Romantic Killer But I Made It Gay

Part 82

We walk back into the crowd and return to our original path up the hill.

"I guess it's easy to run into people in festivals," Emi laughs. "Especially people you haven't seen in a long time."

"Please don't say that," I mutter, glancing around, hoping not to recognize any more faces from my past. "Oh yeah, Kazuki, think you'll see anyone you know?" I blurt before remembering he probably moved away from his family.

He shakes his head. "I'm pretty far from my Junior High. I doubt I'll see anyone from there." He doesn't look very upset about that, which makes me feel even worse for him. Didn't the kid have any friends? Just how awful has his life been?

I glance up at him, but he's staring intently at the ground. He looks stressed, and he's breathing so loud I can hear it. He did say he doesn't like crowds; I wonder if that's a part of it. He subconsciously reaches up to his head, as if to pull a hat over his eyes, but his hands grasp at empty air and drop to his sides.

Emi notices me watching him closely and smiles schemingly. "I'm getting pretty hungry, aren't you, Haru?"

"Y-Yeah, I guess so." What's she planning here? Whatever it is, it's sure to involve one of the boys. I can tell by the way Kiki's matching her grin.

"Oh, I could go for some Takoyaki," Junta suggests happily. "I haven't had real festival Takoyaki in a while."

"I want a lollipop!" Kiki chimes in squeakily, but I ignore her.

"Some sort of potato would be really good right now," Emi murmurs to herself thoughtfully. "Like baked. Ooh! Or fried! Or maybe a candy apple!"

"Make up your mind," I sigh. "Anyways, I feel like I could go for any of those, so I'll just follow your leads."

"I could go for Yakitori," Kazuki suggests quietly and I feel my mouth start to water. Savory chicken sounds really, really good right now.

"Haru, you love that, right?" Emi remembers, still grinning. "Why don't you go on with Kazuki while the rest of us split up?"

"Wait—" Junta flushes, putting up a hand to stop us, but drops it just as quickly.

"What's up?" I calmly ask, internally begging him to come up with a reason to keep Kazuki and I from being alone together.

"N-Nothing," He mutters, looking away. "Go on."

Damnit, Junta! Right when I needed you the most! I don't let any of my annoyance show on my face as Kazuki and I start off to where he says he saw a Yakitori stand. As we approach, the juicy smell of cooked chicken hits my nose and I smile.

"I never knew you liked Yakitori," Kazuki comments as we get into line.

"It's one of my favorite festival foods," I admit happily. "I'm glad you mentioned it; I'd almost forgotten."

He nods, looking ahead. "I should learn how to make it."

"You don't have to..." I try to hide how much I'd like that but he catches on anyway, smiling gently.

"I'd like to. I'm always looking for new meals to make for you guys."

I smile up at him but he doesn't notice, still focused on watching the line in front of us.
After a few minutes we reach the front and order, then wait with the other people who've ordered. I don't know how close I'm supposed to stand to Kazuki and I end up slowly edging away until we're an arm's length apart.