Observant || Oikawa Tooru ff

15. Metamorphosis

Ume was getting worried about her mother's condition over the next few days. She seemed like she would explode any moment but she never did. And that scared Ume even more. Her hysteria was something she could deal with... but that shivering calm was terrifying.

She wondered what'd happen if her mother found about her father's new relationship. She would start throwing fits again and regularly ones at that. Just thinking about it gave Ume a head ache.

Her relationships with her classmates on the other hand, seemed to be improving. She had lunch more often with the quartet led by Takahashi and Harada. They usually took her to the rooftop, their usual place to eat. But Ume was not a fan of the windy atmosphere there.

Today, she led them to the cool shade of the tree she usually ate her lunch at. To their utter surprise, they found social butterfly crying under the tree. Miyamura yelped in surprise. Social butterfly seemed to be surprised to find their posse at the usually isolated place too.

Ume groaned. She knew what this was about. She had broken up with Fujita recently. There were rampant rumours floating around school about it. Miyamura was handing her tissues to wipe her face.

"Are you alright Naomi senpai?" 

She managed to nod back in answer. Miyamura was being a real gentleman. Asking her to stop crying and comforting her.

Harada on the other hand, seemed to be on the limit of his patience. He disliked people crying. He did not know how to deal with them.

"So you are crying here because Fujita dumped your ass?" He asked rather rudely.

"No!" She wailed." That's what he's been telling everyone. It was me who dumped him. But no one seems to believe me really."

"Well that tends to happen when you pretend to like one guy just to get another jealous." Harada deadpanned. Naomi's eyes widened.

"You knew?" 

"Everybody knew!"

Naomi looked at Ume as if to look for confirmation. Ume could only give an affirmative nod. Naomi broke out in even more tears at that.

"But I seriously began liking Fujita kun. I finally got over my crush on Oikawa. I really, really liked Fujita kun!" She cried.

"Then why dump him?" Takahashi asked the question on everyone's minds.

"That..." She looked down embarrassed. "He tried to get handsy with me. I wasn't very comfortable." She wiped her tears.

"But he still tried to kiss me forcefully. I tried to talk it out with him, but he just doesn't get what he's doing wrong! What do I do? I really do like him. I like him very much." She stared at them helplessly.

Harada was very irritated at this point.

"You know what? You should go and find some self respect instead of trying to find love." He told her harshly. 

Naomi looked at him stunned. Ume too stood behind him with a stern expression. Naomi realised that nobody was going to partake in her pity party. She stood up and fled towards the school building.

"You know, what you said to her right now might just be the last straw for her." Ume quipped at Harada.

"Or she might just change for the better." Takahashi intervened. 

The days after that Ume observed as Naomi seemed to be floating farther away from her gossiping friends. She maybe talking less but somehow she seemed livelier than before. Ume wondered how she was doing that.

On the other hand, Oikawa's relationship did not seem to be going as smooth as expected. Dearest Sumire chan would often visit their school. But Ume sensed some very obvious friction between the two of them. Soon, Sumire's visits were becoming more and more scarce.

Takahashi was getting confused at Harada' s behaviour of opening unused classroom doors whenever the hallways seemed too silent for his liking.

The Sato-Ito couple were getting increasingly annoyed at Harada walking in on their personal time. They didn't know which moron had told him about their quality time. They swore, they just wanted to talk.

Miyamura was anonymously put her under Takahashi's protection. The whole school seemed to be in unspoken agreement. Due to that, he wasn't bullied anymore.

One day, Ume was heading to the library when Miyamura caught up to her. 

"Hello senpai!" He greeted cheerfully. Ume nodded in response.

"What is it Miyamura? You need help with something?" Ume asked awkwardly. She wasn't yet completely sure about the whole routine of giving out help.

Miyamura grinned at his uneasy senior. He never knew she would be so disarming when she got rid of her unamused expression.

"I wanted to check up on Naomi senpai but she just runs away whenever I approach her. Is she okay?" He asked worriedly

"She seems to be doing well from what I can tell." Ume shrugged.

"Is that so?" Miyamura scratched the back of his neck. Ume suddenly stopped walking and looked him in the eye. Miyamura was caught off-guard by the piercing stare.

"Why are you so worried about Naomi anyways?" Ume questioned.

"No-nothing in particular. It's just that she was crying so hard that day. And Harada senpai was also very rude to her." He blushed. Ume looked at him sharply.

"Harada spoke nothing but the truth that day. You hear me Miyamura?" Ume scolded. Miyamura's expression changed to a rebelling one and Ume shut him up with a raise of the hand.

"If she doesn't like a boy inappropriately touching her, she should tell him. And very strictly too. If she still wants to be in a relationship with a boy who only likes her for her looks and disrespects her as a person, that makes her the pathetic one." Ume snarled. 

She didn't want to look at his confused face anymore. She stormed off to the library. Miyamura was left gaping. He hadn't heard this senior speak so much in one go. Did he really get her riled up that much? 

He sighed. People tended to be sensitive about certain topics afterall.