Ayano Aishi, the Emotionless Lover

Week Six, Sunday

    Ayano laughs. “They’re in North America right now, Aso. They’ve been there since school started.”

    “Really? I figured they just worked crazy long hours.”

    “No, they decided to take a long vacation.” Ayano supposes that’s kind of true. They are on vacation time...but Ayano knows that her father won’t be relaxing. He’ll be too stressed, because her mother is probably still looking for that ‘old friend’ of hers.

    Aso is unaware of Ayano’s thoughts, and keeps talking. “That sounds like fun. Why didn’t they take you, though? School?”

    “Yeah. I didn’t want to miss the beginning of the school year, and they’re not coming back for another…” Ayano pauses to count. “Five weeks.”

    Aso pauses. “Wait, they just left you for, what, eleven whole weeks?”

    Ayano nods. “Yeah.”

    “Don’t you get lonely?”

    Ayano giggles, and turns to Aso. “To be honest, I never really got lonely when left alone in the past.”

    Aso blinks at that. “In the past?”

    “Yeah. Then I met all of you, and now I can’t stand being alone for too long. Why do you think I invited all of you over?” Ayano winks as she says it, but it’s true. Ayano can’t stand it, can’t handle being alone anymore.

    Aso smiles. “Well, if you’re ever lonely, just say the word and I’ll happily run on over.”

    Ayano just nods, and there’s a knock on the door.

    “It’s open!” Ayano and Aso call at the same time, then laugh. Osano just sighs and walks inside, shaking his head.

    “I feel like I’m going to regret coming over,” Osano mutters, but he’s smiling as he speaks. 

    “The door is that way,” Aso responds. “So when you start regretting your decision, you know how to back out.”

    Osano laughs. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He turns to Ayano. “Need any help?”

    Ayano looks around. Aso’s already found some snacks, and she can’t think of anything more to be done. “No, I think we’re finished.” Ayano takes the snacks and sets them on the table in front of the two couches, then sits down at the end of one. Osano sits beside her quickly.

    All three of their phones start buzzing, and they all check the group chat immediately. The others have woken up and are heading over.

    Aso and Osano start talking about something that happened at lunch on Friday, and Ayano takes the moment to text Kokona.

    ‘ I think I’m going to tell all of them about my secret. ’ Ayano sends the text before she can contemplate changing her mind.

    And she knows that there’s plenty of reasons to back out. To start, they could tell everyone else. Then everyone would realize that she’s not the happy, kind person that she’s done her best to portray, and they could all assume that she’s the opposite. It could also mess up her friendships. Ayano figures that not having emotions is a pretty big secret to hide from everyone. Then there’s the fact that Riku isn’t a very close friend. It feels odd to be telling someone who’s not as close as the other boys. And lastly, what if all of her friends leave her? The boys may not be as accepting as Kokona.