The stormy clouds gave way to a pristine night, brightened by the stars populating the sky and the full moon watching over the Earth. Houjou shuffled underneath her bedsheets, tossing to and fro. With every attempt to close her eyes, her aching chest refused to allow her any rest. Making matters worse, she could hear her parents arguing in the living room, compounding her restlessness.
Houjou remained steadfast in her resolve to never speak with Hamaguchi again. She spent an hour earlier in the evening reviewing the manner through which she would project her newfound enmity. She left her mark on a yellow piece of paper that she placed on her writing desk. Sharp, piercing kanji strokes filled the yellow paper, like a samurai's blade slashing foes into pieces. Houjou divided the document into four underlined sections: mannerisms, speech, body posture, and thought control. Each section comprised individual bullet points highlighting the steps she would implement to meet her unwavering goal. At the top of the yellow page, she wrote one entry supplemented with three bolded underlines and a subtitle:
'Pushing Hamaguchi out of my Life: The Final Path to Maturity.'
The words that Houjou transcribed onto the white parchment resounded like a clocktower bell welcoming the new hour with a ghostly chime. The spectral chime reverberated, steady and true. The chimes brought an eerie calm to Houjou's soul as she rested her head onto her pillow. As the chimes continued to ring, she formed a haughty smile, closed her eyes, and let out a contented humph. Finally, Houjou professed with an unyielding tone. The one obstacle, the lone stubborn weed, the one being that blocked her path to true maturity, was about to be plucked once and for all.
However, the ghostly chimes also pierced her remorseful, yearning heart. Underneath her stony insistence lied a heart that ached with tears for each declaration. Even after all the steps she took to solidify her pronouncements, her heart continued to groan its protests, feeble as they were. With each incantation of her intentions, her heart fizzled out weakening pleas for mercy,
Houjou, please rethink this. Her heart's cries grew louder and louder as Houjou continued to rest on her bed. Houjou narrowed her eyes with disdain and turned her smile into an annoyed frown. Her heart fought back against her simmering rage, causing Houjou's eyes to form small tears. Fighting back her tears, she arose from her bed and grabbed a piece of tissue from the tissue box on her desk. She returned to her bed to lay down once more.
You will shut up this instant! Houjou's mind rebuked her heart in a fiery attempt to corral it. It's Hamaguchi who is getting in my way, not me! Houjou countered, her hand slapping her heart in her effort to sedate it. As she lay stationary on her bed, her heart continued its tearful appeals with soft, gentle whispers.
Hamaguchi didn't mean any harm, Houjou's heart pleaded for mercy like an angelic figure making intercession. He may be clumsy, but I really do think he loves you... Houjou let out another defiant humph, forming a fist with her right hand and thumping her chest once more. He gave you a chocolate bar that you can't even find in Tonosho... Her heart wheezed out the last of its protests. However, the mere mention of the Ghiradelli chocolate bar was enough for Houjou to release an angry growl.
"Enough. I don't want to hear any more of this," Houjou exclaimed. "I resolved to never speak with Hamaguchi again, and that is that!" Houjou shouted with her shoulders and chest tightening. What little voice her pleading heart had left she now silenced. Houjou froze her heart with a single press of her icy hands and a determined huff. Houjou waited for a few minutes in search for her heart's superfluous speech. It was nowhere to be found.
"Well, that's that," Houjou dismissed as she eased herself back into her resting position. It was at that moment she closed her eyes and dozed off to sleep.
Hamaguchi arose from his bed the next morning. His eyes were groggy, his chest aching as if his heart was imprisoned in a dark, gloomy cell. Floaters swam across his field of vision and his hands trembled with trepidation. His head shifted back and forth for a few seconds before he focused his heavy gaze on his alarm clock.
"8:00 am?! Already?! Nooo! I slept in!" Hamaguchi shouted in horror. "If I'm late for school again, I'm going to be in deep trouble!" Hamaguchi screamed with sheer panic jumping out of his bed, unfurling his bedsheets onto the floor. He ran to his closet and snatched his school garments hung on his plastic hangers. He rushed out of his room with a flash and barged into the adjacent bathroom. Once inside, he slipped out of his clothes and whisked himself into the shower. He soaked his body in the lukewarm water and lathered himself with body wash and shampoo as fast as he could. His breaths turned into pants with great speed, with only one thought dominating his mind: I've got to hurry so I'm not late for school again!
Within 5 minutes he exited the shower, dried himself up, and donned his full school uniform. Hamaguchi then zipped back into his room and sprinted straight to his work desk. He stuffed his pencil case, workbooks, and sheets of paper into his black school bag. He glanced his head towards his alarm clock once again. 8:08 am. Less than 25 minutes to homeroom. Hamaguchi's body movements accelerated at the same pace as his thoughts, rushing faster and faster as homeroom drew nearer. After stuffing his school materials into his bag, Hamaguchi whizzed out of his bedroom with his desk completely clean, save for one folded piece of paper.
Hamaguchi rushed out of the house, his mother's raucous goodbyes barely registering in his ears. He then ran towards the junction where he and Houjou parted ways on White Day. As he ran, Hamaguchi retrieved his flip phone and checked his time. 8:12 am. I'm making good time, he affirmed with relief.
But as he neared the junction, he made out Houjou's figure from a distance, the sun's rays shining on her wavy brown hair. Hamaguchi halted on the grey pavement, mere yards from the junction. He blushed a deep red as Houjou walked past the junction. His breathing, already chuffing from his sprint to the junction, raced faster and faster. His heart throbbed with greater intensity, eager to seize his newfound chance to chat with Houjou before school started. With the thought of punctuality pushed aside, his hands now trembled. The awkwardness of yesterday's failed confession did not escape his mind, so he stopped for a brief moment to come up with a conversation starter.
After a few seconds of musing, Hamaguchi proceeded towards the junction with a slower pace, but remained steadfast with a fast walk. He didn't want to be late for school, but he also didn't want to startle Houjou. Houjou's figure grew closer and closer with each of Hamaguchi's boisterous steps. She paid no heed to his advancing pace and gave no greeting to him. Even without a salutation, Hamaguchi waved at her and began the conversation with a sheepish grin,
"Hey Houjou, how are you doing today?" Houjou walked onward, her head not even so much as flinching to acknowledge Hamaguchi's presence. "I was wondering whether you heard me shouting at you from afar, so I ran to catch up with you!" Hamaguchi continued with a chuckle more hesitant than his first. He turned his head towards Houjou to observe her reaction. Still, Houjou remained resolute with her walk, her head facing forward towards her route to school.
While Hamaguchi stumbled through his words to find another conversation topic, he failed to notice the fiery look emerging on Houjou's face. Her face was scrunched up, her cheeks puffing with deep vexation. Hamaguchi tossed any awareness regarding social cues to the wind, particularly his cue to go away.
After a few more seconds of overexertion, Hamaguchi let out a frustrated sigh, his mind drawing a blank on conversation topics. He scratched his head, his wandering eyes and sheepish smile betraying his confused posture. Suddenly, he turned on his proverbial lightbulb to full power and thought, That's it! How did I forget about Houjou's curry recipe? Hamaguchi shuffled his hands into his pant pocket in eager search for the folded piece of paper that entranced him. To his utter disbelief, Hamaguchi could not find the paper anywhere on his person.
Hamaguchi let out a loud gasp and stood still on the grey pavement less than kilometer to school. He slid his hands along his sides and placed his left hand into his pocket protector, the only pocket left unchecked. Still, Hamaguchi could not find it. He let out a loud, frustrated grunt upon realizing what had happened to the folded recipe, Don't tell me I left her recipe at home on my way out! Hamaguchi looked up suddenly, but all he could was let out another grunt of frustration. Houjou was no longer beside him.
Houjou had walked onward with a light humph while Hamaguchi stayed back. She let out a sigh of relief after holding a vexed appearance for most of her walk to school. Her face had scrunched up and her cheeks filled with irritation each time Hamaguchi opened his blabbering mouth. His voice droned on like a fly buzzing in her mind that she wanted to swat with a fly swatter. Her yellow paper from last night had dictated the use of The Grey Rock Method in such situations. There, she would act as unengaged and uninterested as possible to push Hamaguchi out of the way. Unfortunately, the method failed to account for a boy who harboured unrelenting feelings for her.
In such an exceptional situation, Houjou had to retain her constitution after nearly allowing her seething thoughts to burst forth from her mouth. Every second she maintained a neutral pose was a strain on her face and her mind. Now that Hamaguchi was out of the way, she could refocus her gaze towards the school and her oncoming classes.
"Thank goodness he's gone out of the way now," Houjou concluded with a sigh of relief, "Perhaps he'll finally get a clue and leave me alone for good," she continued, urging her train of thought onward. "He's such a pest," she scoffed, rolling her eyes with disdain. She took a deep breath to lower her fiery emotional temperature back to a cozy room temperature. A mature person keeps her cool, even when she's clearly annoyed. Houjou meditated during her deep breaths. She came to a stop and allowed her eyes to close for a few seconds.
She now stood in place a few minutes walk away from her school. Imagining that her fellow students took a moment from their walk to stare at her renown, she took a brief moment to readjust her sailor sash. She then raised her chest and walked onward once more and flicked her hair with pride. To top it off, she adopted a stronger stride in her walk and let out a defiant smirk. Her new, mature transformation was complete.
But just as she began to hit her stride, the sounds of heavy wheezing and shoes thumping the pavement grew louder and louder. Houjou turned her head, her eyes narrowed and her nostrils flaring. Hamaguchi ran with all his might to catch up with her, his recent ventures into jogging paying off given how far ahead she was.
"Houjou wait up, there's something I wanted to say to you...!" Hamaguchi rambled on, his hands waving back and forth as if he was trying to signal something. Houjou let out a deep sigh, crossing her eyes and giving off a frown. As Hamaguchi blabbed on in vain to get her attention, Houjou's heart burned hotter and hotter. She could have handled more of his blabbering until they got to school. However, there was one thing, only one thing that Houjou caught in the midst of his rambling: "Houjou, about those chocolates I gave you..." Hamaguchi sputtered, brushing his hair with his hand. Upon hearing the word "chocolate" uttered from his frantic lips, Houjou's face scrunched up. Her red cheeks puffed with rage and she bit her lip. Her heart now burned like a consuming fire. At that very moment, Houjou stopped walking. She abruptly turned her body towards him and clenched her teeth.
"Get out of my face, Hamaguchi," Houjou hissed. "We are not friends. I don't care that we've known each other since childhood, and I most certainly am not happy to see you," Houjou growled. Houjou remonstrated with a loud humph, turned her body Hamaguchi's way, and pointed her finger squarely at Hamaguchi's chest. "And most of all, I don't EVER want to hear from you again! Got it?" Houjou snarled. Hamaguchi shook his hands in vain protest and managed little more than a handful of stutters and grunts. As Hamaguchi continued to make his pleas, Houjou sharply turned her body away from Hamaguchi. She then lifted her head, closed her eyes, and gave out a loud humph. She marched away from Hamaguchi, like a samurai ready for war.
Hamaguchi looked onward at Houjou's diminishing figure, as if she were dissolving into thin air. He stood frozen in his tracks; his mouth gaped open. His imaginary wisps sprung forth from his mind once more. The wisps offered their final appraisals with caws sounding like vultures ready to feast on their dying prey,
"Oh Hamaguchi, you really messed up... how disgusting," the green wisp mocked with a chuckle. "So, it really was the chocolates after all... you fool, Ghiradellis are a pittance for someone like me," the green wisp chortled, relishing in Hamaguchi's total failure.
"Hamaguchi, this is all your fault! You are such an idiot! Ugh, no wonder she pushed you away!" The red wisp writhed itself about, filled to the brim with volcanic fury and ready to erupt.
"Hamaguchi... how will we ever get together now?" The blue wisp wailed.
Just as quickly as the wisps appeared to torment him, Hamaguchi pictured Houjou stabbing him in his heart with an icy dagger. All three of his wisps cried out together and descended into the recesses of his mind from where they came. He let out a weakened cry from his lips,
This... is the end of me..." Hamaguchi's breath grew weaker and strained, as if he were performing his last rites on the grey pavement. His heart sank deeper and deeper, heavy and desolate, like the Titanic slamming into an iceberg.
What once started out as a sunny sky with a few clouds soon turned dark and gloomy. The clouds rolled in like hornets ready to strike at any moment. Hamaguchi knew that he would be late for school if he didn't resume his journey posthaste. However, he could only turn his head towards the sky, the blackening clouds declaring the beginning of a darkness never before seen in his life.
"What... have I done...?" Hamaguchi pleaded with what little breath he had. With the first pause, he turned his head towards the sky and raised his hands upwards. His second cry was louder than the next, with teardrops falling from his eyes as he cried to his ancestors. The clouds could only shut the sunlight away from his eyes and warn him of an incoming storm with its grumbling thunder. Hamaguchi put his head back down, level with the horizon. He let out another deep sigh, his moist pupils turning in all directions.
His thoughts swirled into an enlarging black hole filling with a dark emptiness. Try as he might, he could conjure no explanations for the events that transpired on the road to school a few minutes ago. In fact, any thought he tried to formulate was simply sucked into the growing black hole. The only thoughts he did make, even if transient, revolved around the girl who pushed him away. Houjou... Her name was all he could muster in his mind's deadening swirl of desolation.
Just as Hamaguchi released her name from his mouth, the first raindrop fell from the sky. The lone raindrop fell onto his hair, but Hamaguchi felt no sensation on his head. He took his first step forward, but with great lethargy. With one raindrop came another, the grey pavement filling with black splotches that collected below his feet. By now, the clouds blocked all of the sunlight out of the ground below.
With every one of his thoughts sucked into the black hole and the raindrops beginning to turn into a torrential downpour, Hamaguchi slumped forward, hunching his back in defeat. While holding his stride, he extended his arms to his black bag in a half-hearted attempt to grab his umbrella. Hamaguchi gritted his teeth as he dug into his front pocket only to find that his umbrella was not there.
Hamaguchi scowled and dragged his legs onward, carrying his bag above his head in a weak attempt to keep his head dry. Regardless of how drenched he became, only one thing mattered to Hamaguchi now: the Houjou he knew was no more.