Turns out my aunt's friend's name was Akira, we talked about ourselves and found out we are not so much different

We both played games and we both liked to work out, he even suggested me a gym near Nagano, a friend of his runs the gym so the place won't feel very un-familiar

Hikita gave me a look of anger every time I looked at her, honestly, it starting to get a little creepy, after a not so enjoyable time the music stopped and the musicians thanked everyone that came to hear them and in the end, they started promoting their workplace, shortly after they left

"Do you want to head to a place I know or is it becoming too late for you?" Akira asked us

"No it's totally alright, we are free all day so if you have time to hang out then so do we"

Hikita told him with a sweet smile, isn't her other series playing at 7:30 P.M? She will skip that to spend a day with a "friend"? Yeah right, but if she says she is nothing more than that then who am I to assume?

"Hey, Iriasu! Akira-kun asked you a question! Are you deaf?"

My aunt told me as snapped her finger near my ears

"Oh sorry I spaced out! What did you ask me?"

"This lady over there seems to stare at you, is she a friend or something?"

Akira asked as he pointed behind me, when I turned around I saw Yua staring at me

"Give me a minute!"

I then excused myself to go and talk to Yua

"What do you want?"

"Nothing with you, it just looks like Yuoku is with you, it still surprises me that you are her relative" She said as she looked at Hikita

"Is it about me being an animal again? Aren't you tired of saying this already?"

"I wasn't talking about the obvious stuff, it just surprises me to see such a good lady being related to you"

"Is that all? Because I have somewhere to go, if you don't have anything to say then stop bothering us!"

I said but when I tried to turn around I saw my aunt right in front of me

"Oh, Yua-chan is that you?" Hikita asked with shiny eyes

"Yuoku-chan this really is you! How have you been?" Yua said as she hugged my aunt

She looks very different now

"Is she someone you know?" Akira asked as he was standing behind me

"Yeah, Yua-chan is like my baby sister! I took care of her when she was little and we used to play together"

Hikita said with a smile, she never smiled like that when she talks about me

"Nice to you I'm Akira!" He said as he shook hands with her

"What are you three doing here in Suzaka? This place is really far from where your house is!" Yua asked

"My aunt came for dinner and I came for photos, how about you?" I swiftly answered

"My father wanted to see a local fight around here so I figured that it would be nice to come and wander around" Yua replied with no issue

"We are about to go for food to a friend of mine, want to join us?" Akira suggested

I looked at her with an alarming gaze, and when she noticed my gaze she ruthlessly smiled and agreed to come, we might as well become roommates judging from how much time we spend together

Our walk to the place was really silent, at least for me, Akira and Hikita continued talking and Yua jumped inside their conversation once in a while, after some time Akira finally took us to a very nice place outside a children's park, the place was a ramen shop, when he entered the owner happily greeted us and then we took orders, I ordered Torigara and the others ordered Shōyu ramen

"Do you like chicken?" Hikita asked me confused

"Not really but I wanted to try it out"

Hikita was surprised

"Even as a kid you didn't like chicken, but sounds a bit weird to eat things you don't like"

She told me as she laughed, Akira laughed too

"Well my father went by the phrase "Even if you hate something, this hate can turn into love if make a habit out of it" He phrased it kind of weird but the meaning was, eat it until you like it, this phrase wasn't only used in food but in other aspects of life too, that's why he managed to keep on smiling even in bad times"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Akira seemed fascinated by what I said, even Yua seemed a bit surprised.

"Sounds rough" Akira said

"Well not really, if you think about it is as if you get a job and want to get used to waking up early, for the first three to five times it will be hard but eventually you won't mind since it has become a habit" I explained

"If you say it like that then you are not wrong! I'm surprised you do something like that! Most kids your age would whine if they got something they didn't like, no offense Yosuke-chan" Akira said with a faint smile

"Please you are praising him too much!"

Hikita said as she brushed off what I just said, her voice sounded some kind of cold and distant, I felt awkward, so awkward that I didn't say anything else before my food came, once it came I quickly ate the worst part (chicken) and then finished my food, I ate relatively fast, my use of chop-sticks was bit dull but I still managed to finish my plate faster than anyone

"I'm going to head out, call me if you need anything" I said as I quickly got out of the store

I don't know why I act so rushed, but there is one thing I know, Hikita probably doesn't like me, or any of my family members to begin with, and that's probably because my mother did what she did

I heard that she moved away from Japan when she married dad, leaving everything behind, when my father told me this story I thought it was romantic but I never thought of the consequences mom would face if she tried to go back to her family, I'm pretty sure that when my mother died nobody from Japan came to her funeral, I mean who would?

They think that mom died because of her own stupid mistakes and because of dad, a foreigner, when I was about 7 my family got into a car accident that was considered very deadly, my family's car flew off the road crushing into some rocks that peeped outside of the ocean, I have very vague memory of the crush, it must be because it caused me trauma, some times even today when I get into cars I feel scared, but that's beside the point, even when the car was crushed me and my dad somehow managed to make it out alive from there but my mom wasn't as lucky as we were

I don't have many memories as a child but I do remember my father crying in my mothers funeral, he cried as he looked at my innocent child face, a face that was robbed of a mother figure, in this funeral I don't remember seeing any Japanese relative there, some probably say that it may be my foggy memory but I remember this day clear as water, there were NO JANANESE people there, so my aunt hating me isn't such a big of a surprise, I'm just surprised on how good she is at hiding it

I almost didn't notice it when I came here, but today is was very clear, seems like she drunk alcohol when she ate with Akira so words are slipping out of her mouth, but what can I do? Just act like a good boy and pass these three years peacefully or risk it by trying to befriend her?

Honestly, I don't know anymore, for now, I will just swing around this park and let the day pass because there is nothing I can do

"What are you doing here all alone?" Yua asked me, she had quietly walked behind me

"Nothing just fooling around at this stupid swing"

I said as I stopped my momentum, Yua then sat on the swing next to mine

"I'm sorry about what happened today"

That sudden apology confused me

"Does that mean we made up?"

"Of course not, we are not friends, we are simply class partners, I'm not dumb, I know that we have to work together in the near future so I can't have you as an enemy"

She said as she began to swing around, somehow this made me feel better

"Then make sure you don't cause any more unnecessary trouble to both me or your friends"

She didn't look bothered when I said that

"Yeah... I will keep that in mind, as for you make sure you talk with your aunt, she seems quite frustrated" She said as she got up

"Anyways I'm leaving, inform the others about my leave" Yua said as she fixed her skirt

She then left without saying anything else, I was kind of worried about her since the sun had gone down but she looked confident enough to walk alone at night, I guess she is not my concern but something she said bothers me, "she seems quite frustrated" did she realize something? Probably not but I still find it weird, well, I don't have time to think about her

I then headed inside the building, my aunt and Akira were drinking

"What the hell are you doing? Who's going to drive us home?"

My aunt seemed completely careless about who drives

"You know how to drive a bike, don't you? A car is no different so you will figure it out easily!"

"There is no way I'm touching the wheel of the car"

My aunt reacted angrily when I told her that

"Come on you coward, don't act like a baby, in three years or so you are going to college! What are you going to do then if your girlfriend wants you to take her for a ride in a car?"

"It's okay Iriasu-kun, I can drive you back"

Akira told me, he looks sober, not exactly sober but he surely is in a better condition than my aunt

"How are you going to get back? I don't think you have a car in Nagano"

"I can simply stay at a hotel or something, you really don't have to worry about little details like that"

Somehow Akira becomes, even more, friendlier when he is drunk, seeing people drunk is very entertaining and scary at the same time

"Thank you but that's simply putting too much weight on you, we will figure out what we will do, in the worst scenario we will take the train"

I said as I picked Hikita up, she wasn't very heavy, considering my strong body and her probably, light weight I was able to carry her on my back easily, before I could leave Akira followed behind me

"Wait for me! I said I will take you home and I will, after all, most of the trains are closed at this hour"

"I told you it's fine, I can go on my own"

He just wouldn't listen

"I insist, please let me go with you"

When I heard him saying that I remembered something

I don't know how to return to the parking, my phone had died so that was not an option, and taking advice from a drunk dude is probably a bad idea, so now I ended up in the middle of the street with a drunk dude a wasted lady and I'm lost, things can't get worst, thankfully after some time searching I found Garyu park, after that it was game over, I followed the places I took photos of and to my surprise, I found myself back to the parking slot

Akira was still with us, I took the keys out of my aunt's bag and unlocked the car, I laid my aunt on the back seats and we boys sat in the front, Akira started the car and pulled out of the parking and started driving on the way back to Nagano, I saw that his driving was a bit wacky, the longer he drove the more mad I got, I also started getting a bit scared

"Could you drive a bit safer? It would be quite an inconvenience if we crashed!"

I told him while stabilizing the wheel of the car while glaring at his eyes

Thankfully he took us safely to our house, and when he parked inside the garage he quickly left telling me goodnight, I then carried my aunt all the way to her room and I placed her on the bed, I then went to my room, before I slept I checked at the time

12:03

I'm screwed so the least I can do is sleep now, so I can hopefully have the energy to wake up tomorrow, to attend another school day