Comes up Roses

Chapter 20: Reconciliation

"I know about her," Kasanoda hissed through his teeth, taking a seat beside Masae at a table in the back of the music room.

Masae looked at him reproachfully. He looked absolutely terrified: wide-eyed and shifty. Like he expected to get offed if he let his guard down. Masae wasn't exactly worried. "You know about who?"

"Fujioka!"

Masae let out an involuntary gasp, standing up so abruptly that the legs of her chair screeched on the tile. She looked around, hoping she hadn't drawn any attention, but they were the only two people in the clubroom.

She sat down again, slowly and deliberately, folding her hands in front of her. "You found out about Haruhi."

"Yeah, I did! And lemme tell you, I'm a little pissed that you didn't tell me sooner."

Masae raised an eyebrow. "Are you, now?"

"Like hell I am! I was freakin' drowning yesterday because I thought I was in love with another dude! And you just let me drown knowing she was a chick the whole time!"

"Let me remind you that you liked Haruhi even when you believed she was a boy, and that idea didn't dissuade you. You said, and I quote, 'when a guy looks like a chick, dudes can be pretty hot too'." She made her voice low, to mock him. "And secondly, what right do you have to demand I tell you my friend's secrets?"

Kasanoda sighed, head dipping. He looked... defeated. He looked like he had real, actual feelings for once. Masae felt very briefly bad.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm kinda stressed and that all came out wrong. But I still have a thing for Fujioka. Probably even worse now that I saw her changing."

Masae was up in a flash, slamming her hands down on the table so hard that Kasanoda flinched. Her palms stung, but she didn't care. "You saw her changing?" She screamed.

"It was an accident!" Kasanoda defended himself, holding his palms out apologetically. "And the freaking Hosts caught me and now I think they want to kill me."

"Tell me everything," Masae said, voice hard. She stared into his dirt-colored eyes solemnly.

"Fine." Kasanoda sighed. "So I was outside yesterday after school, and I saw this injured bird. It was some little blue thing, its wing broke to hell, and I had some bandages in my bag so I wrapped it up. Gave it some of my lunch too."

Masae stayed quiet as he spoke, but her gaze softened slightly. This wasn't how she had expected the story to start, and really, she didn't think he had it in him to patch up injured birds. Maybe she could find a soft woman for him after all.

"Fujioka came and found me. I guess the rest of the club was around, but I didn't see them. We were talkin', heard some rustlin' in the bushes, and before we know it these two guys are being pulled out by Mori-senpai. He said they were the same guys who tried to brain us with the flower pots, and they were after me, not Mori-senpai."

"He said all that?" Masae interjected, raising an eyebrow.

Kasanoda shrugged. "Honey-senpai helped."

She nodded, and he continued speaking. "Anyways, out of nowhere comes Suoh, lookin' to play kick the can. But instead of asking he just freakin' kicks the thing as hard as he can at us." Kasanoda shook his head in disgust. "Mori-senpai was there to stop it, because of course he was, but there was paint in the can and it got all over Fujioka. She came back here to change and then—"

"And then you accidentally walked in on her," Masae supplied. "Stupid."

"Yeah, I know. But I didn't see anything! I swear!" Kasanoda waved his hands defensively. He was so earnestly embarrassed, Masae was compelled to believe him. "But try telling that to the Hosts. Ootori threatened to get the damn police on me. Those freaky Twins threatened to beat me till I forgot– are they good for it, d'you know? I mean, I know they're into fashion, but they were talkin' like they could take me."