from afar. | takata mashiho

✦ hello,

hi. my name is takata mashiho and i like to speak my mind. i also think i'm going crazy. everyday at any time, i hear the same voice; her thoughts. it's angelic and soothing and it's driving me insane. but her thoughts are kinda weird. they always start with, "hello, hello," and then she blabbers on about the most random things. i don't know how it started. i guess it was just one special day: i felt my head go cold, my ears ring and the world go quiet.

✦ ༺━━━━༻ ✧

"yah takata mashiho! wake up! i cooked breakfast but you wouldn't wake up. so i ate it." i felt someone violently shake my tired shoulders. i groggily raise my eyebrows as the sun blinds me. "yah watanabe, go away."
"aish, you're acting real strange these days. you don't even want to eat!" he pauses. "who are you and what have you done to my mashiho?" he questions as he drags me across the floor and into his kitchen.

on weekends i live with haruto. my parents are always out on business trips and it gets kinda miserable. i know it sounds really sad. but it's okay, the watanabe family is mine too. they also feed me well.

this day is a fun day. we'd normally just go out for lunch with some of our other friends and stuff like that. normally, we would choose to go to an amusement park or the beach, but school has really been a bully. the holidays are just around the corner so maybe we can all recombine and have fun like before. but for now it's just haruto and i.

"shall we go?" he decided on a puppy café. he told me about this girl who works there. apparently she goes to our school but i've never seen him talk to her or any girl whatsoever. not when i'm around at least. haruto is a hopeless romantic. he is naive and loves to get his hopes up. he believes in soulmates and fate and destiny. i believe in the truth, stability and realness. although right now, this year, it's really being challenged.

as we walk out the door reality hits me. it's fucking freezing. i regret my fashion decisions. it's too late now though, cause haruto's already got hearts in his eyes. and i've got hypothermia.

ramen. how could anything get any simpler, but so fucking delicious? it's like, so hearty yet refreshing at the same time? it's like a hug — but in your stomach! you see, this is what i think about when making my way to a café. freaking ramen. "mashiho! do you think she'll be in today?"
"potentially-"
"if she is, act natural."
"you should tell yourself that first." he is a freaky freaky boy.

as i push open the door, a little bell rings. "hello!" a barista greets us, his smile lightens the atmosphere. i bow back and give a polite wave.  a small puppy pees beside me. "i didn't just trigger that. i'm sorry. just a caramel macchiato, thanks." he nods and continues to work. caramel macchiatos are great. i also love caramel in general. the more i think about, i think i love caramel macchiatos just as much as ramen. huh, breathtaking. "be quiet! she's here!" i sit back watching haruto freak out. "where?"

i move away to let him deal with his own problems. plus, i wouldn't want to see him embarrassing himself. i sit myself in a corner chair that positions itself strategically in front of the main window. people walk by hand in hand, with dogs on a leash or simply alone. the world goes quiet, hello, hello! i like to go to bookstores and sniff the books in the new additions section. it's louder this time. but i can't get over the fact that she said that. excuse me? sniffing books? well, there it goes again, right through my mind. her voice is so unexplainable, godly if you will. i'm in love with it.

"excuse me, one caramel macchiato?"
"i don't want it anymore. take it, i've already paid."
"oh okay. thank you! please come again."
"of course." haruto slaps my shoulder.
"bro that was her! choi yuri! and you just gave back the drink?!" introducing choi yuri, born in 2001, originally from busan. she's popular, but not too popular, like in between. literally every guy has a crush on her. so i slap haruto right across the face mentally. "what's wrong with that? i just gave it to her for free!"
"she probably gets an employee discount. and, it looks like you didn't want to come in contact with the coffee cause there was something wrong with it or something." i'll leave him on his own to deal with his girl problems. i've made up my mind now. it's been on my mind all day. i don't want to go to an amusement park or the beach; it's not that the coffee was infected with a virus or something. i just...

i'm getting ramen. "wait mashiho! where are you going?"
"i'm getting ramen."
"hol' up i'm coming with!"
"why?"
"pleaseeeeeee~"
"fine."