Affinity
The two boys went downstairs to the first floor. Their next class is P.e, Tod wasn't looking forward to this. Rono just shrugged it off and considered it as a free period. Normally the things aren't complex when it comes to P.e compared to school. Somehow in every P.e period he excels in every quarter in middle school without giving it his all. This was an incredible ability in other people's eyes, but he doesn't feel all that there was anything special about it.
When they got to their destination the first thing they did before going to class is to put on the shoes for P.e. Putting on the uniforms was the next, then after that, they went outside by the track. Both of the boys had to split up because Rono wanted to greet the girls.
"I'll see you later Tod!"
"Alright, see you!"
Tod had nothing to do so he decided to look for the short-haired girl that he'd met last time. He walked around the track to try to find the girl. It didn't took that long for him until he found her behind the trees.
What is she doing? He thought
She seems to be spying on someone.
He looked over the direction she was looking. As his eyes moved towards the direction she was looking, it was a group six people. Five of them were female, one was a male. It was no doubt that it was Rono and the other girls.
"Who is she looking at, since Rono is the only guy in the group then I guess it's him. Looks like he has a secret admirer."
He slowly tiptoes to Kaorin, stops behind her. Kaorin still not noticing anything, she looks at the group with a blushing face. Tod raised both of his hands toward her shoulder area. Then he quickly touches both of her shoulders which causes her to scream.
"Ah!"
"Hey what was that?" Yomi questioned.
"It's probably nothing, maybe a screaming cat." Tomo guessed.
"A cat you say?" Sakaki and Rono quickly exclaimed.
"Don't even try believing her." Yomi said
"Or maybe it could be an alien abducting a helpless girl." Osaka added.
"Especially Osaka."
Back to Tod and Kaorin...
"Oh it's you, why would you scare me like that!?"
"I just felt like it."
"You're unbelievable."
"Hehehe, right am I not?"
They both giggled after he said that statement. The two looked at the ground not giving eye contact for a minute.
"So... Why are you here for? Weren't you with Rono back there."
"Yeah, but he left me for no reason. What a jerk." He said jokingly, Kaorin chuckled.
"Hey why were you staring at them?"
"No I wasn't! I was just...bird watching!"
"At the ground area?"
"Uh, fine you caught me. I was watching them." She slouched a little to the ground.
"Do you have a crush?"
"Eh? What makes you say that out of the blue."
"Because it seemed like it."
A moment of silence occurred, a minute had past with not one answer. Tod soon gave up on trying to get his answer, but it didn't stop his curiosity.
"Well, I'm sorry for asking you that Kaorin. Have you told any of your friends who it was that you liked?"
"No, it's very personal that even my friends don't know it yet."
"Ok but when you feel ready to tell me, tell me. I won't think anything weird about it, it is your life after all, and that's the way it should be."
"Ok Tod, thank you for understanding."
"No problem!" He said with a big smile while rubbing the back of his neck.
"We should probably get going, the teacher is about to arrive."
"Alright."
Soon both of them walked to their P.e teachers.
I can not risk on letting anyone know that I have a thing with miss Sakaki! she thought
When every student got to their classes, Tod walked with Kaorin who was still looking at Sakaki when she was making her way to class. Now we will see what Rono and the others are going to do now.
"Ok class, today we are going to start playing Volley ball for this week. First we are going to refresh our minds with some basic drills. For today we are only doing basic passes to our partners. Everybody has to be in a pair!"
As everybody began to get their partners, Chiyo began to worry who would hers. Since she is smallest one in the school, nobody would even pick her as a partner when it came to sports. Luckily for her she found one, it was the one and only spaced out girl, Osaka.
"Miss Osaka over here!"
"Huh? Oh, hi Chiyo-chan!"
"Hi there! Would you please be my partner?"
"Sure!"
Yomi once again got Tomo as her partner, sadly. Rono didn't know which partner he should pick at first. But then a tall and long Raven black-haired girl came up behind him without a sound.
"Hey Rono."
"Oh hey there Sakaki, what is it?"
"Want to be partners?" She said in her calm voice.
"Huh, oh sure. Why not."
"Rono, if you ever need a partner. We can be partners for the rest of the year if you want." She blushed.
"Really? That is very kind of you, as you can tell I'm a shy person. Not really a conversational person when it comes to random people."
"How come you're not when you're with me and the others?" She asked.
"Because...I feel safe when I'm around you all...especially when I'm with you."
This unexpected statement made Sakaki blush a shade of pink on her cheeks. Rono didn't know why Sakaki had that reaction. He accidentally made her blush without knowing a thing about it. Meanwhile, Kurosawa took out the Volley balls and gave them to every pair of students. Right when she came up to Rono and Sakaki, she commented something to both of them.
"Hm, our best athlete with our other best athlete. This will be very interesting in the future."
"What do you mean?" Rono asked.
"You'll see when the time comes." Then she walks away to the next pair.
It was now time to begin with the drill.
"Okay Sakaki, I will pass it to you softly."
"Oh come on just because I'm a girl, doesn't mean I'll get hurt!" She said playfully.
Rono never saw this side of her before, but he kind of liked it. That's when the hint of nostalgic feeling had hit him.
Why is this so familiar, why is this feeling coming up again? He thought
"Alright Sakaki, you asked for it."
He passes the ball to her and she hits it back to him. Rono missed the ball and it bounced off behind him.
"Now do you see Rono? Girls are just as better as Boys." She says as she put her hands on her hips moving side to side when she talks.
"Hehe, you're right I should never judge people by their appearances. Especially to a tomboy." He grins evilly.
"Oh damn!" Said a random guy.
"Grr, you take that back!"
"Not until you keep the ball from falling. This time, I won't hold back!"
Their eyes shined a bright and shiny star. Both of them are now at full competitive mode. As for Chiyo and Osaka, things aren't going as planned as it should be.
"Are you ready miss Osaka?"
"Ready when you are!"
She passes the ball to her but fails miserably, she tries again but this time the ball fell on top of Osaka's head.
"Ow. I'll go get it!"
She runs over to the ball and runs back.
"Ready?"
"Okay!"
She passes the ball but it then fell on Chiyo's head because she couldn't catch the ball in time, plus the ball was also high up.
"Ow! It's ok I got it!" She does the same as Osaka, she runs to the ball and goes back to her last position. They both repeat the process again and again, it was no wonder why nobody would pick them as a partner in sports. Kurosawa looks at them and tries to forget what she just saw.
She walks over to the other pair which are Tomo and Yomi. The two girls were trying out the drills just like any other person would do, until one of them started to yell out random things and hitting the ball at the other really hard, that girl, was Tomo.
"HEY! What the heck are you doing!" Yelled Yomi
"I'm making things a lot more interesting, besides I'm bored of this."
"You can't even pass the ball right!"
"Yeah yeah, I'm already a pro at this, besides, how hard can it be?"
She passes the ball to Yomi but it only travels two feet across. It wasn't even halfway to where Yomi was standing. Kurosawa decides to move on with the next group. The next pair were Tod and Kaorin, to her surprise, they were the only normal ones who tried their best besides Rono and Sakaki
Both of the young teenagers were practicing on doing the drills like any person would do. The thing that catches Kurosawa's eye is how well the two were bonding with each other really well. Only close friends were able to do this kind of thing. Even when one accidentally hits the other with the ball, they continuously apologize to eachother.
"Oh! I'm truely sorry Tod, it's my mistake!"
"Nah it's ok Kaorin, I wouldn't mind getting getting a from you."
"What?"
"Ah! Uh, nothing!"
Why did I just blurt that out of nowhere! My perverted side is coming out somehow! He thought.
"Oh really?" Kaorin chuckles
Tod smiles when it happens, a part of him regrets it, but it was worth it to see her smile.
Kurosawa smiles at this sight, it was very heartwarming indeed seeing how those two began to develop more affinity. She walks over to Rono and Sakaki for her last stop.
I wonder what those two are doing, hopefully nothing crazy. She thought
When she walks over to them, she finds both of them lying on the floor heavily breathing.
"That was a nice little competition there."
"Yeah." She said in her calm voice.
A few minutes of silence occurred between the two. Rono broke the silence with an apology.
"I'm sorry for calling you a "Tomboy" Sakaki."
"It's ok, I knew you were joking."
"Really? I'm glad."
Both of them began to think of something to spend a few more minutes with each other. Then it hits them with a brilliant idea.
"Hey wanna get some juice?" They both said at the same time, both of them blushed.
"Uh, sure." They both said again at the same time again. The two giggled at each other.
Aw if only I had that kind of affection from someone. Well, it is about time class should end after all. Kurosawa thought.
And so, she did so with telling them all what the next objective they will do the next day. The group later went to their locker rooms, the girls went to the girl's locker room, the boys went to the boy's locker room. Sakaki and Rono started to get ready to see eachother outside the school for the juices they both promised.
Rono stands outside the school gates, he waits for Sakaki but it starts to take a while for her. He starts to worry and wonders what was taking her so long. So he goes to the girls locker room building. Before he could even make it he meets up with Sakaki with surprise.
"Oh hey." He said.
"Where were you going?"
"I was going to the girls locker room."
"Why would you do that?"
"You were taking too long, I began to worry that you would cancel on me." He looks down in shame.
"I wasn't planning to, you do know girls take longer to dress out than boys, do you?"
"No."
Wait I forgot, he doesn't know anything that much about girls. She thought.
"Well, shall we?"
"Sure."
So the both left to the vending machine with the juices. It was located in the middle of the open area of a he school. There is no roof on the area, just natural sunlight and Cherry Blossom trees. Since the school was big, it would take 5 minutes just to get there from the front of the school. On their way there, there were ongoing club activities in session in some of the classrooms. One of them were the sports club which both Sakaki and Rono didn't plan on joining anytime soon. Second was the astronomy club, Kaorin was part of it and was about to get in the room too.
"Hi Miss Sakaki!" She said in excitement.
"Hey Kaorin." Sakaki said in her cool voice.
When she slowly looked over on who the person was on Sakaki's right side, her face slowly transitioned to a natural face. Her eyes slowly looked over to the ground and proceeded to say something else.
"Hi Rono..." She said this time in a depressed voice.
Sakaki didn't notice but the only one who did was Rono. He began to wonder what made her become this way. What did he even do? What was the reason for this? He shrugged it off after a bit, that is now something he had to find out later. They were almost to their destination, Rono wanted to go do his business in the bathroom. Luckily for him, the two were now by the bathrooms. He looked over at Sakaki who was still focused to her front direction to tell her his first stop.
"Sakaki, I have to go to the bathroom, could you please wait for me?"
She nodded, he goes inside the bathroom to do his business. When he finished, he walks up to the sink to wash his hands. He decides to wash his face but the thing that bothered him were the bandages wounded around his head. It has been a few hours since the last time he had it on. It was about time to take it off, just be safe he gets a paper towel that way if his head is still bleeding he can cover it. He takes off the pin on the side of the bandages by his side of his head, he slowly unwinds the bandages from his head. His heart starts to race when he reaches halfway of taking the whole thing off, when he finally takes it all off he checks his forehead where the wound was first. When he does that, he looks down on the badges which is now covered in dried up blood. Most of the bandages were covered in red because of the blood. He throws it in the trash and now washes his face. He dries himself up, opens the door and goes outside. Sakaki notices the door open, she immediately turns around and looks at his brown eyes.
"Back already?"
"Yeah."
She notices something different about him, it was at that very moment that she knew the bandages were now off. The wound that was just opened from this morning has now finally been healed. She sighed in relief as she noticed.
"Your bandages are off and your wound has healed up...I'm glad."
"Me too. Well we're halfway there aren't we?"
"To where?" She questioned.
"To the vending machines of course!"
"Oh yeah, my bad." She blushed she felt embarrassed, it made her think that Rono thought of her as "dumb". However he ignored it, he instead found her a bit cute when she blushed. He shook his head and continued.
"Let's go."
And so they carried on and continued walking forward. The doors are around the corner, which means a few feet more for those delicious juices! Now they turn around to the corner which now leads to the door for those vending machines. They go outside the doors, the sunlight shines on them as they get out, now standing in front of them were benches, cherry blossom trees and especially the 5 vending machines. All of that excersize from P.e and the walking made their throats parched. They walk over to the machines and silence filled the air. They noticed they were the only ones there. Rono breaks the silence by telling Sakaki:
"The juices are on me!" He exclaimed.
"Oh no, you don't have to." She said.
"No it's alright, I got this!"
And thus, she agreed to the offer. He puts in the amount of money the vending machine required to get the juices. He starts to look at the selection menu for the juices to decide which one he should get.
"I'll pick green tea juice please." He said as he presses the button.
Sakaki to her surprise remembered that Rono still likes green tea. It was his favorite ever since they were both kids. Whenever they both got out for a drink near the park, Rono would always pick green tea juice.
Before he puts in the money into the machine, he asks Sakaki which one she wanted.
"Hey Sakaki, which one do you want?"
"Either would be fine." She smiled to him, in returns he nodded.
In reality, she actually wanted coconut juice. It was her favorite since her early days as a little girl. Rono looks around the selection menu a second time. He wants to give Sakaki the best one which is the limited time juice of the vending machine, tangerine juice. However, something was holding him back from choosing it.
Somehow I feel that she doesn't want this kind of drink. He thought
He looks over at the coconut flavor one and it made him wonder.
I have this feeling that she wants this coconut one, she did say she wanted any flavor from this machine right? Well, I'll pick this coconut one for her then.
Sakaki was looking at him the whole time, looking to find out what flavor he would get for her. And thus, the result was the coconut flavor. The plastic cup fell down from the vending machine and instantly started pouring the coconut juice to the cup. When juice stopped pouring, Rono took out the cup out of the vending machine and gave it to her.
"Here you go, hope you like coconut juice!"
"Thanks." She soon took a sip of it and wondered.
How did he know coconut was my favorite? She thought.
"How did you know coconut is my favorite?" She asked.
"Oh, uh." He began to think what made him choose the flavor.
Now that she mentions it why did I get it for her? Not even I know what made me get it, could it be by instinct or maybe I already knew that it was her favorite? He thought.
"To be honest, I don't really know. I just felt like this was the right one for you, I wanted to give you the limited time juice for you at first but it was just something that kept me from getting it." He said
"Oh..well..thanks for the drink."
"No problem it was my pleasure."
Both of the high schoolers sat there talking for a while and then they left the area, they went through the long hallways, out the entrance, and out of the school grounds. They begin to walk through the Cherry Blossom Tree trails, as any person would do, they watch the many blossoms slowly fall down to the ground in awe.
Before they knew, they were now out of the trail and now in the streets by the houses. Since the both had taken a long time in the school, there were barely any people in the streets they were walking on. After a few minutes, Rono and Sakaki are now completely alone. Pure silence filled the streets, all that remained of the lonely and almost dark streets was silence.
"Rono what time is it?"
"Oh my god it's 7:57! Did we really take that long just to get juice!" He exclaimed.
Sakaki surprised at the news, but more importantly is how her parents would react. She has never been this late because of school before. She didn't have clubs nor study sessions in school, that is the reason why. She began to worry if anyone would be following her when she starts to walk home by herself in the dark.
"Hey Sakaki, how far do you live away from me?"
"About 10 minutes from you."
"That's going to be a problem."
She wondered what he meant from this statement. Could he be planning something suspicious?
"I should walk you home."
"Huh? Why?"
"There could be some suspicious people out in the dark. Anything could happen at this time of day after all." He added.
Rono is right after all, who knows what would happen to a person walking alone in the dark and lonely street.
It should be alright, I think my dad might just remember who he is. She thought
They both made it to her house safe and sound. Luckily no one was around at the time. Sakaki presses the doorbell and next the intercom. Immediately someone answered her right away.
"Sakaki! Is that you? Are you hurt!?"
"It's okay,I'm alright."
The gates open, the door slams open and someone comes out of there. That person comes down running to Sakaki and hugged her very tightly. Rono figured that this person is her mother.
"Where have you been? Did something happen at school?" She says worriedly.
"No nothing happened, I was hanging out with Rono. I didn't notice how much time we were using up so that's how I got here late. I'm really sorry." She was about to burst in tears, but her mother instead comfort her.
"It's alright, as long as you're in good condition, everything is alright."
Rono felt like a ghost, both of them didn't even notice him around. He wants to go home even if he was tired.
"Oh I didn't notice you there." Sakaki's mother said.
About time you noticed. He thought to himself.
"As you already know I'm Sakaki's mother. Come inside you must be cold out here."
Rono followed both of them inside the house. When he entered they ended up in the living room, in it was a kotastu. The only person in there was a tall man that was 4 inches taller than him. The man looked at him straight in the eyes, if it were different boy in the house, he would be scared out of his mind. However for Rono, he didn't feel any sign of fear at all. He just looked at him with curiosity.
Why does he look so familiar? He thought
"Who's this kid?"
"Honey we need to talk." She grabs her husband by the ear.
"Ow ow watch it!"
"I left some pastries on the table, help yourself if you want. I'll be back with some tea for both of you."
She left the room to the kitchen.
"Honey can you explain to me why that boy is in our house." He asked.
"It's Rono."
"Who's that?" He thought about it for a minute and then soon remembered.
"Woah really? it's been so long since we've seen him! I have to greet him right away!"
He walks to the door but is stopped by his wife. She grabbed his hand with hers and looks down.
"That's what we came here to talk about."
"What is it?"
"He lost his childhood memories. He doesn't remember her or us at all." She said in sadness.
The two felt sorry for Sakaki, they wanted to help their daughter but they couldn't do anything.
"The good thing is that they both recently became friends along with other girls, that's the good side of all of that."
"Well, I always thought of him as the son I never had. He would always bring the light of day for us. His dad is a lucky one, however he'll never have a daughter this adorable in his life." He chuckled.
"How about if we let Rono spend the night here." Sakaki's mother suggested as she prepared the green tea.
"As long as he doesn't harm our daughter during her sleep, then it's fine with me."
"Thank you, that one of the reasons why I decided to get married with you!"
Sakaki's dad blushed, it's also the reason why he married her. She is always so nice to him even in his toughest times back in his day.
The two leave the kitchen and then entered the living room. The first thing they both saw was Rono turning around with crumbs of pastry around his face. He had his mouth full and then immediately swallowed.
"The pastries are delicious! Did you make these Mrs. Sakaki?"
"Yes I have." She answered.
"They're the best I've ever had!"
"Thank you so much!"
They all sat down with each other by the kotastu and started eating the pastries with green tea. Everyone enjoyed this normally, all except Rono. He was enjoying this too much, the most delicious pastries with his favorite tea. This was heaven to Rono, he can finally relax in peace.
It was all silent while eating the last snacks for the day. Mrs. Sakaki broke the silence.
"Rono, since we've recently heard about the "incident" you had yesterday, our daughter had to spend the night at your house. My husband and I have decided to let you spend the night here in return."
"Really that would be great! Well, if it's okay with both of you."
"Don't sweat it kid, I've approved it." Mr. Sakaki said in return.
"Thank you so much!" His eyes sparkled in delight.
He still has the same sparkle he had when he was younger, looks like it's still him after all. I just hope he remembers us some day. Mr. Sakaki thought.
They all finished up with their last snacks for the day and went upstairs. The next thing they have to do is take a shower, no time for baths because everyone was exhausted. First up were the girls then the boys. First was Mrs. Sakaki, second Sakaki, third is Rono, last was Mr. Sakaki.
When Rono got out the shower, he went to the walk-in closet to change. After that, he went upstairs to Sakaki's room. It is the room he was going to sleep in. He knocked on the door first and waited for an answer.
"Come in." Sakaki answered.
He entered the room soon to find Sakaki setting up the spare futon for Rono.
"This the the futon I'm going to sleep on?"
"Yes it is."
When she finished doing the finishing touch she climbs over on her bed and crawls under the blankets.
"Good night." Rono said.
"Good night...thanks for walking me home."
"No problem, it's what friends do right?"
"Right." She added.
Sakaki turns off the lamp by her bed and both of them lie down to sleep. Ten minutes have passed, none of them could sleep a bit. It was a bit awkward now that both of them were fully aware that they were sleeping in the same room with someone.
"Hey, can't sleep?" Sakaki whispered.
"Yeah." He whispered back
Silence occurred for a few seconds, then Sakaki broke it.
"If you want...you can...sleep...with me." She said blushing profusely.
"Sure."
He gets out of his covers, slowly climbs over to the bed and crawls under the warm blanket with Sakaki. She felt warmer than ever now.
"Better?" She asked.
"Better." He answered.
For the second time, she still could sleep yet. However for Rono, he immediately fell in a deep sleep in a matter of minutes.
"Rono you awake?" She stood up to check on him just as she found him asleep.
She smiles at his sleeping face. Somehow, he reminds him of a cat.
He's cute. She thought.
Suddenly, Rono turned over and slowly moved his arms around Sakaki. For the third time, he hugs Sakaki in his sleep. She felt even warmer this time, this helped gain her exhaustion back. She can finally sleep happily with no worries whatsoever.
"Thank you Rono for giving me a happy life." She said quietly as she returns Rono the hug and slowly falls in a deep slumber with a smile.
