Hibiki

Chapter 2 | Promises Of A Promise

"What is love?" A question that seemed to have been stuck in the back of my mind resurfaced. Probably because Kaede asks me that sometimes.

          A special person, well I could only call one that, asked me about it once. Too bad for them I was the wrong person to ask..

          "Your name.." A male's voice came from the direction of my right ear. "Onagawa Hibiki right?"
          "Oh."
          "Oh?" It's a boy with an ear piercing. He has light blonde colored hair, but black roots and he's wearing a gray cardigan over our school uniform.

          His seemingly confused look made me remember a character from a game.

          "Cute."
          "Cute?" Even more confused, he pulled out a chair and sat in front of me. "Thanks for the compliment," He said while smiling.

          The way he talks sounds so cold and uncaring, but his face didn't fit his voice at all. It was so full of life.. emotions.

          "Why are you here alone? Looks like your classmates have already gone home," He keeps looking at me intently, as if he's observing everything I do.
          "Why are you here? This isn't your class," I asked him back, pressing deeply on the word you.
          "I just happened to pass by and saw you alone."
          What an interesting guy. Not really normal to just enter a random classroom to talk to a stranger.
          "Haru! Let's go already!" A voice of a girl called out just outside the classroom while passing by.
          "I'm being called out now. I'm Haru, Yamamoto Haru. Call me whatever you'd like," He said as he waves his right hand goodbye. The way he talks and acts surely does leave quite an impression on anyone that he comes across.

          That was the first person, Haru, that's about my age to talk to me besides Kaede. Speaking of Kaede, we won't be able to go home together today. He said he has a job to do today.

⁰-⁰

          "Wakey-wakey," A cold, but calming voice called out as I felt my head being tapped.
          "Haru," I slowly opened my eyes, just to see his face close to mine. He's here again huh?
          "Aw, I was hoping that you'd give me a nickname," He said as he pointed at the classroom's wall clock. Looks like I slept while in class again.
          "Sorry."
          "Don't worry about it," Haru replied. The empty classroom's suddenly filled with silence, while Haru's just there, sitting in front of me. Staring..
          "Why don't you ever smile?" He asked with visible curiosity despite his emotionless face and deep dark eyes.

          The sudden question made me think about how to explain it to someone. Since I never needed to explain it to Kaede, we just grew up together so he already understands.

          "Think of it like having a body with no soul. I can move, decide and control what I do but I can't seem to feel purpose with what I do because I can't exactly feel," Talking this much with someone I barely know feels uncomfortable. I feel like he'd be bored if I kept on talking about myself.
          I look back at him to see why he's so silent just to see him smiling while staring at me.
          "I see. Well, I guess you took my interest," He said, still smiling as he looked into the distance.

          "Are you okay?" I asked. I didn't ask that for no reason. It's just that he looks like he's tired and gloomy even though he acts all happy and smiley. I guess I was proven right when he dodged the question.
          "Haha of course I am. Anyway who's that Kaede guy you're with?"
          "You know him?"
          "Yeah, I kinda saw you guys on the train a day ago. I knew about him because you called his name," He said while taking out a sandwich and offering it to me.
          "We've been friends since we were children," I replied right after taking a bite. His face that was smiling turned serious for a moment, but he smiled again. Wait, most importantly. How did he know that I like to eat?
          "Close then?"
          "Hm."