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“…And then the teacher gave us a test which was incredibly hard and I think I won’t get such a high score, just because those two loud and annoying classmates of mine were talking, and by that I mean a lot, like isn’t it so unfair? What the fuck is wrong with him? He should punish them, not the entire classroom! Am I right, Mafuyu?”
“…”
Ena is feeling like she’s talking to a wall. After all, she invited her friend to go shopping together and to socialize (although Ena is the one who talks and Mafuyu is the one who listens and adds one-two words), just like two friends would do.
But today, it seems like her friend doesn’t add anything, not even a word, and doesn’t even listen. She gives no attention to Ena, which makes her both pissed and confused. Her friend is just walking by her side, with her gaze aimed to the ground, holding in one hand a bag with some suncream she bought inside, and sipping from her strawberry juice held in the other hand.
“Mafuyu, hello? Earth to Mafuyu? Are you listening?” Ena stops and waves in front of her face, which finally makes Mafuyu snap out of her thoughts and look at her.
“Yes? You were talking about… I forgot, sorry. What were you saying again? Something about art?”
Ena lets out a sigh, then gives her friend an annoyed look, with a hint of worry. “Are you alright? I mean, I know you probably will say yes, but how come you’re not paying attention as usual? You haven’t said anything at all. Is there something which is bothering you?”
Mafuyu doesn’t answer at first, but then she spots an unoccupied bench nearby. “Let’s take a seat first and then I’ll tell you, alright?”
“So, you do admit that something is bothering you, am I right?” Ena crosses her arms frowning, but then she sees again how Mafuyu isn’t listening to her and just walks away towards the bench, so she hurries and sits right next to her friend. “Hey! It’s not funny, you know. Now please, tell me what’s wrong. I’m getting worried. You know I care about you, right?”
Mafuyu nods and places the bag next to her, then looks down at her drink. At first, Ena thinks it’s one of her family issues again, but then she notices how her expression changes, from her stoic expression, to a rather more embarrassed one.
“I did something stupid.”
“Everyone does stupid things.”
“Still, if I say it, please promise you won’t jump at me.”
“Huh? Of course I won’t! What makes you think that I will?”
“Well, I think it also involves you a little…” This reply sounded more like a whisper to Ena’s ears.
“I promise, Mafuyu, I won’t jump at you. Especially since it involves me too and I want to know. Now come on, tell me! I’m getting impatient!”
“You’re starting to act a lot like Mizuki every time they want to hear about a new gossip…”
“Oh, don’t change the subject! Come on…”
The purple haired girl takes a deep breath, before looking straight into her friend’s eyes. Mafuyu seems like she wants to hesitate, but she doesn’t. After all, Ena will find out anyway.
“Ena, I… I kissed your brother.”
“HUH?”
Walking from home to school might be Mafuyu’s most peaceful activity in her entire daily routine, and maybe her favorite, besides her usual meetings with the Nightchord members. It’s one of the only times where she can be alone, meditating about herself. This day, she’s thinking about how much she has evolved for one year, all thanks to her friends being beside her. Kanade, Ena, Mizuki, all of them.
Probably, the Mafuyu from one year ago wouldn’t realize how nice it feels to have a walk. Sure, she still has a long way ahead until she will feel more emotions, but for now, she’s on the good path. As for this moment, the girl can easily enjoy in her own way how the leaves are rustling, how the sun shines in the afternoon of May, how she hears some shouts during a fight…
Wait a minute, there’s a fight going on?
Usually, this isn’t something the girl should bother with, but one of those shouts sounded like the voice of someone she knows. So, Mafuyu goes in the direction of the shouts, where that fight occurs, more exactly on a small street. And when she reaches there, she notices how two young boys are fighting with a third one, who looks quite exhausted. Avoiding as much as he can the punches and kicks, he’s holding an apparently hurt, bleeding arm with his other hand, so he can’t attack.
And Mafuyu recognizes that hurt boy, with his ginger hair, his olive eyes, his frown and his clenched teeth. She doesn’t know how anyone close to that boy would react to seeing him in that state. Probably a close reaction to hers: widened eyes and a call of his name.
“Akito!”
The hurt boy notices her and makes a surprised look. Of course he would be surprised by her sudden appearance. The other boys are too, but those smirks from before turn into rather frightened expressions. That’s a reason why one of them grabs the arm of the other and requests to run away from them.
“Quick, that dumb dude’s girlfriend came. Run!” And they immediately ran away, leaving Mafuyu and Akito all alone, on the street. Ignoring that confusing comment of those two, Mafuyu quickly rushes to the hurt boy.
“What happened? Who were they? Does it hurt anywhere? Should I call for an ambulance?” She asks him, with slight worry in her voice. Okay, maybe with more worry in her voice. He’s her friend’s brother, after all. In such kind of situation, she doesn’t know if she acts like her real self or it’s just the good girl persona, but right now, she doesn’t care about this. And seems like neither does he.
“My arm…” he murmurs, then swears something the girl doesn’t understand and shows his hurt arm to her. Mafuyu checks it and realizes that his arm isn’t really broken, just badly injured, but it gives Akito a lot of pain. There seems to be a deep cut on it. How was it made? No idea, and he seems like he doesn’t want to add more details. But the arm isn’t the only part of Akito’s body which is hurt; his face, hands and legs have many bruises, one knee is grazed and his lip is bleeding.
“You sure fought for a long time… Were they picking on you?” The girl asks him, but receives no response. She repeats the question, but again, Akito doesn’t answer. He must be very upset about this if he doesn’t want to talk about it. He’s hiding his true thoughts. Mafuyu is somehow very familiar with this.
“Hold, on, I have some tissues.” Mafuyu gets a set of tissues out of her backpack and tries to wipe the blood away from his wounds. She consumes almost the entire set and sadly, they weren’t of the best quality, so they have turned red from the blood quite quickly. But at least, Akito doesn’t look that bad like before. Still, his hand remains on the hurt arm.
“Would you want me to call an ambulance? You know that-” Mafuyu asks him in order to help him, but is quickly cut off by the boy, who turns his head away.
“No need to be that kind to me. I’m not a child. I don’t need it.” Akito responds in a rather harsh tone and then pauses, before realizing how he acted and apologizing.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s got me, it’s just…” Akito turns his head back at Mafuyu and looks at her. “This isn’t something I’m not used with. Yes, I do get picked on. But I easily move on, so getting hurt is no big deal.”
“I see. Are you sure you’re fine?”
“Hey, if I weren’t fine, I would’ve asked you to call for me an ambulance.” He chuckles at the small joke. Not and her. “But seriously, I feel better now. I’ll clean and bandage the rest of my wounds at home, so no worry.”
Mafuyu isn’t so sure; the boy in front of her, despite his smile, still looks exhausted from the fight before. But she knows from Ena and Mizuki how stubborn he can get, so she doesn’t want to insist and make the situation worse.
“I see. In that case, then, I’ll see you later.” And after a polite bow, she leaves the street and continues her way home.
But now, the girl thinks less about her evolution and her character, and more about Akito’s. He was acting quite strange, without mentioning the fight and the way he ended up all hurt after that. Is there something wrong with him? Why was he getting picked on? Does his sister know about this? But something else is baffling for the teenager. Why does she care that much about him? Why does she want to help him?
Mafuyu stops in front of the crossing road and waits for the traffic light in front to turn green. When it eventually turns green, the first thing she does isn’t walking. Instead, she starts thinking about Akito.
That green from the traffic light, unlike from the other ones around Shibuya, is more of an olive green, just like his eyes. His eyes, which are so beautiful, yet so mysterious; which seem like they’re hiding something. Just like her. If she’s being honest, Mafuyu may have more things with Akito in common than she would have initially thought.
When she snaps out of her mind and realizes that the traffic light is still present in front of her, it’s too late. Just as she wants to start walking, the green turns to red. Great.
Yes, actually, this is a little great. Because now, Mafuyu gets an idea.
So, the next day, after school, the girl shows up unannounced at his door. Just as Mafuyu expected, because of the fight, Akito got a free day, so right now he’s at home, opening the door, only to see his sister’s friend, the one who helped him the other day, with her monotone expression on her face. Mafuyu knows he’s a little surprised and wants to ask her about why is she here, but she cuts him off.
“Today I have no planned activities, but sadly no one to hang out with. So, I’ve decided to visit you. I’ve also brought pancakes from a shop nearby. I know how much you like them.”
And she shows the box with pancakes as she talks.
“Uh, thanks, I guess? Here, come in.” Akito invites her inside his house, looking confused by her sudden presence.
“By the way, are you feeling better?” Mafuyu asks as she places the box on a table at the entrance to take off her shoes.
“Kinda. I wouldn’t say that I really am better. My arm still hurts. See?” And the boy shows her his arm, the wound being covered with a long Bad Badtz-Maru bandage. “Yes, I still use some of these when I get hurt. My mom helped me, but I can’t really say that I’m fine now. Such bullshit.”
“I understand. I just wanted to see how are you.”
Mafuyu can see how the boy starts to smile.
“Thanks. I’m glad to hear this.”
“Really?”
“Of course, I mean, I should have thanked you yesterday for helping me, so I’m glad to see you here. I really appreciate your help. Thank you. A lot.”
“Anytime.”
Unlike the other day, Akito’s smile seems much brighter and warmer. Mafuyu doesn’t return any smiles, but her face relaxes. Seeing his smile more radiant gives her a somewhat newer sensation. Similar to how warm she feels when she has her friends by her side, but this time, this warmth in her chest is much stronger than warmth. But speaking of warmth…
The girl glances back at the box with pancakes, then she picks it up and hands it to Akito.
“I bought them when they were warm, so I think they should be consumed now, before they get cold.”
“Ah, right.” The boy is ready to go to the living room and eat them, but doesn’t walk at all. Instead, he asks Mafuyu, who doesn’t move. “What happened? Aren’t you coming?”
“I’m not hungry. And not a big fan of pancakes, either.”
“Didn’t you say that you have no one to hang out with and that you wanted to visit me? You don’t have to eat anything if you don’t want to.” The boy raises an eyebrow.
Mafuyu thinks a little before answering. She just wanted to check on Akito, and now he wants her to stay? Still, her schedule is pretty free and doesn’t have as much homework to for the next day, so maybe this isn’t a bad idea.
“Okay then, I think I’ll stay for a while. And I hope you don’t mind, but can I also have some water?
This kind of hanging out was supposed to happen just once. Yet somehow, Mafuyu and Akito have been meeting for over three weeks, in almost each day. Either eating something at Akito’s house or at a small restaurant, either having a walk in the park and feeding some ducks, or even watching street performances on Vivid Street.
But every time they have met, the girl has always had a certain feeling, that makes her feel… nice, in her words. Like the times when she’s around her friends, but this time, those feelings seem stronger. It isn’t a bad thing, but it confuses her how quick these feelings came, and much more the reason. Maybe it’s just this developed relationship between these two in the past two weeks. Or maybe it’s just Akito.
This boy, with such a big passion for music; with such a big passion in his heart. A burning heart. One thing Mafuyu admires at him. That’s something she tells him today, after school, when they’re sitting on a bench in the park, before the rather modest reply of his.
“It’s no big deal, really. That’s just my passion.”
For Mafuyu, it is a big deal. “I saw you performing on the stage with your partners. Ena often tells me about other shows, too. You’re really talented, Akito.”
“If you think so…” He chuckles.
In so many cases, the girl can be very honest. This is one of the cases, although her opinion is this time nicer than other ones. But she really thinks so, especially now that, after some time spent together, she knows him better.
He’s energetic. He’s ambitious. He doesn’t give up on the things he loves, even if the others tell him to do so (Akito finally told her about how some boys are bullying him through both words and actions so he will quit pursuing music; as if). He cares for his partners a lot. He can be difficult sometimes, but also understanding. She did indeed like, in her own way, these three weeks they spent together. Akito’s now become from just an acquaintance, from just Ena’s brother, to an actual friend.
Really, a friend?
Just a friend?
Mafuyu looks at the boy, his gaze aimed to a statue in front of them. Then gets a little closer to him to look at his wounds. The bandage on his arm is gone, but not and the injury, though there are signs that it’s healing. Some other bruises he once had have healed, too. “So has the one on your lips…” she whispers, without actually intending to say it out loud.
Akito hears her accidental whisper and turns his head at her, their eyes now locked. “What?”
The girl stays silent for a short period of time, before suddenly moving her thumb over his upper lip. “The wound on your lip has healed. That’s what I said.”
“Ah, alright…”
Mafuyu doesn’t realize that the ginger in front of her starts to blush, but she still keeps her thumb on his lip for a while. She’s thinking how surprisingly soft is, as if three weeks ago it wasn’t bleeding at all. The girl looks in his eyes, then at his lips again.
Then, she moves her thumb on his left cheek, the rest of her hand joining, too. She tilts her head a little, looking at Akito’s flushed face. She doesn’t understand why has he become so red right now. Does he dislike closeness? He doesn’t say anything either, so it might be fine.
A sudden idea pops inside her head. If she knew how embarrassing it is, she wouldn’t do it, of course. But Mafuyu is unaware about this. What if instead of touching his lip with her thumb…
She hears her name. The first two syllables actually. But it’s too late to stop from what she wants to do now.
Because, without a warning, the girl closes her eyes and presses her lips against his. Just a touch; that’s all. They’re surprisingly soft; Mafuyu would never expect he would have such soft lips. Right now, she’s feeling somehow neutral and somehow nice. The warmth in her chest is back, but this time slightly stronger. And she quite likes it. Why does she like this?
When she eventually pulls away, as she looks at a flustered Akito who, after the kiss, covers his mouth and stares at her in shock, Mafuyu finally knows what has she done. How embarrassing.
“I should probably go. I forgot I have to meet with Kanade. See you around.” Mafuyu gets up and gives Akito a last look before running away. When she exits the park, her steps slow down. Her expression gives no sign of emotion, but inside, for the first time after so many years, she’s freaking out.
She has just kissed her friend’s brother. She has just kissed Akito Shinonome, Ena’s brother. Holding her bag tight as she walks, Mafuyu doesn’t know what to do now. Should she keep this a secret? Should she tell Ena? Or maybe Kanade, maybe she can handle this situation better. And how remains with Akito? And during the kiss, what happened? What was that feeling?
When the girl stops in front of a traffic light, she feels a sense of déjà vu. She already expects to see that green similar to the color of his eyes.
Mafuyu clenches her fists. In the last days, she’s been thinking of him a lot, and it’s frustrating. Why is this happening? What even is happening?
What the hell is wrong with her?
“Wow. And that’s why it implies me?”
Mafuyu nods, not looking at the other girl on the bench. “I didn’t realize what a big deal kissing your brother is, until I did it. I don’t know what it got me but, I did it.”
After hearing what happened in the past three weeks, Ena doesn’t know what to say first. Just the simple fact that her friend made out with her pathetic brother is so surprising, and leave the girl with only questions in her mind.
“Why him though? Like, you really haven’t listened to me telling how much of a nuisance Akito can be? I told you so many times.” Ena asks while she crosses her hands and frowns a little.
“He wasn’t a nuisance at all. He has some qualities, too. You shouldn’t underestimate him like that.”
Based on the words Mafuyu used, Ena now has a thought, of a new feeling she might have. But for now, the girl just rolls her eyes and decides to ask more questions.
“And how was your first kiss?”
Again, Mafuyu stays for a moment to think. “Soft.”
“Soft? That’s it? Just soft?” Ena was expecting a little more.
“His lips were soft.”
“And how did he actually react? Like, did he blush?”
“Akito’s face was as red as a tomato. I guess I really did surprise him with my actions.”
“And did you feel anything, outside of the softness?”
“I’m not sure. But there was something I felt in my chest; something warm.”
“What exactly? Is it that warmth you sometimes feel around your closest people?”
This time, Mafuyu shakes her head, still not maintaining eye contact, and her voice becomes a little softer. “It was stronger than warmth. Akito once told me that he loves to sing so much, that sometimes he feels like his heart is burning with passion. I noticed that, too.”
“So, you feel the exact same way of passion?”
“I don’t feel passion. I feel a burning heart. A kind of burning heart which is much stronger than the warmth in my chest. And it’s weird how it happens when I think of some aspects of Akito that I like. I like his eyes. I like his smile. I like his…”
Mafuyu’s voice trails off, and at that moment, Ena finally understands. And oh, how good she understands, and how happy she feels now that she understands. When her friend finally looks at her, she can see a big smirk on Ena’s face.
“Now you really do look like Mizuki.” The purple haired girl comments, but the other one ignores it, still not erasing her cheeky smile.
“You’re in love, aren’t you, Mafuyu? You’re in love with my brother?”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
Ena lets out a giggle. “Oh, don’t lie to me now. You really fell in love, hm? I really wonder now how would Mizuki react if I told her.”
“I am not in love.” Mafuyu replies, then takes one last sip from her juice and gets up from the bench, but then her friend follows her move.
“Don’t lie to yourself; didn’t you say that you like the kiss? And not to mention that burning heart you’re talking about. That’s just one of those effects a person who is in love feels. I had some of these too, so it’s fine!”
Ena hopes her words were helpful, now that Mafuyu seems to understand. The girl throws the glass in which there was juice to a trash can, then turns her head back to her friend. “But, are you sure that’s love? I still have a long way until I can feel proper feelings again. Isn’t it too early?”
The brunette’s smirk softens, turning into a smaller smile, and she places a hand on Mafuyu’s shoulder. “To be fair, I don’t think a correct time for being in love exists. Love is a nice feeling, and it should be enjoyable anytime. It’s true that sometimes love might hurt us, but this pain is at the same time so sweet. I’m actually glad that you feel something like love, Mafuyu. Keep this feeling as long as possible.”
Those words make Mafuyu smile. “Then, I think liking your brother isn’t that bad, isn’t it? Thank you, Ena.”
“You’re welcome.”
A deep, pleasant silence follows, between the two friends smiling at each other. Until Ena eventually snaps.
“Really, Mafuyu?! My brother?! Out of all the handsome boys around Tokyo, you chose my fucking brother?!”