Kogure Kawanami: My World Turned Upside Down
“Kogure, even if it’s summer, you’re gonna catch a cold if you sleep like that.”
I awoke to the sound of my mom’s voice. I slowly sat up, groaning my way through the thick haze of sleep and the remaining feeling from last night of wanting to throw up. I’d fallen asleep without a blanket on. Hmm? I slept? No. Though my memory was faint, I could vaguely remember that I’d fainted after finding out that Makoto had been in my room.
I covered my mouth, feeling like I was going to vomit again, and my arm started to itch from the hives. Though this annoying allergy of mine had mostly subsided recently, it was now resurfacing in full force.
Makoto Koyama was one of the people I had been closest with in middle school. Though she was the only girl in our group of guys, she wasn’t a tomboy. If anything, she was a misfit with the girls and thus hung out with us guys instead. According to her, in elementary school, she had more fun playing video games with guys than dolls with girls.
Girls like her weren’t exactly too uncommon. There were always some of them at any school, in any era. That was why even though she was a girl, I’d never seen her in a romantic way.
Ever since she’d started high school, she’d begun to look more like a girl, to the point that Minami and her gyaru friends complimented how she dressed. But even so, I always saw Makoto as a friend. I didn’t even think about any other possibility, and I thought it was the same for her. But then...why was she in my room? Should I ask her?
Fortunately, today was the reunion, so I’d have tons of chances to ask her then. But if Makoto approached me and acted obviously flirty because she did have a thing for me...could I handle it? Just knowing she was in my room already made me feel like I was gonna faint. My defensive instincts were telling me I should rest at home today and not go to the reunion. Minami would be there too. There was no way I’d be safe, but at the same time...
In the midst of my thoughts, I heard my mom’s voice.
“Kogure? You have that reunion of yours today, right? You’re going to be late if you don’t get ready soon.”
Today of all days, mom was home. I wasn’t sure if this was lucky or not. Either way, hearing her pushed me to go to the reunion as planned, all the while not knowing what sort of hell awaited me there.
Mizuto: You okay?
As I walked over to the reunion meeting place, I saw that I got a message from Irido. I wasn’t sure if he was worried because of the way I had cut off our call last night or if it’d shown in my voice how sick I’d felt. But also, it was possible he was simply worried because he knew that someone had been in my room. Either way, it was surprising how much he’d changed if he was actually worrying about me. I should probably respond.
Irido had already done a lot for me by figuring out that there was someone else besides Minami who’d come into my room. Now that I knew it was Makoto, I could take care of the rest.
The reunion meeting place was in front of our old middle school front gate. In front of the nostalgic gate were some nostalgic faces, and as I got closer they noticed me.
“Oh, hey, it’s Kawanami! How’ve you been?”
“You trying to steer even more into the playboy look?”
After taking a few breaths, I answered my old friends. “Like hell I am. I’m a student at preppy Rakuro.”
“I still can’t believe you got in.”
“Yeah, the guy who waits until the night before to study somehow got into Rakuro. How much did you have to cram?”
I couldn’t blame them for the jabs. I didn’t have the worst grades in middle school, but I wouldn’t say they’d been stellar either. Plus, I wasn’t doin’ too hot in Rakuro anyway. If it weren’t for Irido, I’d probably be failing. My greetings with the other people went pretty much the same way until I saw her.
“Oh, hey, Kogure. Haven’t seen you since yesterday,” Makoto Koyama said, smiling and lightly waving her hand at me.
In middle school, she’d had shorter, kind of curly hair and a much more boyish aura to her, but she’d since grown out her hair and become a lot more girlish, to the point that the gyarus yesterday complimented her. At this point her hair reached just below her shoulders, and the curls turned into waves. She could definitely wear her hair in a ponytail if she had a hair tie.
Makoto had been on the track and field team in middle school and had worn her hair in a ponytail a lot to keep it out of her face. I could practically see it in a ponytail now, leaving my room.
“Yeah, hey again.”
I did my best to try acting normally while hiding how I felt inside. I didn’t have the courage right now to straight out ask her if she’d been in my room yesterday morning.
“Hm? You’re wearing long sleeves?” Makoto asked, tilting her head. “Won’t you be too hot?”
“Oh...don’t worry about it. I just forgot to shave.”
“Wow, arm hair? What a man you’ve become,” Makoto said teasingly while lightly slapping me on the shoulder.
She’s touching me! Okay, no. Calm down! We’re old friends. Her slapping me on the shoulder isn’t anything new. Friends do this regardless of gender. I took a deep breath without her noticing in order to calm myself down.