Chapter Text
The rainy season is always a terrible time of the year for me. Why? Well, because when it rains, I can't ride my bike to school, so I have to wake up earlier to be on time. Which means, in turn, I get less time to read and study Lovable Lunches. And also, the route I take on foot doesn't overlap with Hirose's until the very end, so for some reason it's easier to run into him on my bike.
But that's over now! Because the rainy season is now over! Which means! I get to ride my bike to school! Which means! I get to go to sleep later and not be in a rush in the morning! And more importantly, I might run into Hirose on the way!
That's what I thought last night, but...
"Good morning, my good for nothing brother. You overslept again." My sister's voice rang from the door. "Run."
Wait, huh? That can't be. I have an alarm!
...oh yeah. I took the batteries from the alarm and put them in my cassette last night. I must've forgot to put them back. Huh.
I stared at my wall, half asleep.
...
I reached for my phone.
...
Oh I'm late late.
...
What was my first class on Mondays again?
Physical Education. Okay. But Mr. Shimada is still on leave. Who was our substitute for him again?
Ah. Mr. Niou.
...
If I'm late he might just murder me.
And with these happy thoughts, I jumped from my bed, fed Icchan, got dressed, ate breakfast and left home in an impressively short time of 10 minutes. Not my personal best, but choking on the cereal and almost dying makes me not want to try and beat that. My mother was yelling at me about something, but I couldn't make out what she was saying as I blasted off.
I sped through the streets of Dangogaoka, almost running over a few people in the process. I usually don't like going that fast, but the idea of not only Mr. Niou getting mad at me, but also having the whole class turn to stare at me as I come in late... that might be the worst part.
I stopped at a crosswalk. Red light. Come on!
Also, Hirose might think I'm lazy and uncool if he realizes I overslept. Hm. I'm amending my previous statement. That would be the worst part.
I stopped at another crosswalk. Red light again. This city is taunting me. At least I could catch my breath here. I looked around as I waited.
This is... yeah, this is the crosswalk I run into Hirose at sometimes. Ugh! If I only hadn't overslept, I could have run into Hirose here! Why would I take the batteries out of the alarm?!
Well, to be fair, the reading Lovable Lunches experience is enhanced by listening to instrumentals. And the volume I bought yesterday was so good... One day I'll be like Makenouchi. One day.
But still! I could have run into Hirose here! We could've talked! Well, Ohmori would've been with him. But I don't care! It's worse to not run into him at all! I even spent this weekend researching easy conversation topics, and now it's all for nothing!
Well, whatever. I could still run into him some other day. Preferably when Ohmori is sick or something and he's alone.
I saw the traffic light glow red. I put my foot in one of the pedals, ready for the pedestrian light to turn green.
"Heyy! Nakamura! Wait!"
I heard a familiar voice, and turned to my left to see... Hirose!? He was running towards me with the biggest smile, out of breath, and with his hair all messy. He must've been running.
Wait, was I blessed? Why is this vision before me? Am I dreaming? Did I die and somehow get to heaven?
He stopped next to me, and took a second to catch his breath.
"You have amazing timing, Nakamura! Give me a ride! Please!"
What.
Give him a ride.
Is he for real?
"Please! My alarm ran out of batteries and I overslept! If I'm late again Mr. Niou is going to destroy me! I'll buy you a juice or something later!"
Well, yeah, if I don't give him a ride here he's going to be even more late than me. But this situation...
Isn't it a bit too good?! This is a golden opportunity! If I do this, he'll think I'm super cool, right?! He even said he'd buy me juice! What should I do with it? Just drinking it and throwing it away would be a waste. I should enshrine it.
"Uh y-yeah, no problem..." I managed to stutter as I took my bag from the back of the bike and hung it on me. "H-hop on."
"Thanks man, you're a lifesaver! But wait, if you're here... Heh heh, did you oversleep too?" Hirose teased me as he got on the small platform on the back of my bike.
"No I didn't! ...well, yes I did. My alarm also ran out of batteries." I refuse to tell him it's because I took them out to use on a cassette player.
"Ah really? Well, I have to thank the batteries then! Running into you right now is the best thing that could've happened to me!"
Uh. Same here, Hirose. Same here.
He pointed to the traffic light. "Hey, the light's gonna turn red."
"Oh, right. I'll go fast, so be careful, okay?"
I started pedaling. There was more weight, so it was a bit more difficult than I expected. After a short struggle, we got some speed. Hirose was quiet. He probably was worried we wouldn't make it.
Suddenly, the bike hit a bump. Hirose gasped, and then...
...
Ah. So this is heaven after all.
Hirose was grabbing onto me from the back. I guess it's safer this way, but...
I couldn't help but let out a gasp. Hirose chuckled. "What, are you ticklish?"
"N-no! Why w-would you think something like that?"
He chuckled again. "Uh-huh. If you say so."
After a few minutes that I'll treasure for the rest of my life, we got to the school grounds. We really sped through, so there were still some people coming in. We weren't late yet, then.
"Hirose, why don't you go on ahead? I'll go put the chain on and join you in class in a bit." I really didn't want to say this, but he probably wanted to get to class as soon as possible. I didn't want to hold him back.
"Huh, what are you saying? It's just a moment! I'm not going to treat you like a bus, Nakamura. And in any case," He showed me his phone. "We still have 5 more minutes. Thanks a lot again, by the way. You're a lifesaver!"
He's an angel.
We walked towards the bike parking and I started searching in my bag for the lock.
The lock, the lock...
Where is the lock?
I felt my stomach drop. It's at home. I forgot about it. I need to go back.
I turned my bike around. "Hirose, go on ahead."
"Huh? Why? Is everything alright?"
"I, uh..." Ugh, this is so embarrassing. I felt the color surge in my face. "I forgot the lock at home."
He paled, then covered his mouth to try and stop himself from chuckling. I just lost all the cool guy points I gained by giving him a ride. "B-but then... Oh, that's not good."
"A-anyway, just go on. I'll be back in a moment." I grabbed my bike and blasted off back home.
I ended up being 20 minutes late, had everyone turn to look at me when I entered the gymnasium, and had to endure Mr Niou stopping the class to give me a 20-minute-long lecture on punctuality in front of everyone.
I'm never taking the batteries off my alarm ever again.
At least the juice was good.