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The cold, harsh wind rushed through the streets leading up to the Iseya residence, during a particularly dark evening.
The street was lit by the subtle glow of the remaining orange rays of the sun, as the sky slowly turned purple and cheeky stars peeked out over the city, winking at the people beneath — yet the street seemed to be under a shadow all the same.
The wind wasn’t the only thing that was harsh, nor were the blinding lights coming from the Iseya residence — it was the voices within the home that were the harshest of all.
This house wasn’t unfamiliar with raised voices, for it had endured a long history of dark memories for the Iseya family. Memories of grief, of despair.
There might have been a time where long ago, laughter bounced off its walls, laughter that belonged to a family who had once lived there.
The sounds of a joyful woman with short raven hair that danced as she sang for her children, hair that both her children inherited.
But that was a long time ago.
Now the only occasional laughter came from a red headed boy, and the one and only Iseya Nao, a boy who on most days felt more empty than this house did.
While this house and this boy seemed void and hollow, they no longer felt empty. Nao's heart was filled with warmth, warmth he hadn't felt since his supposed home had become deadly silent - silence once filled with melodies from his headphones now filled with harmonious laughter between the two boys. Laughter had a beautiful way of filling in any empty space - echoing from all directions, and providing sustenance for one's heart and soul.
But while laughter can fill a space with joy, shouts can ricochet off walls like bullets.
Fighting was heard once again from the Iseya residence.
Yet at this moment neither boy truly knew why they were fighting.
Maybe it was the way they fought ruthlessly, yet gracefully danced around what they truly meant to say.
Because the words that fell from their lips most definitely did not match the unspoken ones that caused their throats to close up and threatened their hearts to combust.
That evening, a head of red hair stormed out the door and left, against the current of the strong, chilling wind.
The unforgiving evening wind was cold against the hot tears on his cheeks, and the air burned his heaving lungs as he ran.
The lights in the house of Iseya never felt more blinding as the door shut with a deafening slam.
Then again, he could barely see them through his own tears as they fell, one by one, until he was a sobbing mess, his back sliding down the door as he made his way to the ground.
He wept, and wept, and wept, because if he could only tell the other what he truly wanted to say — the words he was terrified would bubble out of his mouth without his permission - then maybe the sound of the closed door wouldn’t echo still.
Maybe he wouldn’t be here, hunched against that same door, on the floor as his tears pooled and his sobs filled the silence instead.
But he truly wept because without the laughter of the boy, and without his glowing, warm presence, he felt alone.
Alone all over again in this cold, empty house.
With only the echo of a memory to hold onto, and the wind outside to hear his pleas for him to return.
☆
I have a chocolate and strawberry milk in hand, and I’m on the hunt for a very pissy redhead.
Why? Because Souta hates facing his feelings, that’s why.
You see, I knew there was something wrong with Souta the moment he entered the classroom.
It was actually kind of hard to miss.
The first sign was the state in which he entered class in a rush, ten minutes late, his clothes and hair completely disheveled.
The second sign was his eye bags — Souta had the biggest eye bags I’ve ever seen. They looked like they had their own baggage to carry as well.
The third was him dozing off every fifteen minutes.
He actually hit his head on the table with a loud thump during math, which had promptly woken him up, at least.
Surprise surprise, the probable cause of his disheveled state was nowhere to be seen, AKA Iseya Nao.
How odd.
In short, all these factors were causes for concern in my humble opinion.
However, that seemed to not have occurred to Takeo at all, because the moment class was over, he had marched over to Souta's desk to announce, “You look terrible!!!”
The epitome of subtle, that's our Takeo.
He laughs with no emotion in particular, and adds robotically, “Thanks, Takeo,” more focused on taking his books out of his bag.
“No, like, seriously! Did you get dumped? That’s the only explanation for those eye bags! Do you have a girlfriend that I knew nothing about? If so, how dare you. WAIT NO- you totally got rejected, didn’t you!” Takeo rambled.
Souta sighed, but still tried to put up a smile as he rubbed his temple, “Hey, can we really just not talk about it? I just couldn't sleep, that's all-”
“SO I WAS RIGHT—”
“Takeo, leave it be.” I intervened, hoping to save Souta from being subjected to Takeo's conspiracy theories.
“Hmm…” Takeo started, his pointer finger on his chin as if he was actually considering it. “NOPE!”
Souta then started attempting to smack Takeo while sitting, who artfully dodged the attacks while grinning and making fun of his ‘weak punches’.
“You can’t hide your girlfriend forever, Souta!” he teased playfully.
Souta's previously forced smile turned into a defiant one as he looked up at Takeo, “Oh yeah?”
Souta suddenly stood up, stretching his body across the table to reach for Takeo again, hitting him in the side. Takeo yelped at the sudden attack, but before he could attempt another hit, I stood and put my hand on his shoulder and quietly asked him, “Hey, seriously though, are you ok?”
Souta turned his head to see me and gave a quick reassuring smile, “Yeah! Don’t worry about it, I just couldn’t sleep much.”
“You sure you even went to bed to begin with?” Takeo snickered, and Souta threatened to hit him again while I threw him a look. He raised both arms up in defense, not wanting to be attacked again. I just sighed, tired of his antics.
“Souta—” I started, but before I could continue class had begun once again, and he was already turned to face forward while Takeo had gone back to his seat before the teacher could comment on it.
“Good morning class. Seeing as you are all so chatty, it seems you’re ready to start the material now,” Sensei said gruffly, and shook his head as the entire class began to groan.
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, I’ll be starting attendance, and then we’ll get right into where we left off last time.”
He slowly started reciting our names in alphabetical order and waited for the students' small ‘present’ afterwards. When it came time to call out Iseya’s name, Sensei seemed to skip it.
“Sensei, what about Iseya-kun?” a girl called out.
“Hm? Iseya called in sick today.”
Souta visibly cringed, and blankly shifted his gaze down to his fingers resting in his lap.
He looked almost guilty.
“That seems to be everyone then. Alright, open your textbooks back to page 47. Read carefully, because we will be having a quiz on…”
As Sensei started going on about the beheading of Ishida Mitsunari as usual, I couldn’t help but lose focus as I noticed Souta’s previous smile slowly fall as class continued, like a mask now discarded.
He desperately tried not to go into a state of daze the entire time. He could hardly keep his gaze from the window and back to his textbook, and I wondered what was suddenly so mesmerising about the same view we see everyday.
That's the thing — the pretty trees weren't what was occupying his attention. There was something else going through his head, that much was apparent from the faraway look in his eyes. Clearly whatever happened was nothing good.
I wondered if he'd rather hold on to the weight in silence, or if he needed someone else to give him a hand and was too proud or nervous to just simply ask. Or maybe it was more complicated than that—
I didn't get much time to keep wondering, and neither did Souta once Sensei called him out for not paying attention. He went red in embarrassment and did his best to look straight ahead at the scribbles on the board.
Once the bell rang, Souta was out of there.
Which is why I’m currently here, searching in the sea of heads for a bobbing Souta.
Realistically speaking, I know I should probably give him his space, but I don’t really want to leave him alone like that.
He's trying to cover it up, but he's probably miserable.
And I heard misery loves company.
Let's just hope Souta feels the same and doesn't shoo me away.
After ten minutes of fruitless searching for the emotionally constipated redhead, I eventually find him alone, sitting on a bench near the sports field.
“Souta!” I call out, waving the carton of chocolate milk in the air.
Souta looks up with a weary expression, but relaxes when he sees me and waves back with a small smile. I take that as a sign that I’m welcome to come sit next to him, and walk over.
“You didn’t even bother to wait and eat something,” I chide, passing him the chocolate milk, while I sit and poke the straw through my own strawberry carton.
“I wasn’t really hungry, but thanks!” he replies, smiling at the sight of the drink.
“That's a first.”
“Hey now,” Souta challenges while chuckling, but it falls flat.
We sip our drinks in long, stretched-out silence, but it's comfortable — familiar, even.
It feels nice, there not being a need to be speaking constantly. I firmly believe that presence is enough sometimes.
But then I look towards Souta mid sip, and while he may seem composed to most people, I notice him fidgeting with the tiny sticker on the milk carton, pulling it off with a nail. I notice the slow sips he takes, instead of his usual chugging, and his lack of energy, lack of obnoxiousness in general, but most importantly, that blank look that haunts his eyes as he seems completely and utterly lost in thought.
And I can no longer stay silent.
“Hey… Souta?” I speak up hesitantly.
“...Yeah?”
The atmosphere is suddenly tense, as it looks like Souta braces himself for the question he’s probably been avoiding all day. Maybe he knows that I noticed something was off, that I knew something must have happened with—
“We don't have to talk about it.”
Souta looks completely taken aback for a moment, eyes wide as if he expected something completely different, and blankly replies, “About what?”
I stop drinking my very chemically tasting milk to face him with what I hope is a reassuring smile.
“You know what I mean.”
The tension in Souta's body dissipates as he slumps forward, and his face visibly relaxes as he looks at me gratefully.
His eyes tell me: Thank you.
I roll my own with a small smile.
You don't have to, you idiot.
☆
It’s quiet outside as I walk back home alone. All I hear is the breeze, cool against my face, and the rustle of leaves as I get further away from the chatting groups of teenagers still stalling around the gate of the school.
It’s nice to have this moment of silence, I don’t get to experience it often - the perks of being friends with Souta and Takeo and whatnot.
I like being able to hear my own thoughts, just me and the sounds of everyday life. Like the people passing by, too engrossed in their conversations to realize how loud they are, or the loud music from the corner store I just passed, or like that black cat meowing in front of me-
A cat.
In front of me.
Meowing.
I freeze, waiting for it to walk past me.
It doesn’t.
I squint at the cat, wondering why it’s just… sat there, looking up at me expectantly. I start feeling a little nervous then, and step aside for it, which in hindsight was stupid, since it was just a cute cat — though to be fair, it wasn’t because of superstition but because Souta had told me many of his dramatic stories of the wrongdoings of his own previously stray cat, and I’m a little wary of them now (even though his entire rivalry with a cat is completely stupid and I really shouldn’t be listening to what he says anyway).
But then the cat starts walking towards me, and before I can start actually panicking, the cat rubs its head on my shoe, and then makes its way around and between my legs, pressing its body against me and purring loud enough for me to feel the vibrations through my pants.
I’m pleasantly surprised, my panic completely melting, and start chuckling, “Wow, that's all you wanted to do?”
I bend down a little and reach a hand out for the cat’s wet nose to sniff it, and laugh once it starts practically melting in my palm as I pet it.
And Souta’s convinced cats are plotting our downfall?
“Heh, can’t believe I almost let Souta get to me, you wouldn’t hurt a fly,” I laugh lightly, now kneeling down on one knee to pet it better, giving it scratches behind its ear.
The cat starts purring even louder, clearly pleased.
I smile, and then look around me to see if I’m blocking anyone’s way, when I feel the cat quickly slip away from my palm as it starts rushing away from me suddenly.
“Hey-! Wait!!” I call out, and earn a few looks from onlookers - I wince, embarrassed.
I spot the cat from the corner of my eye, and quickly try chasing after it, but it's hard with so many towering people around to obscure my view of the tiny thing.
I'm about to give up after I've been searching for about 5 minutes in the place I last saw the feline before it disappeared and wonder why I'm even looking anyway, when my peripheral vision spots it entering a small, dark alleyway across the street - tucked between a small shop and an apartment complex.
I cross the street and enter the tiny alley, where I'm met with the midnight dark cat and the back of someone petting said cat while kneeling on the hard ground, her short hair more golden than the sun, reflecting the little light that makes its way through here.
And when the girl turns quickly to the sound of my footsteps, I realize I recognize her.
But before I can even utter a word, she somehow jumps into standing position, takes a singular moment to size me up, and charges at me like a viking about to avenge the death of a loved one.
“HEY, WAIT-” I yelp and hold my hands out to stop her, yet unable to actually move out of the way due to pure and utter shock.
The girl manages to tackle me down to the ground and pins my hands behind my back, my mouth eating concrete before I can blink.
“Ow…” I groan.
The girl harshly moves my head slightly to get a better look at me (still eating concrete and the residual dirt, yes), and horror creeps in her tone as she slowly realizes, “Why do you sound… WAIT- Himura?!” she cries out, mortified.
“One and only,” I grunt. “Now can you please get off me.”
“Oh God, again, I'm SO sorry!!” Inoue apologizes, covering her red face with her hands.
We now sit side by side with her knees to her chest, while I sit with one knee up to rest my head, since it's the only position that doesn't sting.
I notice the cat coming up to her, rubbing its head on her foot to try and get her attention, but she's too preoccupied with trying to apologize to me for what I've already forgiven her for at least three times now.
“It's fine, really, I actually think it's kinda funny if you think about it,” I laugh, and wince because of how much it hurts my face.
“Still, oh my God, I just-!”
“Tackled me down like a pro?”
“Stopppp,” she wails, now covering her face with her knees.
“Look, I don't blame you! This alley is pretty shady so I'd be on edge too,” I say, trying my best to reassure her.
“You have a bruise!”
“...Bruises heal.”
She peeks out of her makeshift hidey-hole and winces when she sees my face.
“That'll be a while before it heals for good,” she chuckles lightly.
“Well you did bash it pretty hard. Anyway, where did you even learn those moves?”
“When you have a grandma that's as eccentric as mine, you pick up a few things,” she laughs.
“Well I hope her back is fine, what with teaching her grandkid uhh… what's it called, Kung Chi?”
“Pfft-”
“What?” I grin, watching her laugh at what is probably my ignorance.
“Sorry-! I didn't mean to laugh but just-” she giggles while waving her hand frantically in an apologetic motion, causing the cat that was previously sitting near her shoes to jump.
“-It's just basic self defense, she insisted that I learn because, and I quote, ‘A young lady like you should be prepared,’” she says while mimicking her grandmother's voice once her giggles have died down.
“Not at all bad advice.”
“Not at all,” she agrees, smiling.
It's quiet for a moment; it feels stuffy in the small space, and a bit awkward as we both struggle trying to find something to talk about that doesn't concern the purple bruise on my cheekbone.
“I… suppose I should be going then, sorry I startled you,” I say awkwardly, not really sure how I should remove myself from the situation. I mean, I don’t really know her too well aside from short conversation with Souta as a buffer most of the time, and I don’t want to make either of us uncomfortable.
So I start getting up, but Inoue suddenly calls out, “Wait!”
I turn to her and she looks flustered, but continues, “Uh- you came here for a reason, right?”
At that moment, the cat walks up to me, and once again starts rubbing its body on my legs, and I sheepishly look down at it.
“Well… yeah.”
“She likes you,” Inoue grins.
“She?” I question, amused.
“Well, I’m pretty sure she’s a she! Something about the face shape determines it, I heard?”
“Is that so? I didn’t know that,” I chuckle, and bend down to pet her.
“I come here to feed her sometimes,” Inoue says, patting her red lunchbox beside her that I hadn’t noticed. “She was just the sweetest thing, I couldn’t let her go hungry.”
“She is,” I smile, as I start giving her little scratches behind her ears. She practically melts.
“So I assume you’ve named her then?”
“I actually haven’t decided yet, but I have options opened up,” she answers, and scoots over to me to get a better look at the cat while I pet her. “I was thinking of Midnight — ’cause of her coat - but that’s too generic.”
“Really?” I ask genuinely, as I turn my head to look at her.
“Yeah! Everyone with a black cat ends up naming them based on the same cliché. She needs something… unique.”
“Hmm… something unique?” I say, thinking hard.
I look down at the cat - who now wants rubs underneath her jaw - and try to think of anything not generic.
“What about… uh— Ash?”
“Pfft—”
Ok, maybe I suck at naming things.
“Hey now…”
“That's a good name! But it's still pretty generic,” she reassures me through her giggles.
“Hmph, then what do you suggest?” I say, slightly pettily.
“Heh, I have no idea either, but I'm sure we can come up with something!” She grins.
“...We?”
Her eyes widen, and she immediately rushes to say, “ACK! Sorry, I didn't mean to assume—” she rants frantically, and starts doing that apologetic motion with her hands I've noticed she does a lot, causing the cat to jump for the second time now and scurry away to a dark corner of the alley, where she settles down to watch us.
“No — no — I didn't mean it like that!” I panic, holding my hands up to reassure her myself. “I just meant that, um…”
It's silent now as she watches me get flustered, slowly resting her hands back on her lap as she observes me.
She smiles.
“Himura, is the alley on the way to where you live?”
I answer without thinking, “Huh-? Oh, yeah. It is.”
“That's lucky, it's on the way to mine too,” she grins. “So can I trust you'll be here tomorrow to help me come up with a name for her?”
I pause, stunned.
Then I share with her my own smile, and answer,
“Yeah. You can.”
☆
I don't really know how it got to this point, it kind of happened naturally, but now I'm here, standing by the gate outside our school and waiting for Inoue to come out.
It's been a week since the Alley Incident, and since then, we started meeting at the alley, feeding the cat our lunch as we contemplate and argue about what to name her.
“What about Cinder?”
“We are not naming her after a lady who drove a pumpkin.”
“You're no fun, Himura.”
Yeah, so far no luck.
Eventually it became too much of a hassle to have to wait for the other person to arrive at the alleyway, so we started simply walking together.
“Hey, where have you been?”
“Sorry! Saya wanted to catch up with me!”
I sighed, “At this point we should just walk together.”
She took that seriously.
So now, as I look around the gate for her, I conclude she's held up by Saya again - or someone else, who knows - and spot a group of trees a little ways away. I decide to sit underneath one while I wait for her.
The shade is cool, and the sound of the leaves rustling with the wind is calming enough to almost lull me to sleep.
Almost. And only almost, because of what has been bugging me all week.
Souta.
He's still coming late. He still looks tired. He's still hiding behind a smile.
And he still won't admit what happened.
On top of that, Iseya has been a no-show all week too.
I know I told him I wouldn't ask if he didn't want to talk about it, but now I'm frustrated that he won't let me help him.
Watching him suffer alone is one of the hardest things ever, and not being able to help him because he refuses to even talk about it makes me feel completely useless.
And it is frustrating.
But I promised not to ask, and I won't, because I know he'll eventually tell me on his own time.
But for now, maybe I can help him in more indirect ways.
How though, I have no idea-
“Himura! Sorry I'm late!” Inoue calls out as she walks towards me, waving.
I wave back, a small smile growing across my face.
It can wait.
“Hey,” I greet, as I get up and leave the cool shade of the tree as Inoue catches up with me.
“You looked like you were deep in thought,” she says with a grin.
“And so you call out my name?”
“I couldn't have you fall asleep now!”
I start chuckling, because it's impossible not to laugh when she's around. We start making our way now, our feet moving automatically.
“Anyway, what's up?” Inoue asks.
“Hm? Oh, nothing really.”
“It didn't really look like nothing,”
“Quite observant, aren't you?” I smile.
“I like to think so!”
She then looks at me expectantly, and I sigh.
“It's about Souta.”
“Ueshima-kun?”
“Yeah, he's been feeling… down, for a while now. But I have no idea what's wrong.”
“You know, I actually noticed that too,” she agrees, with a sad smile. “It feels like his smile isn't genuine now, and he doesn't crack nearly enough jokes either.”
I look at her, a bit stunned, and ask, “You noticed all that too?”
“Well I'm his friend too, you know!” She scoffs.
“Ok ok- maybe you are observant,” I tease, watching her get red.
“I told you that already!”
“And now you've proven it,” I grin.
“You're in an annoying mood right now, Himura.” She huffs.
“Heh, guess I am.”
Once we reach the alley, we're immediately greeted with our feline friend with happy meows and cuddles.
I have a feeling she waits for us here, since she knows we come around the same time now - and it's the cutest thing.
“Hellooo, you!” Inoue giggles, squatting down to pet and cuddle her properly. She stands using her front paws by resting them on her knees, so she can bump her head with Inoue's forehead.
“Has she done that before?” I laugh, kneeling down next to Inoue to pet her too.
“No!! She hasn't!!” she exclaims, grinning wide.
“Hmph, what about me now,” I chide, pretending to be mad at the cat.
She then backs up from Inoue and jumps into my lap, all before I can blink.
“Oh God— did you miss us that much?” I laugh, as she starts rubbing her head on my chin, causing me to giggle since her fur tickles.
I only notice Inoue staring — smiling at me — once the cat has finally calmed down enough for me to scratch the back of her ears again.
“What?”
“Hm? Nothing,” she replies, looking down at her lap, smiling too.
I can't help but smile wider.
We take out our lunchboxes, taking turns feeding her. Sometimes she prefers one of our lunches over the other, and we recently learnt that she loves ham.
“She always picks your ham sandwiches!”
“I guess she has a preference.”
“So weird she prefers that over chicken.”
“Hey, don't judge her taste in meat.”
Today unfortunately, I don't have any ham to offer her, but I do have some chicken left over from my rice, and Inoue has bread from her sandwich and some milk that she bought from the vending machine on the way here.
As the cat sips her milk after having licked the meat off the bones and eaten the bread, I think about the chocolate milk I bought Souta that day.
When we were young, we'd always buy drinks from the vending machine near his house after we'd spent the entire day playing soccer or tag or whatever else we spontaneously decided to do. Souta would always buy chocolate milk, and me strawberry.
I wonder if Souta was reminded of those times when I waved the milk carton in the air.
“...Earth to Himura?” Inoue says as she waves her hands in front of me and leans in slightly.
“Ah- sorry,” I cringe, embarrassed I zoned out.
“Thinking about Souta?”
“Yeah, you can say that,” I sigh.
“You're a good friend, you know that?” She smiles.
I feel stunned for a moment.
“I mean, it's normal to be concerned for your friends, right?”
I don't know why I feel embarrassed, I mean, she complimented me — but still — I suppose I just feel called out on my tendency to worry too much.
“Well yeah, but your drive to be there for your friends, it's… admirable.”
Admirable.
I look away, feeling warmer than I was a moment ago.
“Hm, well it wouldn't hurt for them to stop worrying me,” I grumble softly.
She chuckles, and I hear her unzip her bag and mumble as she searches for something.
By now, the cat has become full with her milk, and slowly walks over to me and sits near my knee, watching Inoue intently as she continues searching.
I'm awfully curious now, but for some reason I feel as if I can't quite turn to face her until I have permission.
“Ah! Found it,” she exclaims proudly.
“...Found what?”
“Saya and a few other girls told me about this carnival-fair thingy that's coming to town in a few days — here, look!” she tells me as she holds up a colorful, crumbled piece of paper which seems to be the cover of a pamphlet, with a picture of a red and white tent, and in big bold letters in a banner at the top, it says—
“Circe's Circus?”
“Apparently Circe was a witch in Greek mythology! It's written in the introduction section.”
“Greek mythology? That's an interesting theme, I've never seen it before.”
“It is, isn't it?” she excitedly says.
“It looks nice,” I grin. “Can I see the pamphlet?”
She smiles back, and hands it over to me and watches me look through it.
“Petting zoo, huh?” I chuckle, looking up at her as I read the list of things they have to offer.
“I heard they have the cutest guinea pigs.”
“I've actually never seen one before.”
She then proceeds to release a gasp from the depths of her lungs.
“You've never seen a guinea pig before??”
“No?” I answer sheepishly. “Aren't they like hamsters but bigger?
“You absolutely have to go now.”
“They're that big of a deal?”
“Absolutely. The biggest deal. I have no idea how you've gone through seventeen years on this earth without seeing them.”
“Apologies for my ignorance then.” I chuckle. I look through the list of activities they offer and say, “Heh, Takeo and Souta will love the rides here.”
“Takeo and…? Oh - yeah they - they will.”
“Oh, was it not a group thing-?” I ask, eyes wide.
“Ah yeah! Don't worry, just had a brain lag there!” she frantically reassures me. “Ueshima-kun is down in the dumps so… this might be a good way to pull him out?”
“I-” I start, still worried I misinterpreted something, until what she just suggested truly hits me.
That's not a bad idea.
“...He does like places like these.”
“Then…?” Inoue gestures for me to continue with an expectant smile.
“I guess we're all going to Circe's Circus then,” I grin at her.
“Eek! That settles it then, I'll tell Saya tomorrow and we'll leave the morning after!” she says excitedly, grinning ear to ear.
I feel oddly warm inside now, and I'm not completely sure why.
But I might have a guess.
There is a crossroads past the alleyway, where the street splits in two directions. One is straight ahead, and one is towards the right, which seems to have a bunch of small shops on its path.
“Guess I'll see you tomorrow?” Inoue says.
“Yup.”
“Hmm...” She pauses, as if observing my face.
“W-what?”
“Nothing.” She smiles softly. “It's just, your bruise has started to fade.”
There's a short silence followed by that statement as what she says fully sinks in.
“Anyway, you should really get some bandaids for that regardless, pretty sure those shops over there have a pack. You're passing by them anyway, right?”
“Yeah, I'll make sure to get one.”
“Ok then, bye Himura!” She waves as she walks away, straight ahead to walk the further distance to where her house is.
I wave back, and feign going to the right - as I've done the entirety of this week — waiting for her to become a dot in the distance.
I then start to turn the opposite way, ready to retrace my footsteps that led me here, when the cat meows at me, almost disappointed.
“What?”
“Meow.”
“It'll be fine, you worry too much.”
Wait, why am I talking to a cat again?
I huff, and continue walking my way back home.
I hope Inoue never finds out it takes me 20 extra minutes to reach it now.
☆