Even Now

Even Now - Chapter 4 "Stupidity"

Chapter 4 —Renji—

"Stupidity"

They called me stupid.

I was never the smartest guy in the world but to say that I was stupid was rather mean. I mean, I knew, sometimes it took time for me to understand what people meant to say, but most of the time I could see how people acted and I'd know what they actually mean. Just because it took time for me to realize, it did not mean I would not realize it. I was not that stupid—stupid but just not THAT stupid.

Talk about stupid, I thought that no one would defeat Ichigo. This guy, my friend actually, was a real living idiot. Maybe he was one of—if not the only one—the worst idiot in this world. Period.

He might be quite smart in the class, but when it was about human feeling, he was a total moron.

Gezz…

I did not know what had happened amongst him, Orihime, and Rukia, but I was not blind. I could see that something had happened and somehow I could guess what it was about. Even people like me could somehow put two and two together and got four.

I slammed the now empty glass onto the counter table. I shouted to the young bartender, "One more!"

The emo styled bartender looked at me with his cold green eyes as he walked toward me with a bottle of liquor in his hand. He poured the liquor into my glass and let out an inaudible sigh as he did so. He did not show much expression but I had gotten used to his poker face.

"Are you planning to get drunk again tonight?"

I grabbed the glass and gulped the liquor to the last drop. Once I had drunk it all, I slammed the empty glass again, "More."

The dark haired bartender looked at me with a warning look, "Fine, just remember, do-not-vomit-here."

I rolled my eyes, "You're so talkative tonight, Ulquiorra…"

He looked at me, his expression was still the same plain as usual, "And you're so drunk." He poured more liquor, ""This is the last one."

I did not answer him. I drank the last glass of liquor I could get for tonight. I had known Ulquiorra for years; I knew that once he said something, it would not be the other way. I would never know what was on his mind, but Ulquiorra was an intimidating man, somehow. He could just lean on the wall and looked at a random guy without saying anything, it'd be enough to make the poor random guy want to piss his pants.

He did not say anything as he watched me drink the liquor. His green eyes were almost glowing in the darkness. I pretended like I did not know that he was watching me right now. I looked at the empty glasses, pretended that the pattern of the glass interested me.

"How's she?"

He did not make any expression at that question he just asked me. I looked into his eyes, tried to find some emotion but I found none. I shrugged. I knew who he was talking about; I just did not know how to answer it. I was never good at verbal answer. Hell I was never good at giving any answer.

He demanded an answer.

So I answered.

"Uh, Fine?"

He narrowed his eyed a little, "You don't seem sure."

I sighed, "Why not just go and see her by yourself?" I looked at him seriously, "She misses you… Everyone misses you."

Well maybe except one.

"I do not wish to disturb her."

I almost laughed at his answer. Another stupid guy we had here. I knew, he knew as well as I knew that she would never get disturbed if she knew that he wanted to see her. I was sure, she would be happy. After all, it had been a long time since the last time they met.