Mute

44 | Mall

I smiled at Shiro as we walked. Last week he'd comforted me, helping me calm down. After all, it wasn't like Shouto could, not when I was upset about him. Shiro seemed to understand I didn't like to talk in front of most people, and had been surprisingly chill about it.

Right now we were hanging out with his friends and shopping at the mall. Mostly we were just browsing. Present Mic hadnt asked about Shouto, just seemed to understand. He seemed happy I was making more friends though, and had practically shoved his wallet into my hands when he found out we were going shopping. I liked Shiro's friends, they were chill and fun.

"Emiko!"Hikaru draped his arm over my shoulders with a grin as I glanced up at him. "Whens your birthday?"

I blinked. My birthday? I wrote on my phone, holding it up for him to see.

"I wanna know if we missed it! We all love celebrating our birthdays!"

I smiled and wrote some more. He grinned and spun to face his friends.

"Guys! Its the 13th of June, we all still have plenty of time!"

They all cheered and I ducked my head, smiling despite myself. Daichi laughed beside me. "That's good. It also means we have a ton of time to figure out what you want."

Kazumi rolled his eyes. "Not that it'll matter, you're gonna get her the same thing you get everyone every year."

Daichi gasped. "Bro! Mean!"

Everyone laughed. I followed them all towards a food shop. Hitoshi smiled at me while everyone argued. "So, what do you want me to order for you?"

I turned my attention to the sign, scanning the options. I wrote my answer and showed him. He nodded.

"Okay! Hi, can we have two large soft pretzels?"

"Salted?"

"Yeah! I don't know what these other guys want." He gestured at the group behind us who were still arguing. Shiro was yelling at Tadashi now. It was amusing. "But can we also have two milkshakes?"

"What types?"

He glanced at me and I shrugged. "Surprise us. Can we have those in large too?"

"Sure thing man."

Hitoshi leaned against the wall and I waited beside him. We watched the group argue loudly, attracting attention from quite a few other people. "Hey Emi, if we just left do you think they'd notice?"

I shook my head with a smile. Hitoshi laughed before waving. "Hey guys! You're being loud!" They all fell silent. The worker smiled.

"Here's your pretzels and milkshakes."

I accepted the food as Hitoshi blackmailed Shiro into paying, saying it was his fault for being so loud. Again, I found this very amusing.

"Right!" Hikaru grinned proudly as we began walking again, everyone had ordered the same as us. "So I was thinking we could visit the arcade!"

"The arcade?" Daichi made a face. "Bro, Emiko is gonna get bored there."

I quickly shook my head, smiling to prove I wasn't.

Shiro grinned. "Yeah man! Emiko isn't like the other girls we go to school with! She's from America remember? She's chill!"

Kazumi nodded. "If we're going to the arcade, we should turn around."

"Huh?"

"We're going the wrong way." He elaborated.

I laughed as everyone wilted, following after Kazumi quickly.

We reached the arcade with minimal fussing and I watched as everyone began playing. Somewhere during the game Tadashi dragged me into playing air hockey with him. For the rest of the afternoon we all played and I found myself to be enjoying it very much.

We only stopped when Shiro stretched. "Well! How about some dinner guys?"

Everyone quickly agreed and we left the spot, heading for the exit. I followed them, pulling out my phone to type. I glanced up to make sure I was still with them, I was, when I locked eyes with Shouto across the room.

My eyes widened, he looked shocked. My pace slowed but I didn't notice, just staring.

"Emiko! You're gonna fall behind and we're gonna lose you!" Hikaru grabbed my wrist, snapping me to the present as he began tugging me forward. I nodded with a small smile as we quickly caught up to the others. "We're all getting dinner, kinda hard to do that without everyone." He added jokingly.

I smiled and held up my phone. Kazumi glanced back and read it first. "Guys, Emiko can't eat dinner with us."

I shook my head with a small smile as we left the large building. It was still kinda light out.

"Is there somewhere you need to be?" Shiro asked.

I nodded and wrote a single word on my phone. "Work."

Daichi's mouth dropped. "Wait seriously? Can we come? We'll be good!"

Everyone began pestering me and I nodded, feeling a smile become slightly more permanent on my face.

It took less than an hour to reach where I worked, stopping to buy something for dinner on the way. I waved the group around front, going through the back myself. I smiled at a coworker as I slipped on my apron and put my hair in a ponytail. I still only wore it up for work.

I stepped out of the backroom and waved as the crowd began cheering. One of my coworkers glanced back at me and grinned widely.

"AH! And here is our favorite worker! Everyone please welcome Satoshi!"

I bowed playfully, putting a cup on the counter and glancing at my coworker as she took an order for me. And there started my 4 hour shift of flipping cans and performing.