The rest of the walk, for the most part, was silent apart from a few comments being made here and there.

After navigating across the campus and through the corridors, they reached their classroom’s door.

Mayumi hesitated in front of it.

She took in a deep breath and slid it open.

A girl with a brown ponytail sitting in the front row of desks took her eyes off of her smartphone and brought them over to Mayumi. “Good morning Yumi!” She sounded overjoyed to see Mayumi.

“Yes, good morning Yui…” Mayumi seemed to be slightly irritated by this girl's loud exclamation this early in the morning.

The girl making such loud statements got up and walked towards Mayumi. “Hey, who’s with you—” Mayumi stepped inside the classroom revealing, “Oh, Murakami…” Yui gave him a half smile, “Good morning to you too Murakami.”

“Yeah… morning.”

“Here, Yumi look, there’s something I wanna show you!” Yui grabbed Mayumi by the hand and pulled her over to her seat. Mayumi didn’t resist at all and followed along.

Katsumi looked on at the two with disinterest before he moved to his seat and set his backpack down. He laid his head on top of it and shut his eyes.

VZo4Cz1.png [https://i.imgur.com/VZo4Cz1.png]

There was a little bit of hushed chatter between the two girls, followed by Yui looking over at Katsumi then back at Mayumi.

“Hmm? Is that so…?” a faint smile formed on Yui’s face.

After a bit more whispering, Yui raised her voice back to a normal tone and asked, “So Yumi, are you free after classes today? I was wondering if you wanted to check out that English style café.”

“That would be nice but I can’t, sorry. I have plans with Mura—” Mayumi cut herself off.

“Huh? Who do you have plans with?”

“...M-Murakami.” Mayumi broke eye contact with Yui as the latter’s expression lit-up.

“Really?” Her pink lips began to grow into a devilish smile. “Are you—“

“It’s nothing really… I’m just helping him get his apartment in order, you know?”

“No, I don't know. Please spell it out for me.” Yui was attempting to force an answer out of Mayumi.

“Well… uhm—” The normally collected Mayumi was now stalling, trying to find the words to explain herself.

Hearing Mayumi stutter like this, trying to think of what to say was even unexpected by Yui.

“You see his apartment is nearly, well, uninhabitable? So I decided to help him get it back into a livable state.”

Mayumi and Yui locked eyes for a moment whilst a faint grin was on the latter's face. “Ah, I see… Well good luck with that, some other time then we have to check out this café.”

“Sometime this weekend works for me.”

“Works for me too! Don't forget and go make plans in place of ours, alright?”

“Yes yes, I won’t.”

With that conclusion to their conversation, Hasegawa-sensei stepped into the classroom and the first period began.

VZo4Cz1.png [https://i.imgur.com/VZo4Cz1.png]While always dreading the idea of sitting through a long lecture, in reality they never took very long. At least, it felt that way. As Katsumi had the incredible ability to daydream for hours on end, resulting in hour long lectures feeling like mere minutes.

He joined the sea of students exiting the hall but quickly split of from the crowd. After a bit of aimlessly walking, he found himself in the same seat at the campus café.

Two girls walked past him while in the midst of some idle chit-chat. Others around the café were talking in small groups, eating lunch, and some were by themselves, mindlessly fiddling on their cellphones.

“Are you not going to eat anything?”

Katsumi heard a voice next to him, but automatically assumed that the question wasn’t directed towards him. The next time the voice called out however, it was undeniable that the question was directed at him.

“Murakami?”

“Hm?” Katsumi lazily raised his head from his hand to find out the source of the question. Sitting at the table behind was Jackson opening a lunch box.

“Do you not have anything to eat?”

“Huh…? Oh, I guess not. I don’t normally eat anything.”

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“Kiki has been telling me that you always need to eat three balanced meals a day. And well, that doesn’t line up with the diet I’m on. Yet she keeps insisting and making me take these meals. I can’t really say no, and I don’t wanna waste it, so here, you can have this.”

"You think giving it away is better than just throwing it out?"

"How do I say this... It's better that someone enjoys it than no one, I guess.."

“You guess..."

"I insist, take it."

“Really, I’m fine.”

“...Alright, have it your way.” Jackson broke apart his chopsticks, said thanks, and began eating quite fast. He was eating so fast it almost seemed like he was in Katsumi's situation and hadn’t eaten much at all in the past few days.

“Speaking of Akito, won’t she be upset if she sees you talking to me?” I probably won’t be spared from her annoying wrath either.

“Yeah I suppose. I asked her about why she said I shouldn’t talk to you," Jackson said in-between mouthfuls. "She told me about how you used to be back in high school. She got all worked up over it and started turning a little red—”

Don’t talk with your mouth full… Katsumi picked up his head a little bit more and began listening a little more intently.

“—But she told me about this Nara Takagi girl you started hanging out with, and how that’s the reason you stopped coming to school your senior year.” He paused. “And that got me thinking… She’s so cute when she’s angry.”

“That's all that made you realize? Nothing else?"

"Well—"

“Jackson!”

Looking over Jackson's shoulder, Katsumi saw an angry brown haired girl rapidly approaching.

Speak of the devil. Katsumi put his head back on his hand.

“What did I say? Normally I don’t care about who you talk to—“

I seriously doubt that. Katsumi retorted in his head

“—but Murakami is an exception. He’s a terrible influence on people.”

Katsumi attempted to defend himself, but like every other time, he was cut off.

“Remember what he did to that country girl that transferred here.”

“Hold on. Aren’t you changing your narrative? Because before you said that she ruined me?”

“What? You really think I’d do that? Right Jackson, remember what I told you?”

“Mm, I suppose I do.”

Katsumi sat there staring into Saki’s brown eyes, giving her a dumb-founded look—unsure if she was being serious or not.

“Hmph, anyways, come on. Yui is waiting for us in the cafeteria.” Saki latched onto his arm and began pulling him away.

Jackson picked up his food and turned around, mouthing the words, I’m sorry as they walked away.

God she’s awful, what does he— no, what does anyone see in her? conceited bitch...

Katsumi watched as Saki and Jackson got stopped by a group of people with whom they began chatting with energetically. Even Jackson seemed to be enjoying the conversation.

Katsumi scoffed and pulled out his smartphone and earbuds, putting one in each ear and turning the volume to near max.

Third and fourth hour classes came and went—he barely paid attention the entire time. His mind focused on only two things only: Cleaning his apartment and Mayumi.

With each passing period his dread only grew.

I’m a firm believer in choosing your own destiny. You know, not having other people come in and decide how you’re going to live. That’s why there’s been uncountable revolutions throughout history, and I think I’m carrying on this tradition. I’m not going to let Arata decide that I have to clean my apartment. I’ll do it on my own time by my own will. It’s what any of the great enlightenment thinkers would’ve wanted.

Katsumi was desperately attempting to devise a plan to keep Mayumi away.

…I have no idea. I’m drawing a blank… I could injure myself like people in the military do. “Oh no I’m sorry Arata, my legs’ broken. I can’t clean, sorry, you’ll just have to go home.” That could work… But do I really want a broken leg over this?

Katsumi tilted his head so that Mayumi was in his vision.

No…

She adjusted her head which slightly startled Katsumi. He cleared his throat and refocused on Hasegawa-sensei.

This drew attention from some of the students nearby, including Hasegawa-sensei.

I just need to start staying home… "Uhm, excuse me..."

“Please try to pay attention, Murakami,” Hasegawa-sensei said, pushing up his glasses. He turned back around to the board and continued with his lesson.

Shortly after, Katsumi realized that with the will power Mayumi possessed there was little to no chance that he could avoid her. The final plan he came up with was to let her do some light cleaning around the apartment, freshen it up a little bit, then afterwards go back to his usual routine as if it never happened.

“Alright that’s all for today, have a good day everyone.” The professor said, looking up at the classroom’s clock.

Some students instantly turned around and started talking to the person behind them. Others packed their bags and left the classroom at a pace that made it seem like they had somewhere to be.

Some were making plans, while others complained about studying and homework. A few students put their heads down on their desks and tried to gather their thoughts before heading out. This included Katsumi.

Mayumi finished putting away her things and stood. She walked up to Katsumi and looked down at him—then at herself. She brushed off her hoodie, then her skirt, and quietly walked away.

“Kami… Murakami.”

He slowly picked up his head.

“Murakami, were you sleeping?

“I— Yeah.” What is Nakagawa still doing here?

“More importantly, don't you have plans with Yumi?”

“Y-yeah… I was just about to lea—” Katsumi, now more awake, looked past Yui and out the windows. Everything was painted in a golden yellow, the sun being almost entirely hidden by the buildings on the horizon.

“I did have plans… Nakagawa, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you still here? It’s getting pretty late.” And also, how did she know that I had plans with Arata?

“I just got done with my club and was passing by here when I noticed you. Thought I’d help out.”

Yui wore their university’s volleyball jersey and black gym-shorts.

“Ah, well t-thank you. I appreciate it a lot.”

“Mm, no problem. I gotta get goin’, my friends are waiting for me!” Yui jogged towards the door and grabbed onto it to help her make a sharper turn. Then from down the hallway came, “And don’t fall asleep again!”

“Yeah…”

Well that’s a nice change compared to Nara and Arata. I could get behind happiness like that.

Katsumi picked up his bag and stood up a little straighter than he usually did.

Oh… but I’m still going to have to deal with Ms. Deadpan. She’s probably going to say something like ‘What took you so long? I thought you might’ve got hit by a car… But it still looks like you did.’ And she’s gonna have that expressionless face while saying it.

Katsumi was almost at the main doors when a voice came from behind him.

“Enjoy your nap?”

He let out a sigh, “You could’ve just waited at your apartment and came over. Why’re you still here?”

“Well, I was waiting outside for you. Then I decided to come back to the classroom but you were still sleeping. So I watched Yui’s practice for a while.”

Katsumi started walking again, now doing his usual slouch. He looked over to his left at Mayumi. “Have you ever tried showing more expression when you speak?”

“I think I show plenty of it.”

“Yes… You’re overflowing with it.”