The weather was not chilly at all and yet Masami still froze up around Kunie.
One morning, she whispered to herself, ‘Don’t run away, don’t run away. Don’t be the type of girl who avoids her crush. Don’t run away.’ She saw Kunie and ran away.
She had forgotten how fast Kunie could run. ‘What’s going on?’
Masami laughed a little too loud. ‘Ah, well, you see, I want to lose some weight, so I’ve taken to running.’ Another laugh, even more awkward than before.
‘You don’t need to lose weight,’ Kunie murmured. Those words, just barely heard, sent flames to Masami’s cheeks.
‘Well, you know, haha, it’s always good to be healthy and get some exercise.’ To emphasise her point, Masami touched her shoulder and rolled in backwards repeatedly.
‘True. So you’re not avoiding me?’
Masami waved her hand up and down. ‘No way, now way!’
Kunie’s breath as she exhaled was scented with relief. She smiled at Masami but that smile soon dropped upon seeing Masami freeze up again.
‘Are you sure you’re okay? I think you might have a fever.’
Masami shut her eyes with the speed and intensity of an old garage door being dropped closed. She could sense it coming: the dreaded hand on the forehead to check the temperature. If she was extra unlucky, Kunie might use her own forehead to check Masami’s forehead temperature.
When she felt nothing touch her face, Masami opened her eyes to see Kunie’s concerned expression.
‘I told you, I’m fine!’ Once again Masami’s voice was harsher than she meant it to sound.
Kunie dropped the topic and went into the classroom alone.
As per usual, Ukiwa was late. When she reached into her messenger bag and felt air, she shrugged and took out her phone.
‘You guys do whatever you want.’
Of course, Masami had to raise her damn hand. ‘Miss Date-’
‘Ukiwa. I’m not one of those fuddy-duddy old teachers.’
‘Ukiwa, if you don’t have a copy of the roll, I can call out the names. I know all the students’ names in this class.’
That earned her a few snickers from her classmates. Ukiwa shrugged again. ‘Go ahead, I guess.’
At first, she rattled off the names with ease. Shigeru Honda, Akira Hosoi, Kunie Ideguchi…’ Did her body freeze up or did she run out of the classroom?
Ding Ding! She did both! The former came first, of course, which gave her plenty of time to notice Kunie’s non-judgemental gaze which, under Masami’s mental filter, was the most judgemental glare possible.
Once out of the classroom, Masami took a few deep breaths. There was no way in hell she was going to run away from this. She absolutely had to act normal. Well, as normal as she could following that outburst.
She put on a smile and reopened the door. She apologised to Ukiwa but offered no explanation. She sat back in her seat and said nothing, hoping everyone would simply forget what they just saw.
Dooru hid a few insults under coughs. Gitan stared at her with a knowing or, in reality, a half-knowing smirk. Fumie looked at her like the clinically awkward girl was a leper seeking holy cleansing.
The eyes of both Sahana and Toyomi were covered by clouds of confusion. Why was Masami, model student and stickler for the rules of the world, acting like a goddess of chaos?
Masami tucked her lips into her mouth like she just sucked on a lemon and put her nose into a book.
When lunchtime rolled around, she understood what it must feel like to sit in a medical restraint chair. She sat and ate by the locked door to the roof with Kunie, who kept quiet about the earlier incident. Instead, she rattled on about theatre, with Masami half-listening and half-debating over the potential kissability of her lips. Eventually she gave up on thinking about either subject and started basking in the warmth of Kunie’s very presence. Without even realising it, she was slowly inching closer and closer to the girl beside her.
By the time lunch finished, Masami had her head on Kunie’s shoulder. When the bell rang, she finally realised what she had done but had learnt from that morning not to freak out so easily, so she slowly inched away from Kunie.
‘So, yeah, we should, I should, go,’ she spluttered.
She held out her hand, praying to whoever would listen that her hands weren’t sweaty. Kunie leaned back against the door with her arms crossed and a smug look on her face.
‘First you’ve got to tell me the reason you’ve been acting weird.’
‘Oh, that? I already told you I’m-’
‘Okay, since you don’t respond to ‘weird’, why are you acting ‘different’? You know, different than usual?’
Masami shifted her eyes to the side for a millisecond before returning to Kunie. ‘Schoolwork. It’s finally getting to me.’
Kunie didn’t give advice. No suggestions of mindfulness exercises, no offers to tutor her (not that Kunie could be of much use in that department), not even a mention of group study sessions. All she did was take Masami’s hand and share her warmth with her.
So, in other words, she did everything.
ns 15.158.61.51da2
