Split
As it always does, time passed, and the first semester of Azumano High School had ended. With it, the old seating arrangements. Now that she was sitting on the opposite side of the classroom, Risa Harada no longer worked with Satoshi Hiwatari. She worked with Seahara-san, and always rushed to get things done at the last minute. He would doze off during their work periods, and turn in his assigned work a day late. Not to mention, the conversation between Risa and Takeshi was so boring, she would rather talk to a wall.
As they worked on a certain history project, Risa couldn't help but sigh. Takeshi had dozed off again, and she was stuck taking notes. She looked around the room, stretching her neck, and caught sight of her old partner. There he was, working with some other infatuated fan-girl, trying to explain something or other to her. She would just giggle in an annoyingly high voice and find a sly way to pat his hand. Satoshi seemed to grimace at the touch, and Risa didn't recall him ever doing such a thing when she would touch him.
A strange feeling of loneliness swept over her, and she returned to her notes before it became too much.
---
Another session after school, trying to fix what Takeshi had completely messed up. As she grumbled insults and glued pictures onto a poster, she understood why Daisuke would get so fed up with the boy.
"Hello, Harada-san," Satoshi Hiwatari greeted her as he walked past, carrying two rented library books.
"Hey," she mumbled, the loneliness coming back. Ever since they had split, it was as if they weren't even friends. If they were lucky, they waved at each other in the halls, the normal "how are you" question passing between them. Sad as it was, Risa had to admit that she truly missed the blue-eyed boy with the uncanny ability to make her day better, no matter what the troubles were.
---
Balancing a poster, a backpack that wasn't completely zipped, a coat in an arm, and two books is quite a difficult task to achieve. Risa Harada must have run into three people while trying to make it out of the school alive. It was annoying, really.
She stopped outside of the school, finally resting a bit. Oh, how she hated Mondays.
"Hello, Harada-san," Satoshi said as he walked by, nodding. "How are you?"
She rolled her eyes, finding it rude that he could walk by her struggling physique and ask how she was doing. "Fantastic, and yourself?"
He actually paused at this and looked back. Puzzled, he opened his mouth to speak, but a high-pitched "Hiwatari!" interrupted him. He looked mortified as his current project partner ran up and stole him away, babbling nonsense on how she was so excited for Biology the next day.
---
"Oi, oi!"
Risa felt Takeshi hit her with the rolled up packet of paper. She snatched it away in the blink of an eye and continued taking notes. Takeshi was in shock.
"I don't get it, Harada-san," he said, leaning back in his chair. "You never used to care about work. You always paid more attention to boys or make up."
"I've learned to value the work that I do and the things that I learn." She had made up this lie many weeks ago, after the first time Takeshi confronted her about this. She used it every time one of her friends would pull that line as well. She just didn't want to tell them that she was hiding behind her work.
But from what?
A high-pitched laugh sounded in her ears, and she glanced over at the two of them. There he sat, rolling his eyes and trying to explain Napoleon Bonaparte to a mere fan-girl, who could hardly understand what two plus two was, nonetheless know what kind of contradicting man Napoleon was.
Risa quickly went back to taking notes.
---
Risa entered the library, shaking off the water from her umbrella. Unconsciously, she began walking towards a certain table... a certain table at which a certain boy sat...
Halfway there, she stopped herself, horrified. The young man looked up, and the two just stared at each other. It was the most awkward thing that Risa had ever been a part of. She was so used to walking over to him and sitting down, and working with him. It wasn't her fault that the two of them would spend almost everyday in the Library, chatting or completing classwork. It was almost... heart-breaking that she couldn't do that anymore.
Quickly, before the blush could deepen, Risa gave him a spasmodic wave, then rushed into the many isles of bookshelves, hiding in the farthest corner, and trying not to cry.
---
"Seahara-kun, you need to get your work done," Risa told him, annoyed to hell and back.
"Aw, I have another day, Harada-san," Takeshi said with a yawn.
She hit him over the head with a fan. "No! No more procrastination. You need to work on this now! I will not go to the library on my free Saturday just to make sure that the work you were supposed to be doing is completed. Now, work!"
Takeshi grumbled, but began to write notes. The two were used to such an arrangement happening, but the rest of the class was awestruck by it.
"When did Harada-san become such a work Nazi?" the fan-girl whispered to Satoshi, who had been staring pensively at the brown-haired wonder.
The bell rang, and the students hurried to gather their belongings. Satoshi, glancing at his partner, then back at Risa, sighed and stood, straightening himself. He excused his rudeness to his fan-girl, and walked up to the teacher, requesting that he spoke with him immediately.
---
Exhausted, drained, ready to beat Takeshi into a pulp, Risa Harada walked up to the teacher at the end of the final class period on Friday afternoon.
"Hiyono Sensei, I need to talk to you."
"Certainly, Harada-san," the older man looked up from the papers he was grading. "What can I help you with?"
"I can't be Seahara-san's partner anymore. He never does his work, he always leaves it to me, I've lost count of how many Saturdays I've given up for him, and I'm just about ready to-!"
"Would you like to be partnered with Hiwatari-san again?"
For a second, she couldn't breathe, but she let out a huge sigh, bowing her head and nodding. "Yes, sir."
Hiyono let out a small 'hmph'. "Alright then."
Risa blinked. "B-but don't you have to ponder it a while? Don't you have to discuss it with the other student?"
"I've seen how much work had gone into these projects, Harada-san," the man explained. "I know how well you work with Hiwatari-kun, and I know how well you two get along. Since I've split the two of you up, both of your grades have been dropping. At first, I thought it was just you, but Hiwatari's has been dropping as well, which is beyond my comprehension." He let out a sigh and went back to grading papers. "Your friend should still be in the library... his partner has left quite a bit of work undone."
---
Sure enough, there he sat, at their table, all alone with a poster board to his side. His brow was furrowed in concentration, he would make small marks and write notes on the poster every now and then. He strived to make his handwriting legible. After a few minutes, he had to pause for a rest. He was so tense that when he stretched, all of the bones cracked in his body. He grimaced and yawned.
"Hey there, smart guy," a familiar voice sounded. He felt an arm rest on his left shoulder, and instantly relaxed. "Wow. Your fan-girl didn't do anything, did she?"
"Not really," he said, letting another yawn out. Tiredly, he rested his head on her arm, closing his eyes. "It's good to speak to you again, Harada-san."
"It's Risa," she said, giggling. "And you must be really tired."
"Not necessarily," Satoshi replied. He hesitated before admitting quietly, "I've missed you, Harada-san..." At first, he wasn't sure if she had heard him.
He could almost feel her smile when she drapped her arms around his shoulders and squeezed. "You have no idea."