“…You okay?” I asked.
“Why the hell wouldn’t I b—ACHOO!” Akira let out a great big sneeze with almost perfect comedic timing. Her whole body shivered, and then she sniffled a watery trail of snot back up into her nostril. She was definitely feeling the chill.
“There’s no need to act tough if you’re struggling, you know.”
“Wh-who the hell said I was?”
“Me. Because it’s obvious. I mean, just look at you—you’re shaking like a leaf. And I really can’t have you going and getting sick or injured on me.”
“Ngh…”
If looks could kill, then the daggers Akira shot me with her eyes most certainly would have. Normally, I would have shrunk back in the face of an intimidating scowl like that—but in this moment, I felt nothing but pity for her. Seeing her soaking wet, to the point that her teeth were chattering, made it abundantly clear just how much she was pushing herself to put on a brave face. Her sheer level of obstinance was honestly a little depressing sometimes.
“You can’t just power through this,” I said. “You’re only gonna hurt yourself.”
“…Well, what do you suggest we do, wise guy?” Akira snapped, her voice shaking from what I assumed was a mixture of fury and frigidity. She glared at me and continued, “It’s not like this rain’s gonna let up even if we turn back. And there’s no telling how much of a detour it’d be to go around it… What other choice do we have but to push on through? Or, what—do you have some big-brain idea for how to keep ourselves dry?”
“Sort of, yeah,” I responded without missing a beat. “I’ll stand in front and act as a rain shield, and you just follow directly behind me. That way, you won’t have to bear the full brunt of the rain.”
Akira’s face kind of seized up, her mouth hanging slightly open. Had she really not considered this option until now? And here I’d assumed she was just too proud to ask me to take the lead. I let out a sigh.
“All right, I’ll take point,” I said. “Follow whenever you’re ready.”
I knew trying to talk this out further wasn’t going to get us anywhere. I was sure Akira would have more than a few choice words for me if I gave her the chance to say them, but we needed to keep on walking first and foremost. I wanted to get the hell out of this squall as soon as possible.
A few moments after I started walking, I heard the trudging sound of unhappy footsteps behind me. Akira was following my lead without a word. Then, for whatever reason, she picked up the pace. I wondered to myself why she was in such a rush to catch up.
Through my backpack, I felt a powerful impact push me from behind, and I pitched forward—falling flat onto the asphalt. A stinging pain shot through my knees and palms. For a brief moment, I thought a wild animal must have charged me or something. But when I turned to look back over my shoulder, still on my hands and knees, all I saw behind me was Akira. Which could only mean one thing: She’d shoved me herself.
But why?
“Wh-what the hell are you—”
“Don’t treat me like a goddamn kid!”
Her voice struck my ears like a thunderclap from on high. I lifted my gaze to see that her face, so pale from the cold a minute ago, was now flushed red from ear to ear. It seemed as though all of the blood had rushed to her head—both literally and figuratively.
“You just think I’m some total idiot who can’t even take care of herself, don’t you?!” Akira shouted.
“What? No, I—”
“You totally do! I can see it in your eyes!”
I very nearly turned my gaze away on reflex. Mind you, I never had any intention of looking down on Akira—but it was true that I had only offered to take the lead because I was starting to feel bad for her, which could definitely be interpreted as me belittling her or treating her as a kid.
“You just think you’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?” she went on. “Don’t get all cocky just because someone started treating you like a human being instead of a total freak for once. Rest assured that I still wouldn’t spend a single second with a gloomy-ass, pansy-ass loner like you if we weren’t trapped in this situation together right now.”
Her venom spewed, Akira suddenly reached up and pressed a hand to her forehead as though she were feeling faint.
“Ugh, damn it,” she said. “My head is killing me…”
“Y-you gonna be okay?” I said, rising to my feet.
“No, back off!” said Akira, holding her free hand out as if to push me away. “All you’re doing is acting like you care, but really you just think you’re so much better and smarter than me, don’t you? I can see right through you, kid. God, you piss me off so bad… Just what the hell is your problem, anyway?” Akira ground her teeth in frustration, then wiped her rain-slicked face roughly with the sleeve of her jacket. “Out here acting like this isn’t all your fault to begin with…”
“Wait, huh…?”
“You said it yourself—all that stuff he told you before he went and died and everything. He totally passed the ‘curse’ or whatever it is on to you, as a member of his bloodline, I’ll bet. You can’t tell me it doesn’t make the most sense for you to be the one who caused this. Go ahead—just try to tell me I’m wrong.”