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Mika Egashira is walking to school, yawning every so often because she'd watched Mediocre Defender Woo till 2 a.m. last night. She'd barely had time to put on her makeup, and had forgone breakfast just so she could spend more time on ensuring her eye bags weren't too obvious.
Note to self, don't watch dramas right before bed.
She'll almost certainly forget that when the new episode comes out next Thursday at 11 p.m.
Further up the road, she notices a familiar looking pair, a short girl walking next to a taller boy. A part of her doesn't want to approach, complicated feelings swelling in her chest. She didn't dislike them; if anything, it was the exact opposite that made her hesitant. It was still hard to parse their chemistry, ever since she'd seen them in class on the first day of school, ages ago. Mitsumi, a girl she'd pegged as naive, and Shima, a guy that she'd thought was perfect for her. Both of them had proven her wrong, the former with her inherent empathy and kindness, and the latter with his disinterest. Old wounds that stung even to this day, but she knew she had no one to blame but herself. She'd been the naive one, and she'd been too full of herself.
Anyway, after the sleepover at Mitsumi's, and Nao-chan's surprise advice, Mika realized that she needed to put in effort to be a good person, with good friends. And it wasn't the same kind of effort she'd forced herself to take for the past few years. This one was more…healthy, she felt.
So, with a mixture of doubt and anxiety, Mika jogs a bit to catch up with the two. "Mitsumi! Shim-"
It wasn't the popular boy that Mika had expected to see next to their class rep.
"Mika-chan! Mornin'," Mitsumi turns around to greet her. She still sported the little panda pin on her pocket that Mika feels would've looked appropriate on a three-year old.
Stop it. Mitsumi is fine the way she is.
"Mornin'," Mika says with a smile. She looks over at the boy walking next to Mitsumi, and wonders how she had managed to confuse Shima's tousled curls to this boy's clean-cut hair. Probably the sleep deprivation. He was looking off to the side, not facing her.
What's this guy's problem?
"Hey, Mukai," she greets with a wave of her hand. The boy finally turns to look at her, a neutral expression on his face.
"Egashira."
Did I do something? Whatever.
Mukai was emphatically not on her list of people she cared to befriend.
"You're later than usual, Mika-chan. Aren't you always at school earlier than me?"
"Yeah, well, I was up late last night."
"Another korean drama?" Mitsumi nudges her with an elbow a couple of times.
"Technically, no. It's the same drama I've been watching since last week."
"Ahh, I wish I could watch stuff like that. But Nao-chan doesn't have a Nitflex account, so we just end up watching whatever variety show is on TV."
That surprises Mika a little. She'd had a pretty long conversation on Pinsta about the same drama with Mitsumi's aunt a while back.
"Maybe you can ask her to pay for an account," Mika suggests, even though she knows what Mitsumi's answer would be. Oh, I couldn't trouble-
"-Nao-chan like that, she's already done so much for me."
"Well, maybe you could come by my house sometime- if you wanted- and we could watch it together…"
She hasn't had anyone over at her house since elementary school. But if Mitsumi had been ok with inviting them over…
The shorter girl beams, a huge grin plastered across her face. "Yes! That would be so much fun, Mika-chan. Another sleepover?"
"Well, I'd have to ask my parents, but…sure."
Mitsumi suddenly grabs her arm and hugs it tightly, cheek rubbing against her shoulder. Mika blushes fiercely, and tries to shake the other girl off, a surprisingly difficult task.
"Alright, I get it already! Now let go, gosh!"
"Hehe. You're such a kind girl, Mika."
Mika feels embarrassed, but for a different reason now. Her chest feels tight, hearing Mitsumi say that.
I'm not, honestly…
A cough interrupts her train of thought, and Mitsumi's cooing. Mukai doesn't look at them directly, pointing one finger towards the school. "Sorry to interrupt, but we should probably keep moving if we wanna make it on time."
Mitsumi looks admonished, even though it wasn't much of one on the boy's part. "Oh, right! Sorry, Mukai-san. Let's go, I need to stop by the student council room before class starts."
The trio starts walking again, Mitsumi parting the hug, pulling Mika's hand along gently at first, then letting go. She stands as a buffer between Mika and Mukai.
Not for the first time, Mika wonders why the two of them were walking together in the first place. Mukai had been part of their original karaoke group, but he never really interacted with them much. He never really interacted with anyone much. It was weird seeing him anywhere but at his own seat in class.
In true Mitsumi fashion, she answers Mika's question without even being aware of it.
"By the way, Mika-chan, I bumped into Mukai-san earlier, and we were talking about the upcoming school festival."
Ahh.
"I see. Do you two have any plans for what to do?"
"Hmm, I thought it would be fun to run a cafe or something. I'm not much of a cook, but it would be really fun to prepare meals, serve customers, that sort of thing. Me and my best friend Fumi used to prepare a little stall where we sold pancakes back in Ikajima."
Pancakes… ?
She pauses for a moment, humming in contemplation, finger on her chin. "But that was just for twenty or so people. This festival is gonna be huge, so we have to come up with something way bigger."
"It's an…interesting idea. What about you, Mukai?" She leans forward a bit to meet his eyes.
He, again, looks at some random point on the road, instead of facing her.
Seriously, what is his deal???
After a pause, where Mika and Mitsumi look at him expectantly, he finally manages to mumble something out. "...an egg race."
A gentle breeze blows past them, ruffling their hairs, bringing a silence with it that lasts for a moment.
Eventually, it passes.
"Mukai-san, I think you should leave the brainstorming to us," Mitsumi says gently, with no malice or sarcasm in the words, in a way only she could manage.
"...right."
Was that supposed to be a joke?
For some reason, Mika couldn't help but giggle a bit. Not at the joke, definitely not. Maybe her mind was a little addled from lack of sleep, her emotions still jostling a bit in the wake of Mitsumi's compliment. Whatever it was, her laughs grew louder and louder, till she had to cover her mouth and lean on Mitsumi a little as they walked.
For her part, Mitsumi looks completely lost at first, turning her head from Mika to Mukai. Then, a look of realization seems to dawn on her. "Wait a minute, Mukai-san, was that a joke?!"
Mukai makes an inarticulate choking sound, looking very annoyed at Mika, the latter still doubling over a bit from laughter. She knew she probably looked crazy, but she couldn't find it in herself to care too much.
And that feeling was so liberating.
Mika composes herself, apologizing to Mukai in between huffs and rubbing her eyes. "I'm so sorry. That was…a little uncalled for."
"Mika-chan, I've never seen you laugh so hard. But I think it's good to let yourself go every once in a while."
Typical Mitsumi, always with a positive spin on things.
"Yeah, it definitely felt good. Thanks for the laugh, Mukai." And she genuinely means it.
He grumbles a bit in response.
They continue to walk, Mitsumi and Mika doing most of the talking.
When they reach the school, Mitsumi heads down the corridor to the student council room with a wave, promising to see them in class.
Once she turned a corner, a voice speaks up behind Mika. "Iwakura's a friendly person, huh?"
She turns back to face Mukai, and nods. "Yeah, she is."
"And you're kind of a jerk." He then starts walking to class, leaving her behind.
What?
"Hey, wait, hold on," Mika says, running to his side, feeling a little dazed at the out-of-nowhere comment. "What the hell did I do? You're the one that decided I was apparently beneath you or something, and didn't even bother looking at me just now."
"You know what, forget it. I didn't mean what I said." The boy picks up his pace a little, pointedly looking away, just as he'd been doing the whole morning. She doesn't follow, watching him go up a set of stairs, standing in the middle of the hallway, confused. Just when she had started feeling better.
What…what the hell?!