CHAPTER TEN – PAINTING IMAGES (SayoHiro)

Akihiro sighed as he rubbed his eyes wearily. He had taken to finishing his homework in the school library as soon as he learned that they were given a free period. It gave him enough time to continue with his Dungeon Delvers campaign later tonight, and as a plus, he'd manage to already cut his work for the rest of the week in half. The only things remaining for him to tackle would be an essay for Social Studies and a research paper for History, all due on Friday.

It was very quiet in the library. Apart from Akihiro, there were only around five other students inside the library, huddled around one table near the windows, poring over books and doing research for their own schoolwork. The librarian was quietly sorting out a few library cards over at a filing cabinet, casting a glance every now and then at the nearby wall clock as she did so. Akihiro had arrived here at around three o'clock, and it was now only about two minutes before four. Quietly, he stowed away his notebooks into his backpack and decided to just wait things out instead of leaving the library.

The school bell rang not long afterwards. The other students in the library quickly stood up and began clearing away the books they had taken from the nearby shelves, chatting excitedly. The librarian, who seemed rather relieved that it was dismissal time, didn't even bother to remind them to be quiet as she made her way back to her desk. Akihiro did not stand up immediately, but he slung his backpack over his shoulder nonetheless as he waited. He took his cellphone out of his pocket and saw that he had one text message from Sayori.

"on my way :)"

Sayori arrived five minutes after he saw her text message. She quickly ran in and plopped her bag down on the table where Akihiro was at, panting slightly. "That was pretty exhausting," she remarked. "Math really sucks when it's the last class for the day."

"I hope you didn't fall asleep again," Akihiro remarked.

"W-Well, I almost did," Sayori replied with a small laugh. "But hey, am I really that bad at staying awake in class?" she added with a pout.

"Remember that one time you dozed off in the locker room during P.E. in sophomore year?" said Akihiro.

Sayori looked as if she was about to retort, but instead she smiled sheepishly as she dwelt on Akihiro's words. "Point taken."

Akihiro sighed as he stood up. "You really need someone to keep watch on you, Sayori. Anyway, if you're not doing anything else for today, let's—"

"Wait, I need to go downtown!" said Sayori excitedly. "I need to buy a few things for this Friday. Can you help me?"

"Help you carry all the stuff you're gonna buy, you mean?" asked Akihiro, striding over to the library door as Sayori followed. "I think I'll pass."

"That's mean!" Sayori cried out as they strode out into the school hallway. "I helped you last week when you were researching for your Moral Studies paper!"

"Yeah, but don't forget that I help you clean up at your place almost weekly, and I wait for you so that you have someone to walk with to school every day, and that time when you almost burned your apartment building down when you tried to cook on your own." Even as he said these things, Akihiro could not help but smile; he did not state such things to bring Sayori's mood down, but he did like pointing them out every once in a while just to see how she would react.

"Alright, alright," said Sayori with another pout. "If you don't want to help me, I'll manage on my own. Alone. Without my best friend to help me."

She said the last phrase with a childishly resentful tone as she glanced sideways at him, her vividly blue eyes looking dejected despite her cheerful demeanor. Akihiro sighed as they went out the school's main entrance. When he looked at her, Sayori was still looking petulant. For a moment, he wondered whether she was giving him the puppy-dog-eyes treatment just to get him to help her.

"Okay, okay, I'll help you," Akihiro relented after a few quiet moments. "Sheesh, you don't have to give me that look whenever I say I don't wanna help you."

Sayori's face brightened almost instantly. "Yay! Thank you, Akihiro!"

Akihiro sighed, but he smiled nonetheless at Sayori's joy. "What am I gonna do with you, Sayori . . ."

Akihiro Hasegawa and Sayori Matsuzaki had been best friends since they were seven years old. Starting out as next-door neighbors and then as elementary school classmates, the two of them had practically grown up together. Akihiro lived alone in an apartment unit, taking up high school in Kanto while his parents worked at Fukushima in the nearby region of Tohoku; Sayori lived in the same condition, though her parents lived farther off in Nara at Kansai and thus rarely managed to visit. As such, Sayori relied mostly on Akihiro for company outside of school, and stuck with him even if she had friends to bond with at school. Akihiro was more than willing to oblige her, even if meant helping her often with mundane things like eating outside, walking to school and buying things.

The street downtown was relatively quiet for the afternoon. A few people walked along, with a small number of other students from the school browsing around some shops. Akihiro and Sayori made their way towards one of the city's school supplies stores, which incidentally sat right next to one of their favorite cafés, the Drive Brew. As they passed by the café, Akihiro could feel his stomach rumble slightly as the smells of freshly brewed coffee and baked pastries momentarily wafted around him. Sayori glanced at him sideways but turned away relatively quickly when he looked at her. Akihiro could see that she was blushing a bit.

"Lemme guess," Akihiro mumbled. "You want us to eat here after you buy your stuff."

"Well," Sayori began, "I was thinking about t-that, yeah . . ."

"And I'm gonna be paying for it."

"Ah!" He could tell that Sayori was once again caught off-guard by his inferences. "N-No! What made you s-say that?" she stammered, smiling nervously.

Akihiro looked at Sayori with a half-serious, half-amused expression. "How much money do you have right now?"

"Ah, w-w-well . . ." Sayori seemed unable to reply properly to that. Instead, she began giggling.

"Sayori," said Akihiro. "If you want us to eat here afterwards, all you have to do is be honest."

"U-Um . . ." In all aspects, Sayori looked as if she could not bring herself to be honest. She turned a shade redder than before. "Well, I, um . . . I d-don't h-have . . ."

The last words seemed inaudible, but Akihiro knew he was already correct before Sayori even stated her reply. "Fine, let's eat here afterwards, my treat." Again.

Sayori scratched her head apologetically. "I'm really sorry, Akihiro. It's just that m-my weekly allowance hasn't arrived yet, and I've only got enough money to buy these things for now. . ."

"Yeah, yeah, it's alright," Akihiro sighed.

Sayori patted him on the arm. "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you when I get my allowance for the week," she said timidly.

"You don't have to, you know." Even as he joked around with Sayori regarding the favors he kept doing for her, Akihiro truly never expected anything in return. He felt fine enough helping his best friend.

"N-No!" Sayori turned back to being red. "You always help me, and it feels like I'm already taking advantage of our friendship all the time! I'll make it up to you this Friday, I promise!"

Again, Akihiro couldn't help but smile. Sayori always liked looking out for him when it came to matters like this, and she never hesitates to pay her debts. "Alright, alright. Friday, then."

Sayori beamed at him.

Their school supplies trip took shorter than Akihiro had expected, even with the list of things to buy. These included a few rolls of decorative paper, an illustration board, a few paintbrushes and a few colorful canisters of poster paint. As he had predicted, Akihiro soon found himself carrying everything as they circled the store to look for everything, and he was still carrying everything when they left—though this time with all the things inside plastic bags. Sayori would apologize profusely whenever she saw him carrying her things, but Akihiro was fine with it.

They entered the Drive Brew as soon as they left the school supplies store. Quite a few people were sitting down and having coffee to ward off the late afternoon chill. A few were poring over their laptops and cellphones as they sat in silence on the café's leather-topped seats, while some were simply chatting away with one another. Akihiro picked a table near the café's windows and laid their bags and things down at the chairs. Sayori, on the other hand, waited for him at the line leading to the cashier.

"What do you wanna order?" asked Akihiro as he perused the café's menu. "The usual?"

"I dunno . . ." Sayori muttered, frowning as she looked at the menu. "I kinda want to try their strawberry shortcake again, but their chocolate mousse cake looks like it'll sit well with their latte . . ."

"Oh, right, I forgot," said Akihiro jokingly. "You turn into a connoisseur when it comes to food." He felt a small stab of pain as Sayori pinched his arm.

"You're just a really big meanie sometimes, you know that?" she said with a pout.

"Of course I'm just kidding, dummy," said Akihiro with a laugh. "Anyway, you better start picking fast, we're up next."

In the end, Sayori settled for the chocolate mousse cake and a hazelnut latte, while Akihiro went for a chunky chicken sandwich with iced tea. Almost as soon as they sat down to eat, Sayori took the plastic bag of school supplies she had bought and began rummaging through it, as if to check if she had forgotten anything.

"That's an awful lot of stuff there," said Akihiro as he took a big bite from his sandwich. "What's that for? Art class?"

Sayori did not respond. She merely stared at the contents of the plastic bag she was holding, and Akihiro saw her lips move slightly like she was mumbling something under her breath.

"Uh, Sayori?" Akihiro raised his voice slightly. "Earth to Sayori."

Sayori only snapped out of her trance when Akihiro snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Ah! D-Did I space out again?" she asked, startled.

"Yeah, kinda," said Akihiro. "I was asking you what those are for."

"Oh, yeah, they're for Art class," said Sayori with a small laugh. She set down the plastic bag and began poking at her cake with her fork. "We're supposed to create some sort of self-portrait as a small project due this Friday."

"Oh, really? I don't think we've gotten that far yet in our Art class," said Akihiro through another bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, and I dunno what I'm supposed to do," Sayori mumbled as she scooped a big piece of chocolate mousse cake into her mouth. "I don't even know how to draw caricatures of my own face, what more with a self-portrait, right? Are we, like, supposed to use a mirror for that or—"

Akihiro laughed a little. "You're not supposed to take 'self-portrait' literally, you know?"

"Eh?" Sayori look slightly surprised. "Then why is it called a 'self-portrait,' then?"

Akihiro put his sandwich down. He took a gulp of iced tea before answering. "I think it's supposed to be a way of how you would interpret yourself through art. Sure, the term 'self-portrait' originally referred to a picture of 'you' done by you, but in more recent times, I assume it takes on a more figurative approach."

"How is that?" Sayori inquired through another bite of cake.

Akihiro glanced outside the café windows thoughtfully. Silhouettes of people walking by on the sidewalk cast shadows on the glass panes. "Well, for starters . . . I don't think you'd be able to put yourself on a painting, what with your looks and all . . ." he remarked jestingly.

"Eh?!" Sayori jabbed her fork at him. "Stop being mean to me! I mean, I know I'm not always the neatest person around but that's just r-rude, Akihiro!"

Akihiro laughed. Sayori was remarkably easy to put in a self-portrait, even one in the literal sense. With her apricot-colored short hair, the large red hair bow that she always wore and her bright blue eyes, Sayori was easy on the eyes and even easier on the emotions. She was always carefree, emphatic and ready to help whenever Akihiro needed her—though to be fair, she also tended to be absentminded, silly and slow sometimes. Akihiro knew all of this based from experience, and Sayori's traits were often the butt of his jokes to her most of the time.

Akihiro decided to poke more fun at her. "Well, yeah! I mean, the uncombed hair, the sleepy little eyes, that tight-fitting blazer that you still wear every day for school, I'm sure you'll find it easy to draw yourself! Just think of all the cartoonish styles you can experiment with—"

He stopped to laugh at Sayori's expression, which was now open-mouthed in resentment. "You big meanie!" she cried out, balling her hands into fists. She brandished her fork like a weapon. "It's not my fault my blazer won't fit me anymore! I mean, it d-did when I first bought it, but still—"

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," Akihiro interjected as he laughed some more. Though he enjoyed watching Sayori's childlike annoyance at him, other people in the café were starting to cast glances at them. "Jeez, you know I wouldn't make fun of you just to hurt you, right?"

Sayori fidgeted with her fork as she looked at Akihiro petulantly. Warmed by her reaction, Akihiro reached across the table and patted her on the arm. "Hey, I'm only joking about what I said, alright? Besides, who am I to judge? It's not like I'm practically a diligent person myself, or a good student—"

"You're good in English, though!" Sayori retorted. "And History's just a breeze for you!"

"Yeah, but I suck at Mathematics and Science like you do," said Akihiro. "You're good at Arts, plus you're doing pretty well in Social Studies."

Sayori pouted, looking as if she was thinking of other arguments to make. Akihiro went on. "Besides, even if you say I'm good, I'm still a slacker most of the time. Dungeon Delvers takes up a lot of my time, and sometimes I sleep as late as 2 A.M. when I should be waking up at 6 A.M. for school. You might like oversleeping, but we're not leagues apart in that aspect. And don't forget the time I slacked off so much I forgot that I still had that one History paper to take care of. Remember that?"

Sayori smiled. "How could I forget that? You were running around trying to look for books you can use the day before the deadline. Well, serves you right for trying to finish Lost Souls within three nights. And I managed to get a higher grade than you did—as I rightfully should!"

"Hey, at least I passed," Akihiro pointed out. "And I managed to beat Lost Souls within the deadline I set. That takes a lot of skill."

"But seriously, though," Sayori went on, and this time she looked worried. "You should take better care of yourself, Akihiro, both for school and for your body. You always sleep really, really late when you play, and remember that time when you skipped your first class because you overslept?"

"Look who's talking about oversleeping . . ." Akihiro mumbled mulishly.

"Okay, okay, I know I oversleep," Sayori added quickly, blushing. "But my point is that it won't be too good for you in the long run. I've read a lot of things online about the bad stuff that happens to someone who always sleeps late and wakes up too early or too late. If you keep doing that, you might end up skipping even more classes, and I . . . I don't want you to become a NEET a few years from now simply because you flunked a lot of classes or didn't change your bad habits . . ."

She stopped for a moment as she seemingly realized that she was now droning on. She sighed. "I'm just . . . Akihiro, you know I'm just looking out for you, right? Like I always do, and like you've always done for me . . ."

Akihiro stared at her, seeing once more one of the traits that endeared her a lot to him: her concern for others. Sayori liked helping and taking care of her friends—and Akihiro most of all—even if there were times when she couldn't even take care of her own self. It was mostly why Akihiro looked out for her in return.

"I know that," Akihiro replied gently. "And I really appreciate that. It's just . . . a bad habit that needs to die, that's all."

"Promise me you'll try sleeping earlier from now on?" Sayori's concerned expression never left her face.

Akihiro smiled. "Only if you promise not to oversleep from now on."

Sayori frowned. "Akihiro," she said a bit sternly.

"Sayori," Akihiro retorted. Sayori sighed. For a few moments, no one budged as the two of them entered a staring contest of sorts. In the end, Sayori relented.

"Okay, you got me," she said with a sigh and a smile. "It's a deal."

The afternoon sun receded for the evening, casting a purplish orange glow across town as Akihiro walked Sayori home. After he had explained the interpretational possibilities of a self-portrait, Sayori had become enthusiastic about going home and starting her self-portrait. To ease her worries that she didn't need to paint herself perfectly per se, Akihiro had given Sayori the advice of painting images, shapes or colors that she feels would fit her personality the best, and to not dwell on anything that would seem to confine or downplay her thoughts and emotions.

Downtown passed, and the two of them soon turned into the streets of the quiet neighborhood they lived in. Very few people were walking along, and lights began turning on in some houses as the evening drew on. Akihiro was thankful that he had managed to cut his work in half for the week earlier, because it helped him spare some time to help Sayori downtown as she'd asked. Had he taken the lazy and unproductive approach, Akihiro would've been left with more homework than he'd have liked. Then again, going after a few hours of Dungeon Delvers seemed lazy and unproductive as well, especially after he'd agreed to Sayori's deal.

When the two of them were outside Sayori's apartment, Akihiro looked around. "So, you're gonna go straight to work on that self-portrait, huh?"

"Well, yeah," said Sayori, bracing one hand on the apartment's gate. "Thanks for helping me. Again, I might add."

Akihiro shook his head. "You know I'm always gonna be ready to help you, dummy," he remarked. "Um . . . I guess this means that I won't be able to talk to you for tonight."

Sayori raised her eyebrows. "Of course you'll still be able to talk to me, silly! I won't be that busy!"

"But won't you get . . . you know, distracted or something?"

Sayori smiled. "Well, that can't be helped," she acknowledged. "But I'll feel better doing this project while talking to you instead of taking on it all alone. Don't worry; I won't distract you from your gaming session tonight!"

Again, Akihiro shook his head, but this time he smiled back. "Dungeon Delvers is an awesome game, but my best friend is my top priority. Even if I don't have a choice to choose otherwise sometimes," he added jokingly.

Sayori stamped her foot. "Now you're making me feel bad again, you big meanie," she said, glowering grumpily at him.

"Just joking, dummy," said Akihiro, laughing. "Can't help it, it's really a cute thing to see when you get mad at me for teasing you."

At that, Sayori fidgeted nervously where she stood, turning her head away from Akihiro as if she was trying to look somewhere else. She giggled in what appeared to be a nervous manner, and Akihiro saw that she was starting to blush.

"Sayori?" asked Akihiro. "Are you okay?"

"Ah! O-Of course I am!" said Sayori as she began to giggle a bit. "Er, it's getting late . . . You should, um, you know . . ."

Akihiro raised his eyebrows at her. "Sayori, did you drink too much coffee at the café?" he asked in an amused tone.

"Ah! What are you s-saying?" Sayori exclaimed, her giggle growing a little louder. "I'm fine, alright? Just go already, we'll talk later tonight! Bye!"

Before Akihiro could even crack another joke, Sayori rushed into the apartment and closed the door as quickly as she could. Left standing next to the gate, Akihiro wondered if he had said anything to make her so jumpy.

"A-Alright, chat you later," Akihiro mumbled sheepishly. With a shrug, he began to walk home.

The evening progressed well enough. Back at his apartment, Akihiro had already taken a bath and readied himself for Dungeon Delvers when he saw that Sayori had messaged him on Facebook. Akihiro saw that she was panicking slightly.

"i dunno what i'm supposed 2 do pls help :("

"calm down ok just remember the stuff i told u"

"but i dunno how 2 start it :("

"ok ok just think of the first thing that comes into ur mind"

"about wat?"

"about urself dummy"

":("

Akihiro scratched his head. It was during times like these when he wished that he could teleport to Sayori just to get things over with. For a moment, Akihiro sensed that his planned evening with Dungeon Delvers was in jeopardy.

"do u want me 2 come over"

As he pressed "Enter," Akihiro wondered whether he really meant what he had offered. Sayori's next reply—another ":("—didn't exactly help his thoughts, either.

"i'm serious Sayori, do u need help"

It took a few moments before Sayori replied. "if it's not too much 2 ask…:("

Akihiro sighed.

For the duration of Akihiro's five-minute walk to her place, Sayori was cursing herself over and over. This is really selfish. I told him I wouldn't interrupt his gaming session, but. . . She glanced helplessly around her, the cold night air not helping her nerves. She braced her arms around herself, her simple pink shirt, blue shorts and fluffy slippers not enough to ward off the evening's chill. I have no one else to turn to for this. Why, me? Why?

The light of a street lamp a few meters away alerted her of Akihiro's arrival. Sayori quickly ran forth to meet him. Akihiro was wearing a black jacket along with his favorite jersey shorts and sneakers, and he looked slightly crabby. Sayori's face fell when she saw his expression.

"I'm really, really, really sorry, Akihiro!" she exclaimed as soon as she had gotten near him. "I was completely thrown for a loop when I sat down to start, and I really didn't know w-what to do!"

When Akihiro didn't reply, she feared that she had overstepped her boundaries for real this time. She bowed her head, hesitating to look into his face. She knew that she was growing redder from embarrassment and pressure with each passing second, and that she would only be staring at Akihiro's disapproval if she looked up. For a few moments, she did nothing but stare at her own feet and the ground as Akihiro stood in front of her.

"I'm r-really s-s-sorry . . ." she repeated softly as she fidgeted with her hands. "If you don't want to help me, you can just go home . . ."

Then and there, Sayori wanted nothing more than to dissolve into the pavement. She closed her eyes tightly, regretting ever asking for help. Many of the favors Akihiro had done for her before rushed into her mind, as if demanding payment from her: Akihiro treating her earlier that day at the café, Akihiro taking the time to help her review for a long quiz in History; Akihiro patiently waiting for her so that they could walk to and from school together, Akihiro—

"Jeez, Sayori," Akihiro mumbled. "I'm not mad at you, okay?"

Sayori opened her eyes. Without thinking, she glanced up quickly at Akihiro's face. Akihiro was grinning apologetically.

"I knew that if I came over looking really grumpy, you'd panic even more," he said, scratching his head. "It worked, but . . . I think I took it too far. . ."

Sayori did not move. She didn't even know whether to feel relieved or confused or angry. Instead, she stared open-mouthed at Akihiro's face: his spiky brown hair, his pale green eyes, his overall relaxed demeanor. When she didn't budge, Akihiro reached out and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Like I said earlier, my best friend is always my top priority," he said. "It'd be rich of me to say that and then bail out on you an hour after I said it. Anyway, I kinda figured that you'd be having trouble with your homework, just not this early," he added with a smirk.

Sayori finally found her speaking voice again. "You're n-not mad . . .?"

Akihiro ruffled Sayori's hair. "There you go again, dummy," he said. "If I'm angry at you for real, I don't think I'll be able to keep it up for long, not while I'm staring at you while you're about to cry or something . . ."

Sayori bit her lip. The way that Akihiro was smiling at her and reassuring her, it overwhelmed her with relief. Gratefully, she smiled back. "But what about your Dungeon Delvers session?" she asked anxiously.

"Ah, my character's already at level 23, he can wait for a few more hours," said Akihiro, waving his other hand about. "Besides, since you like reminding me a lot about being diligent in schoolwork, it's better if I continue the productive streak I started earlier by helping you with your schoolwork."

"Now you're just being silly," Sayori remarked softly.

"Oh, so does that mean you don't want me to become productive?" asked Akihiro. He let go of her shoulder and turned around, as if to start walking back. "Well, if you say so. I guess I'll just go back home now."

"Eh?!" Sayori practically pounced after him and grabbed his arm. "No, that's not what I meant, silly! I just . . . j-just . . ."

Akihiro let out a short sigh. He turned to her and grasped both of her shoulders this time. Sayori found herself staring once more into his green eyes, and his face took on a jokingly stern expression. "One question, one answer. Do you want to get this over with?" he asked.

With a final blush, Sayori nodded.

As she set her paint brush down, Sayori marveled at how . . . beautiful her self-portrait turned out to be. Here and there were swirls of blue, streaks of red, spirals of yellow, and two circles of green at the center. Overall, the illustration board looked like a real piece of modern art—at least in Sayori's eyes. Akihiro had stood by and given her advice when she faltered on ideas, remarking that instead of thinking what she should be projecting onto the board, she should instead feel it, as she was projecting her own emotions and traits through paint like all artists do. Instead of voicing her amazement at her handiwork, however, she decided to state its flaws first.

"It looks messy," said Sayori quietly, fidgeting with her paintbrush.

"Ah heck, it looks fine to me," said Akihiro with a shrug. "Some types of modern art we have today don't even have this much effort. Besides, it's really . . . you, in a way."

"In what way?"

"Messy and disorganized, like you, like your room," Akihiro mumbled jestingly. "Kidding aside, though. Don't beat yourself up if it seems to look bad, alright? Art is meant to be interpreted, especially since it's basically a mish-mash of the painter's thoughts and feelings, and like I said, that's basically the figurative purpose of a self-portrait."

"You really think it doesn't look bad?" asked Sayori.

"Sayori, I'm gonna keep repeating myself if you keep this up," said Akihiro. "It looks good enough on its own, and it's even better when you know it's a self-portrait."

Sayori looked at her work again and began looking for parts where the colors spoke her thoughts and feelings. As she looked at every stroke she had made on the illustration board, she somehow began noticing what Akihiro had meant. To others, and from a technical viewpoint, the overall image of her self-portrait seemed to be purely abstract, though with a bit of scrutiny from her part, Sayori should be able to find a way to put into proper words what she had made. Indeed, when she was painting everything, her mind had already organized everything into a basic premise.

Instead of voicing an on-the-spot interpretation out loud, though, she turned to Akihiro.

"What do you make out of it?"

Sayori could tell that her question caught Akihiro off guard; he raised his eyebrows in surprise, and for a moment he looked uncomfortable. "Why are you asking me . . . ?" he muttered.

"I wanna hear what you have to say about it, if you really think that it's not bad at all," replied Sayori. "Besides, you're the one who told me about painting what I feel, right? Putting into colors the thoughts and emotions I have, stuff like that?"

Akihiro scratched his head. "Ah, well, you're right, but . . . um . . ."

"Come on, Akihiro!" pleaded Sayori as she clasped her hands together. "Please . . . ? I mean, you're the one who knows me best, right? And besides, I'd rather show this to y-you first than at school with my classmates . . ."

This time, Akihiro was the one fidgeting. He cast one more glance at her and let out a long sigh before he spoke. "You know, I need to find a way to stop saying 'yes' to those puppy-dog eyes of yours . . ."

My what?

Before she could say anything to that, however, Akihiro had already begun analyzing her self-portrait quietly. A few times, Sayori saw him narrowing his eyes in a squint, as if he was trying to see something she couldn't. The longer he took, the more nervous Sayori became about her self-portrait.

Finally, Akihiro began speaking again. "Well, for starters, the blue part reminds me of your . . . hmm . . . your peaceful self? I dunno, it's just that when I look at blue, I think of peace and calm, and those little wavelike patterns you did seem to speak that way. . . The red part is your determination . . . I mean, you may not have that much red on there, but the way you swept your brush, like, vigorously when you were coloring those parts, I think that speaks a lot. The yellow parts . . . your happiness, maybe . . . I mean, look at all that yellow, right? Anyone who knows you would know that you're practically happy-go-lucky . . . The green ones . . . I dunno about those, though . . . love of nature, perhaps?"

All the while, Sayori had been watching in amazement at how much Akihiro had read into the self-portrait. Akihiro, however, didn't seem to think much of his interpretation. "Did I even make sense? And I really can't get what the green parts mean," he mumbled.

"Ah!" Sayori snapped back to reality. "Yes, you did!" She exhaled a sigh of relief. "And don't worry too much about that part, you already did great with the other parts."

"Ah, well, I tried my best," said Akihiro with a small laugh. "Just remember, it doesn't look bad, alright? You'll do fine this Friday when you present it."

"You really t-think so?" Sayori stammered nervously.

"I know so, dummy," said Akihiro. He looked around for a moment. "I guess now's the time to help you clean everything up."

True enough, Sayori's room looked messier than it usually was now that other things were all over the place: paint canister lids, paintbrushes of various sizes, and scrap papers where she had wiped off excess paint from them. All this compounded with the sight of Sayori's pillows scattered on the floor, a few of her stuffed animals that had fallen from her bed and some of her schoolbooks and notebooks as well. Whenever Akihiro came by to visit, he always helped her put everything in order, though Sayori's absentmindedness often meant that everything was back the way it was after only one night.

This time, however, Sayori would have no more of Akihiro's favors. "I'll take care of that later. You've helped me a lot today, Akihiro. You d-don't need to do anything m-more. . ."

Akihiro looked at her. "You're being silly again, you know that?"

"I'm not, okay?" Sayori stood up, determination coursing through her. "I've asked too much of you already, and I keep lecturing you about being more responsible. Well, guess what? I'm going to be more responsible now as well!"

As if to prove her point, she quickly began picking up her things from the floor, even though all she could manage was to throw them haphazardly at her bed in a pile. Akihiro watched her silently, a look of what seemed to be amazement prevalent on his face.

"Well, if that is the case, then I guess we'll see each other tomorrow," said Akihiro, grinning. He stood up and made his way to the door. "Unless you're not gonna go to sleep yet, in which case we can still chat online."

"Don't worry, I won't be sleeping yet!" replied Sayori as she held a notebook in one hand and a teddy bear in the other. "I still need to take a bath."

"So that's why I could smell you all this time," Akihiro mumbled.

"Meanie!" Sayori cried out, throwing the teddy bear at him. Akihiro laughed as the stuffed toy bounced harmlessly off his side. "Take care, okay?" she called out as he opened the door to leave.

"It's just a five-minute walk, Sayori," said Akihiro as he nudged the fallen teddy bear towards her with his foot. "It's not like I walk halfway across town just to get to you."

"I know, I know," said Sayori. "Chat you later, and thank you!"

When Akihiro had finally closed the door behind him, Sayori dropped the things she was still holding and sat down on the bed, staring at the door. The room suddenly seemed dismal now that Akihiro had gone, and everything seemed ten times quieter. She glanced at her side and looked at her self-portrait. Careful not to smudge the still-wet ink with her fingers and thumbs, she picked it up and perused it once more, taking in every color and line and stroke. In complete silence, she replayed everything Akihiro had interpreted about her work, down to his confusion as to what the two green circles were.

A wistful smile crossed Sayori's face. They're your eyes, Akihiro.