“We spent the whole summer break practicing, so now he’s got some calluses, and he can even play a few songs. You should perform for everyone sometime.”
“I’d love that!” Elle exclaimed, gazing at Kyou-kun hopefully. He shook his head vigorously, but his sensei wasn’t having it.
“Kyou, I’ve been reviewing all the basics myself just so I can teach you. This is an order from your sensei: once the Culture Festival is over, pick a song and practice it, then perform it for everyone. Miyazato-chan, Miki-chan, prepare to be amazed by the raw talent of my favorite disciple.”
At this, Kyou-kun looked utterly crushed…and yet his beam tilted ever so slightly to the plus side. But I was the only one who could see that. The heart was honest to a fault, and truth be told, he was itching to make use of his new skills. He was both apprehensive and excited. You’ve got this, Kyou-kun.
“Man, you’ve gotta be really busy with guitar practice and Culture Festival prep and studying. Ha ha! Oh, and there’s post-graduation stuff to worry about, too… Haaah…”
“I’m telling you, we don’t have to worry about all that for a while yet! It’s not like you to get so anxious, Miki-chan. Sighing won’t help you fly… No, what you really need is a jetpack!”
Looney shot to her feet as if preparing for takeoff. I shot a pointed look at Elle and Kyou-kun, then looked back at her. “You say that, but this is a serious issue! It’ll affect my whole life—of course it’s gonna weigh on me!”
“Well then, why not ditch your bra? That’ll take some weight off.”
Looney started to lean her chest in my direction, so I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and sat her back down in her chair. Just when I’d thought I had the perfect chance to ask Elle and Kyou-kun for their input…she had to interrupt our happy lunchtime with her lunacy.
Moments later, the bell rang. We put away our trays like the good students we were, threw away our trash, and headed off for cleanup duty. It was kinda stupid, but…the way we each went our separate ways after lunch, it felt like a metaphor for life’s whims pulling us in different directions, and it made me sad. Graduation was only a year and a half away…
Honestly, I was an idiot for getting all sentimental over nothing. Looney was right—this wasn’t like me at all.
After school, we were permitted to use the gym, so the cast and crew stayed to rehearse. The gym was where the performances would be held, so we needed to use what limited time we had left to adapt our blocking to the big stage. This was our third rehearsal in the gym, and I could feel everyone’s tension—through their mics and their beams.
What about me, you ask? I was totally fine! As a superhero, I was used to performing under pressure. If I had my way, I’d be on stage the whole time, but of course, the script had a few scenes I wasn’t part of. So I left Looney and the evil goons onstage in the gym and walked to the student store to buy a sports drink. Being a superhero was a real workout, and I needed to replenish my electrolytes.
At any other time of year, the student store would be pretty empty after school, but the Culture Festival was now just a week away, and the place was packed. I bought a bottle of Pocari and was on my way back to the gym when I spotted a friend sitting on a bench outside the cafeteria. So, naturally, I flung my drink at him.
“Ow!”
“Ha ha! You’ve got a long way to go if you can’t even catch a sports drink!”
“Dude, not cool! You can’t just go around hurting people! You’re supposed to be the good guy!”
Laughing, Zuka tossed my bottle back. I caught it and then sat down next to him. “I know you don’t have club practice, and the costumers all have the day off today, so what are you doing here…? Oh, I get it. You’re waiting for Kyou-kun, eh?”
“Yep. I’m a loser with no life.”
As usual, his beam was perfectly balanced. I saw it waver when I threw the Pocari, and yet my words didn’t affect him even remotely? I mean…not that it mattered…I guess.
“Why don’t you just hang out with us in the gym?”
“I’ll be a distraction and you know it,” he grinned, as if it were a superpower he could willfully control. In reality, he was just a nuisance whose mere presence made all the boys get rowdy.
“Gotcha. Okay, well, we need to borrow your boyfriend for a little longer, but I promise you’ll be able to go on your date after we’re done.”
“It’s not a date, dumbo. We’re just gonna look at CDs.”
“Meaning you’re gonna walk around window shopping? That’s a date, my friend. And a pretty big one at that… Oh, now I get it! Y’know, if it weren’t for you hanging all over him, he and Elle might actually get together sometime this century!”
“What?”
Oh my God. I always knew Zuka was dense, but I hadn’t realized just how terminal it was. Then again, maybe it was silly of me to expect him to notice things about other people when he couldn’t even see what was right in front of him.
“You know Elle and Kyou-kun have been flirting lately, right? They’re always talking and laughing.”
Personally, I thought I did an excellent job of conveying my point without having to mention my beam power, but Zuka didn’t respond. And instead of responding, he stared at me with the most obnoxious slack-jawed derp face I’d ever seen. Then he let out this big, dramatic sigh, and while admittedly I had no idea what was going on with him, it pissed me off something fierce, so I went ahead and punched him just in case.
“Wait… Did Kyou-kun say something about it to you? Or did you and Elle talk about it while you worked on the costumes?”
“No, but…you know having a fun conversation with someone doesn’t automatically mean it’s flirting, right?”
Like you would know! I glared at him. In response, he fixed me with that quiet smile that made all the girls go gaga over him.
“What? You think it’s sexy to be a killjoy? You wanna go, punk?”
“Will you wipe that evil sneer off your face? You’re supposed to be a hero! Oh, and that reminds me: Looney told me you’re, like, worried about something?”
“Oh, yeah, that. I’ve just been thinking about post-graduation stuff.”
“That’s weird. You’re not really the thinking type.”
“On the one hand, you’re not wrong. But on the other hand, cram it.” I leaned in and glared at him point-blank.
“Seriously, quit sneering!”
He pressed one of his big mitts against my face and pushed me away. Unlike Looney’s stiff, guitar-callused fingers, Zuka’s was rough from all the sports. Get your stupid hand out of my face!
“What, so you’re saying you’ve got it all figured out?”
“I wanna work outside Japan, so I’m gonna study foreign languages.”
“Oh. Uh…wow.”
“If I go to a national university, that’ll save me some tuition costs. Plus, I can work part-time to cover my life expenses while saving up to travel abroad while I’m getting my degree. Supposedly summer breaks in college are more than a month long, right? But of course, if I wanna get into a national school, I’m gonna have to study like hell to get my math scores up. That’s what they said during my student-teacher conference, anyway.” He let out a charming little laugh.
I was impressed and panicked at the same time. Not because he was thinking hard about his future—I was already doing that myself—but because he answered the question so quickly and easily. I had known this guy for five years of my life now, and his confidence and conviction had never posed this much of a threat.
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!”
“What is it this time? Practicing one of your lines?”
He seemed to enjoy watching me squirm. So naturally I decided to give him a firm headbutt, but right as I grabbed him by the hair, I heard a meek voice call out:
“M-Miki-san…Sensei’s asking for you…and please don’t bully Zuka…”
I turned to find Kyou-kun standing there, his beam leaning somewhat negative.
“No, it’s not what you think! I’m the victim here! Anyway, my bad. Sorry I wasn’t on standby.”