“At last…you came.” said Mai while pouting.
“Kaito…where have you been…” said Akane in her usual angry voice.
“Kaito! Tell us if you’re not coming!” said Mizuki in a worried tone.
I nod, inhale, and bow down before them.
“Sorry girls. Things happened last night. Kaguya and I can explain it all. Let’s head to the rooftop in the lunch break and we’ll tell you all about it.”
She smiled. Looked relieved, as the breeze fluttered her hair in the rays of the sun.
The lunch break comes. As we eat, we tell the girls what happened last night, in a non-misunderstanding manner.
“So basically, some dudes try to hit on me, and Kaito came to the rescue. I was very scared last night and I begged him to remain with me for the night. I was just too scared.”
“That’s our Kaito! Such a gentleman!” said Mizuki.
“Just what you’d expect of him.” continued Mai.
“I hope you didn’t do anything to her!” finished Akane.
DID THEY SLEEP TOGHETER?! NO WAY, NO WAY, NO WAYYY!
“No. I just slept, and that’s about it.”
I can’t tell them about her words from when she was asleep. It will stir up a whole bunch of chaos.
“Anyways, after school, let’s go on and prepare for the midterms again.”
“Okaaay!”
“Looking forward to join you, Kaito!”
Right as she said that Kaguya looked very happy. I smile back to her, and we return to our classroom.
A week passes. After all the study groups we had, it’s finally time to harvest the crop of our learning.
The midterms start. I see everyone concentrating really hard. After all, we worked very hard for this day.
I had no problems in English, Maths, Chem and Japanese. The social studies was slightly harder, as I was prepared to practice it after returning from Kaguya's house.
Akane gets out last of the classroom, with a 9 to 5 worker's tired stare, strands of hair popping out every here and there.
“Finally! We’re done. It was pretty hard, wasn’t it?”
“It was fine by me.”
Mai also says: “Not too many problems.”
“I finished the subjects in 30 minutes. No big deal. Thank you, Kaito!” said Kaguya.
“I’m a bit worried about my maths score but I won’t fail. It’s all good.” Said Mizuki.
“Maybe I should’ve left the games alone…” (Hikaru)
The results came the following week.
- Kaguya Mikose (98 in Maths, 97 in Japanese, 95 in Chemistry, 93 in English and 88 in Social Studies)
- Kaito Minase (95 in Maths, 99 in Japanese, 90 in Chemistry, 85 in English and 78 in Social Studies)
- Akane Sena (90 in Maths, 91 in Japanese, 78 in Chemistry, 86 in English and 100 in Social Studies)
- Mai Kuronewa (82 in Maths, 89 in Japanese, 88 in Chemistry, 81 in English and 77 in Social Studies)
- Mizuki Shinobu (92 in Maths, 97 in Japanese, 90 in Chemistry, 100 in English and 85 in Social Studies)
We all show our papers to each other and cheerfully scream together: “Yaaaay! We did it!”
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“Guys, we are the top 5 in the class! Every one of us 5 is on the top 5. It’s incredible!” said Mai extremely pleased with her performance.
“You’re right. Thanks to Kaguya and Kaito we did it…so thank you…I guess.” (Akane)
“Guys…what about Hikaru?”
They turn their heads towards him. He was sobbing.
“Everyone…I’m sorry.”
They look on the ranking and scroll down to the 20th place.
- Hikaru Loya (68 in Maths, 78 in Japanese, 59 in Chemistry, 70 in English and 50 in Social Studies)
“It’s alright. You didn’t fail. Just be prepared for the finals and do better.”
“Thank you Kaito-kun…please continue to tutor me from now on.” (still sobbing)
“Sure, sure.”
“Let’s go hang out now that we’re done. We have the weekend ahead of us!”
And so we hang out to a family diner. We laugh, eat, talk and have the time of our lives.
“This school year has been really fun. I’m glad to have everyone here. I look forward to every day since we started high school.”
Everyone agrees and put their hands on top of each other, forming a stack.
“For great upcoming years!” said Kaito, the leader.
“Yeeees! Let’s keep being friends until we grow old!” said everyone as they lift their hands.
A week has passed since the midterms concluded. Everyone was enjoying themselves. Akane studied fashion so her outfits could be more trendy, Mai and Mizuki went to a theme park, Kaguya went out on a day-trip to Osaka.
Hikaru and I decided to do something else – gaming. For the entire weekend.
“Take that!” said Hikaru after winning a round.
“Haha, man. You got me. The score is 14-1 though.”
“I called the golden goal! I won!”
“Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night.”
We both leave the controllers down and head to the kitchen, to grab some snacks.
“Listen, any major events between you and the girls?”
“And what may those be?” (he learned we lived together in a moment of Mai’s carelessness)
He looks at me casually, puts his hand on his neck in a stretching position and softly says:
“Well, I don’t know. Something is something.”
“Well, they put me through hell when Kaguya found out we lived together. Other than that it was chill.”
A smile popped up on his sharp face.
“I see…good for you man. I’m happy to see you like this. You’re starting to get closer to them.”
I blank for a second. I freeze, with my eyes held in place. He notices it immediately.
“Something troubling you?”
I come back to my senses. What just happened?
“No, everything’s fine. Let’s continue. Or perhaps do you want to go play football?”
“Sure! Let’s hit up the field.”
Hikaru grabs the ball from my living room, we both put on the national team’s jersey and head towards the football field.
On the way, the scenery looked absolutely fantastic. Orange sky, the sun hiding behind buildings, a slightly cold breeze and the city's noisiness made for a memorable setting.
Hikaru's mind heads toward a few years ago, letting the ball down and starting to dribble a bit.
"We haven't played a lot recently, did we?"
"I guess...we didn't have that much time anymore."
He continues to look at the ball while walking.
"You're right. Let's keep on going out like this for practice, outside of school. It was really fun back then."
We reach the football field. He lays the ball at the center of the field, and lets out a smug look:
“Should we play 1 on 1?”
“Sure. You go first.”
We both set up on opposite sides of the field. And he starts.
With ferocious speed, Hikaru passes me in an instant. There he was, open net. I try to rush back after him, but he was the team’s clinical striker.
Straight into the top bin.
Clenching his fist and going in for an air punch, he shouts: “Alright! Your turn, Kaito.”
“You’re on.”
I go on a dribbling series and leave Hikaru on the ground. I was called the team’s midfield maestro. My passes were always genius, and my dribbling was incredible.
“Alright! Open net!”
The girls, all together pass by us. They stop to watch us play.
“Hello guys! Good work out there!”
And I fire the ball straight into the back of the net.
“Hey, everyone. Want to stop by and watch us, then go home?”
Mai responds in an instant.
“We don’t have anything to do so, yeah, let’s join them!”
The other 3 girls approve.
“Okay!”
They watch us pour our hearts into the game. It was a close fight.
Mai was the most impressed. "They're both so good!"
Akane, unfazed, lets out a reply: "They're both the maestros of our team. That's only natural of them."
Mizuki takes her phone out of the pocket and starts recording us. Kaguya gets her face in front of the camera and puts her tongue in the corner of her mouth, in a silly pose, after which she starts laughing.
About 1 hour passes. We’re both tired. Trying to catch our breath.
“Good work guys! Let’s head home.”
We go to the stands to drink some water, and recover from the practice.
The girls head out the field’s gate first, after which we follow.
Mai turns back to me.
“I love seeing you work so hard.”
It happened out of nowhere. Suddenly I start to feel lightheaded. A single sentence…and everything I tried to forget came rushing back. Did someone else say those words before?
Hikaru noticed I’m unsteady on my feet. The rest of the group turns back to me.
“Kaito, are you okay?”
My legs give in, and I faint. I hit my head on the soft grass, and I can still see with my eyelids half-closed a blurry image of my friends, calling out for my name.