Chapter Text
It was only natural that I was excited to have a study session with my childhood best friend. Who wouldn’t? Of course, my girlfriend would also be there, and that was its own point of excitement, but how often do people get a chance to reunite with their childhood friends? It wasn’t like this was a thing that happened every day. It wasn’t like we lived right next door to each other.
Well, that’s a little incorrect. We did live next to each other and we did see each other every day. Yet, while absence makes the heart grow fonder, contact contact isn’t too different. After living next door to each other for the better part of a year, I only found myself more glad that Sodachi Oikura was in my life. I hoped she felt the same about me.
As boyfriend and girlfriend, Hitagi and I arrived at our destination together. We were meeting on campus, in the library. It was a perfectly normal place for a study session. You might think that with Oikura and I being next door neighbors, we might have the session in my apartment or hers, but Oikura herself was the one who turned that down.
“I would sooner die than step a single milimeter into your apartment and I would kill you before you did the same for mine.”
Well, she said that, but we had both been in each other’s apartments here and there. Still, studying at home wasn’t an option, so the library was the best option we had.
While we waited for Oikura to arrive, Hitagi and I busied ourselves with incessant flirting. I’m sure that for anyone who had the misfortune to see us, we must have been insufferable. In retrospect, I can imagine anyone without a boyfriend or a girlfriend looking at us and thinking all manner of horrible threats. Surely, if looks could kill, both Hitagi and I would have been dead.
We would have been dead not the least for the expression Oikura gave us when she finally arrived. While I knew for a fact that she enjoyed both our companies, for some reason, she couldn’t stand the affection we showered each other in. Often, she would neg us with some kind of derisive remark. However, on that day, she did nothing of the sort.
In fact, she didn’t say much of anything to us as she sat down. Unfortunately, for as dour as her behavior was, I can’t say it was unprecedented.
Oikura’s behavior, ever since we reunited in high school, was depressive to say the least. She was cynical, bitter, harsh and cruel. She was self-critial and self-punishing. She had every tell-tale sign of depression a person could have. Yet, recently, things had even taken a change for the worse. While I wasn’t worried about my dear childhood friend doing siomething serious to herself, Hitagi and I, as well as all our other friends, had taken care to ensure that she was watched over and cared for.
The biggest sign of her mental health decline came in her appearance. Sodachi had never been a fashionista of any kind, but for a long time that I had known her, she had cared about her appearance. She made sure she looked nice. She did her makeup, she wore nice clothes, and I’m sure she did many more things that weren’t immediately obvious to a boorish man such as myself.
No longer. Even as clueless a man as myself could tell that Oikura had long since stopped bothering with makeup in the slightest. Her closet, too, had seen a decline in effort. No longer was she wearing out nice outfits. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen her wearing anything but full sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
The one nice thing amongst this was that Oikura had not let her academic skills go to waste. She was as dedicated as ever to studying. Thus, as soon as she sat down, there was no more time for flirting. It was time for studying, studying, studying. Nary a word could be said that didn’t relate to one of our academic subjects. Oikura was a cruel tyrant for schoolwork.
As such, the three of us got underway. As Oikura is a believer in saving the best for last, we started with her worst subject, which was science. I was neither great nor terrible in the subject, while Hitagi seemed to excel in everything. The point of a group study session was so that people who suffered in one area could get help in another. As such, we would be relying on Hitagi to guide us through that part of studying.
Once we got underway, however, things felt smooth. Despite my exaggerations, Oikura was still a capable student even in her worst subject. Furthermore, despite my humility, I was still a capable student, too, so we found ourselves flying through homework and lessons at a reasonable pace.
Still, even the best students cannot study forever, and as such, an hour and a half later, Hitagi said, “Let’s take a break now, shall we?”
I got up from our table in the corner to grab the group some drinks from a nearby vending machine. Our order was complex, so it took a lot of effort on my part to remember it: a canned coffee for Oikura, a canned coffee for Hitagi, and a canned coffee for myself.
Drinks in hand, I returned to the table. When I did, I found an interesting sight. Hitagi seemed to be negging Oikura. I could never imagine speaking to my dear childhood friend in that same way. A friendship as long as ours is something to be treasured, as such, I treat Oikura like a porcelain doll. Hitagi, on the other hand, had no such qualms. Perhaps this was merely a sign of what female friendship was really like. All the same, Hitagi was laying into Oikura as I set our drinks on the table.
“I know for a fact you would feel better if you put more care into your appearance. I can help, you want. I know a lot of shortcuts. I don’t like watching you continue getting worse…”
Oikura pushed back against this. “Hitagi, just leave me alone. I’m fine. I don’t need you getting on my case for this. I just don’t have the energy. Let’s leave it off at that.”
Once they noticed me, however, they both shut up rather quickly. Girl talk could only exist as long as there were no boys around. I handed each of them their drinks, then sat down, ready to continue studying.
Unfortunately, for the second half of our study session, things were noticably icier. Oikura was always short-tempered with me, but she always got along with Hitagi. This time, however, it was almost the opposite. In being annoyed with Hitagi, Oikura seemed to warm up to me. It was almost like she was trying to prove a point to Hitagi that she was mentally normal. Of course, if that was her goal, in trying so hard, it made her case worse. Something clearly had to be wrong with her for her to cozy up to me that way.
Needless to say, it was a terrifying experience being squeezed in between those two. It was like there was a cold war happening and I was the third world. We had just been studying history, so I knew how well that would go for me.
It felt like any moment, Oikura would turn to me and ask, “You think I’m pretty, right? You think I’m pretty, despite what that hag is saying?” If she said anything like that, I would die on the spot. Their cold war would run hot.
Thankfully, no missiles were fired. Neither Moscow nor Washington were in danger— and I was hoping that this extended metaphor meant my history grade wasn’t, either.
Blissfully, the day ended without incident. Of course, Hitagi and Oikura never made up, but we were able to continue studying as normal. Once we were done, as we were packing our respective things, we began making plans. We would meet up again in a week for another study session.
My hope was that by the time that rolled around, Hitagi and Oikura would have worked out whatever issues they were having. If worse came to worse, then in five days, I could start encouraging them to make peace. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, though. They were friends. Close friends, even. While friends could fight, I was sure they would start getting along soon.
I bid farewell to Oikura, while Hitagi did no such thing. She clung to my arm as we started walking away. I was briefly terrified that she might turn around and stick her tongue out in an immature show of teasing, but she was able to restrain herself. Still, I knew that I would be hearing all about whatever had caused this little spat for the next week.
They couldn’t make up soon enough.