Wednesday, May 8th, Afternoon
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School is over for the day and I was so ready to just go home and chillax. I would have to do my homework and make dinner and my lunch and my sister's lunch and do all my proper hygiene rituals but… I'll mostly just relax. Sakamoto and I were about to part ways as we left school grounds but alas, I forgot my goddamned bento box in the classroom like an idiot. Seriously, how many times was I going to forget my lunch, be it eaten or not?
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I said goodbye to Sakamoto and Satoru, who happened to walk home in the same direction for a while. I, on the other hand, must walk back into the school like some sort of sucker… or someone in a club. But I'm not in a club. I should join one, but I don't really like sports nor band nor drama and other clubs just don't seem worth it. Though I did see a good anime about Volleyball… yeah, no I'm no good at that. Besides, I got a sister at home it's cool.
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Oh look I'm already back at the classroom. I slide the door open and walk in. At the Teacher's desk, my homeroom teacher Mr. Watanabe was working on something or other. He glared at me as I grabbed my empty bento box. He wasn't one for speaking outside of teaching and he didn't seem to like me, anyway. I just silently slipped out and slid the door closed behind me. I even let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, "Watanabe…"
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Well, I got my stuff so now I can head out. I whistled to myself as I walked to the stairwell but stopped as I noticed a familiar girl (is she in my class?) that was slowly descending the stairs. As she made it to the platform, she paused and just burst into tears. That was kind of strange, though midterms are next week.
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Well, that was none of my business. I descended the stairs myself and walked past, continuing on. Ah, fuck, who was I kidding. I went back up to where the girl was and tentatively placed my hand on the girl's arm and said softly, "Hey." As to not alert her.
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Still, she pulled away quickly and shrunk into herself. She didn't look up but she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and said, "I'm fine, don't worry."
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Clearly, she wasn't fine. I placed my hand on her again, as usually when someone is panic-crying like this they pull away at first, then quickly realize closeness is what the wanted. She leaned into my touch this time and asked, "Can we hug?"
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"Yeah, sure." I pulled her into a hug, like whatever. Though it wasn't entirely whatever, her tears were making my shirt wet but at least she wasn't snotty. Even if she was, in the end that didn't really matter. My feelings are irrelevant right now because I'm not the one in distress.
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I made an attempt to read her thoughts to see what was up so I can formulate some lines to cheer her up faster. Because even though my hugs were healing (probably because of my body heat and high heart rate, it's like cuddling a purring cat almost), it's always reassuring to hear exactly what you want to hear. But… nothing in her mind was quite sticking. It was just a garbled mess with the only constant thing was the fact that I was there with her.
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So I guess the best thing for her is for me to stay here to just ground her. I pat her head and made sure her ear was near my big, manly pecs to listen to my unhealthily fast resting heart rate. She clung to me like a koala or something.
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This was definitely a panic attack. I couldn't quite remember what it is exactly that you're supposed to do to ground yourself. There was an exact number of things your supposed to see, hear, touch and all that but… ah, fuck it. Something's better than nothing, "Hey, can you name things that you see?"
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"Um…" she took a breath, "Floor, stairs, railing… my hand, you."
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Nice, she was doing pretty good, "Cool, How about things you… hear?"
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"Your heart beat, my tinnitus… your mouth breathing."
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"Wow, rude," I say with mock indignance. The girl let out a small laugh. "Alrighty, then can you name that you… hm… smell?"
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"Axe body spray and body odor."
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"Okay, for one, I do not wear axe body spray and two I woke up late today and didn't have time to get ready properly. I'm not wearing socks and I ran to school with a piece of bread in my mouth because I didn't have time to toast it. If this happened any other day I'd smell like roses."
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The girl laughed at that, "Okay, sure."
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I parted from her, "Okay damn if you're good enough to insult me, I best be off." I took a second to actually assess her situation and I actually got a good look at her face this time and just right now realized that she's Iwasaki Azumi from my class. Her power is Levitation and she herself can levitate but she can also make objects levitate to some extent.
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"Where are you supposed to be right now, anyway?" I asked nonchalantly, as if I didn't just now figure out who she is.
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Iwasaki took a breath and wiped away the remaining tears. Her eyes were still leaking a bit but not much, "Nowhere important, just home."
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"Alright let's head out, then. You won't wanna be here too long because then it'll be dark," I pointed out oh so helpfully.
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Iwasaki nodded and I began descending the stairs once more and she followed suit. "So about where do you live? We might be going in the same direction," I asked as we left the front doors of the school.
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"Oh, um…" Iwasaki contemplated the question a moment. "I live kind of near Koen Park."
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"You live kind of close to me, then." As we walked off school grounds I veered off the road, "If you actually live near there, you should follow me. This path takes you directly to the park."
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Iwasaki didn't seem to have any qualms about following me, a shady looking stranger, off road.
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•°*&*°•
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"Okay so did you know we were neighbors or did we just find that out together?"
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Iwasaki gave a small smile, "My dad told me that there was someone around my age living here, but I didn't know it was actually a classmate of mine."
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"Huh," I thought a for moment, this didn't exactly add up, I knew who lived here previously, "When did you move here? I never noticed any moving trucks."
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"Oh, I never needed any moving trucks, my dad has lived here for a while so I just got all of my stuff in a few suitcases and came here before school started this year."
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"Hm, do you happen to have any little siblings in elementary school? My little sister would love some friends her age," I say that, but she's gotten really attached to Sakamoto. She's a strange one. Then again, she just really takes after me.
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Iwasaki shook her head, "No, it's just me and my dad."
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I shrugged, "Oh well," I turned to leave, "I'll see you at school, then."
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"Uh… Miyazaki?"
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I looked back to Iwasaki, "Yeah?"
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She looked down, "Thank you. For earlier, I mean."
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"Don't mention it, it's whatever," I turned to leave again, but turned back when I remembered, "Oh yeah, you can come over at anytime, if you'd like. My sister would love another girl in the house."
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Iwasaki smiled, "Yeah, okay." Huh, she wasn't a class beauty like Takamaki or Hirabayashi, but she doesn't look too bad when she smiles like that.
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Okay, me, that's weird. I turned around one last time and gave her a casual wave goodbye as I entered my house.
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"I'm home!" I called out as I kicked off my shoes.
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The sound of stomping feet echoed through the entry way, "Welcome hom-- wait!" My sister stopped herself from giving me my usual greeting, "You're really, really late!"
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I rolled my eyes at her exaggerations, "Yeah, sorry Emi, I had to do some things for a friend."
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Emi gasped, "Sakamoto?!"
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"No, not Sakamoto." Hold up, "Wait, do you think he's my only friend?"
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Emi covered her mouth as she giggled, "Nooo!"
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"Okay, you're just a big, fat liar." I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder as she screamed in surprise. Emi struggled and told me to put her down but I ignored her and walked in. "Hey, it smells good in here."
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"That's because I made dinner!" Emi announced proudly.
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I placed Emi back down on the ground, "Damn, you're heavy." She smacked my side for that but then ran over to the table to pose in front of her delightful meal. It was only toast and eggs, but I'm not that picky.
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"Nice, this looks good." I placed my bag down on the counter before sitting at the table.
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"Let's eat!" Emi said enthusiastically as she stuffed her face.
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"Hey, don't chew with your mouth open," I scolded, speaking with my mouth full.
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"Says the one talking with your mouth full!" Emi pointed out, laughing… with her mouth full.
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Dammit, she was picking up all of my bad habits. Impolite eating habits and back talking. I'm probably the worst Big Brother to exist ever. Probably. I swallowed before I spoke this time, "Sakamoto doesn't like it when you do that and if you keep laughing you're gonna choke."
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As if on cue, Emi started to cough up her food. After she regained her composure she huffed and crossed her arms, pouting, "You're mean."
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I reached over and pat her head, "You're cute."
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"No I'm not!"
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"You're right, I was just being nice. You're very ugly."
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"Big brother!!!"
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•°*&*°•
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Wow, today was such a day that it required TWO whole chapters. Really wack that I went to class with my neighbor and didn't even notice. Hell, she lives in the same house that one girl I used to hang out with in elementary lived.
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NEXT TIME ON サイキク!!:
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I don't know, ask Sakamoto.
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