I Do Not Dream Of Eating Your Pancreas (IWTEYP x Seishun Buta Yarō)

Chapter 4: Adolescence Syndrome

"Adolescence Syndrome? Is that a new nickname for ADHD or something?" I asked, unable to recall ever hearing about it. She gave a small laugh and shook her head. "Not quite. To make it simple, think about a bottle of soda. You can shake it around, but it won't burst open if you just set it down right?"

"Well if you take the cap off it make a mess. But otherwise I suppose not." She nodded, "But very rarely, it could happen. Those times when the bottle explodes, that's adolescence syndrome. Because your body is changing is why it's even possible to experience the syndrome. Moments or emotions that overwhelm you are usually the trigger for it. Did something like that happen recently?"

I looked down, unable to meet her eyes in that moment. Even now it was still raw and painful to think about, especially after seeing it with my own eyes. I fought back to urge to completely break down, I was thankful that she didn't say anything and waited. "I..." I paused, realizing this was the first time I'd ever actually said it aloud.

"I lost someone close to me, the first person I could call a friend. She was..." I broke off as I saw the look in her eyes. "I understand. So because of that, you felt overwhelmed and that led to you experiencing adolescence syndrome." She looked away for a moment, lost in thought. I continued snacking while she did, offering her some but she declined.

"So what has your adolescence syndrome manifested into?" I thought over the events of the past day. "I've woken up today three times now." She perked up for a moment before coming back down. "No this is a bit different than that time. Guess there's no easy route." I looked at her puzzled.

"So you've had this happen before too?" She shook her head again. "I've dealt with the syndrome before, but my case was different from yours. A friend of mine repeated the same day like you, but his situation was different than yours so I don't think the same solution will work." She lightly rolled her eyes as she said friend, clearly there was some history there.

"That reminds me, where are you staying?" I looked down again, remembering the fiasco I had this morning. "Well I had a spot here but when I woke up, there was a slight issue since I hadn't payed yet due to the syndrome." She pulled out her phone, and after scrolling through her contacts held it up to her ear. "Hi Kaede, it's Rio. Is Sakuta there?"..."Can you put him on?"

She smiled menacingly as she waited for Sakuta to come to the phone. "Hey Sakuta, I'm going to need a favor from you."..."Oh come on, do I need to tell Mai that you don't want to help one of your friends?"..."Great, I'll be over in a little while. Do you need anything from the store? I'll be heading by there first."

I waited as she wrote down whatever Sakuta was saying, and then she ended the call. "So since you don't have anywhere you can stay and probably not enough money to keep paying twice per night, you'll be staying with my friend Sakuta. He's the one who I mentioned went through a similar case." She smiled, "Oh I should probably introduce myself, I'm Rio Futaba. Nice to meet you."

She held out her hand. Before Sakura, I would never have considered shaking someone's hand so soon. Then again, I'd never even be in a position like this, having a conversation with someone strange for so long. I reached out and shook her hand, telling her my name in return. She gathered up her things, and stood up. "Well we better get moving then. Do you need anything in particular, otherwise I have a store in mind that we can go to."

I checked my bag, noticing a few things were low in my toiletries. "No we can go to wherever you have in mind." I followed her out of the cafe onto the busy street. Most people seemed to be headed to lunch, and as we got further from the cafe and surrounding restaurants, the people around us thinned out. "Thank you for helping me, but I think there's a flaw in your plan." She looked over to me, and raised her eyebrow.