From A-Z, and Everything in Between

This Wasn't Supposed to Happen (3)

 Despite three days passing since his outing with Mafumafu, Soraru still couldn't stop thinking about that stupid albino. He tried to pass it off as his brain trying to decide whether to finally give up on their rivalry. But every time the memory of Mafumafu clinging to him and saying he wanted to spend time together popped up, Soraru got way too worked up for his own good. It was frustrating, to say the least. The only way he could keep himself occupied long enough to avoid thinking about those kinds of things was to work. He took multiple jobs over the course of those three days, and whenever he wasn't working he would go out to train.

Today, too, Soraru was going out to a field on the outskirts of town to train. He couldn't remember the last time he had worked this hard on anything. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing. He'd made a pretty decent amount of money these past few days, which was always a plus. But Soraru had to admit he was starting to feel pretty fatigued. He wasn't as alert as he usually was. It was hard to focus on any one thing for too long, and he ended up taking naps in whatever free time he had. It was probably because of these things that Soraru tripped over something very obvious when he was walking through the field.

"Ow, what did I..." Soraru trailed off as he looked to see what he had tripped over.

Laying on the ground was Mafumafu. He didn't seem bothered at all by the fact that Soraru had just run into him. In fact, he had a rather blank expression on his face. He looked over at Soraru and, surprisingly, his expression didn't change in the slightest. Soraru felt his heart stop for a moment. Did Mafumafu get his memories back? Is that why he wasn't smiling at Soraru anymore?

"Oh, hi, Soraru-san. What are you doing here?" Mafumafu greeted casually.

"I should be asking you that. Why are you laying in the middle of a field?" Soraru retorted.

Mafumafu veered his gaze to the sky. "I needed a place to clear my mind."

"Clear your mind? Of what? I thought it was already empty," Soraru said.

"It was. But all the sudden I started having these not so nice thoughts, and they wouldn't leave. I don't know what to do with them," Mafumafu said.

"Is that so?" Soraru said.

He didn't want to pry since it wasn't any of his business, but it was strange suddenly seeing Mafumafu so down like this. It was another side of Mafumafu that Soraru had yet to see. Looking at the albino's downcast expression made Soraru realize he really did know nothing about him.

"Hey, Soraru-san?" Mafumafu started.

"Yeah?" Soraru said.

"Do you ever just get this feeling like you're being crushed by absolutely nothing? And because you don't know what it is, you can't get rid of it or fight back. Then you start thinking that somehow you're doing something wrong, and you get so frustrated you want to cry, but even that is denied to you," Mafumafu went on.

"I, uh, don't think so, no," Soraru said awkwardly.

Mafumafu let out a low hum. "Must just be me then."

There were a couple seconds of silence that hung heavily in the air between them after that. Soraru didn't like it, it felt way too awkward, so he cleared his throat.

"Um, I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about, but I don't mind listening if you want to explain it to me," Soraru said.

Mafumafu's expression softened slightly. "Are you saying you'll listen to my problems, even though they're silly?"

"I'll be the judge of that. Now, talk," Soraru said.

"I'm not really sure how to explain it. I felt fine for the first week and a half, but suddenly everything seemed to go wrong inside my head. It started when Ama-chan was over taking care of me. He said he had to leave early so he could make it to work on time, and I realized how much of a burden I've been putting on him. He looks after me every day, and I can't do anything to repay him. I don't even remember him well enough to understand why he's doing it," Mafumafu explained.