Six
"Mi-chan! Breakfast is ready!"
"HA~I!"
Midori came running down the stairs, almost tripping on the last few steps. She rushed to the table, ate her sandwich in one gulp, and finished her 1-minute breakfast with a glass of water.
"Bye, Mom, love you!" she said in a hurry. She didn't forget to hug her mother, though.
Yukibana Atsuko returned her hug, but before she let the girl go, she held her daughter's face and took a good look at her.
"Goodness, child, did you sleep at all last night?"
"'Course I did, Mom! Bye!" the 12-year-old exclaimed in a flash. She let go of her mother and attempted to run off for school...
And failed.
Atsuko had caught her wrist. "Mi-chan, can you spare a moment?"
Midori's feet hadn't stopped from 'running'. "Mom, I'd love to chat, but---"
"You have plenty of time to get to school and we both know it."
Midori's feet stopped, and she turned to look at her mother.
"But, Mom---"
"Is this about Rei-kun?"
Midori's silence and the look on her face were enough for an answer.
"Midori." Atsuko said firmly. "I respect your privacy, but I'm not about to sit back, relax, watch you get deppressed over a boy, and do nothing about it."
"I'm not deppressed over him, Mom..."
"Then tell me why you've started to grow eyebags, and why I've been hearing sniffles from your room in the middle of the night, and why you barely have your mind in anything you do for the past two days."
When Midori didn't reply and looked away instead, Atsuko gently led her to the sofa.
"Midori," she started after a moment of silence, "You DO know that Rei-kun has been calling practically every hour for the past two days, right?"
Midori nodded slightly. She knew he called. The first few times, she always slammed the phone down on him. Later, she didn't answer the phone at all.
"And that he had been here, in our house, trying to talk to you more than four times a day for the past two days....right?"
The girl nodded again.
"Mi-chan, I know you two have been very good friends this past month...May I ask what he did to you that made you ignore him so?"
Midori sighed heavily, and recounted the events at the dance to her mother. Atsuko was silent the whole time, nodding in encouragement every once in a while.
"The point is," she said in conclusion, "I trusted him, and he---"
Midori bit her lip, trying not to cry. She had been crying all night, she didn't want to open the floodgates again. "He was my friend, Mom...I trusted him and he betrayed that trust. He played with me."
Atsuko nodded again. "I suppose you're right. Trust is a hard thing to lose, isn't it? But let me ask you, Mi-chan, did you trust him?"
"Huh?" Midori asked, confused. "What do you mean? Of course I did!"
"Well, it just seemed to me that if you trust him, you should at least give him a chance to explain himself. What if that Takashi boy was just playing a prank?"
"But everything matched, Mom. What Takashi said made sense, considering the past events and what I've been suspecting the past few..." Midori trailed off, her mother's question suddenly echoing in her mind. Did she trust Rei-kun?
"Well," Atsuko started again after letting the point hit home. "I honestly don't want to send you to school yet, but...why don't you think about it on your way to Hanabishi?"
Midori nodded with a small smile. "Thanks, Mom."
"Just wait and see what happens. If he goes to explain himself, listen to him."
~~~
"Mi-chan!"
Midori looked up from her desk to see the Two entering the classroom.
"Ohayo..."
"We were trying to call you yesterday," Asako started. "Are you OK now?"
"Your mom said you weren't feeling well," Yuko explained.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Midori said, trying to sound cheerful. But Yuko saw through her smile.
"Midori, what happened at the dance? Chiharu-chan said Takashi had a go at you again, but you ended up quarreling with Yokaze-kun."
"Yeah, well...something like that."
"So what happened?"
"Actually..." Midori hesitated. She never finished her sentence as her eyes turned to the opened door.
As if on cue, Rei himself had arrived. And the expression on his face scared Midori.
Or rather the lack of.
With his mouth in a straight line, and his eyes lacking light, Rei was the perfect picture of stoicism. Before, when his clasmates greeted him for the morning, Rei always answered it with a smile. Now, what the greeters got was just a stiff nod.
Rei made his way to his chair without a word, and without even a glance in Midori's direction. For real, this time.
"Nee, Mi-chan... looks like your quarrel affected Yokaze-kun big time,"
Yuko commented.
The day dragged on. And Midori had to fight the urge to go and
talk to Rei herself. She thought that if Rei was really framed, he would go and talk
to her. If he wasn't, then, Midori would eat dirt before letting herself get
sucked in a boy's obnoxious game.
At the end of the day, Midori even walked slowly just in case Rei would go looking for her. But he didn't. When she arrived home, she dove into her studies to keep her mind on other things.
It worked.
But the next day, Midori faced the tension again. Of course, her classmates knew what happened, and even if they didn't, it was obvious that things were not all right.
The week dragged on.
Rei was not approaching Midori.
Days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to months. Midori was losing hope. Was she really just a gullible girl to have been fooled?
But she still waited...
And waited...
And waited.
After three months, Asato-sensei made an announcement, filling Midori with
dread.
"The year-end exams are coming up, so I'm going to give you a problem set to help you review. Like the one before, you shall work in pairs. As for your pair assignments, we'll have a votation whether or not you will work with the same partner."
"I wish I could work with at least one of you this time," Yuko whispered behind her.
Midori turned to her and smiled. As she did, Asato-sensei spoke, "All in favor of keeping partners, raise your hands."
Midori practically jumped in her seat. She hesitated lifting her hand, stealing at glance at Rei, who was looking around the room nonchalantly. When his eyes *almost* met Midori's, Asato-sensei spoke again.
"All in favor of drawing lots again, raise your hands."
Rei's hand lazily went up.
Midori's eyes narrowed. Fine, then, she thought as she turned to look
forward. She raised her hand with conviction, along with around 60% of the class.
The drawing of lots started.
"...Miyagi Yuko...and Hayao Asako..."
"Yatta!" exclaimed the Two, exchanging high fives.
"...Amano Yui...and Tsukioka Oto..."
"I hope you get Katsumi-chan...she was my partner," Yuko whispered.
"Yukibana Midori..."
Midori bit her lip.
"...and Yokaze Rei...Nagai Katsumi and..."
Midori's jaw practically hit her desk.
"What?!" she hissed silently. She turned around to glace at Rei, and she felt her blood rushing to her head unpleasantly. He was still wearing that nonchalant face, and she hated it.
She hated how her circumstances were making her believe more and more that Rei HAD played her.
She still didn't want to believe it.
And she hated the way things were going.