Chapter XXXV: The Polaroid Mind, Part 3
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Leaves rustle around the park and into the sidewalks. At school, the students make a break after a hardworking week they faced recently. Asahi goes home late again at dark.
"Where have you been?", his mother asks him.
Asahi convinces her that the train was late. He goes directly to the game console to play Rumble, a fighting game that existed from 2007. As soon as he beats a lot of opponents, he gets bored and goes online to play Resolute, a shooting game, teaming with other players to fight off others. For the past 5 hours, he didn't even got any sleep playing the game. After getting defeated, he gets exhausted and lays down on his bed. He then looks at the controller and remembers something.
At morning, he goes out and purchases something from the tech shop. He texts Kota if he wants to join the hangout. Kota complies and Asahi also invites two other people for the hangout.
When Kota arrives at the café, he finds Asahi to be with Takeshi, his friend from another class. Due to the output of the area, they feel uncomfortableness so they transfer to another table. Asahi grabs his bag and pulls out a keyboard embedded with LED lights. He's going to give it to a friend of his when she shows up. Speaking of which, a girl enters the café and goes to their table. Once seeing her, Kota remembers that face from the time when he tried to talk to Akiko after the earthquake and during the Christmas Party when she accompanied Asahi. The short bespectacled girl in front of him is Natsuki, one of Akiko's best friends. Asahi then gets their orders and Kota makes sure if he got the right orders since one time, when he got the orders for him and Tengen back then in October, instead of getting plain fried chicken, they were served with hot and spicy wings. Of course, the two didn't enjoy it while Asahi just laughed at it.
Back to the present, after doing the orders, he gives Natsuki her gift. The latter appreciates the gift while Asahi tells her that it's a belated gift. As they finish their drinks, they all head out to the mall to chill.
Upon entering the tech shop, Kota remembers Asahi's promise that is why he stares at him with a red glow in his eyes. Asahi feels a heavy back and tries to ignore it. Kota, looking at the cheap prices of the controllers, persuades him. Asahi, acting like he doesn't feel any guilt at all, buys it for him. Kota feels relieved and as he walks away, Asahi and the others slow up their pace. He then whispers to Takeshi and Natsuki,
"He is such a child, right? Lol"
Instead of feeling happy, he looks unto the gift as a gift of force and doubt, not a gift of solace anymore. Since it's already getting dark, Kota heads home looking down in the dumps but acts like the opposite of it when he says goodbye to them.
On a Sunday morning, Asahi waits for someone under a tree near the mall. This someone shows up wearing a sunhat and appears to be Eri. They then go to the beach and enters a beach house where liquor is available. Although they haven't reached legal age, they buy 4 cans of beer and goes to a good picnic spot, under a large parasol. The two look at the small crashing waves at the seashore, looking like the future might be bright as the sun. At this time, Asahi pulls out his guitar and begins to play catchy songs and eventually, romance. Eri also begins to jam with this. From afar, someone is looking at them, which turns out to be Kota passing by. As the sunset is upon them, they cast footprints in the sand as they walk on it and post it on InstaBox. In a sincere and melancholic moment, Asahi tries to confess to her. However, Eri turns him down with a response,
"Sorry, but I'm not ready yet. I'm terribly sorry."
Having this unexpected response, he pretends to tell her that he understands but when he got home afterwards, he pulls out a shiny sharp object and as the shadows are casted on the wall, a fluid oozes from his arm. He then wipes the fluid off and shoves it in his bag.
In school, he enters the classroom looking like he's having a bad leg. Since he has something important to do, the teacher gives them an activity to work on while he's gone. After getting the results immediately when he had come back, most of the class has high scores. When Asahi check his score, he gets disappointed of the outcome. Just for their break, Kota and Gin goes to the toilet, while Asahi walks behind them. The two go to the urinals, discussing about their school subjects as well as other requirements. Asahi goes to one of the stalls. As the two are doing their own businesses, a rattle of metal slithers from the stalls and heavy breathing can be heard. Both feel chills on their spines and after for a while, Asahi goes out of the stall, breaking down into tears. Gin tries comfort him while Kota can't actually find or tell something to cheer him up since he already knows the depth and turmoil of this repeating sequences.
"Maybe something had happened. It may be Eri or even another mood swing. To think of it, I don't want to get something like this, killing or harming yourself. It's nothing for the small things", the latter thinks to himself.
Throughout the day, Asahi remains like this until he joins with his friends from other classes for a short hangout.
The following day, he comes again to school acting cool and pretends to know stuff he doesn't actually know when he comes across his friends. At school, he tries to get close to the teachers to get their mood. Due to the promiscuous bond and fun vibe of the teacher have on them, most of the students can relate except for Gin and Kota. During their break, the two go to the restrooms.
"You know, I think there's something fishy about Asahi", says Kota.
"Maybe it's the calamari he ate during break", replies Gin.
Kota nods while Gin adds,
"The only thing I see that is different is him getting close to teachers like a supervisor. That's really something else."
However, when Kota tries to explain further about being out of place because of Asahi's action, the latter intervenes so they need to pause the conversation. Kota wants to continue more but Asahi gets between them.
When they're about to go home, Akiko notices Kota being down in the dumps.
"Hey, what the long face? Did something bad happened?", she asks.
"It's kinda private so we need to go where nobody can hear this", he says.
They walk to the dike and sit there.
"You know the feeling of being played by your friends?" (Kota)
"Actually, a lot of times because they're usually decisive. What really happened?" (Akiko)
"There's one friend of mine who's going behind my back. Given that he already has a mental condition, I didn't expect he would go that far to embarrass me. I fear the worst to come." (Kota)
As she already knows who is this person he's talking about, she then comforts him by hugging him.
"Don't worry, I'm here. I know it's hard being Out-of-Place, but one day, it'll be over.
A fish can't be seen in the depths of murky waters unless it leaps out of it to garner attention", she enlightens him more.
Though the last statement is very hard to understand, Kota knows and relates to it since it speaks about openness towards people. He then comments on it,
"I see, that is why I see another color in the black and white world of mine. That color would be purple, which is primarily, you. Thank you for always being there for me."
They hug again while on another side, Asahi gets on the train to go home, listening to depressive songs.
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