July 18, Friday

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With a stiff neck and weary eyes, Mai resolutely stared at the gross fleck on the window beside her. It was probably a squished bug. Maybe it was decaying bird poop. It might even be snot from the person who sat there before her. She involuntarily pushed back from the glass and nudged the very thing that made her scrutinize the greenish splatter in the first place.

It was a mop of black locks.

She pulled herself back—gently and minutely—and compelled her eyes to stay on the speck once again. She didn't mind it that much anymore. A bigger problem was breathing down her neck.

Even though she deliberately avoided the bus last Tuesday regardless of the continuous drizzle, Mai was seated beside the young man once again because the rain was too heavy today. There were complications this time around however. Tokyo felt like being Tokyo this morning, giving them all the wondrous blessing of traffic, thus ensuring her that she wouldn't be able to escape soon A huge part of the citizens of this fine city was witnessing this grand phenomenon at this very second. To be precise, it was two thousand eight hundred thirty-four seconds of astounding traffic. See how this was a problem? Mai started counting since bus number 42 hit this brick wall. This in itself was very worrying. She hated counting.

One other slight complication was that—ohmyohmyohmyhowthehelldidthishappen—the young man that sat beside her twice a week was sleeping. And he was leaning on her shoulder. This was the first time of this ever happening to Mai, and admittedly, she actually had to stop herself from touching his hair. She could not fathom why she had the urge. It was probably because he looked so damn peaceful and Mai was just so jealous and maybe if she touched him, perhaps she could have some of that tranquility.

The second complication didn't sound exactly as troublesome as the first, so here comes Mai's third complication of the morning. She now just realized that all the emotions she felt (i.e. embarrassment, humiliation, etc.) whenever she was near him equaled to irrational infatuation. Maybe more. But maybe not. She did not know how that happened.

You don't even know his name, idiot.

Perhaps it was because of oh my gosh he's so close to me what do I do what do I do was what propelled her to realize. In a fleeting moment, Mai thought of what her friends would say. They would probably call this occurrence a 'miracle' because they always said that she was pretty dense, mostly with the feelings of those around her, but especially of her own. Mai didn't understand what they meant about that though.

The dirt on the window was slowly losing its luster, so Mai had to find another diversion. She anxiously looked around without jostling the young man, but nothing in her line of vision was as fascinating as the bug/bird poop/booger. Instead, she decided to enumerate what she could remember about yesterday's science class lecture—the Biology one, not Chemistry. The five stages of Mitosis were Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase and… and somethingphase. She racked her brain for the last one, yet it refused to come up. It was even pure luck that she remembered something from the lecture because she mostly memorized by reading passages repetitively.

I really should suck it up and study soon, Mai thought, remembering that she had an overdue lab report for Mitosis. Bear in mind that today was the last day before summer vacation; she really had been lazy.

Carefully maneuvering her gaze around the green splatter, she glanced outside and saw that the vehicles around their own resembled a pack of sardines. The automobiles, both private and public, were so close together that they only had a few inches of space between. This was Mai's scenery for the past fifty minutes.

Mai turned her eyes up and saw angry, low hanging clouds. With the oncoming change of climate, they stood proud and stubborn, refusing to give way for the sun. They gave Tokyo one last enraged torrent to remember. The plum rain would end today.

With her neck craned as high as it could without disturbing her slumbering companion, Mai swept her gaze to the road in front of the bus. She was still a long way from school, considering the traffic and the weather combined. In spite of the probable impediments she might face when she would come to school late, she felt peaceful—as if the young man graced her with the serenity that she coveted. Leaning her head back, she took deep breaths and closed her eyes. She was surprised how sleepy she felt, though this could have been caused by her sinful act of nonstop fiction reading the night before.

Half asleep and already dreaming about Mitosis, she mumbled a question she'd never speak if she had been fully awake. "What's your name?" she asked, her eyes fluttering as she hopelessly tried to swat away the sleep sand.

Mai's travel buddy stirred, but unlike her, did not sleep talk. He woke up a few minutes later and was aghast at how indecent he found himself to be. He was never one to sleep in public, but that paled in comparison to leaning on a stranger. Pulling himself back to distance himself, he tried to recall how this happened. He distinctly remembered that he left his place at exactly 7:27 A.M. as he always did, walked for eight minutes to the bus stop, and rode the bus when it arrived fourteen minutes later—eleven minutes more than usual. He then sat at the eighth row, beside the high school student who he found amusing, and… nothing. Sleep visited him most likely because his mother insisted on talking his ear off last night during their international phone call. It was only fair that he'd stay up this time, she said. He had always ignored her calls when he was awake and when she was supposed to be asleep.

He was propelled out of his thoughts when the girl beside him mumbled in her sleep. "Te..." she muttered, fidgeting as she looked for a comfortable position. "Telo…phase." Her head swayed to an uncomfortable pose as her arm moved onto her stomach. She would definitely wake up to a stiff neck in that position. The young man took pity and gently nudged her head so that it was leaning on his shoulder. He told himself that he only did this to make things even between them.

For the rest of Tokyo's traffic wrath combined with the rain's angst, they stayed that way until the bus stopped for the third time. The operator called twice and the young man shook Mai's shoulder six times. She woke up on the second and was insisting to have five more minutes on the fourth. On the sixth shake, she finally heeded to her alarm clock and groggily got out of her seat. Her eyes were still closed when her bag was shoved into her arms. She shambled to the front of the bus and slammed her shoulder into what she thought was her craggy apartment door.

"Ah!" she cried out as she flew out the already opened doors of the bus. It was an effective wake-up method.

Fortunately, steady arms caught her before the asphalt could give her a punch. She sighed in relief, tasting the words of gratitude on the tip of her tongue. She promptly bit them when she looked up at her savior. It was Reichi Nakamura, the pompous bastard who wouldn't let her take first place.

"What are you doing her, Nakamura?" Mai asked, frowning as she stepped away from him.

"Would it kill you to thank me like a normal person?" he retorted, his light-colored eyes dancing.

"Yes."

And so their daily routine started, albeit a little earlier than usual. As they walked to school, they mocked each other and traded insults. They exchanged the sweetest smiles they could muster when they parted ways in front of Mai's classroom. Not once did Mai notice that the umbrella Nakamura had used to shield themselves from the downpour was the umbrella she lost the day before.

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A/N: This is longer than I planned… And I'm kinda anxious about introducing an OC… Thanks so much for reading and for the support you've given me! Virtual hugs and kisses and cookies for everyone!