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When Naoi arrived at school, Kurumi’s desk was empty.
She was the first person she would look at when entering the classroom—it felt disconcerting that she was apparently absent, especially without telling her. Naoi walked across the front of the classroom, her shoulders slumped, her head down. At the beginning of the school year, when she would come in late, she would feel every single pair of eyes staring at her. Now, no one even spared her a glance. Yoshizawa-san would have, she thought bitterly.
The teacher paused his lecture and tapped her on the arm with a piece of chalk. “Tardy again. Sit down.”
Naoi brushed off the white dust that now stained her dark blazer, which was already in desperate need of a wash. “Yeah, I’m walking to my seat,” she muttered.
Thankfully, he didn’t press further and resumed lecturing.
It irritated Naoi, and she scowled. She really was that forgettable, wasn’t she? Instead of going to sit at her assigned desk, she dropped her bag next to Kurumi’s and slid into the uncomfortable chair. She shifted, not used to being so close to the board and within the line-of-sight of the teacher.
The two girls who sat next to Kurumi shared a look. Someone snickered in the back of the classroom. Naoi slouched down, propping up her elbow and resting her chin on her hand. She tapped her foot to the beat of some stupid song that had been stuck in her head since she woke up.
Eventually, the teacher turned back around and stopped dead in his tracks. He made eye contact with Naoi, who instantly sat up straight, folded her hands on the desk, and smiled innocently.
“Is that your seat, Naoi-san?”
She pitched up her voice. ”Excuse me, sir! I’m not sure what you mean.”
To her surprise, the teacher played along. His face softened. “Of course, of course! Remind me of your name again?”
”My name is Yoshizawa Kurumi! Student council president, top scorer, pretty, kind, and extraordinary!” Naoi exclaimed, her tone exaggerated and mocking. She bit back a sly giggle.
The students behind her had mixed reactions; somebody hollered excitedly, a few of them laughed, but most watched the ill-mannered truant play the part of their favorite honor student with a horrified expression. One girl—Kokoro, Naoi noted—said, “Hey! That’s not nice.”
Suddenly, the teacher’s demeanor shifted. He walked up to Naoi, stopping in front of the desk. His voice was still calm, but his presence was looming, and his words were firm; it was obvious he was exerting all his willpower to not scream at the schoolgirl. “Let’s talk in the hallway for a second, okay?” He smiled kindly and beckoned for her to follow him.
As soon as his back was turned, Naoi stuck her tongue out at him. She stopped, thinking, and then began to trail after him, dragging her feet.
He closed the door once they were outside of the classroom. “Is there something wrong, Naoi-san? You don’t usually act up like this. I hope this isn’t about me asking Yoshizawa-san to speak to you that day…”
Naoi’s blood began to boil. This is so stupid. Why can’t he just yell at me so I can leave? She had to pinch her arm to stop herself from talking back. She tuned out the teacher’s thinly-veiled chastising and eventually interrupted him. “Sorry, I think I need to take a walk or something to clear my head.”
The teacher nodded. “Go ahead. I trust that, once you’re back, you’ll be more ready to learn?”
As if. “Yeah.”
”Alright. You’re free to go.”
Naoi gripped her bag and turned away, aimlessly wandering through the empty hallways, going up stairs, and peeking into deserted storage and electrical rooms. At one point, she began to slow her pace. Something felt off, and she itched the back of her neck. Am I seriously this paranoid? Naoi thought. No, no. Somebody is actually following me.
“Hi!” The girl called, running up to her.
Naoi pivoted, making a face when she saw who it was.
“You’re Naoi-san, right?”
Naoi didn’t show any signs of confirmation, but the girl continued talking.
“I’m Isanuma-san! I’m in your class. By the way, I don’t think it was fair of sensei to scold you like that… ” She spoke with a happy, immature tone, but Naoi could make out a cunning tint to her voice.
“Oh, thank you. That means a lot,” Naoi replied sarcastically.
“That Yoshizawa girl, isn’t she annoying? She totally thinks our teacher is obsessed with her. You see it too, right? That’s why you hate her? Seriously, he should focus on me more. But Yoshizawa-san… she ruins everything!” Isanuma balled her hands into fists, and looked down, shaking her head. When Naoi didn’t respond after a few seconds, she picked her head back up. “Hey, you do hate Yoshizawa-san too, right?”
Naoi just watched her with an unamused face. “Yeah, I despise her, actually.”
“Oh, great! I’m glad—“
“But, well, I hate you even more.”
Isanuma froze.
Naoi turned the corner and continued walking. “Bitch,” she murmured.
Finding herself in the front of the restrooms, Naoi pushed open the door with her shoulder, and it swung open. Immediately, it was evidence there was someone else in here; one of the stalls was occupied. Whoever was inside abruptly gagged and then vomited.
Naoi gagged too, pinching her nose in an attempt to ignore the smell. As she walked closer, she had a sneaking suspicion as to whom it might be. She knocked on the stall door to confirm.
“Sorry, I’ll be just a second!”
That voice felt like sweet candy, a relief to Naoi’s ears--though she’d never admit it. “Yoshizawa-san, you didn’t tell me you were pregnant.”
Kurumi stopped, feeling the urge to spill the contents of her stomach again at the sound of the person behind the door. “Get lost.”
“Oh, wow! I thought you’d be excited to see me! Especially while dealing with your morning sickness.”
“I’m not pregnant!”
”Right, because I can’t imagine any guy would ever want to fuck you.” Naoi leaned against the stall door. She could hear Kurumi’s heavy, intermittent breathing mixed with the constant heartbeat in her ears. “You need help in there?”
Kurumi silently stood up and unlocked the door.
Practically falling inside, Naoi steadied herself just in time. She took in the sight around her. The floor was covered with drops of spit and vomit, which was also inside the toilet. Kurumi’s school bag was tucked away safely in a corner of the stall. And Kurumi herself… well, she was certainly a sight to behold. Strands of hair were falling on her sweaty face, her tie was untied, her wrinkled skirt was riding up, and her knee-high socks had small rips in them from kneeling on the floor.
Making a disgusted face, Naoi flushed the toilet, waving her hand in front of her nose. “I didn’t know something as vile as that could come out of the perfect Yoshizawa-san,” she commented.
“I’m ill, if you couldn’t tell.”
“Clearly! Why are you at school?” She tried not to make it sound like she was concerned.
Both girls knew the answer to that already. Kurumi looked away.
“I’m already late to class, so don’t rub it in.”
“The teacher basically kicked me out of class, so don’t worry about it. Let’s skip.”
Kurumi’s eyes widened. “I’ve—”
“Never skipped before? I know.” Naoi grabbed Kurumi’s arm, her nails digging into Kurumi’s flesh. She pulled her up from the floor, grunting dramatically, sweat beading on her forehead.
Kurumi slapped away the other girl’s hand, rubbing the spot where her nails left marks. “Your habit of constantly skipping school is what landed me in this situation in the first place!”
“Woah! Let’s not go back that far?” Naoi grinned. “If you hadn’t shoplifted—”
“I never stole anything!” Kurumi was almost screaming.
Naoi paused; she was reminded of something. She hesitated before removing two rectangular pieces of paper from her blazer pocket, slowly extending her arm to hold it out. “I did, though. I bought these with some money I took from my dad,” she lowered her voice, “He’s gonna kill me once he realizes he doesn’t have enough for drinking tonight.” She looked pleased with herself.
Kurumi inched closer, studying the train tickets. “You didn’t pay for a return trip?”
“We’ll figure out how to get back… one-way is cheaper. You’re willing to go? I was waiting to show you these till after school, but there’s a train that runs in about half an hour, and our tickets are valid for any time slot today.”
Kurumi stood still.
Leaning in, Naoi brought her lips close to the other girl’s ear. “Let’s run away together, Yoshizawa-san,” she whispered.
Kurumi shuddered.
Naoi giggled.
“But, my mother…” Kurumi shifted.
“But, my mother! But, my father! But, my girlfriend, Shimoda-san! But, my teachers! But, my bullies! Shut up! I don’t care!”
“Hey, about Kokoro-chan—”
“What about me, Yoshizawa-san? Aren’t I more important than all of those people?” Naoi pouted sarcastically.
Kurumi stared at Naoi unsteadily for a good ten seconds, before acquiescing. She scrunched her eyebrows together and grabbed the tickets. “Okay. Let’s go,” Kurumi agreed. “How will we sneak out?”
”Wow, Yoshizawa-san is such a bad girl now!” Naoi teased. “Anyway, I’m a natural at this, so just follow me, ‘kay?”
Naoi pushed past clumps of people, some with briefcases and some with backpacks. She kept her head ducked with her bangs falling over her eyes. She was leading Kurumi through the crowd on the subway train, weaving in and out like a serpent, their hands intertwined tightly. Naoi could feel Kurumi’s sweat underneath her palm; or was that her own? It was hard to tell. Some people gave the girls strange looks; even though they had changed out of their uniforms, it was odd to see two clearly high-school-aged girls traveling alone during noon rush-hour on the train.
Soon, an announcement came over the speaker, and the train began to lurch. Crushed between people, Naoi took stock of the situation, doing a quick sweep of available seats. There were none—there was one empty pole that they could hold onto, but right next to it was an evidently drunk man. Noticing Kurumi’s realization of the issue at hand, Naoi declared, “Not to worry. Just hold on to me, okay?”
Kurumi looked around, eyes wavering on the drunk man. “Is it usually this crowded? You seem used to it…”
“Why, are you scared? Haven’t you given speeches to an audience double the size of this before?”
“I guess, but… hey, where are we even going again?”
Naoi avoided the question. “Stop whining.” She checked her phone, pretending not to pay attention, but her heart still skipped a beat when the train sped up and Kurumi gripped her forearm to steady herself. Her nails dug in, and Naoi couldn’t help but think she was doing it on purpose, as revenge for a little while earlier.
Kurumi shifted her head to the side; they were near one of the big windows, so she absentmindedly stared outside. She wondered how long it would take the school to notice that they were both missing, if at all. She wondered how long it would take for her mother to find out. Is she going to punish me? When we get back, is she going to cut herself again? If we get back too late at night, would she not sleep at all? And if we never come back at all… her thoughts trailed off when Naoi nudged her.
“Thinking about running away for real?”
Kurumi flinched slightly. “No,” she lied.
“It’s okay, I could tell based on your expression.” Naoi looked off into the distance. “I mean, I get you, but it’s not really worth it, is it?”
“Why not?” Kurumi asked, despite herself.
Naoi looked at Kurumi. Kurumi blinked, then blushed, almost imperceptibly.
Neither of them said anything else for a good thirty minutes. By that point, a fair amount of the passengers had gotten off, so there were free seats. The girls took two of them, pushing their bags underneath. Outside, the skies had become cloudy, and rain started to drizzle along the glass window.
At one point, Naoi poked Kurumi in the cheek teasingly. “Hey, Yoshizawa-san, are we there yet?”
Scowling, Kurumi pushed her hand away.
“Are we there yet?” she repeated. “Tell me, I’m dying to know!”
“Shut up! You haven’t even told me where this train is going!” Kurumi snapped, fidgeting with an untamed strand of hair.
“We’ll get off at the last stop or whatever! It’s not a big deal!” Naoi had tried to calm Kurumi by not setting any rigid rules… but it seemed like this just irritated the other girl even more. Well, that was no problem at all. This was valuable information. Feeling satisfied with the knowledge that this entire plan was going to absolutely break Kurumi, she let her inhibitions go.
“You may think so, but to me, it kind of is! Clearly, you haven’t even thought this through!” She began to raise her voice. “What’s our final destination? You don’t know. How are we going to get back? You don’t know. If the school finds out we skipped, how are we going to explain it to them? You don’t know!” A few other passengers on the train started to look at Kurumi, curious about the commotion. She hid her face in her hands and hiccuped, embarrassed.
At first, Naoi didn’t respond, leaving the air with a tense silence. Finally, she leaned close and muttered, “I mean, if your mom kills herself, it wouldn’t really be that bad.”
“What???”
Naoi sat back up, crossing her arms above her head casually. “Can you imagine for a second--no pressures of family, no stress for good grades, no worry at all? You can be your true, authentic self.”
A pause. Kurumi stared into Naoi’s dull, unflinching eyes. The dark-haired girl stared straight ahead.
“I--”
Just then, another announcement was made through the train’s speakers.
Kurumi closed her lips, choosing not to finish her statement. Naoi watched as she wiped her palms on her skirt and her vision glossed over, panic evidently settling in.
Naoi shrugged. “Guess that’s it, then.” She reached underneath the seat to grab her bag and slide it across to Kurumi.
Kurumi flicked it with her finger. “What do you want me to do with this ragged thing?”
“Keep it, sell it, I don’t know. You’ll hold it for me when we get off, right?”
“You can hold your own damn bag!”
“Whatever.” She wrenched the bag back and lay it on her lap, drumming her fingers rhythmically on its surface until the train gradually stilled and the doors opened.
The shopping street was filled with mid-afternoon foot traffic, who didn’t spare a second glance at Naoi as she ran ahead, extending her arms out and chanting, “We’re here!”, upon reaching a rather flashy store. Once Kurumi had caught up, the girly clothes and accessories in the borderline-blindingly lit windows made her wince. She swayed, unexpectedly nauseous. Fighting the urge to repeatedly punch her classmate in the nose, she hissed, “Great…”
“Are you not excited?”
“What are you talking about? I’m thrilled. This is definitely where I want to be right now.”
“Right? Let’s go in!” Naoi said, pulling open the door as a wave of air conditioning spilled out. She watched as Kurumi reluctantly followed her inside, moving as if her legs were struggling to support their own weight.
Naoi was rambling, and the brown-haired girl tuned her out, drifting away from the other girl. A seed of an idea planted itself in Kurumi’s mind while she weaved through the racks of too-short dresses and mannequins showing off cute tops with bows. The shop seemed completely empty, and there wasn’t even anybody at the register. Must be automated, Kurumi mused. Her eyes darted to the edges of the ceiling, where a few security cameras were placed. The two eventually intersected at a large wall, filled up with various hair accessories hanging on pegs. Reaching out, Kurumi grabbed a black headband. She touched the tips of the cat ears, the wire underneath poking into the pads of her fingers.
“Didn’t really think that was your style, Yoshizawa-san,” Naoi commented, floating over Kurumi’s shoulder.
“It isn’t.” Kurumi turned around, smirking, and placed the headband behind Naoi’s ears, adjusting and running her fingers through her short dark hair. It was too gentle, too naively romantic. Their eyes met again, and Naoi froze, unable to process what was happening. Some cheesy, lovey-dovey idol song played through the speaker mounted up behind them, the volume low and almost completely drowned out by the air conditioning.
Kurumi stepped back and hid her laugh behind her hand. “You should see yourself!”
“Absolutely not,” Naoi stated, already pulling the cat ears off. Kurumi grabbed her hand, stopping her.
“You’re so grumpy.”
“You didn’t even want to come in here just five minutes ago.”
“Just look in the mirror, please?”
“Fine.”
Seated in front of the large mirror in the dressing room, Naoi stuck her tongue out at her own reflection. At her sour expression, Kurumi started to giggle again, and insisted on a photo to document the moment.
“Meow for me, Naoi-san~” she teased.
The dark-haired girl adamantly refused, biting the other girl’s finger. It left a small indent.
“Hey, bad kitty!”
Flustered, Naoi looked away. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Aw, but I was having so much fun!”
“I hate you.”
Outside the store, Kurumi’s head was bent, skimming through the receipt and double-checking what was in the paper bag of items she bought. “Hold on. I think I forgot to scan something,” she said after a few seconds.
“Which one?”
“This.” Kurumi quizzically held up two dog-ear hair clips. The fur on top felt soft and almost lifelike. Huh? She looked up to ask Naoi how the hell the clips got into the bag, but she was already walking away.
Running to catch up, Kurumi yelled, “Hey! Did you--”
Naoi shushed her fiercely, grinning. “Be quiet! Do you want to get in trouble? You know, since you’re now a repeated offender…” Taking the hair clips from Kurumi’s hand, she fastened them into the other girl’s hair. “Aw, you’re such a cute puppy.”
“Are you actually kidding me???”
“Yes, actually. In fact, you’re having a really bad nightmare right now.” She raised a hand in front of Kurumi’s face and drew a spiral in the air, poking Kurumi’s nose at the end. “It’s time to wake up and go for a walk!”
“This is illegal!” Kurumi hissed.
“Should’ve reminded yourself that when you stole that eraser--”
“I. never. stole. anything!”
Naoi nodded condescendingly. “Sure, sure. We’ll be in even bigger trouble if we miss the train, so can you hurry up?”
A beacon of hope! “You have return tickets?”
“Nah, but we can just sneak onto there.”
“You’re really pushing the envelope today.”
“Yeah, but you’re following along, aren’t you?”
Kurumi sighed. “Whatever. Let’s go.”