Chapter 15
Things just happen (there are not logical reasons)
The sports center was virtually emptied after the medal ceremony. Naoki put the two he received in his trouser pocket while going for his belongings in the lockers, leaving his family to go on ahead to the car.
"Bye, Irie-san", said Matsumoto as he passed her; she had her second medal gleaming on her chest. Perhaps she realized her flaws too late, analyzing the way she won the third set, but her opponent obtained the victory by winning the fourth set, after a hard battle.
He nodded and went for his bag to the lockers, accepting farewells from other participants with whom he had met in the three years he participated in the tournament. He could come back next year if he integrated as part of a university club, but he thought that if he did, he'd better compete against other clubs in colleges and not those in the region.
"If given the slightest chance of seeing you in Tonan, Irie, I hope you join my club," asked Sudou with a friendly smile, standing next to him. "But if you're my rival, do not expect clemency," he warned before he left, taking the same way used the black-haired, pronouncing the name of hers in a very ridiculous manner.
That was interesting.
Naoki shrugged, thinking of what Sudou said; he didn't know what he would study, so he was not sure which college he would go… also, he didn't care about that man, who seemed possessed when he took the racket.
He hung the bag behind his body and held his hand on his shoulder, walking quietly around the court.
Kotoko came running towards him.
"Naoki-kun! Congratulations!" she cried when stopped walking at the same pace.
"You've already said it," he replied with a sigh. "And I do not want compliments." Nor he needed them. He wasn't being arrogant; rather he put no effort into winning and receiving them made no sense. And, well, he knew he would win, it was an obvious fact if they look at the skills of the others.
"I know," she whispered, before taking hold of his free arm, without asking permission, taking liberties to a degree that he knew not worth bothering to say no, because it would be worse.
Anyway, he made a try to pull away, but she seemed like a koala subject to a branch.
"Naoki-kun?" Kotoko asked suddenly.
He made a sound to give her an indication to continue.
"May I congratulate you again and you'll accept it?"
"What?" he muttered, still not achieve to loosen her grip without much abruptness, doing it in seconds later, just because she let him.
Kotoko took him by surprise hanging from his neck with both arms and sticking her lips to his.
He opened his eyes in disbelief, feeling she moved her mouth shyly, eyes shut. He had frozen hands at her waist and his body in a state of stupor.
How could she think? Since when she acted like that? What had moved her?
May I congratulate you again and you'll accept it?
He smiled with Kotoko's lips still on his.
That silly girl. Again, she had managed to take him unawares.
He conceded her that and returned her unsuccessful attempt, funny because of her and the way she acted. Accepting her congratulations in a way that only she dared to give them.
At least no one was looking and just the two were there, so it was okay to let her kiss him. Moreover, just because rejecting her would have its consequences.
Kotoko could indeed be a fool, he thought as she broke the kiss with an all red and guilty face. "This is the congratulations you deserve, Naoki-kun," she said, hanging onto his arm once again, this time with him not doing vain attempts to separate without using full force.
Only she could think that, in that strange way she had of thinking and acting. However, despite her weak points, she had good traits and even came to be acceptable, if given the opportunity to meet her, not thinking about how irritating she could be. But that quality was a part of Kotoko, who somehow managed to get others to like her.
Was using the surprise factor as one way that he felt the congratulations?
That was thinking too much of her, maybe she just kissed him because that way it was hard to refuse. Or she had much enthusiasm. Or she wanted to take him by surprise. Or simply because she wanted.
Still, he didn't question his own motives to respond. He just accepted, reluctantly, a congratulatory.
[...]
"The projects will include documentaries that you make in relation to the issue of climate change; you will have free choice of the topic you wish to address, that the Academy of Sciences of Tonan School will analyze and select the best three. Those will represent us in the regional forum for the environment, along with other institutes. It is a specific job for the ability of students in class A.
» You'll deliver a text document with information and referrals to support the content of your videos, of which you'll provide three copies on CDs. All will get electronically the call of the event and the covers that you'll use in your projects; furthermore, you will have the opportunity to read and resolve any questions that arise. Please note that the project results will be of use for the colleges you wish to attend, as the short term of realization it is a standard measurement for you. In addition, many university professors will attend, from the Sciences field.
The teacher of Class A paused and took a sheet of a yellow folder on the desk in front of the classroom.
"Now, young people, considering your abilities, I have established teams that highlight your best skills and result in works with the high quality that you are accustomed. I'm sure all the teams will present projects among which will be difficult to decide." The man cleared his throat and repositioned his glasses. "I'm going to start… The first team, Kinomoto, Watanabe, and Yamada."
Naoki waited for the sensei to say his name, with the idea of how irksome would be to work with someone else. His classmates were good students, but they'd have to strike a balance for what they were going to do, and that bothered him, knowing that his ideas alone were good enough. And that he alone could finish that task in the first week, not within the three given to them, a week prior to starting the mid-term exams in the last week of October.
"Finally, the only couple, Irie with Koujiro," concluded his teacher after reading his list, saying his partner. Naoki had known before, discarding the names as he was listening.
He caught claps of congratulations that received the black-haired girl, 'who already had secured a place in the contest'.
Of course, but at least he would be with the third best of the group, someone much more able to keep up with him, than one of the last of the class, like a member of Watanabe's team.
"Show the best of you, class A," said his teacher before giving them time to agree on the final minutes of the class, which concluded the day's schedule.
Naoki, before going to Koujiro, sent a message to Kotoko announcing that they would not go home together, and that she told his mother.
"Irie-san." He looked up and saw that Koujiro had just placed before him, saving him the seat change.
He nodded.
"Do we review material at the library after class ends?" Koujiro asked.
Apparently, she had the same idea. It would not be an ordeal to have to work with that classmate.
"I am thinking that we could make progress at our homes and then meet. But in the library we could not talk as we need," she added at the end, wrinkling her mouth.
He nodded.
"Do you want to work at your place?" he asked.
She seemed hesitant and refused.
"My younger siblings will prevent us from working properly and I live near train tracks, I think there will be a lot of noise and interruptions."
Naoki thought that at home would not be free of the noise, because he did not get a calm space for months; but it was their best option.
"I'll notify at home."
"Well, what area it is of your interest, Irie-san? My interest is the ecological footprint in the sea and aquatic life, especially coral, or the impact of the use of biological weapons in reducing environmental health."
"Several perspectives," he replied after hearing her, leery of having to lead their project to what she said; but it represented the most likely way to finish, defined the issue, if the interests of both had a common denominator. "The closest to what you just said is the impact of the exploitation of the deep sea for obtaining minerals.
"That's… very new and I like it." Koujiro smiled. "Working with you, Irie-san, is the best that could have happened to me."
He began to keep his belongings without heeding the obviousness of it. Everyone in the class would have said the same.
"I'll go for my stuff," said his companion, and he nodded. Then the bell sound ending the day.
[...]
"A female classmate and I will meet here tomorrow for a school project," Naoki announced during dinner, once his mother had sat at the table.
He hoped his mother understood had to refrain from shaming him in any way, and the same was for Kotoko.
His mother looked at him, with a curious expression; he knew her, and it did not bode well. He hated to provide her opportunities where she could bring out her wit, not too good for him.
"What kind of project?" Asked his father, calling his attention.
Naoki looked away from his okaa-san and proceeded to explain to his father and the others listening, what contained the call, in a simple way, using the words given by his teacher two days ago.
"It'll help you for the University of Tokyo, Nao," opined his father, talking about his alma mater, and he shrugged, without affirming or denying that he would study there. And because it was more of the same.
With the time left for the examinations for prestigious universities or others than Tonan, comments regarding the future university increased, mainly from teachers to class. It was bothersome to hear it constantly, if one-time was enough; it only remarked on the mistaken belief that a major university would be able to train the best professionals, ignoring the influence of the abilities of the person…
"And this classmate, how is her?" asked his mother, diverting the conversation, as if talking about going to the University of Tokyo were not of interest. She proclaimed many times that, while he was happy and gave her the grandchildren she wanted… she was content. She was romantic.
Also, she always preferred to hear about women, as at that moment where she was interested in hearing from Koujiro. As if he cared about her beyond the project.
Moreover, if she didn't want to pair them, which would have been her typical behavior, he didn't see her interest. Unless…
"It she nice? Pretty? No more that Kotoko-chan, of course." There was his mother motive, which corroborated his girlfriend, who stopped eating and leant to pay more attention to the topic. He almost rolled his eyes.
They were ridiculous. Surely, they thought that his intentions to bring Koujiro home were other… As if he were like that, even without a girlfriend.
"And why do you care?" he muttered, shrugging, having no interest to stimulate their troublesome thoughts.
"Tell me, onii-chan; I want to know about the girl that is coming home. She can be like those two friends of Kotoko-chan that accompanied her home the other day, besides that… uh…" Naoki frowned. "…nice boy classmate, who calls Ai-san father," she mumbled, causing the laughter of Yuuki.
The loud-mouthed jerk. He didn't waste time; possibly, he didn't know her friends would join. Well for them.
"She's smart, right?" Kotoko interjected, asking something more logical about the girl.
"She has the third position," he agreed, because it was the important thing of his partner.
"Then she's very smart," recognized his girlfriend with her shoulders down.
He almost rolled his eyes, imagining her making comparisons… it even seemed that she was the daughter Noriko Irie and not him.
His mother noticed the reaction of Kotoko and jumped. "But being smart is not everything."
Yuuki coughed. "Onii-chan is very intelligent," he replied, defending him. Kotoko nodded, supporting his position.
His mother smiled.
"Oh, I just wish he wasn't all the time. He doesn't have to struggle."
Naoki continued to eat, without taking notice. He knew what she meant; he would not give her the satisfaction of hearing this time. In addition, his intellectual capacity would take him farther than she thought, and he preferred that kind of achievements than the dreams that she aspired for him.
"But, oba-sama, Naoki-kun is good at everything he does and can do much," Kotoko said, frowning, as if she didn't like what his mother was saying. "I admire him."
"Everything he touches turns into gold," quoted his mother and Naoki looked at her for a second, by the comparison with the myth of King Midas, whose fate in folklore was unhappy when he could not eat because everything transformed into metal. Or the story renovated by an American writer, where the daughter became gold.
"Hey?" Kotoko asked, causing his mother to explain what she meant.
Meanwhile, Naoki questioned whether his mother and others had that impression from him, that he could achieve all because it was easy with his high intellect. But it should not be, because they would believe him destined to ruin. And he, of course, had no such future even if what would do on it was as uncertain.
For a second, he swallowed. For Midas, turning things into gold was a curse. And, often, with his superior abilities and his eidetic memory, he supposed…
"Oba-sama, Naoki-kun isn't like that Midas, because how smart he is, he would realize that bad things can happen."
"Oh, Kotoko-chan, is not…"
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here," he cut, not wanting to hear more on the subject, with speculation that made him feel a laboratory animal, as they incited him to think about those absurdities.
His mother laughed.
"It's silly, I do not know why I say these things," she exaggerated her voice, "and I almost forget about your project partner."
However, he wondered if all her speech had been a very precise indirect of his mother, like other times when she tried to tell him alone and he didn't put attention. He wondered if she had deliberately introduced the topic…
It was not as if he would ask her.
[...]
Naoki saw the look Kotoko gave Koujiro when he approached their meeting place and rolled his eyes.
"Aihara-san, aren't you?" Said softly his classmate and the alluded nodded. "I'm Koujiro," she ended, bowing her head.
"Hi, Koujiro-san," answered his girlfriend, standing intentionally in the space between the two when they started the way home, to what he huffed, and he only found the black-haired noticed, because she looked at him for a second, but continued attentive to Kotoko. "Do you always have been in Class A?" Kotoko asked, grabbing the attention of his partner, with whom he wanted to discuss some issues of work on the way home.
Koujiro smiled. "Yes, I got into fifth in the entrance examination."
"Then you're very intelligent," Kotoko noted. "And also nice."
"Thanks, Aihara-san. You also have these qualities and others, even if they think differently because you are a Class F," admired his companion; to him, it seemed strange coming from someone of A. "I've never found very good the school system, if you ask me."
"Why?" Kotoko replied, surprisingly for Naoki, without stumbling on the road as she walked focused on a conversation.
He also asked the same in his mind, since in his opinion it was well to keep them apart, to work more with people with low skills and encourage them to aim for a higher position in classes.
"Well, it seems to students that the most important things are notes."
"There's the heart, too," said his girlfriend.
The dark-haired laughed. "Yes, and I think that if students were mixed as in other institutes it would help them to learn from others," she explained. "Is suitable classes are at the same level because it allows students with similar intellectual abilities to feel well, but it does not give lots of opportunities to those who are below."
"Ummm… but still, Naoki-kun says you're in third place," Kotoko argued.
"Yes, because to others it's a little difficult to understand this, and because my academic background will help me get into college."
Again, the same subject, Naoki noted.
"What are you going to study?"
"I want to be an environmental scientist, but I will study an engineering related to renewable energy."
"Wow! Scientific. And where will you apply?"
"Kyoto." The second best in the country.
From there, Naoki started to ignore them completely, without being surprised at how easy it was to Kotoko to talk his partner, although the other to hear her. He shrugged and, in the journey back home, he did what he always did, read.
[...]
The door of the study, which was their place to work—by his mother's orders—, opened, and Naoki looked up, like his partner, as no one had called before entering.
In the doorjamb, Kotoko was with a tray in her hands, that had sandwiches like those that his mother made when both were studying in her bedroom.
"I bring something to eat." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Wasn't his mother the one that did something like that? "Oba-sama prepared them," she added, misunderstanding.
She walked slowly to where he was with his partner.
Koujiro let out a laugh. "Thanks, Aihara-san. And I do not know how to cook, too." Kotoko put a doubtfully face. "For your comment," explained the girl, making room on the table they had occupied with papers and his laptop.
"For real?" Kotoko asked incredulously.
The other shook her head.
"My mom thinks it is my younger brother who has the skills that I don't. He's twelve and he has a wonderful ability to cook. I can barely reheat a meal without burning."
They both laughed, and he wondered why the other made it look like a pride; it was unpleasant to enhance poor skills.
"My friend Kin-chan cooks very well, although he is very bad at school," remarked Kotoko and he frowned when she made mention of the loud-mouthed idiot. "My dad is a chef. And Naoki-kun made a meal as in the recipe book. There are four men with better skills than us."
"Maybe we should be with that kind of man, Aihara-san."
Looking at him, Kotoko blushed and nodded. What if he told her about Koujiro liked him? He was sure she would not have taken so innocently what the other had said; although he had to admit that his partner had not alluded to his earlier confession.
Kotoko started to give a glimpse of what they had on the table, coming dangerously, so it was likely to provoke an accident.
"Don't you have other things to do?" he murmured, putting her away when she almost bumped into the glass.
She opened her eyes and stepped back, shaking her head.
"Shouldn't you be doing your homework?" He inquired, raised an eyebrow, making her laugh softly, looking shameful.
"I finished. Oba-sama wants me to help with dinner," she informed him, shifting her weight from one foot to another.
"And your desire to improve?" He spluttered, for her to be off once.
"Well… I wanted to see what you were doing."
"Kotoko, let us work," he asked in a minimally restrained tone.
"I'm going then," she announced and turned, walking to the door, which she closed after looking when it was ajar.
He proceeded to continue what they were doing; taking some snacks on what he read an article.
"Aihara-san is very fun and enjoyable, Irie-san," Koujiro said after a few moments. He did not look away from the lines. "I think good person. I like her."
How was it possible that Kotoko won people over easily?
Probably because they realized how irritating she might become when she insisted too much or knew no bounds to meddle in someone else's life—in that case, his—. She was Romantic, chatty, naïve, confident, determined, protective, sensitive, persistent and impulsive, it was not all bad at times, but he didn't understand why others liked her that quickly.
He was sure that, if circumstances had not united them, he would not want to talk with her more than once.
Naoki sighed, Koujiro was not that crazy; Kotoko could be a good person, but to him some of her attitudes… seemed bothersome… yes.
The door opened again and he looked the alluded. "I forgot to tell you, later I'll go back for the tray."
"Kotoko…"
She slammed the door and he snorted.
[...]
Naoki put the towel around his neck, so his wet hair didn't moisten the shirt of his pajamas, and left the bathroom to his room, glad that at the time for his school project he didn't have to tutor Kotoko all days. Something good came out of that.
He went through the door of Kotoko, tapping it with his knuckles.
She opened fast, as he continued with his fist raised.
"The bathroom is free," he said before turning around.
"Naoki-kun?" She spoke in a whisper.
He stopped for a second, as an indication that he had heard, wondering what she would want on that occasion.
He heard her sigh.
"She… Koujiro-san, is smart, right?" she asked. "And also very friendly… and do you think she is beautiful?" He rolled his eyes but gave a snort of his mouth.
He looked at Kotoko over his shoulder, with a sarcastic look.
"You want me to tell you that I like her?" he inquired, ironically.
"She is… the kind you like?" He smiled sideways watching her play with her fingers. It was stupid to waste time that way.
"Are you trying to listen that I want to break up and then start dating her?" he whispered with a grin. As if he had that opportunity, and he would have done it much earlier, when she confessed; but he was not interested in the qualities she had to offer. Kotoko nodded enthusiastically. "Don't think stupidities," he said dryly, thinking that his mother also had something to do with it.
If it wasn't Kotoko, it was his mother hanging around the studio.
"Naoki-kun," whispered his girlfriend in a strange tone, stepping forward.
"I'm going to sleep," he cut, retreating to his bedroom without thinking why his eyes were attracted by the shining ones of hers.
[...]
As he listened to the words of Koujiro, holding the computer mouse, Naoki settled into the seat of the study. They had virtually nothing left, with the multimedia file ready, which only needed one or two arrangements.
In the end, it had been just over a week and a half with the project, mainly because the interest of his partner far exceeded his and was very committed to the completion of work related to the study area she wanted to make in the future.
"Then today, before arriving home, I'll do the printing," confirmed Koujiro when he began to make ready the first of the CDs, where they would print the covers later.
He nodded.
"I liked working with you, Irie-san… even if your pace is exhausting but exhilarating."
"It's a good project," he offered in response, so that it became clear that having to work with someone else for that project wasn't very unpleasant.
Koujiro gathered her belongings and put them in her school bag.
The home bell rang… something strange.
"I'll open!" He listened Kotoko say that very closely as if she were by the door of the study. It wouldn't be surprising, with the numerous times she appeared around with silly excuses, aiming to keep him monitored in the company of a possible rival, as he heard her whispering once to his mother while going to the kitchen for a glass of water.
She only negatively fed Kotoko's mind with fantasies or idiotic ideas.
With Koujiro, he went to the studio door.
"KOTOKO!" He tensed after hearing the voice of the dumb…What was he doing at his home?
Mainly because casual visits weren't made if you lived on the other side of the city.
A good way to ruin the day; the loudmouth was the last person he wanted to have at home. Only by the sound of his voice, he felt irritation.
AN: Think of the chapter's name like: "Just because", with a shrug.
Just 90k words left to finish this story, so we have a long journey ha,ha.
Now, who is the dumb here? Really, Naoki is so...
Love, Karo.
Guest: Kotoko is lovely when she wants, so she accepted the kiss like something bigger. Other times I want to hit her for letting him do as he pleases with her. lol. I'm happy because you like it, and I hope you enjoy this one, too. Thanks for reviewing!