Seven
Midori took a deep breath as she stared at the Yokaze residence.
Here she was again, coming over to work for a math problem set. The first
time she came here, the only thing she could think of that could pose as a
problem was the possibility that they might not finish the problem set.
Now, she was wondering whether or not they'd get started at all. What with her standing there for the past 10 minutes...
C'mon, Midori, pull yourself together! she thought, shaking herself.
Drawing another breath, she marched forth.
"Mi-chan! How nice of you to
drop by! Come in, come in! Did you walk here all by yourself?"
"Hai, but---"
"Oh, I should have known! I told Rei to pick you up, but he wouldn't. He can be so stubborn sometimes, don't you think?"
"Uhmm..." Midori bit her lip. It looked like Miki-san didn't know about their current "situation".
"Actually," Miki-san continued in a hushed voice, "he's been a bit moody recently when I ask about school. His answers are always as short as you can make them. But when it's on any other topic, he's more respondent! Would you know why?"
"I...can't be sure..."
"Oh, well, you'd best go to the study room. I think he's in there already."
With a nod, Midori headed for the study room. When she stopped in front of that familiar door, she quietly drew in a breath and was about to knock when the door opened.
Midori blinked at blue eyes. Cold blue eyes she didn't know.
"Come in," came a voice that vaguely sounded like Rei's.
No "Good afternoon", no "Hi", no smile, not even a nod of the head. Just "come in". Just "come in" and a turned back.
Midori watched as Rei went to the table and resumed whatever he was apparently doing.
No "Please, sit down", no "Would you like something to drink first?" Although, at least there were two glasses of water at one side of the table.
Midori sat down, and started taking her things out. The pieces of paper caught her eye.
"You started already?" she asked before she could stop herself.
A stiff nod.
No lifting of eyes to look at his study partner.
"Which ones are you done with?" She asked again. She realized she was no longer going with the "you won't talk, so I won't" programme. But she'd almost had enough.
Almost.
Rei slid a piece of paper from his side of the table to hers. Midori took it, and saw that it was the list of the problems they were going to do. Several numbers were already marked with checks.
"We...we were supposed to work on them together, remember?"
"I was tired of waiting for you, so I went ahead."
Midori felt a pang of guilt. "Tired of waiting for you". Either she was just dwelling too much on their problem, or she heard a tinge of hurt in Rei's voice. A tinge of hurt...and a whole lot of indignance.
"I was late for just 10 minutes," Midori said.
He couldn't have waited, gotten bored, and done 7 numbers in 10 minutes, could he?
When Rei didn't respond, Midori decided to start working. Maybe, after a while,
he'd decide to talk to her. After all, you could easily dodge a person in a
classroom of 30, but if it was just 2 of you in a room, it's hard to keep quiet
for so long.
Midori sighed as she finished her last computation, then glanced
at the clock. It said 2:45. That meant an hour had passed since a word was
spoken in the room. She looked at their list of problems, and saw that only
two weren't checked. That meant they were done, except for the problem Rei
was working on. The last time, they had spent four hours. Now, they did their
work in an hour. Midori knew she had gotten better at math, what with her focusing
so much on her studies the past months. And it seemed Rei had, too. He didn't
even ask her help this time.
Midori's eyes flicked to Rei when he put his pen down and started arranging the things on the table. She blinked.
"..."
"When you're done with that, just leave it here. I'll compile them this time." He stood up.
"Rei..."
He finally looked at her after ignoring her for the past hour. He looked pretty angry.
"Uhm..." Midori's hand clenched under the table. She hated how she sounded small, but she really can't help it. What with her sitting down and Rei practically looming over her. Geez, Midori, TALK! her mind screamed. Midori panicked when Rei huffed and started for the door.
"H...HEY! I'm talking to you!"
"Sure you were."
Midori sighed in frustration. What's wrong with you, Midori?!
"Look, I'm sorry that I ignored you after the dance, OK?"
"Oh, yes, you sound VERY sorry, Yukibana."
"Yukibana".
Midori blinked when Rei started for the door again.
"Sheesh! Why are you such in a hurry to leave?"
"Like, duh. Why would anyone want to leave somewhere? Because they didn't want to stay there anymore, maybe?"
"Can't we just TALK for a second, Rei?!"
Rei's eyes narrowed at her. "You can't make people bow to your will, Snow Queen."
"WHAT?!" Midori finally stood up, too. "That's--- that's---!"
"Lessee..." Rei started, looking as if he was trying to think hard. "Who said 'Don't you DARE call me by my first name'? I can't seem to remember. And who kept slamming the phone down on people? Doesn't she know it's not polite to do that? Who shouted 'Leave me alone, you idiot!' over the phone again? And who kept ignoring someone who wanted to apologize constantly for three days?"
"And who kept ignoring someone who wanted to talk for three months?" Midori snapped back.
"Oh, really, you did?" Rei asked, his face looking positively surprised, but his voice was oozing with sarcasm. "How could I have been so blind? And just when exactly did you try to talk to me?"
Midori opened her mouth to retaliate, but no words came out. She clenched her fists.
"OK, so I've done that. But I want to talk now, OK?" she tried again.
"You can't make people bow to your will, Snow Queen," Rei repeated.
"Can't you just LISTEN?!"
Rei laughed bitterly. "Oh, yeah, listen. How 'bout you? You never listen to anybody! Yeah, that's right, you never listened to anyone, not even your friends!"
"Friends?" Midori asked unbelievingly. "You can't mean The Two, right? I listen to them whole lot, buddy, so don't---"
Midori stopped when something flickered in his eyes. Hurt.
"Yeah, the Two. You think they're your only friends, don't you? Do you know why they're called The Two, and not The Three, even when you're with them? Because you're really not one of them, Yukibana."
"HEY! Who're you to say that?!"
"I'm a nobody compared to you, right?! Everybody else is a nobody, right? The Two, me, even Takashi!" He smirked at Midori's surprised face. "Yeah, Yukibana, he likes you a lot, that's why he keeps teasing you. He just wants your attention -- although he went a bit too far sometimes -- but you never tried to take a good look at him to see that, did you?
"You never took a good look at anyone, because you always consider yourself a cut above the rest! No wonder you're not a member of any club! You can't be a follower yet you boss everyone around as if you're some kind of important person. Well let me tell you something: you're NOT."
Midori stared. She felt as if Rei had just stabbed her. She swallowed, closing her eyes to prevent the tears in her eyes from falling. She opened them again, as she made a decision. The Yokaze Rei she knew... Yokaze Rei, her friend... He no longer existed. The boy standing in front of her was a different person. He was someone who hurt her. And he hurt her bad.
So, looking up, she gave him The Glare. So angry was she that she didn't even notice that Rei had taken an involuntary step backward.
"I see. You've convinced me, Yokaze. From here on in, I am never talk to you, and you will never talk to me, unless it was utterly necessary."
Rei said nothing, but the furious look on his face had long since disappeared.
"After all, I am the Snow Queen, aren't I?"
With that, Midori grabbed her bag and left.