MAY 15TH 2015, FRIDAY
Afterschool The bell tolled.
This time, however, Sato Hashimoto was part of the wave of students rushing out of the classroom and into freedom. It felt better than sitting at his desk until everyone was gone. It was the kind of rush an white-collar worker would get when they skip a day of work. He would've said to anybody that asked about it that he was avoiding any chance of meeting Rokurou, but that definitely was not it, for Sato was not following the flow out to the main doors. Instead, he was headed for the bathrooms, and that feeling of freedom was drowned in his nausea. Crashing into a stall, the teen fell to his knees and threw up whatever he could into the toilet. It wasn't anything he'd eaten, nor was it self-induced. It had came on like a disgusting thought, unsolicited and undesirable.
Sato flushed the toilet, cleaned himself up, and left the room before anybody could come in. Half-stumbling out of the washroom, he didn't feel quite stable enough to walk home just yet, so he found his way up to the roof. He'd only ever gone up there once before, on the same week before exams last year. The day was going the same way the past five minutes had gone, just with less actual vomiting.
Maybe it's a stress thing, Sato considered as he reached the final steps of the staircase. The door was supposed to be 'locked', but pretty much everyone knew you could just wriggle it open. None of the staff had said anything about students going up there yet, so Sato assumed they didn't care. There was a fence and that had to mean something.
Thankfully, nobody seemed to be up on the roof, so Sato found a seat against the fence, resting his chin on his knees. He wasn't sure if people on the roof were visible to people on the ground. He had never made anyone out from the ground, but how often did he really look up there? It didn't really matter though. The worst that would happen is that some teacher would scold him and send him home. His record was too clean to provoke any worse of a punishment, and it wasn't like someone would beat him up just for sitting there.
Unfortunately, the peace was short-lived. Sato lifted his head as the sound of footsteps got closer, falling to a gentle human rhythm. A moment of silence passed, before the familiar face of Naomi peaked around the corner. He wasn't sure what kind of expression appeared on her face when she saw him, but regardless, she approached him.
"Hey Sato..." Naomi started, playing with her pink nails as she stood in front of him. "I, uh... are you ok?" Just bringing it up seemed to make her figit with awkwardness.
Sato lowered his brow. It was an appropriate question, but the fact that she knew... "What?"
"I was coming to go talk to you, and um, you ran by me looking like you were about to die. Your face was really green. I was just wondering if you were ok?"
"Oh." Sato looked to the ground, unsure of what to feel. "I appreciate your concern, Naomi, but I'm fine. Sorry if I made you worried or something. But wait... you were coming to talk to me?"
"O-oh, yeah. Rokurou, the archery club president, as you obviously know, because you're in the archery team... wanted me to thank you for tutoring him, and to give this back. He wasn't sure if you were coming to practice today or not." Naomi handed him a carefully folded shirt, the one Rokurou had borrowed almost a week ago. It was obvious that she had redone the folding before giving it to Sato.
Sato blinked, unaware that they knew eachother. "Huh? You know him?" The rest of her message came as no surprise. Not even the thanks. That was the least Rokurou could've done after those nights of torture.
"You didn't know?" Naomi said, giving a slight tilt of the head, just ever so slightly more embarassed. "Rokurou and I are, uhh, a couple... I met him back when I first moved here, and he was really cute, so I couldn't just say no when he... ah, you don't need to hear that dumb stuff! I'm sorry, sometimes I just keep blabbering when I don't mean to."
Okay. This was... okay. Now wasn't the time for relationships anyway, what with exams and college coming up. He reminded himself that nothing would last past entrance exams anyway. There was no time for a girl when he was supposed to be studying for highschool, and later on med school. But Rokurou definitely wasn't following the same path, so it made sense someone who would have the time for her would get her. Sato nodded. "Nobody told me. I gotta go home now, I promised I'd be home earlier than this."
He headed over to the exit, but before he could leave, Naomi stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. She quickly unearthed something wrapped in a bunch of paper and handed it over to him. Sato curiously opened the top part of it, just enough to see the biscuit cookie inside. The boy looked up at Naomi with confusion. "They're like weird little good luck thingies." She explained. "They're a little untraditional, but the girls at my old school used to bake them before exams, so I thought I'd make some for all my new friends here, you know?" Sato took the baked good from her and nodded slowly, crumpling the paper wrapping back together as best as he could. "They're a little on the greasy side, so maybe... don't eat it until tommorow, okay?"
"Thank you very much, Naomi. It means a lot to me." Maybe that was too much. Before he could decide on whether it was or not, Sato ducked passed the door and made his way down the stairs. The same nausea he had before came back, but instead of throwing up again, Sato just felt plainly sick. Taking Naomi's advice to heart, Sato shoved the package into his school bag.
Taking a look at the sky as he stepped out of the school, dark clouds were moving in... Was it going to rain again?
[. . . . .]
Sato sighed as he slid open the front door, kicking off his shoes without a care. His hair was still dripping with rain, clothes soaked through. There wasn't anything to use to dry himself within grasp, nor did his mother seem to be anywhere, so Sato just quietly walked up to his room. A creak of the floor boards caught his attention, and he stopped in front of the door. Sato's mother ghosted over to him, passing a towel over. He grabbed it, but didn't bother drying himself at all. "Sato..." she said, but only continued with a concerned look.
"I'm fine." Sato opened the door, looking down at the puddle of water collected by his feet. "Don't bother me. I need to study for the midterms." Without another word from either party, Sato slipped away into his room, shutting the door behind him harder than he intended to. Changing into something dry, and covering his hair with the towel, Sato collapsed onto his bed. He'd studied enough.
MAY 18TH 2015, MONDAY
Mid-morning Midterms had finally arrived, and Sato was ready. Somehow, he'd managed to get some sleep the past week-end, almost forgetting everything but the exams. He had to force himself out of bed on Sunday to do some last-minute studying. Now, the real test was in front of him. Flipping open to the first page, he could answer most of the questions with relative ease, but he still had to stop on some questions for a while to work it out carefully. He felt confident he'd do well.
[. . . . .]
And the midterms were over as quickly as they began. Sato had simply gone home and studied for the remaining subjects, going to bed early, after each test. For once, exams were a welcomed distraction from life. Or maybe everything else was a distraction from the tests. Either way, Sato was finally finished, having just put the last word down for the final question. While it wasn't too hard, it wasn't awfully easy, and he knew exactly what he got wrong. Still, though, Sato felt good about his results. For all that'd happened recently he felt on point the whole week. Now, all that was left was to wait for exams Monday. Going to practice would be a waste of time, seeing as nobody had the energy to go after a week of tests, so Sato simply went home. His plans for the evening consisted of kicking back with a Neo Featherman F marathon and reading some of the novel he started a week or so ago. Yeah... that sounded good.
MAY 25TH 2015, MONDAY
Morning The exam results were finally posted, and Sato was among one of the first to check them. Starting from the top of the third-years, it didn't take long for him to find his name. Best in his class, second highest for his year. Silently pleased with what he'd gotten, Sato continued looking through the lists for any familiar names. Mika, Rento, Dragunov, and Harvester all passed with mediocre scores, while Rokurou actually got above 80. All that studying paid off for him, it would seem.
Sato was about to walk away when he thought of something. The full names of everyone were listed here, and obviously any first year that went to Warakuma High would be there. He looked over at the first years' results, scanning down the list until he came across an Otonashi. Shizuka Otonashi. Seeing that name revived the idea that she was the maid cafe girl. No, it wasn't an idea anymore. Sato knew it was true. There was no way it couldn't not be her. Whether or not he would pursue the topic, however, was still being debated. Otonashi had a reason to hide her job, so would it be rude to try to talk to her about it? If that question was on the exam, Sato knew he would've gotten it wrong.
Pushing it to the back of his mind, Sato slipped out of the crowd and started on his way over to his homeroom. It was an archery day too, wasn't it...? Now that exams were over, it was probably back to being active. The idea of going over there and practicing seemed nice after a week of studying, test-writing, and show-watching, but with Rokurou and/or Mika and company there, how fun would it really end up being? Letting out a tired sigh as he plopped down at his desk, Sato flipped open his books for his first class just as the bell tolled.
MAY 28TH 2015, Thursday
Dusk The rain began late in the evening, pounding down on the town of Warakuma, only letting up as Sato waited at Rokurou's place. Normally Sato would describe the town as some sleepy backwater, but with what had been going on, it'd be a lie to call the place quiet. Cult activity was on the rise, midterms finished last Friday, and archery club was as problematic as ever. Just the day before had the two 'sides' of the club finally dealt with the palpable tension between them. Sides in air quotes seeing as it was really just some petty drama Mika was starting with Rokurou that she decided to drag everyone else into. For once, Sato was glad to have skipped practice. The murmurs of members in Sato's class were enough to gather some vague gist of what had happened the day before.
"
Born in the south, at home in the north, we could be anywhere you want..." Rokurou stopped under the awning, folding up the cheap umbrella he had used to get there dry. "That song's been stuck in my head for weeks. It's driving me insane." His voice sounded... strained, for lack of a better word. Like he was trying to forget something.
"
Now you're takin' me down, where you grew up, I wish I had known you when we were young." Sato sang as he stepped away from the wall. "Is that how it went?"
He chuckled softly. "I can't believe you remember it too. So why're you staking out my front door? You some stalker hoping to get some creep shots on me? I'll tell you now, the front door isn't a good hide-out."
"I came over to talk to you about yesterday's practice." Sato looked directly at the other boy, clearly serious about the topic.
"Yesterday's practice?" Rokurou frowned a bit. "You weren't even there. What's there to talk about?"
"Ugh, Rokurou… Can you at least tell me what happened? I'm very aware I didn't attend."
Rokurou thought for a moment, figuring out a quick way to summarize it. "They bitched me out and I told them off. There ya go. That's it." He went to open the door, but before he could get his hand on it, Sato grabbed his wrist.
"Tell me what happened."
Rokurou ripped his hand away from Sato, visibly pissed off now. "Drop it, okay? If you care so much about it then you should've been there."
"Stop being so immature!" Sato raised his voice, but immediately hushed himself when he realized Rokurou's family might hear them. "This concerns me too, so just tell me what happened."
"
I'm immature?! Says the one who double-crosses everyone left and right!
'You're doing fine as club prez' my ass, you just want to take my one fucking respectable role in the school so you can jerk over yourself more. As if being one of the top students wasn't enough!" Rokurou was standing over Sato as he said it, Sato's back hitting the wall when the taller boy took a step forward.
"No, what?! Calm down! I'm trying to help you with this. We both know they're being irrational about this."
"So you say you're on my side and then you go help them with ousting me? Go fuck yourself."
"No, that's not--"
"Shove off, prick." Rokurou said, ripping Sato away from the wall by the collar of his shirt. "I'm done with you."
Sato stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. Before Sato could think of anything else to say, Rokurou went inside with a huff, slamming the door behind him. That... was a catastrophic failure. Perhaps his timing wasn't right. Asking so soon after it happened wasn't a smart idea in hindsight, seeing as he was going to be peeved to some degree no matter what had happened. He let out a tired sigh. This week hadn't gone as well as he'd wanted it to. It was just a mess of studying and frustration.
To top it off, the rain had picked up again. He had ran to Rokurou's house without an umbrella, but it was a lot lighter back when it started. The storm seemed to have came back with a vengeance.
[. . . . .]
It had already gotten dark, and the rain was showing no signs of letting up. Sato wasn't even half-way home by the time he gave up. Why did Rokurou have to live on the other side of town? Cold and wet, the teen trudged through the dead shopping district. Most of the shops were starting to close, lights barely visible through the darkness of the rainstorm.
As he walked down an alley, Sato tried to find solace in the sound of rain beating on roofs and walls, but the shivers that rattled his body were too distracting. To make matters worse, the boy suddenly tripped somehow, sending him straight to the ground. How he managed to slip on a rain puddle, he couldn't fathom, but he had, and any part of him that wasn't soaked now was. Grumbling to himself about it, he rose back to his feet, futilely trying to shake the water off his limbs. It was as he realized the uselessness of it did he hear footsteps. On both ends of the alley.
Sato chalked it up to his imagination and continued on, but before he could exit the alley, figures in dark clothes emerged from behind the corners. It was hard to make out anything about them but everything in this situation screamed stranger danger. Sato knew there were too many of them to fight back or even evade, and before he could understand what was happening, the boy was grappling with people that had come from behind him. Powerful arms and swift blows subdued the teen quickly, but now that they were so close to him, Sato could see them more clearly. Hooded robes shadowed their features, turning them into silhouettes on the night. Were these... could they...?
Sato shouted out, "Who are y--" but they smothered his mouth with a cloth before he could even finish a sentence, muffling any sound that he tried to make. A chemical scent began to fill his nostrils, and Sato started struggling again. The men's grip were too strong to break free from. Seconds and minutes passed, and the world began to spin. As he started to lose feeling, he could feel his body being lowered until the wet pavement met his back. Footsteps, panting, heaving. It all melted away as the pleasant smell took over his consciousness...
