Dreamy Days in West Tokyo - The Very Thought of You

Chapter 3 (Rime's RoV)

On Monday morning, I found myself walking with Takeshi, Ryuzo, Haruki and Ichigo to school. I would have rather walked by myself, but that didn't happen. 20 minutes earlier, I exited Black Ship and found them waiting fro me. "Let's all walk together, just like old times!" Haruki had said. It was much easier to agree than to try to ditch them.

I fairly heard one of them talking. Iwasn't sure who. Ihad my ear buds in, as I always did, and couldn't make out the words over my music. I found when wearing ear buds, it as much easier to block people out, and they were less likely to attempt too converse with you.

Thus, I was surprised when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked over to see Ichigo's mouth moving. I removed one of my ear buds, "What?"

"I asking what you were you listening to?"

Why would he ask such an unnecessary question? ...Fences by Paramore," I respond, before promptly putting my ear buds back in and blocking everything out more.

A few hours later, the 5 of us were eating lunch on the roof. The beginning of school passed by uneventfully. The teacher introduced me, I was assigned a seat (by Ichigo, coincidentally), and then had 3 hours of lecturing and classwork which I didn't pay much notice to. Due to a "No Electronics" policy, I was without my shields. That didn't mean I took part in an of the conversation, though.

I wasn't paying any attention to what they were saying, That is, until Ryuzo started shouting "Takeshi! Where are your vegetable?! A man needs to eat vegetable to eat proper nutrition!"

"...Say the guy who claims he can talk to carrots," Takeshi retorts.

Before I knew what was happening, I found myself smiling sightly at their banter. The minute I realized what I was doing, I stopped. I hadn't really smiled like that in a long time. And yet, some stupid conversation had managed to make me do so.

I felt someone staring at me, and looked up. It Ichigo. Our eyes met, and I saw him grinning. I quickly looked away, unsettled by the event. Why/ Why was everyone so damn nice to me? Why won't they just leave me alone?

The rest of the day was a blur. All I could think about was what had happened at lunch. I was baffled. I couldn't understand why I smiled. After 3 months, why? Of course, I didn't find my answer.

When the bell ran, I quickly gathered my things and tried to make an escape. "Hey, Rime! Wait up!" Haruki exclaimed.

Shit. I signed and turned around. "What?"

"Let's walk home together, too!" He said with a certain enthusiasm, and I just couldn't reject his respect.

"...Fine."

And so, the 5 of us began walking home together. First we passed Happy Water and Takeshi left. Then was passed the Hattas' produce stand, and Ryuzo left. Then the same with Haruki, until it was just me and Ichigo. I didn't say anything; neither did he, and I was fine with that

But then, a few minutes later, "Hey..." he began in a solf voice. "You know, you really sho-"

He was cut by loud chatter, the source being people inside the bakery. "Woah, it's really busy. Tch, so much work," he grumbled. Suddenly he looked up, and I could just imagine a light bulb being turned on above this head. I have a bad feeling about this...

"Why don't you come inside and help out?" he suggested.

"No," I shot back, without hesitation.

"Oh come on, you can have some cake!"

"No."

"you would be in the back, helping to bake the cakes. It's better than at the café, where you would have to interact with people."

"..." I got out my phone and messaged Johji, Emergency at the bakery, I'll be helping out there today, walked inside.

It was chaos inside; filled to capacity. Ichigo grabbed my arm and led me to kitchen. He started explaining what to step-by-step. "...So, all you have to do just prepare the batter like that."

I scoffed. "I'm not a moron, I know how to mix cake batter." I thought I saw a trace of a smile on his face, but it quickly vanished. Must have just been my imagination.

We silently worked for a while before he cleared his throat and spoke yp. "You know...what I was trying to say earlier..."

I looked up at him. He seemed hesitant. "What?"

Now, he was downright uncomfortable. "Y-you...you have a nice smile. You should smile more often," he said so fast, I thought I had misheard him at first. But no, I had heard correctly. His face was completely red, up to the tips of his ears.

I stood there stunned for a minute, before resuming my work."...Why do you care?"

"Huh?" He seemed taken aback by my question.

"Why do you care if  I smile more?"

"...I don't."

And that was the end of our conversation. We worked for another few minutes, until he signed. "I'm so frigging' bored," he mumbled and turned on the small TV near us.

"Family of four in a fatal car accident earlier this morning..." My entire body froze, my heart started racing, and eyes started tear up. Idon't know how long stood there. It was like time has stopped.

"Rime? Rime? Are you okay?" I could hear Ichigo frantically asking, but t was like background noise, faded.

I dropped the whisk i'd been using, and ran out of the bakery as fast as I could. I needed to get out of here, to get away. To escape all the question. To forget.