Dreamy Days in West Tokyo - The Very Thought of You

Chapter 1 (Rime's PoV)

I remember that it hurt. Everything hurt. Now, I am just numb.

As I walked down the familiar streets from my childhood, I remembered things that I would have liked to stay forgotten. I only came back to this town because I had no other option. If there had been another, I would have chosen it in a heartbeat. There were too many memories here. Just looking at the street I would walk down everyday after school caused my heart to wrench painfully in my chest. I don't, I don't care. I kept repeating those word in my head, It I believed it, then it would be true.

I was repeating my mantra as i walked through the doors of café, Black Ship. There, I immediately spotted Johji Chakura, who was surrounded by 5 other guys. They seemed to be around my age, in high school. They were all talking at once, minus one who seemed to be engrossed in comic book.

Over the noise, no one had heard the chime from the door as I walked in. I awkwardly stood there for almost a minute before finally clearing my throat and speaking up. "Excuse me?" No response. "Excuse me?" I said, a bit louder. Still nothing. Oh,god. What an annoying bunch. I sighed before shouting, "HEY!" This got their Attention.

Everyone was looking a me. I hated this sort of attention, but stared back with my usual blank expression.

Finally, Johji broke the silence. "Rime! Well... As you can see here, things are kind of busy right now. Sorry about that."

"Right," I replied, my expression never once changing.

"Well, I'll help you carry all your stuff upstairs."

He reached out to grab on of my suitcases, but was interrupted by the boy with black hair. "Upstairs? Is she ...moving in?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you? It must have slipped my mind. This is Rime Tachibana. She'll be living here and helping out with the café. Rime. this is Haruki Tanemura, Ryuzo Hatta, Takeshi Yuno, Rihito Hatsune and Ichigo Sato," he introduced me to them with a friendly smile on his face.

The intimidating on, Ryuzo began to yell at Johji. "Jo! How could you?! She's just a child!"

"Hey! Don't get the wrong idea! She's moving back to town and needed a place to stay. I'm an old friend of her family, that's all."

"Moving back to town? You've lived here before? You do seem kind of familiar." The feminine blonde asked me.

Before I could answer, Takeshi--the one who had been reading a comic book up until now--spoke up. "Little duck."

That was all he said, but it brought back so many memories. I remembered all of them now. The 6 of us were best friends growing up; inseparable.

Is seemed the others remembered as well, and I was soon bombarded with question. "Why are you back?" "How are you?" They were all curious, expect for one.

Ichigo. He simply stared at me with an unreadable expression. I was grateful that there was someone who didn't want to pry into my personal business.

As for the others, well, I had no intention of answering them. I don't care, Idon't care. Yet, I knew they wouldn't stop until I said something. I shrugged my shoulders, "I didn't like Germany as much as i did here. It was boring there." This wasn't a lie. I was bored there. But, I would give anything to be back in Germany. Or any other place for that matter, And yet, fate had decided otherwise. Fate was cruel and merciless. I had learned that the hard way.

I'm not sure they brought it, at least not all of them. I couldn't care less what they thought, though. I just wanted to get out of here. Luckily, Johji intervened.

"Well, I'm sure you're tired. You should go get settled in upstairs," he suggested, a smile still on his face.

"Yeah, okay," I replied, distressed. I grabbed my bays and went to walk upstairs when I met Ichigo's eyes. He wore the same expression as before, but then he faintly smiled at me. I didn't smile back. I'd been forcing smiles for weeks, now. I was tired of it, and it's not like I actually gave a damm if anyone found me rude or unfriendly.

Looking away, I saw Johji give me a worried glance before mouthing, Are you okay? I didn't say yes. If I did, it would be lying. And I don't lie.