Misery Loves Company

Chapter 5

Whenever it's possible, the three of us hang out right after school ends, but on days when Betty has orchestra practice, or Lace has cram school, or one of us has cleaning duty, we instead meet later in the evening. Today is one of those days.

"All right, Sakura, let's get working on cleaning duty."

"Sure." Sakura gazes blankly. She never wants to be here. I don't either but at least I try to take it seriously.

We're in charge of outdoor window cleaning, so we head out of the stuffy classroom and go to the outdoor supplies closet. Sakura grabs the bucket of soap water (every inch of which is dented) and worn rags, while I lug out the old heavy ladder, as usual.

I set the ladder against the school's wall, angling it the right way, while Sakura watches from the ground. Working with this girl is the worst. She often comes up with excuses not to do things, and when she actually does clean something, she usually does such a poor job that I usually have to redo it anyway.

"Why do I always get stuck doing the hard stuff?" I mutter to myself. Whenever we have outdoor window cleaning duty, I'm always the one who cleans the second floor windows. She said she's too heavy to climb the ladder, which is ridiculous because it is the heavy duty metal kind that you see at construction sites. True, Sakura's big but she's not obese; I'm pretty sure the ladder could support her weight just fine.

I step on the first rung, but then for some reason I pause. Technically, when someone's on the ladder the other person is supposed to hold it from below as a safety precaution. But most students don't follow this rule. It saves time if the other person washes the first floor windows at the same time as the second floor window washer.

I look over to Sakura, wondering if I should ask her to hold the ladder for me. But Sakura's already got her back turned, cleaning the first floor windows. Whatever, I don't know why I thought to ask her just now. This is what we usually do after all. Argh, she's doing such a crappy job with the windows; I'll have to reclean them. With a sigh, I climb one foot after the other, higher and higher.

"Come on Yumi, you and other students have done this a million times, and everyone's been fine. Just don't look down and stay calm." I breathe in, then breathe out, trying my best not to think about possible scenarios if I fell right now. How would I brace myself? Maybe use my arms? They might break. Or land on my back? No, I think my ribs would all crack, puncturing my lungs like toothpicks into a plastic bag...

Argh, snap out of it Yumiko! What's wrong with you today? It must have been because of this morning, everything feels off.

I again breathe in and breathe out. Think logically: what are the chances that out of all the students year after year that have ever climbed this ladder, I'll be the idiot that falls off it? With conviction, I steel myself and lift my right foot once again.

That's when I feel it, that feeling that I've never experienced before but my body instinctively recognizes as danger. The worst possible feeling you can experience when propped high up on an old school ladder:

I feel my body dropping as the ladder starts sliding out from under me.

"Oh crap!"

No way, am I going to die, falling off a ladder washing some stupid school windows in some freak accident?

How to land? Arms? Back? No time to think, too late—

*THUUUUUD*

...

"...Owwww... huh I'm okay?" My body stings with pain but nothing that's unbearable. Wait, that's not the only thing unexpected:

I'm not on the grass, but on top of another person?!

"Are you okay?" a male voice says.

I look down and there, below me, is the very person I hoped would never see me again.

It's Takashi.

"...!"

Our eyes meet. I feel Takashi's broad chest rise and fall with each breath. Embarrassed, I quickly roll off of him and onto the grass. My body feels sore and bruised. I gingerly stand up on my wobbly legs. Takashi is also slow to get up.

I call to him, "Are you okay?"

Takashi brushes grass blades and dirt off his pants. "I'm fine. I just got the wind knocked out of me."

"Why are you even—I mean, how are you here?"

"I was passing by and I saw that Sakura wasn't holding the ladder. Call it intuition, but I just had a feeling that I should be nearby, just in case. And boy was that the best decision I could've made." Takashi comes close to me and grabs my shoulders. "Looks like you're not seriously hurt. I'm really glad."

I'm flustered. "Me too, I mean, uh..."

I look down to the ladder sprawled on the ground. And standing across from it is Sakura.

"You should be more careful, Yumiko!" Sakura scolds.

I feel my face heat up. "What was that about, Sakura?! Why weren't you holding the ladder while I was on it?"

"W-What? I was holding it!"

"Like hell you were! You weren't even paying attention to me! I could have really gotten hurt!"

Sakura mutters, "Oh c'mon stop being so dramatic."

"What?!"

"Besides, you never asked me to hold the ladder. So why are you so mad at me?"

"You're supposed to hold it!"

"You should have asked, it's not my fault!"

"Grrrr...."

Takashi leans toward my ear and whispers, "Forget this, Yumiko. We need to go to the infirmary."

"But—I'm fine."

"No, you just fell four or so meters. You may seem fine now, but you need to check to make sure you don't have any internal injuries. And...I also got a pretty big hit on me. I want to go to the infirmary too."

"Takashi? Takashi!"

Takashi stumbles into me a bit. "I think I hit my head."

I sling his arm around my neck to support him. "Let's go now!"

With that, Takashi and I leave together. As mad as I am at Sakura right now, Takashi's health is more important. I don't even bother waiting to see if Sakura wants to come follow us. I know she doesn't.