito confessed to Luka. Or, that's what I think. I mean, the guy's been chasing her for all those years."

Harmon-e swallows his sip and narrows his eyes at Ritsu. "How do you know that? You're not even in their class!"

Ritsu fluffs his hair up. "It's as obvious as black on white. Plaid and polka dots. Cheeta print with zebra print-"

"Those combinations are cute!" Suika pipes in.

Ritsu lets out a sigh and pats the small girl's head. "Never, honey.

"Anyways, as I was saying, it's obvious as hell. They've been friends since... oh, I don't even know. But you could definitely see that the boy had something for her, always protecting her and keeping an eye on the girl. I used to think it was just some kind of chivalry, and I thought it was real cute too. You know, I used to have a crush on him in like the 9th grade-"

"Ritsu, stop adding onto the story. Just give us the facts," Yami snaps.

"Huh?"

"You always add your own little commentary onto these things. Just tell us what happened."

"Oh," Ritsu says, quieting down a bit. "Well, anyways, so he like, confessed to her or something. And I'm guessing that she didn't return the feelings. And obviously, this upset Aito, so he went off crying and she went off following him, and now Gumi and Luka are on some wild chase for him. Ha, that's kinda funny, you know."

Defoko says she isn't really interested in gossip but learning things about her classmates sounds a little appealing. Even Bou looks up from her handmade flower crown in process. Defoko clears her throat and stuffs her hands into her jacket pockets. Shifting her lollipop to the left side of her mouth to talk, she asks, "What's funny?"

Ritsu notices this sudden interest. And he likes it.

Perking up with swaying wrists and appropriate hand gestures, he continues, "How Gumi and Luka are chasing after Aito. You see, Gumi's always had this thing for Aito. And Aito's always loved Luka. And Luka... well, poor girl thinks she loves Kaito."

"What do you mean 'thinks'?"

"Girl can't even sort out her own wardrobe. She looks like one of those 'confused girls', always having different crushes and looking at new things, trying to figure herself out. I remember in elementary school, when I was playing Barbies with the girls in my class, she'd always be walking around the little classroom, trying to figure out what she liked. Poor girl's like a lost dog. According to the bitchy girls I talked to, something was up with the poor girl's parents. You know, I hate it when a kid has to go through that kind of stuff. She's small, she doesn't know what's going on in that scary world of hers. And so she was always trying to pretend she was something she wasn't. I guess you could say... she doesn't even know who she is, or what she wants."

Everyone in the group stays silent. Ritsu actually went into something deep here.

Mimi breaks the silence. "But we're all the same way, still trying to figure out who we are. So it's a normal thing she's going through."

"Yeah, that's kinda crazy," Harmon-e says, setting down his coke on a tree stump. "In like, five years or some shit, we'll all be completely different people."

Ritsu nods. "I guess you're right. But still, at least you guys have a little grasp on what you want in life, or what you love. Look, all I'm saying is that Luka has been this confused since she was young. And I don't think she truly likes Kaito. Like, she likes the feeling she gets when around him, but she mostly likes the whole girliness that comes along with it."

"Bro, what the fuck are you saying?" Harmon-e laughs.

Ritsu narrows his eyes at the boy. "Don't call me 'bro'. I'm a lady."

Shrugging his shoulders, Harmon-e still laughs.

"Anyways, what I meant is that what she truly likes is the giddiness that comes along with being in a relationship. You get to be all cutesy with someone, you have someone who compliments you all the time, you get to squeal over his cute texts, you get caught in this happiness when you think about kissing or making out, and most of all, there's someone who says they're there for you. But it's not like you truly like the person. You just like having a boyfriend."

Defoko kinda nods, guiltily frowning to herself. From that description, it sounds like that's exactly what she wanted herself.

"You hear all this stuff from everyone about how they want to be with someone who completes them or someone they see a future with, but here's one way you can tell if you truly love someone. Look at your future. Dating someone. Marrying someone. Building a family with someone.

"If a certain person comes to mind, and you can only see them filling that role in your future, then that's love. But if you just see yourself getting married with someone and being happy, then, chances are that you just want someone to fill that role. Not one person specifically, but anyone."

Again the silence settles. Yami's cheeks get red as he starts thinking of his significant other. Mimi just bites down on her lips as Harmon-e grabs his coke and takes another drink.

"That's Luka. She doesn't like Kaito. But she doesn't like Aito either. And it's just kinda funny to me because it's not just being used as a metaphor anymore. This chase, I mean. Literally, Luka and Gumi are running after the boy. Whoever gets to him first gets to fix his problems. Either Gumi gets there and she helps him calm down, gets some romantic time with him since he's all confused with that teary mind and the friendship between Aito and Luka falls apart. Or~ Luka arrives first and they get to talk about their relationship, maybe saving it."

Bou leans over and places the flower crown on Suika's head. "I wonder who will get there first."

"Isn't it obvious?

Luka's in for some real pain now."

Meiko rubs at the marks on her arms. They have been hurting since yesterday, that attack from Luka.

Mrs. Megurine finally steps back into the cabin and looks over at Meiko. Even though she's frowning, there's slight relief in her eyes. "Are you sure nothing happened?"

"Yeah, I was just... I just fell. And Luka and I had gotten into a petty fight about the whole treasure fight thing, so I wanted to get back at her. The fight was a lie."

Mrs. Megurine tries to hide her relieved smile. She knows herself that it's not true. Luka broke down and confessed that she had beaten up Meiko during the Treasure Hunt. But if she says anything and Meiko tells the truth, she's only going to have to deal with more stress over Luka getting in trouble for assaulting another student. And lord knows how much stress she already has...

"Can I... leave now?" Meiko asks, motioning to the door. Mrs. Megurine snaps out of her daze. "Oh yeah, go ahead. This whole thing is cleared up now."

Awkwardly, Meiko steps to the right and exits the cabin.

There's a little relief in her. Not much, but just a bit. As if going through with that little lie made up for what Meiko's been doing for months, that affair and the schemes and the lies and the pain and the frustration...

She turns back to face the closed cabin door.

Not even close.

But it eased her guilt a little.


Next Morning

Miku's POV

Overall, this trip has been bad for our class. It began bad, and things have stayed that way. Every other class seemed to have fun with little activities every now and then, but apparently our class caused a little unneeded drama. Not like I care. I had my own drama to deal with.

Just then, that idiot's face crosses into my mind again.

I tighten my hold on my luggage. Why does he fake being so friendly? Even after all I've done, you'd think he'd take a hint and just avoid me altogether. Which, he has. But those few moments when we were forced together... what the hell was that?

I look up from my seat to see Idiot approaching. Gah, he took this bus too? He smiles and waves before taking a seat by Rin and Len.

Placing my earphones on, I drown myself into a different world and look outside. Even with all this fog and cold weather, the sun is shyly peeking at us.

That's funny. Kinda makes me crack a smile.


Haha, that's Chapter 47 for you all. I hope you liked it, and if you'd like to review, please do, I enjoy reading them all :)