𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 - 𝘵𝘦𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘰 𝘬𝘶𝘳𝘰𝘰

8: undefined spaces

Tetsurō watched Yamazaki as she left the classroom. He bit the inside of his lip in frustration.

I'd never date a guy like you. Stay away from me.

Tetsurō stared down at the digits she'd had written on his wrist.

Just stay away from me, okay?

As soon as Tetsurō left the empty classroom and entered the hall, he felt dozens of eyes on him. Kenma materialized beside him, immersed in his handheld game.

"What was that about?" He asked.

"You were right," Tetsurō muttered as he began to walk through the hall. Kenma instinctively followed after him without looking up.

"I know. About what?" Tetsurō knew him well enough to know what he was saying despite the fact that Kenma's voice was mostly drowned out by the chatter of the other students.

"Outside, yeah?" Tetsurō asked, stepping behind Kenma and guiding him through the hall holding the back of his uniform. Kenma remained unbothered as he mumbled down at his game.

"She doesn't want anything to do with me anymore." Tetsurō sat down on a bench near the fountain.

"Hm," Kenma made an attempt to sat down as well, nearly missing the bench entirely because he was so focused on beating his level. Tetsurō grabbed his arm and guided him onto the bench beside him.

Coming from Kenma, "hm" could mean anything from i told you so to i'm sorry about that. This was Kenma; obviously it was the former.

Tetsurō shrugged it off, pulling out his journal. There was a few more minutes left in their free period, so he decided to use them by writing. He didn't write anything in particular, just whatever came to his mind.

Anything to keep him from thinking about how deeply Yamazaki's words had cut into him.

As the day drifted on, Tetsurō found more and more things to write about to help get his focus off of Yamazaki. He'd filled five more journal pages by the time Japanese Literature class rolled around.

The essay projects had been graded and Tetsurō had done well. He couldn't feel proud of the grade without thinking of how he would have failed save for Yamazaki's help.

He thought of texting her to thank her. She had said to only message if he got desperate, so after a bit of consideration, he decided against it.

When he got home, he collapsed on the floor in the living room.

"Tetsurō, how was school today?" His mother asked from where she was curled up on the sofa. She closed her book.

"Fine," Tetsurō responded, an unanticipated voice-crack appearing in the middle of the word.

His mom laughed and slid onto the floor beside him. She cackled when she laughed; a trait Tetsurō had inherited.

She had always been a bit childish, but Tetsurō knew it was only because she didn't care what she looked like to the world. Her hair was always unkempt, her eyes were full of humour and kindness. She loved getting her hands dirty in the garden and staying up late to watch silly movies.

She was Tetsurō's kindred spirit.

She sat cross legged beside him and poked him in the ribs. "Don't lie to your mother,"

"Where's grandma?" Tetsurō asked, lifting his head to fold his hands behind it.

"Out shopping. Now tell me why you're being moody,"

"I'm not being moody," Tetsurō made a face at her accusation.

"Come here my baby, tell me why you frown," She patted the spot on the floor next to where she sat leaning against the sofa.