But You Don't Care

ku

Trigger Warning: Intrusive Thoughts

Months had passed. The miserable winter months melted away, and the spring months were in bloom. Both Choromatsu and Osomatsu managed to land a job. Granted, Osomatsu couldn't keep it. In fact, he got fired within a week. Jyushimatsu had found a girlfriend, but she soon left him. I still went for my daily walks with Rie and Tomomi, but it's been getting harder to get out of bed in the morning. I find every one of my smiles hides a bold faced lie. My masked images constantly follow me now, the blue one always holding the hand of the unknown one.

Tomomi was going to university soon, and that meant her free time was going to go down significantly. She promised me she would make time for me and my brothers, but she seemed stressed about it at the same time. That didn't stop her drive, however. She frequently taught me different topics, along with a lot of English. Today we decided to go to the library, and read about Greek gods. Tomomi set some books in front of me and I read them with her out loud. (Not loudly of course, we aren't heathens.)

"Artemis was described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto. She was the goddess of virginity-" I read out. Tomomi jumped up and spoke in the middle of my sentence.

"Choromatsu."

I don't know why, but that was hilarious to me. I laughed out loud and covered my mouth as to avoid disturbing others any more than I already had. I took a breath in but managed to snort instead. Tomomi instantly lost it and started laughing equally as hard as me, which made me laugh even more in turn. It felt amazing to laugh this hard, especially as genuinely as it was. We laughed until we got kicked out of the library for being too loud. We sat on the steps afterwards.

"Oh man, that was great," I smiled. Tomomi smiled back, but her smile quickly diminished. My smile followed, and my expression turned into one of concern.

"What's wrong? I've never seen you look so down," I asked. Tomomi crossed her legs and pulled her arms into her body, her fists curled into her jacket sleeves. She refused to look up at me.

"You know, university is going to take up a lot of my time. But... If I can't hang out with you sometimes, please... Don't think I'm ignoring you," she started. I smiled reassuringly.

"Of course not. We are all very proud of you for stepping up in life, my Karamatsu girl. I understand if you're a lot more busy," I replied with a thumbs up. Her face didn't light up at all. Usually my little pet names make her smile. She tells me that it makes her feel special, and that she thinks it's awesome I give everyone a different name.

"That's not all of it. What I'm going into...it might require to move back to America. I didn't want to tell you, but it was rude of me not to. You have a right to know."

I felt my heart fall into my stomach, and the white masked fiend took a seat next to me. I couldn't let her be away from me. She was my best friend, and I wouldn't be able to tolerate my life without her. I thought long and hard as Tomomi sat in silence, most likely waiting for my response. I finally said something after a while of working out what I wanted to say.

"I am not good with English, but... will try. You are... amazing friend, I will come with... My friend."

Tomomi looked up at me in surprise. Tears slowly filled her eyes. I wanted to wait to surprise her with my progress in English by singing happy birthday for her with my guitar, but now was the time to show her I was serious.

"B-But your brothers-"

"My brothers don't want me around anyways. There isn't anything for me here, so I would much rather go with you if you leave. You're my best and only friend. You're like a younger sister I never had and always wanted, I'm willing to do what it takes to preserve our friendship."