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Tobio aligns with the view of Shimizu’s hair as she squats down to the concrete for some reason.
His hands grapple onto the straps of his backpack because his hands feel overwhelmingly empty as he waits for her to stand back up. It doesn’t look like she wants to. Not yet, at least.
“What are you looking at?” What could she possibly be so engrossed by to not go home? He has no idea, but he puts in the effort to find out. His feet drag across the sidewalk to see the thing hiding behind her figure. His head tilts to peek at whatever that thing could be.
“It’s a roly-poly.”
Oh.
She says it as if it was the most fascinating thing in the universe. There were sparkles in her eyes that he doesn’t understand how a bug was able to invoke. To Tobio, there is nothing special about its layered back and definitely nothing pretty about the gazillion legs beneath it.
“Do you like bugs?” He asks. He wants to know. If she does, why?
“It’s not a bug.” She looks up at him like he was stupid. It looks like a bug; it walks like one, it has the legs of one. So how is it not a bug?
“But yeah, I like bugs.” She adds before turning back to the wannabe insect.
“Do you?” The question pinches at the skin and muscles on his face in a not-so-pleasant manner.
Bugs were disgusting.
All they do is take things that aren’t theirs. Gnats get into his food. Why can’t they find their own? Mosquitos drink his blood like six-legged vampires. What if he dies from blood loss? Yeah, it would be all their fault.
And don’t even mention that one time he found an ant in his room. It wasn’t any regular ant- It was literally as big as his finger! He had to sleep in Miwa’s room that night.
“I hate bugs.” He responds with emphasis on the ‘hate.’ Before he can even justify his opinion, Shimizu glues her eyes back on him as though he committed a crime.
“Hate is a strong word.” She declares. It’s almost like it was an unforgivable fault.
Well, that’s the whole point of using it. He hates bugs, for they have wronged him in several ways. Since it seemed as though the word was forbidden, he won’t use it around her anymore.
“I strongly dislike bugs.” He only replaced the word. He hopes it was sufficient.
Once again, her way of forgiveness is by smiling then looking back at the roly-poly.
He squats down next to her to try and comprehend what is so enticing. The original form of it has morphed into a tiny ball. Did it die or something? Does it have a stomach ache- is that supposed to happen?
“Why did it turn into a ball?”
“It’s probably because you said that you hated bugs.” Was it? Or was she kidding?
Whatever it was, she picks it up so that it rests in her hand. His heart skips a bit because it felt so close in proximity to his face. Yet, he can’t help but stare. Shimizu brought it closer to her face, and he internally cringes. Not because of her, no. But it looks like it could just open any second, then crawl all over her hands.
Her hands suddenly rush toward his face with the roly-poly still in her palms- His own hands catch him before he falls backward.
“Stop!” She did that on purpose-
Through his jumbled eyebrows, all he sees is that she had the stupidest smile on her face. Her braces are as visible as ever. She laughs as if seeing him scared was hilarious- She’s evil- That makes them even.
“Hold it!” Her hands become closer to his face. Like is he supposed to eat it?
“No!” He stands up as quickly as he can, and he needs to make a run for it. He can’t imagine its legs gripping onto his skin.
“It doesn’t bite! I pinky promise!” Liar.
Tobio runs as he has never run before. He can only hear the sound of his own breathing and the very, very close running of Shimizu. Maybe- the yogurt from earlier will help him sprint faster- As long as he can get to the house- he will be safe-
Something solid flies into his calf and his leg immediately retracts to get away from it. He screams as though he was being chased by a murderer. Which she probably meets the standard. She threw the roly-poly like a madman. He’s going to stop being friends with her from now on-
Tears he didn’t even know were in his eyes fall from his face as he keeps running. He doesn’t dare to look back, scared that she would throw another bug at him. From a distance, she was laughing so hard she might even lose her voice.
Yeah, she owes him a world supply of Kit-Kats after this.
And even if she ever pays him back, Tobio will still strongly dislike bugs.