Chapter III: High School
"Good morning, Hiro-kun!" A cheerful voice startled me early that morning as I opened the tall wooden gates of my home. I shifted my sleepy gaze from the ground up to meet a pair of wide, bright brown eyes that were resting softly upon me.
"Mi-Miyako-chan." I stammered, a bit taken aback by the fact that she was there, waiting for me infront of my house. "Why,if it isn't Miyako-chan." I heared my grandpa call out from behind me. I turned around to find him leaning lightly against the pair of sliding doors at the entrance of our house. He smiled and waved at Miyako as he called out once more, "How are you?"
The girl returned back my grandfather's smile, eagerly waving back to him as she replied "It's great to see you well Ojii-san,
I'm doing great! Thank you for asking!"
I waved at grandpa, calling out "Ittekimasu!" before turning away to take my leave. Miyako had echoed what I had said as well,
following as I took my leave. Grandpa waved back saying a cheerful "Itterashai." as he watched us disappear behind the tall,
wooden gates.
I placed both hands in my pockets and allowed my back to curve in a relaxed manner in an attempt to act nonchalant about walking to school with her. Okay, so I said I'm pretty popular with the girls but I've never exactly walked with a girl to or from school before. Had she been waiting there for long? How come she still knew where I lived?
"S-sorry if I have intruded on you this morning." Her soft, timid voice cut through my thoughts. My eyes drifted to the side and rested on her small figure. She was holding her bag infront of her with both hands, making her look even smaller, almost like a scared little mouse. I wondered if I was making a scary face as I was lost in thought so I immediately waved my hands in front of me in assurance. "It's not a bother at all!" I said aloud in an uneven voice. 'I'm being awkward aren't I?' I thought to myself as I brought up my left hand, scratching the back of my head a bit. "I-I was just thinking that it's nice to have someone to walk to school to. I'm usually alone so..." I added, looking away just as she had look back up to me.
"You and Tatsuya-kun don't walk together?" She asked, a hint of curiosity rung through her voice.
"Nah," I replied as I placed my left hand back into my pocket. I looked ahead as a faint smile crossed my lips. "We used to but he moved to a different neighborhood. He still goes to our school though so we hang out there."
"Ah, sou desu." She replied, looking ahead as well. We stopped at a crosswalk side by side as we watched the red light blink,
preventing us from crossing the street. There was silence that enveloped us for a moment as I desperately searched my head for something clever or witty to say to start a conversation but sadly, everything that popped into my mind is either corny or just plain out awkward. I'm usually a pretty sociable guy but this... this is just sad. As I stood there, wallowing in self pity about how pathetic I am, I heard her say "You've gotten so tall Hiro-kun." The phrase cut though my thoughts and immediately my gaze shifted from across the street to her. She was looking up to me, making our height difference more apparent now. She was wearing her brown hair in a pair of pigtails, swaying in the wind whenever the breeze picked up. "You seem to have really grown up." A small, delicate smile crossed her lips but she didn't close her eyes. No, she kept her eyes on me as I returned her gaze with a surprised look on my face. Her smile alone, brought back all of our memories together and caused me to finally relax. I laughed, placing my hand on her head, ruffling her soft hair playfully. "What are you saying? Don't tell me you like the onii-chan type." I grinned at her. She puffed her cheeks, making the most adorable, annoyed look on her face as she replied "Ba-ka!" back to me. I allowed my hand to rest on her head for a few more second, feeling the strands of her hair under my palm before retracting it back to my pocket. The lights flashed green, signaling us to go. We walked side by side,
me taking long strides but she was able to keep up with me. "Say, Hiro-kun..." Miyako began, catching my attention. I looked at her from the corners of my eyes, she was looking ahead with a smile on her lips. "Wanna walk home together after school?"
"Sorry." I replied quickly, without a second thought. Only after I had said this did I realize how insensitive I must have sounded.
"Oh." She looked to the opposite side in an attempt to hide the disappointed look on her face. "It's not like that." I stopped on my tracks, wrapping my right hand around her arm. The tug caused her to turn and look up to me. I looked at her sincerely,
scrambling to try and explain. "I work part time." I said, making sure to keep my eyes on her. "I get off late so that's why..."
My voice drifted off helplessly. Finally that familiar smile appeared once again on her face as she replied, "I understand."
Our homeroom teacher's voice echoed throughout the class as the tapping of the chalk against the board matched the beat of his tone. There was a faint sound of pens gliding across notebook papers as most of my classmates took notes on what he was talking about. My face rested against the palm of my hand as I looked out the window that was partly open. A few petals of sakura snuck in, settling on top of my opened empty notebook. All the sounds around me sounded drowned out by the thoughts that clouded my mind. Recently I've gotten more and more aware of the situation at hand. Grandpa seem to grow weaker by each passing day and although I try to force the thoughts out of my mind, there was no way to contain them any longer. Running my fingertips through my hair, I desperately tried to think of a way, any way, to become a stronger pillar of support for my grandfather. It's frustrating to think that I'm sitting here inside the four walls of this classroom, unable to do anything for him. Unable to become a man faster and make him proud. To somehow be able to show him that all the work that he has invested in me was fruitful. I retracted my eyes away from the scenery down to my notebook. The thin blue lines against the white paper stood out and without even thinking, I traced my finger against the blue ink. And that's when it hit me, "Job preparation course." I said aloud unknowingly which of course caused my teacher to throw a chalk on my head just as he always had for anyone who interrupts the lecture.
The bell rang for lunch time and our teacher dismissed us, excusing himself as well. I stood up from my chair, stretching my arms over my head as Tatsuya approached me, resting against my desk. "You really should learn your lesson by now not to interrupt the class you know." He chirped in with a grin. "Shut up." I said sulking a bit as I rubbed the spot where the chalk had hit me. He laughed, patting my shoulders before we headed out towards the hallway. "So I saw you walking with a girl this morning." He said in a teasing manner as he nudged me lightly with his elbow. "You mean Miyako-chan?" I replied, scratching the side of my jaw lightly with my thumb. "Oh that was Miyako-chan?" He waved over to a couple of female students waving at us. "She sure has gotten cute." He continued with a grin. "Yeah." The word alone came out so smoothly and naturally without me even giving much thought to it. A hint of red tint danced across my heated face as I realized what I had just said. I turned to look at Tatsuya who had a mischevious cat-like grin on his smug face. "What is this? Has Hiroyuki finally become a man?" He covered his mouth as he left out a sort of like obaa-san 'ho-ho-ho'
laugh. "S-shut up!" I replied, gritting my teeth at him as I lifted my arm in an attempt to hit him in the back of his head.
"You two seem lively." We both looked up to find Miyako coming out of a classroom, sliding the door behind her. She made her way to us,
smiling that same smile she had this morning. "Ah, Hisashi buri Miyako-chan. Remember me?" Tatsuya pointed to himself before continuing "Tatsuya."
"Tatsuya-kun, hisashi buri. It's great to see you again." Miyako smiled sweetly, slightly tilting her head to the side. Her dark brown hair swayed as she did so.
"Hai, hai!" Tatsuya replied as he placed a hand on my shoulder, patting it firmly. "Saw you and Hiro come to school together today. It's good to see him with someone." He leaned forward towards Miyako and the girl leaned forward as well as to be polite. "He gets lonely easily you know?" He whispered but audible enough for me to hear. He winked at Miyako before I elbowed him to his side. "I'll kill you!" I glared at him, my face burning with embarassment. Him and I have been good friends but he never turns down an opportunity to embarass me. He laughed before running off, excusing himself to meet his with his girlfriend.
"That guy, really-" I gritted my teeth as I watched him take his leave. He turned out making a smoochy face before disappearing into the group.
"Haha," Miyako's giggles caused me to turn my attention back to her. She had one of her arms across her torso, holding her side while her other hand was slightly covering her lips as she continued to laugh. I looked at her with my eyes half closed, an irritated look crossing my features.
"Are you making fun of me?" I said, pinching both of her cheeks, stretching them.
"Oww, oww, oww!" She managed to utter slurred words. She was still laughin though, "I was just thinking that you guys seem really close."
I let her go, leaning my back against the window of the hallway, crossing my arms. "Well, we have been friends since we were kids." I then grinned at her before continuing, "Even though his mom hates me."
"Well, my dad isn't very fond of your either." She pointed at herself. "Remember when you and your friends tried to ride with me on my bike and he hit you on the back of the head?" "Yeah, I remember." I rubbed the spot where he had hit me from way back then. "Still," I turned my gaze to her, my eyes half-closed. "You don't have to rub it in that parents naturally hate me." I flicked her forehead lightly. She blinked, looking at me. We stared at each other for a while before bursting into laughter.