Chapter Five

Sachie

"Sachie! Did you hear?" Chiko wailed to me, eyes streaming.

"What?" I asked, thoroughly alarmed. "What happened?"

"It's Fuji." I should've known. "He broke his leg!"

"Oh, he broke his--WHAT?!" I could barely believe my own ears. It was only two days ago that he discovered me in the park, practicing tennis. The bombshell struck my dumb for a moment. I grabbed Chiko's arm. "How do you know this?"

"I saw him in his classroom, sitting in a wheelchair," sobbed Chiko.

"Do you know...did he say if he'll ever be able to walk again?"

She shook her head sorrowfully. "I never asked."

I gave her a hug and patted her on the back. Considering the pain her crush was in, it was natural that she should feel shocked and worried too. A small part of this pain also reached out to me, but I resolutely refused to touch it. I had enough to think about with Chiko in her present state.

"Oh, Chiko, I'm sorry. You must be feeling horrible. But the best thing you can do for him is to act normal, you know? Let him know that nothing's different."

"Um...well...actually..." she mumbled something indistinct, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"What's wrong?"

She was acting very weird, for someone who was supposed to be distraught.

"It's just that...you know how weird it is, to be in love with someone in a wheelchair?"

"Uh," I said, thinking her question over. "What's wrong with that?"

"Just imagine," she said with an eerie giggle, "how would it look if you went on a date with him? It would look so freaky holding his hand, and he barely comes up to your shoulder..."

I loathed myself for it afterwards, but I had to laugh with her. "So what's the deal, Chiko?"

"I don't know. When I saw him just now...I realized I might never seen him on the tennis courts again, and you know that's where he's hottest..."

"Chiko?" I felt myself mentally back away from her. "Does this mean...?"

"Yes!" she burst into tears. "I've fallen out of love with him. I can't believe it!"

It was then that I realized however long you had known someone, there were still some things you miss out. Was this really my friend Chiko? Chiko, who had remained loyal to me—more or less—for so long, Chiko, who had recently dumped our friendship for the guy she was now no longer in love with? I've heard that love doesn't last, I mean, I've been told enough times already. But because the guy had broken his leg? What kind of reason is that?"

I noticed that she didn't try to catch Fuji's eye in class anymore. Instead, she exchanged winks with Eiji in Japanese History.

"Chiko! What are you doing?" I demanded of her.

"Don't you think he's hot?"

Seriously, what do you say to something like that? Me, I just picked up my book and buried my nose in it, ignoring her for the rest of the lesson. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Fuji work. I was relieved to see that he still looked normal, as in he still smiled. Though as happy as I was that he wasn't taking it too badly, I couldn't help thinking that he was being optimistic to the point of being unnatural.

Lagging behind after the bell, I saw that, predictably, his fan club was a lot smaller than usual. It scared me that there were so many girls like Chiko walking around. It made me think about how Chiko would react if it had been me coming in with a broken leg.

Still, what could I have done about it? I couldn't think of any way to help Fuji, except avoid him and avoid saying anything to embarrass him. Besides, the rest of the tennis club would help him out, I figured. It wasn't like I was his friend, or anything.

That day after school, Chiko tried to talk me into watching the boys' tennis club practice. I stubbornly refused, saying that I had my own tennis to work on. She was my best friend and all, but there were still some things about her that I couldn't accept.

Looking for a new crush right after her old one broke his leg, for instance.

So for the first time in a long time I exited the school building alone. It was very disturbing, how someone who technically had nothing to do with me could turn my work upside down. It was frightening, how someone I didn't know could shatter my trust in one of the people I loved most.

Slowly, I made my way to the school gates. But what was that there in the distance? I could see it was alive, because it was moving, but it was too short and fat to be a human. It had appeared out of the late afternoon sun, so I couldn't see it very clearly. However, when I got closer...

Turns out it was a person. I'm sure, by now you can guess whom it was...I stopped in my tracks.