"Sachi, can we talk for a minute?"
Sachiko had been walking down the hall with a couple of her friends when the unwelcome voice broke in on their conversation. Almost reflexively her hands clenched, but she did her best to ignore her hands as well as Miki and Rieko's questioning glances when her friends both stopped, hesitating, to see her response.
Sachiko herself kept walking. "No, we can't, not right now. I've gotta go, or I'm gonna miss my bus."
"Five minutes, Sachi. We both know you've got almost twenty minutes extra, you can give me five."
Sachiko stopped walking and turned on her heel, fixing the speaker in a stony-eyed stare. "I could, yeah, but it's not gonna be just five, is it, Rei? You said it was gonna be five at lunch, too, and what did that end up being?"
Rei's scowl and crossed arms showed exactly what he thought of those questions, and he jutted out his chin as he repeated, "five minutes. Don't worry, I'm not gonna make you late for karate."
Sachiko's own eyes narrowed, then she looked at Miki and Rieko. "I'll see you guys on Monday, I guess."
The other two girls shot glances between Sachiko and Rei, but after a moment's hesitation, they both said their goodbyes and continued down the hall to the shoe lockers. Then it was Sachiko's turn to jut out her chin.
"Five minutes."
Rei rolled his eyes, then gestured to the open classroom door they'd just passed. "I don't want to talk in the hallway."
Now Sachiko was suspicious, but she nevertheless preceded him into the classroom before whirling on him. "If this is any more about your stupid suggestion-"
"-We should break up."
Rei's tone was so matter-of-fact that it almost knocked Sachiko backwards. "What?"
"We should break up," he repeated, his tone the same. "Let's face it, Sachi, this isn't working, and it's not gonna work, either, as long as you're so goddamned stubborn."
"I'm so goddamned stubborn?" she repeated, giving him a look of wide-eyed incredulity. "Look who's talking!"
He bristled defensively. "All I ever wanted was for us to actually spend time together, Sachi! What's even the point of dating if we never see each other?"
"We do see each other! We see each other at school, and on weekends-"
"On Saturday afternoons, you mean? All I've asked for is a little more time, Sachi, time during the week once in a while. You're the one who can't make that work!"
"I can make that work, and I told you so! Repeatedly!" Sachiko said, exasperation evident in her voice. "It's just gotta be later-"
"And I told you I can't do that! You know what my parents say about uninterrupted homework time!"
"Well, if you'd be willing to just meet me in Hibe once in a while-"
"There's nothing in Hibe, Sachi! What'd we even do if I did?"
"I dunno, hang out? Go to the café? Walk around and talk?"
"Yes, walk around and talk so that every bored townie can watch us and report back to your parents?" Rei said, rolling his eyes, and Sachiko bristled in turn.
"You know my parents don't ask for it, Rei!"
"Yeah, but that doesn't stop it from happening, does it?"
Sachiko shifted uncomfortably, unable to refute that because he was technically correct.
She hated that he was correct.
Her silence was enough of an answer, and Rei nodded sharply. "All I've asked for is a couple hours, just once or twice more a week, Sachi. It's not like I want you to drop karate or anything, just skip one or two classes."
Sachiko crossed her arms. "Yeah, that's what you've always asked for, for me to skip class. Never mind that if I did, I'd still be sitting on my ass for almost an hour waiting for you to be done with soccer, even after bussing back from Hibe!"
"That's different and you know it. I don't have the option to leave practice early, but you do have the option to skip one of the two classes you take every single day. And if you did, we could actually spend some time together during the week, doing something other than getting spied on by your neighbors."
Sachiko was chewing on her lip and glaring at Rei. None of this was news to her; they'd been having this same argument regularly for the last month, ever since school had started back up after summer break. And technically, they'd been having variations on this argument before that, going back at least another two. Rei had been pushing for them to spend more time together almost since they'd started dating shortly after school had started back in April, and as much as Sachiko had liked the idea in theory, it was a lot more complicated in practice.
It wasn't a surprise, or it shouldn't be a surprise, that two second-year high schoolers would be busy. They both had their class loads, and their 'commutes.' Rei was on the soccer team, and he had practice every day after school as well as matches. Sachiko had karate; now that she was sixteen, she was able to attend the dojo's adult classes as well as the youth ones, and she'd never been one to shy away from a good workout or a good challenge. Every day, she left school right at the bell and caught the bus back to Hibe, the village where her family lived and, more relevantly, the Matsuda karate dojo was located. Her father had been an instructor there for twenty-eight years now, and Sachiko herself had been taking classes for eleven. The dojo was her second home, the other students and instructors her extended family.
To Rei, asking her to cut down on her karate hours was a no-brainer, and she could maybe, when she wasn't on the spot, concede a fraction of his point. Soccer was basically all-or-nothing; if he couldn't meet the time commitment, then he would just be kicked off the team, and that was that. Technically, Sachiko could skip one of her two weekday classes and head back to Nigeyashi, the nearby small city where they both attended high school and Rei lived. It wouldn't be the end of the world, to have to cool her heels for a while and wait for him a couple times a week. As he said, it wasn't like he was asking her to quit...
But he was still asking more than she was willing to give.
After a long silence, Sachiko let out an angry breath, followed by a second, slower one. For a moment she closed her eyes, collecting herself, then she flicked them open.
"You're right," she said, her voice resigned, and for a moment Rei looked surprised.
"I am?"
She nodded. "Yup." And for a moment he started to perk up, then Sachiko continued, "we should break up. I don't want to, but if neither of us is willing to compromise, then what else're we gonna do? All we've been doing lately is wasting our time arguing about this, anyway."
They both stared at each other, then Rei's shoulders slumped. "Well, I guess that's it, then."
Sachiko nodded, a disappointed look on her face. "Yup."
"So...I'll see you around, I guess," he said after another moment, and Sachiko nodded, then glanced at the clock.
"I've gotta go."
He looked at the clock too, and barely managed to refrain from rolling his eyes. "Yeah, you don't want to miss any time with karate."
Sachiko barely made the bus, and as the doors closed behind her she looked around with a sigh to see there were no seats left, because of course there weren't.
So much for 'just five minutes.'
At least she wouldn't have to stand for long; this bus would only take her down to the bus station, where she'd switch over to the bus for Hibe. That just meant ten minutes of standing, which really wouldn't be terrible-
"Hey, Sachi!"
Sachi looked down the aisle to see her dojo friends gesturing at her, and she quickly let go of the seat back she'd grabbed to hurry down to them.
"Smush in, Sachiko," Emi said, crowding closer to the window. "Kaede and I can make room, we're all small!"
"Or Shota or I could stand, and you guys could just sit normally," Takashi said, eyeing the three girls' jostling with skepticism. "Is that even comfortable?"
"No," Kaede said, wriggling slightly to get away from Sachiko's elbow, "but it's not for long."
"I could also still stand myself, you guys," Sachiko said, nevertheless giggling at her friends' attempts to accommodate her. "It's just to the station!"
"You aren't standing, and that's final," Emi said. "We're committed to this now." She adjusted herself again, then suddenly tossed her bag across the aisle to the guys. "Here, why don't you two take these and give us more room?"
Shota caught the bag reflexively. "Or one of us could stand," he began, only to have Sachiko and Kaede chuck their bags over, too. "Fine, you three play sardines and we'll hold the bags, whatever makes you happy," he said, rolling his eyes at Takashi, who grabbed one of the bags from Shota with a chuckle.
And though Sachiko couldn't say it was the most comfortable bus ride, it was still nice, to sit with her friends. Especially just then.
But when it was time to board the bus to Hibe, Sachiko purposely dragged behind. As much as she'd enjoyed the silliness of squashing in on the crosstown bus, the ride out to Hibe was longer, and without the goofiness to hide behind, she knew she wouldn't be the best company. She also didn't want to talk about it just then, so she let her friends all board before her and grabbed the window seat in the row behind Emi and Kaede, pulling her bag into her lap and hugging it as she stared out the window and thought about what had just happened.
It had to mean something, that she felt so...blank. She and Rei had been dating for roughly five months now, and he'd just dumped her; she felt like that really ought to make her feel something. Angry, sad, hurt, something other than just blank. But that was it; as much as it seemed wrong to feel this way, she felt...nothing.
It had to be a good sign, she thought as she stared out the window. If she could feel so calm about them breaking up, then that had to mean it was the right decision. Clearly she hadn't felt enough for him if she could accept his loss so easily; if anything, it almost made her feel guilty how quickly she'd agreed.
Her father would be happy, if nothing else. Though Kyo hadn't specifically said so, he'd made enough noises for her to know that he hadn't been the biggest fan of Rei, or their relationship.
'I'm just saying you're young, Sachi. Now's the time for you to focus on school and your friends and stuff, not worrying how much time's enough to spend with a high school boyfriend who's not even willing to meet you in the middle.'
Though to be fair, she doubted even the most stellar of boyfriends would have successfully stayed in Kyo's good graces once her father knew she was thinking about sex.
She hadn't, though; done it, gotten close to doing it, or even thought about getting close to doing it. She and Rei had been far too busy arguing lately for her to even want to kiss him, let alone do anything else, and at this point she was glad she'd listened to her instincts and her mother's advice. It was much better this way, to make a clean break with no lingering feelings or regrets.
She sighed quietly as she looked out the window, wondering if this feeling of blankness also just meant she was getting used to breaking up. Rei had been her longest relationship, but not her first, or even her second; the term 'boyfriend' had definitely come up a few times in the past two years, but always been stripped away. And that wasn't even counting the dates she'd gone on that had never made it that far. Sometimes she'd been the one to end things, sometimes him; sometimes she'd ended things because of him. And each time, she'd sat back afterwards, sighed...and moved on.
Breaking up with Rei was the right thing, she knew. Soon, she'd move on from this too; she'd be her usual confident, brash, chatty self, going about her life the same way she always had. Better than she had been, even, because she wouldn't be wasting her Saturday afternoons bickering. And maybe next time...things would actually work out.
"Hey, are you ok, Sachiko?"
Sachiko snapped out of her reverie to see Emi and Kaede both hanging over their seat backs, studying her with similar concerned expressions. Immediately, Sachi went into damage control mode; as much as she loved her friends and knew they'd be supportive of her, things were still a little too fresh for her to want to talk about them just yet.
"Yeah, sorry! We just had a quiz during last period that didn't go as great, and I've just...been thinking about it, that's all," she said, her tone as light and bright as ever.
Across the aisle from Kaede and Emi, Takashi's head snapped up and he looked back at her in surprise, making Sachiko immediately kicked herself for not coming up with a better lie. Shota, Kaede and Emi were all a grade behind her, but Takashi wasn't, and though he wasn't in her class he had the same teachers and covered the same material over the course of the day.
He knew there'd been no quizzes.
But it was too late to change what she'd said now, and she successfully ignored his look to smile at Kaede and Emi.
"But it's Friday, and school's over, so I guess I oughtta stop dwelling on it, huh?" she asked, her usual teasing grin in place. "What're you guys talking about, anyway?"
As Emi started to repeat what she'd been saying, Sachiko took a small breath and sternly chastised herself. It was fine if she didn't want to talk about what happened just yet, but then she needed to do a better job keeping it to herself. That meant no weird behavior, no spacing out...and no awkward lies.
When the bus arrived in Hibe, all of the passengers poured out. Almost all of them were students of some sort, with some heading back to their homes. Many others, like Sachiko and her friends, headed up the road north of town to the dojo.
Though Hibe was small and a little remote, the Matsuda Dojo had always had a strong reputation and pulled students from a pretty wide range. There would be at least two more buses of students arriving before the after-school classes started, bringing additional students from Nigeyashi as well as those who'd had to come from slightly further away.
Sachiko generally liked the fact that their bus was one of the earliest; it meant that she and her friends always had time to hang out together and talk before class started, which was usually a good thing. Although she saw them almost every day, they didn't have all that much time outside of the bus and the dojo to actually hang out; with the exception of Sachiko, none of them lived in Hibe, so they always had to bus home after classes were over. They all had homework. Emi, Kaede, and Shota were in another grade and therefore on another floor at school. They all had other friends. Emi, Shota, and Sachiko all had significant others...or had had one, in Sachiko's case.
Time was not in abundance, for any of them.
Still, their little group of five had always been very special. All of them had started karate at around the same time; they'd all been promoted at roughly the same pace. There had been more of them, in the beginning, and there had been new additions over time, but the five of them were the ones who had always been there. They had been there from the time they were first tying on their white belts through promotions, tournaments, and training camps, all the way up to now, where all of them were nidans, or second-degree black belts. They mostly all got along with the other teens at the dojo: students who had started before or after them, had moved to the area or transferred in to the dojo, or had advanced slower than them. Students who came from other towns, who always arrived right before class started with minimal time to socialize.
Sachiko's father had always said the dojo community was special, and Sachiko had always agreed, but nothing could touch what she had with her friends.
Which, very rarely, could actually be problem.
"You sure you're ok, Sachi?" Takashi asked as they all walked up to the dojo, lowering his voice so none of the others would hear through their much louder conversation.
She squirmed slightly, but tried not to look too obvious about it. It was too much to hope he wouldn't have known she was lying, and it made sense he'd be worried, just like the rest of them would be if they knew.
Sachiko glanced over at the others, making sure that they weren't paying attention before replying in an equally low tone. "I am, mostly. But I don't wanna talk about it now, ok?"
She hoped she sounded firm; it was hard to convey decisiveness and be quiet at the same time. But after a moment, he nodded.
"If you change your mind, just say something. You know none've us'd mind," he said, and she gave him a grateful smile.
"I know...but thanks."
She let out a quiet sigh of relief as he turned back to the others, and after a moment she did the same. He was right, she knew; that was the beauty of their friend group. Karate might have brought them together, and it definitely played a huge role in keeping them together. If any of them dropped out, it was perhaps inevitable that the friendship would fade somewhat. But at this point, they were the people she knew the best outside of her family, and she didn't doubt for a second they'd all be supportive when she finally told them.
They'd never let her down before.
Three hours later, Sachiko was feeling infinitely better. Her body had that beautiful aching feel she loved, the ache that told her she'd worked hard and done herself proud, and her spirits were high.
She didn't tend to spend much time daydreaming during karate, even during technique practice or kata; when she was in the dojo, her mind was focused on what she was doing, and what she was about to do. But in the moments of downtime between matches, and during the break between classes, she'd briefly had her mind wander back to Rei.
She was going to miss him, she knew. He'd been cute, and fun, and funny...before he'd gotten all obsessed about time. She'd miss that Rei, the Rei who'd first asked her out and who she'd agreed to go steady with. But after barely more than an hour had passed, she was confident they'd done the right thing, because she wasn't going to miss the Rei who'd just broken up with her. They hadn't wanted the same things, and they'd never been able to compromise. She felt admittedly bad for stringing him along, if that's what she'd actually done; she probably could have saved them both time by breaking up with him the very first moment she knew she wasn't going to skip any karate classes for him. But she had still really liked him...once.
She felt good enough about the whole situation that she briefly considered telling her friends what had happened, once class was over and everyone was heading down to the locker rooms. But after a little thought she decided against it; the halls and locker rooms were always chaotic when all the classes got out, and her friends all had to get back into town and catch their bus. Her news would keep; she'd see them all again the next morning at karate, anyway.
But she was her usual cheerful self when she, Emi, and Kaede emerged from the locker room to find Shota and Takashi waiting, and her usual cheerful self when she bid them all goodbye.
"Later, guys, see you all tomorrow!"
"Later Sachi!"
"See you tomorrow."
"Have a good night!"
"See you." And as they'd all turned to go, Takashi had given her a little smile; hopefully that meant that he could tell she was feeling better, too.
Sachiko herself hung around for a bit, leaning against a wall just out of the way of the locker room traffic. Sometimes, she'd walk her friends down to the bus stop after class, but much more often she'd stay back, playing on her phone and waiting for that familiar summons.
"Alright, Sachi, you ready?"
And at the sound of her father's voice, Sachiko looked up with a smile, nodding her head as she slipped her phone into her pocket.
"Ready, Daddy!"
