Chapter 31: Tadano Hitohito, Osana Najimi
"Guess who!"
To Komi's surprise, Najimi jumped behind Tadano and put both of their hands on his eyes.
"Najimi," Tadano said flatly.
"Wrong! It's Osana!"
"It's the same thing!" Tadano grabbed Najimi's hands and removed it from his eyes. "Najimi, I will not show you my homework."
Najimi just looked at Komi. "That's childhood friends for you, he knows already. Alright, be seeing you guys."
"You're not going after Hanya or the others, are you? Hey!" Tadano chased after Najimi.
The next day, to Tadano's annoyance, Najimi repeated the thing.
"G-guess who?" Komi said.
His whole body stiffened. "Eh? Komi? Wait, no…" His body relaxed again. "Why do you have to involve Komi in this, Osana?"
Najimi removed their hands and looked at Komi. "Now we're not even good enough friends for him to call me by my first name...so this is the day I lose my dearest childhood friend…"
"Najimi, you bastard, it was Osana yesterday," Tadano said.
"Anyway, there's no homework today, so this is just for fun!"
"We do have homework," Komi said.
"What," Najimi said. They looked at Tadano, who simply shook his head.
The next day, the three of them were walking towards the class as the break was ending. Najimi once again decided to do the silly thing.
"Guess who!" Najimi shouted.
This time too tired to even lift their hand, Tadano simply turned around so he'll face the eye-closer straight ahead. "Stop doing this, Najim…" Of course, this time the prank hit. Komi was the one covering Tadano's eyes, and now his face was so close to hers.
Instinctively, like a lame virgin shounen protagonist who took 2 Valentine's days and one broken-hearted gyaru to confess to someone he obviously had feelings for, Tadano walked back. Unfortunately, he walked back into Komi's hands that were covering his eyes a few seconds back. His walking back and Komi's stiffened arms thus led her to be pulled towards Tadano, further shrinking the distance between their faces.
Komi spread her arms, turned around and ran away. Tadano, still blushing, looked at Najimi, who shrugged their shoulders and smiled smugly before also running away.
[break]
"Is that the most recent time Komi ran away like that?" Tadano asked himself.
Of course, the fact that his girlfriend ran away from him so often he had quite a collection of them is sad. No, actually, it's supposed to be sad, but as Tadano kept on not catching up to his girlfriend, he can't help but smile. She's really cute, he thought. Before his brain could add 'too cute for me', Tadano ran with all his might.
[break]
Komi sat on her chair, the leftmost seat in the furthest back row of the classroom, while Tadano and Najimi stood behind her.
"Alright, Komi! As you wish, we'll do the 'guess who game, but the announcer will always be Najimi and I made sure everyone's hands had just been polished with a hand cream of the same smell, so you can't actually tell if it's Tadano or not' game!"
"The title's too long!" Tadano said, but Komi was already nodding in excitement. She sat straight up and looked straight ahead. She even closed her eyes. Her cat ears perked fully.
"Alright! Let's begin the game!" Najimi said, as they jumped to the left and then to the right of Tadano, and back again. In one move, they moved behind Komi and covered her eyes. "Guess who!"
"Najimi," Komi said, smiling.
"How are you so sure?"
"Because Tadano is over there." Komi pointed with her left pointer finger. Najimi turned around to see where she pointed, and it was at the exact spot where Tadano was. Najimi whistled. "Alright, next round!"
Yukapoyo appeared behind Tadano and winked. After rubbing her hands using Najimi's hand lotion, she took Tadano's spot, while he moved closer to the window. Najimi and Yukapoyo run around in places, making loud footsteps. Yukapoyo then moved behind Komi and covered her eyes. "Guess who!" Najimi shouted.
Komi hesitated. She mumbled in confusion.
"Come on, Komi, is it Tadano or me?"
"It's not Tadano, because Tadano's there, but Najimi sounded really far away." Komi pointed to a spot behind her.
Yukapoyo looked at the spot she pointed at, and it was actually straight at Tadano's face. Yukapoyo whistled. "It was me, Shokotaso! Yukapoyo! This was a trick! Wanna do another round, best of three?"
Komi looked at Yukapoyo and nodded excitedly. She then looked straight ahead and closed her eyes again.
Ojosa, Hanya and Bosa entered. Najimi told them to quiet down and explained the game. After using Najimi's hand lotion, the three stood behind Komi: Hanya to her left, Ojosa behind her and Bosa to the right. Najimi ran loudly from Hanya to Bosa and back, while Yukapoyo stomped on the spot, making further noise. Tadano moved to the door, standing just behind it.
"Guess who!" Hanya and Ojosa said in unison. Komi was surprised for a second, but she smiled.
"This one is Hanya. I could smell flour and butter," Komi said.
"Correct!" Hanya said. "I was just making cinnamon sriracha roll!"
"Don't move your hands yet, Hanya," Najimi said. "Komi, where's Tadano?"
Komi pointed, again to the exact spot where Tadano was, at his nose.
"The two had been connected heart, mind, and soul that there's a permanent bond between the two, such that she can tell where he is without looking," Emo said as she entered the room. "That's emo!"
[break]
Komi stopped, right in front of her house. Without turning back, she knew Tadano will be behind her, to her right, in about three, two, one…
"Finally," he said, gasping for air, "you stopped. Right in front...of your house."
Komi turned around, but she said nothing. Her blush was still there, though it's partly from her run.
"Komi, what would happen if I caught up to you?"
"Then I would explain exactly why I ran away," Komi said. She pulled out her notebook and wrote something on it. She then showed it to Tadano.
"Which is why you'll never catch up," Tadano read. He laughed. "That might be true. You're just an amazing runner, Komi."
The two looked at each other. "Thank you for walking me home," Komi said as she bowed. She raised her head and went into her house.
"Can I call you tonight?" Tadano asked.
Komi nodded. "I'll be staying quite late today."
"That's rare. Why?"
"Because I want to watch the premiere of season 2 of 古見さんは、コミュ症です。 ."
END
Author's note: Thank you for reading this far. Let's enjoy season 2 of Komi-san anime!