CHAPTER TWELVE – A WISHFUL WEEKEND (SayoHiro)

Akihiro slammed his hand down on his alarm clock, cursing and grunting at the same time into his pillow. Why he had even set up an alarm for a Saturday was beyond him. He turned on his bed and opened one eye blearily; the sunlight was only beginning to shine into his room, and it was still very cold. On his desk, the brown teddy bear that Sayori had given him the night before sat next to his computer monitor, watching over the room with its wide-eyed stare. In spite of his sleepiness, Akihiro smiled faintly as he vaguely remembered Sayori.

Knowing that his alarm already ruined his chances of falling asleep again, Akihiro sluggishly sat up, stretching his arms and scratching his head. With his eyes half-closed, he dragged himself towards the bathroom for his morning routine, dousing his face with cold water to wake himself further. With a sigh, he prepped his toothbrush and checked to see if the shower had hot water yet. When everything was in order, he closed the bathroom door and went about his business.

The teddy bear seemed to stare at him as he stepped out of the bathroom about fifteen minutes later to get dressed. Akihiro became conscious about it to the point where he almost put on his school uniform instead of his casual clothes. Shaking his head at his moment of confusion, Akihiro marched over to the fridge to scout for breakfast; an egg tray with only two eggs remaining and a near-empty carton of milk told him that he needed to take a small trip to the nearby grocery, where he always bought the food items he needed in his apartment.

Apart from two joggers and an old man walking his dog, there was no one else on the streets as Akihiro exited his apartment building. His battered alarm clock had told him it was just nearing seven o'clock, a couple of hours earlier than he would have liked for a Saturday. The morning chill prevailed in the air, though Akihiro soon found it rather invigorating as it chased away the lingering drowsiness in his mind. He quickened his pace as he made his way towards the grocery, which was in the opposite direction from where Sayori's apartment was.

The grocery was as quiet as the street when he arrived. The grocer, a portly woman in her late fifties who knew him, greeted him as he entered. Akihiro greeted her back as he made his way to where he needed to go. Passing by small aisles with shelves bearing various ingredients and goods, he soon managed to get what he needed—a new tray of eggs, a fresh carton of milk, and a loaf of bread for good measure. Though he debated for a moment on whether he should buy something extra for dinner later that day, Akihiro decided to just buy what he needed for now.

As Akihiro made his way to the grocery's counter to pay, his phone buzzed from inside his jacket's pocket. He took it out as he placed his chosen goods on the counter, wondering who would text him this early.

To his great surprise, it was Sayori. "good morning :)"

Akihiro paused, thinking of what to reply for a few moments. "i like how we both made good on our promise to wake up early… on a saturday"

"hahaha! i dunno, just woke up early all of a sudden. really hungry :("

"at the grocery rn, will be cooking bfast l8r"

"jealous :("

"don't have bfast?"

"i do, haven't cooked yet haha, maybe l8r"

Akihiro paused for a moment, thinking. He checked his phone's clock again, though he knew even before he looked that he had enough time. The grocer spoke up. "Something else you need to buy, dear?"

Akihiro looked behind him and saw that there was no one else in line for the moment. "Yes, ma'am, I'll be right back. One moment."

Sayori had just finished getting dressed after her morning bath when a knock came from her apartment unit's door. "Just a minute!" she called out as she quickly patted her hair dry with her towel. She almost dropped her towel, though, when she saw Akihiro standing there, carrying two small bags of groceries. Akihiro smiled diffidently, as if he was apologizing for arriving on such short notice.

"W-What are you doing here, Akihiro?" Sayori stammered.

Akihiro shrugged. "Well, you said you haven't cooked breakfast yet, so I thought that it might be a good time to have breakfast with you!"

At a loss for words, Sayori held her towel up to her face and turned away quickly, hoping that Akihiro didn't see her slowly turn red. "Akihiro, I-I. . ."

"Well, d-don't you want to?"

Sayori looked back at him hastily. "N-No, not like that! Come in, come in!" she managed, giggling a little. "It's j-just that . . . why didn't you text me about it?"

Akihiro shook his head at her as he closed the door behind him. "Because I didn't wanna talk to you," he said jokingly. "But seriously, I wanted to surprise you, dummy. Besides, it's bad to skip breakfast, right? You always remind me of that."

"U-Um . . . er . . . Ah . . ."

Now Sayori was really speechless. A big part of her wanted to run off before she could blush to death in front of Akihiro. Thinking quickly, she hurried to her fridge and poked her head inside it under the pretense that she was looking for things to cook. "T-The only stuff I have here are eggs and some breakfast cereal," she called out.

"Well, good thing I bought something extra," replied Akihiro from somewhere behind her. Sayori heard him set down the groceries he had bought on the small dining table she had near the fridge. "Bought some bacon and tuna as well, didn't know what you'd like so I got both."

"B-Bacon sounds good!" said Sayori, thankful for the refrigerator's coldness in providing relief for her blushing face.

"Alright, I'm gonna get the frying pan going," said Akihiro.

Though she really wanted to be the one doing the cooking, Sayori could not bring herself to argue, not when Akihiro looked so determined to do the cooking for the two of them. Once she had completely dried her hair and settled herself down in one of the two chairs at her dining table, Akihiro set about preparing everything for breakfast. Sayori watched as he began chopping up scallions, preparing bacon and whipping up scrambled eggs. A frying pan was heated, and soon the entire kitchen was filled with the enticing aroma of eggs and bacon. Akihiro looked focused as he cooked, though he also kept glancing occasionally at Sayori as if conscious of her observant gaze.

When everything was done, Sayori looked on in even more wonder as Akihiro set the table for both of them. He put the bacon and eggs on one plate, and a freshly toasted batch of bread onto another. Two glasses, one filled with milk and the other filled with orange juice, were set down as well.

When all this was set up properly, Akihiro looked at his handiwork. "Well, I have to admit. Even I'm impressed at everything I just did," he said drolly after a few moments of silence.

"Do you often cook like this, Akihiro?" asked Sayori in wonder.

Akihiro shrugged. "When I feel like taking my food extra seriously, sure," he replied with a short laugh. "But most of the time, I'm the only one who's eating, so why go the extra mile, right?"

"It all looks good," said Sayori with a smile.

"Ah, that's all just some cooking techniques I found on the internet," said Akihiro, waving his hand dismissively. "Ways on how to cook crispy bacon properly, how to add more appeal to scrambled eggs, that kind of stuff. Anyway, looks like the only things left to take care of are the utensils. Where—"

"Ah, wait, I'll go get some!"

Sayori quickly stood up, eager to do her part; Akihiro had been kind enough to surprise her with breakfast, so she knew that the least she could do was to help in her own little way. Quickly, she went to one of the drawers on her kitchen's countertops and pulled out a couple of forks. As she did so, however, one fork hit the edge of the drawer and fell to the floor with a clatter just in front of one of the countertops.

"Fiddlesticks," Sayori muttered as she bent downward to pick the fork up. However, as she was starting to stand upright again, she bumped her forehead painfully on the edge of the countertop.

"Sayori!" Akihiro rushed quickly to her side. The force of the bump disoriented her as she felt her forehead throb from the pain. Unable to balance herself properly, she plopped down on the floor in a sitting position.

"Owowowowow. . ." Sayori hissed under her breath. She could feel her eyes watering as the pain seemed to double. Her voice wavered as she tried to speak. "Ah, j-jeez. . ."

"Don't get up, alright?" said Akihiro nervously as he took the forks from her hand. "Just sit right there for a second." In one quick motion, he stood up, put the forks on the table next to their food, and knelt back down next to her. "Now, let's have a look at that. . ."

He gently took hold of her hand and eased it slowly away from where her head was hit. Sayori still didn't open her eyes from the pain, so she could only listen to Akihiro's reactions as she breathed shallowly. She heard him inhale sharply.

"Is it that bad?" she asked quietly.

Akihiro softened his voice a little. "Nothing that can't be treated. But we need some cold compress for that, and we need it now."

"T-There's some—ah!—ice in the f-freezer. . ."

"Alright, what about an ice pack? Do you have any?"

"In the b-bathroom, I think. . ."

Sayori heard Akihiro stand up and walk over towards the fridge, rummaging around before going on to the bathroom. All this time, she kept her eyes closed as she tried pressing her fingers gingerly against her head to numb the pain; her fingertips soon felt the makings of a small lump, which stung whenever she tried to apply pressure to it.

In about a minute, Akihiro returned and knelt down next to her. "Okay, I'm gonna press this against your head, alright? Just sit still," he said softly.

Slowly and carefully, as if fearful of feeling any more pain, Sayori waited until she felt the chill of the ice pack pierce through her forehead. She gasped and winced slightly, but Akihiro seemed to make sure that the ice pack wasn't pressed too hard against her head until she felt more relieved than pained. To keep her from falling over backwards, Akihiro placed his free hand on her back once more as he slowly and carefully dragged the pack across the lump. For a full minute, he repeated everything until Sayori finally began to feel the pain recede.

"It's s-starting to feel fine," she exhaled.

"I hope so," said Akihiro. He inched the ice pack away from her head to take a look. "If we keep this up, that lump will be gone in no time."

"I really am just a klutz s-sometimes. . ." Sayori murmured.

"You're not, alright?" Akihiro remarked comfortingly. "Accidents happen. Anyway, c'mon, it's better if you sit over here."

Careful to keep her balanced without forcing her to stand completely upright quickly, Akihiro held Sayori by the crook of her left arm as he guided her carefully towards her chair at the dining table. When she managed to finally sit down, he eased her hand towards the ice pack so that she could hold on to it. Without another word, he went over to his chair, picked it up and carried it next to hers. Sayori watched as he moved their breakfast closer to them. He took a fork and began scooping up some scrambled eggs from the plate.

Instead of eating, however, Akihiro carefully guided the fork to Sayori's mouth.

"W-What are you doing?" she stammered, flabbergasted.

"You won't be able to eat properly while you're holding that ice pack on your head, alright?" said Akihiro seriously. "That's why I'm going to help you."

"Akihiro . . . you still have to eat, though. . ."

"Sayori, it's alright with me," Akihiro replied reassuringly. "I'm not that hungry yet."

"B-But Akihiro . . ."

Akihiro sighed. He slowly put the fork back onto the plate and turned to her. A short silence fell, and for a moment Sayori wondered whether he had grown annoyed at her. When Akihiro spoke again, his voice sounded serious, but not angry.

"Sayori . . . do you have any idea how shook up I was when I saw you hit your head?"

When Sayori slowly shook her head, he went on. "Do you remember all the times when we used to run around and play outside? Like when we used to play tag by the creek on the other side of town?"

A small smile formed on Sayori's face as she remembered. Indeed, when they were younger, the two of them would go out to play wherever they could; their favorite place was by the creek near downtown. "W-With the trees and bushes next to the water, right?" she said softly.

"Yeah," said Akihiro, grinning. "Whenever I was it, you'd run into the creek and stay there, and I wouldn't be able to get to you because I didn't like wading in the water. You'd just stand there and laugh while I waited for you to come back ashore."

Sayori giggled as she pictured the scene in her mind's eye: her seven-year old self, making faces and laughing as seven-year old Akihiro was practically stamping his feet in frustration on the creek bed. "Yeah, and there were times when you'd threaten to go home without me if I didn't come out of the creek, but I'd always tell you that you'd be in bigger trouble if you left me alone."

Akihiro laughed alongside her. "And how about that time when you would try climbing up the trees at the creek along with me? I'd always do it so easily while you were still trying to scramble up the trunk."

Sayori playfully pinched his arm. "I think I've gotten better at climbing trees now, thank you," she replied. "I just had shorter legs back then."

Akihiro nodded as he chuckled. Slowly, however, his face and tone sobered up a little. "And then there were a few times when you f-fell from climbing up a tree. Remember that?"

Sayori looked at him and saw a sudden melancholy in his pale green eyes. She did remember what Akihiro was saying; him crying out from up the tree as she fell, her landing on the ground in a heap from her grip slipping. "Yeah, that always h-hurt. . ."

"You know what I always did when that happened, right?"

Sayori nodded. In her mind, she saw herself crying over and over, her knees and arms scratched and bruised; Akihiro would always jump down from the tree to comfort her. "You always thought that it was your fault whenever I fell. . ." she muttered softly. "But it was mostly my fault. I would always try to keep up with you, and I would only end up stumbling or falling or getting myself hurt. . ."

Akihiro did not move or speak. The sadness never left his eyes. Sayori, unmindful of this, went on. "I dunno if you've ever thought about this, Akihiro, but . . . you always look out for others, even if you don't have to. Even if you like to joke around, you'd always blame yourself for something you didn't even do, simply because you're looking out for people, for me. . . Even now, years later, you're still doing that whenever I get myself into a pickle for being clumsy. . ."

Akihiro let out a sigh. This time, he seemed to struggle a little with his reply as he explained, "It's just . . . It's like what I've said many times before, Sayori. I look out for you. Always. Whenever you fell from the trees we used to climb on, whenever I got down and saw you crying because you were hurt . . . I always felt afraid. And just a while ago, when you hit your head over there, that . . . that feeling of fear and worry just came flooding back. . . And I know you don't normally see me as scared or worried, but . . . this was one of those times. That's why I reacted that way. I just . . . don't want you getting hurt."

Sayori blinked back a few tears, thankful that the ice pack shielded her eyes from Akihiro's glance. "You really are a sweetheart, you know that?"

Akihiro's eyes widened. "D-Don't call me t-that," he stammered as his ears turned red. "Anyway, that's that. You need to eat."

Determinedly, he once again took up the fork he was using and speared some scrambled egg onto it. Sayori still wanted to refuse, only because she didn't want to trouble Akihiro any further as usual, but she couldn't bring herself to do so as she looked at the concern on his face. "I'll eat, but . . ."

"But?" asked Akihiro expectantly.

"Only if you eat along with me as well."

Akihiro sighed resignedly. "Alright, fine, if it makes you happy."

Sayori began feeling a lot better as she chewed and watched Akihiro eat. Her right hand still held the ice pack fast on her forehead, while her left hand allowed her to nibble at a piece of toast as Akihiro ate every other forkful of scrambled eggs and bacon. After around ten minutes of this, she began to giggle a little.

Akihiro quickly noticed this. "What is it? What're you laughing at?"

Sayori bowed her head shyly as she continued giggling. "Is this what boyfriends and girlfriends do?" She laughed a little bit more as she watched Akihiro's eyes widen slightly. Once more, he looked anxious.

"W-What are you s-saying, dummy?" he managed as he fidgeted with the fork and the last few pieces of bacon and scrambled egg.

"Well, don't boyfriends do these kinds of things with their girlfriends?" said Sayori. "Eating together, taking care of each other, giving each other gifts . . . Huh, it doesn't seem that much different from what best friends do, eh, Akihiro?"

"You're making it sound w-weird now," Akihiro mumbled nervously.

Sayori smiled sadly. "Your future g-girlfriend would be lucky to have you, Akihiro . . ."

Akihiro sighed exasperatedly, lowering the forkful of bacon and eggs that was halfway towards his mouth. "Sayori, please, I can't eat with you saying all these things, show me some mercy!" he cried out imploringly.

"W-Well, it's true!" said Sayori, sitting straighter with a determined air. "Any girl would be lucky to have you as her b-boyfriend, Akihiro. You're a really nice and sweet person, and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise!"

Even as she said those words, however, Sayori could not help but feel her heart grow a little heavy. Here she was again, discussing the idea of Akihiro seeing someone else, something that sat at the back of her words at the Starlight yesterday. She looked at Akihiro, her eyes growing wistful as she stared at him. In her right hand and on her forehead, the ice pack seemed to grow just a little bit colder.

"And what about you?" Akihiro asked quietly. "You'd m-make a good girlfriend for any guy, Sayori."

Sayori laughed, though deep inside, she felt her heart flutter a little at the compliment. "No one would ever go after me," she replied. "I'm really clumsy and silly, and sometimes I even forget doing simple but important things, like taking care of myself, right? B-Besides, it's not like I'm gonna look for a boyfriend ever. . ."

Akihiro looked at her. "Why n-not?"

Sayori shrugged. "If I ever have a boyfriend, he wouldn't let you do these kinds of things with me, Akihiro . . ."

Akihiro's eyes widened further. "S-Sayori. . ." he began, but she cut him off.

"I'm already happy with you being here with me, Akihiro. If I'm going to be honest, I want to keep having fun with my best friend, and having a boyfriend would put an end to that! Besides, you take care of me better than anyone else could, anyway. . . After all, who'd ever have the patience to deal with my clumsiness, or my lapses in school, or the little accidents I have every now and then, r-right?"

At the last part of her statement, Sayori's voice wavered a little, and her hands began trembling a bit. She looked down, afraid of Akihiro's reaction to her words. In silence, she began reflecting on everything she was saying right now. Even though she knew how awkward or emotional they sounded, Sayori could not bring herself to lie about how she felt. In her heart and mind, she knew that her best friend would outclass any other potential boyfriend that might come her way; that no one else would ever come close to who Akihiro was in her life. Nevertheless, Sayori wondered if she had said too much—or not enough.

Suddenly, gently, she felt Akihiro's hand grasp her left hand. Sayori gasped, but she didn't immediately draw her hand away as she looked up at him. Akihiro's face was entirely red, but the gleam in his eyes told Sayori that he was determined to reply.

"And what happens if I get a girlfriend? That means she won't also let me do all the things I do with you, dummy. And I . . . I don't think I'd want that."

Progressively, with each word that he was uttering, Akihiro tightened his grip on Sayori's hand. It was not painful, though; in fact, in Sayori's mind, it felt as if Akihiro simply didn't want to let go. The only other time Akihiro had ever done this was last night, when he guided Sayori through downtown and into what she still considered a euphoric evening. Her heart hammering wildly in her chest, she looked at Akihiro. In the literal sense, at least, she was looking at him. But in her eyes, in her mind, Sayori somehow felt that she was staring at a whole new version of him. There was a mixture of anxiousness, determination and warmth warring on Akihiro's facial features, something that Sayori could all but read beneath that face she knew so well, yet something she had never seen him display until now. Her vision suddenly grew hazy, and time itself seemed to slow down.

". . . I don't think I'd want that too," she whispered after a long stretch of silence.

For a moment, Sayori wondered if she actually did see something change in Akihiro's face. It was as if a light had been turned on from behind his green eyes, something that momentarily dissipated the anxiety on his features. To reassure him in the only way she knew how at that moment, Sayori gave him her sweetest, sincerest and happiest smile. She no longer cared whether she was blushing or not; what mattered was showing Akihiro just how serious she was about her words. Slowly, Akihiro smiled back at her, and in an instant, the anxiety and melancholy on his features vanished.

Vaguely, Sayori realized that her forehead was no longer hurting. Slowly, gingerly, she let go of the ice pack on her forehead, prompting Akihiro to glance up.

"That lump's looking a lot better," he muttered.

Sayori laughed a little. "I wouldn't mind if it stayed up there anyway," she said. "It'd be like a unicorn horn then, r-right?"

"Jeez, Sayori . . ." Akihiro began. Sayori's laugh grew a bit louder.

"Only joking!" she assured him. "Anyway, if you didn't act fast earlier, that lump would've turned out a lot worse. . ."

"Yeah, well, anything to stop you from looking like a unicorn," Akihiro mumbled, chuckling. "You already look bad enough. . ."

"Meanie!" Sayori exclaimed, pinching his side.

The last few minutes of their breakfast were total bliss for Sayori. The two of them finished eating and began cleaning everything up. This time, Sayori insisted on washing the dishes, and there was nothing Akihiro could say to dissuade her from doing so. Though she still felt slightly lightheaded from the bump she took on her head, she managed to clean up without losing her balance. As she was washing the dishes, Akihiro sat at the edge of her bed, looking at her stuffed toys.

"I guess you'll be going home now, huh?" she called out when she was done.

"Well, I guess so," replied Akihiro, standing up. "I dunno what else to do, though. . ."

Sayori smiled ruefully as she wiped her hands dry on a hand towel. "You could continue with Dungeon Delvers, if you want."

Akihiro shrugged as he made his way towards the door. "Well, I'll just have to wait and see what happens," he said. "Besides, I don't think we've been given any homework for the weekend, which is a real swell vacation considering how hectic last week was. . . How about you? What're you gonna do all day?"

Sayori glanced outside the window. "Well, to be honest, I d-don't know too. . ."

Akihiro smiled. "Well, just message me if you get bored, alright? I'll be online all day," he remarked.

"I will," Sayori replied.

As Akihiro turned to leave, however, something triggered itself inside Sayori. It felt similar to what she had experienced earlier; everything grinding almost to a halt, her vision growing fuzzy, and her heart slamming wildly against her chest. A voice in her head seemed to manifest out of the blue, its words echoing in her mind.

. . . Not everything has to end with him closing the door. . .

"Akihiro!" Sayori called out.

Akihiro looked behind him, stopping just short of closing the door. "What is it?"

Sayori fidgeted nervously with her hands. Face flushed, but determined nonetheless, she sighed deeply before speaking. "Can I s-spend the day at your place?"

Akihiro froze. For a long moment, no one spoke between the two of them. Sayori kept her gaze locked onto Akihiro. When they had been younger, the two of them would spend whole days at each other's houses during the weekends. All that changed, however, after their parents had left to work in other prefectures. Since then, the two of them had been living in separate apartments, and there were no more instances of one of them spending an entire day at the other's place.

At least, until now. Even Sayori had to admit privately that she was startled by her sudden courage. It wasn't something she had planned beforehand, nor was it something she had rehearsed last night. It was brought on by the spur of the moment, its fuse lit by the feeling of having to watch Akihiro leave her every time he came over to her place. Part of her, the shy and awkward part that she had lived with for many years now, screamed that what she was doing was too much, and that she was risking everything just by asking for such a ludicrous request. However, there was also a newer side speaking to her, the one that had spoken to her just as Akihiro was leaving, the one that somehow empowered her resolve right now.

"It's a-alright if you don't want me t-to," Sayori went on. "I just—"

"Sayori," Akihiro interrupted. "Are you . . . sure?"

Sayori laughed. "Well, I know that I tend to be unsure about a lot of things, but this time . . . I am."

Though Akihiro himself seemed to look unsure as he held on to the door, Sayori began to feel more confident about what she was asking for. Indeed, the newer, braver self that had surfaced inside her seemed to spur her on by flooding her with even more daring and purpose with every passing second. Somehow, she knew that things would be all right, especially if it meant being with Akihiro.

Sayori decided to test the waters one more time. "If y-you don't want me to, it's—"

"I want you to."

The words made Sayori's heart leap. No one spoke for a long moment; even Akihiro looked as if he couldn't believe what he had just said. Excitement and euphoria similar to what she had felt yesterday began coursing through her. She beamed and blushed at the same time, while Akihiro gave her a small, mortified grin as he scratched his head timidly. To others, Akihiro's reply may seem like an ordinary, firm answer. To her, it meant everything right about now.