"Come have ramen with us."
"No. Leave my house."
"Come on, it'll be fun."
"Akemi, you should go. You need to get out of the house anyway."
Akemi turned and glared at her father. It was already bad enough that Nendo, Kaido, Saiki, Teruhashi, and Yumehara had all shown up on her doorstep, but now her father was going to force her to go with them. Akemi had planned to spend the weekend doing anything but hanging around her classmates. After spending the week with them, Akemi had already grown sick of their constant need for attention. It had made her excited for the weekend, only now for that excitement to be ruined.
"I have other things to do," Akemi growled, glaring at her dad.
"Yeah? Like what?" Taiyo said smugly, crossing his arms. Akemi glared at him and he nodded, "That's what I thought. Now, if you go, I'll find us a good dessert shop and get you whatever you want from there."
"I-..." Akemi stiffened then let out a sigh, "Fine."
"Cool, let's go," Nendo said as Akemi slipped on her shoes. She shot her dad a glare one last time before walking out of her house and closing the door behind her.
"So, Kumiko, what was that about a dessert shop?" Yumehara asked as they walked down the street toward whatever ramen shop Nendo was leading them to, her and Teruhashi appearing on either side of Akemi.
"I didn't think you had a sweet tooth, Kumiko," Teruhashi added, smirking at Akemi.
Akemi felt heat rush to her cheeks at their teasing comments as she stared at the ground, refusing to look at either of them. But, for some reason, the comments made her feel more comfortable around the two girls. "So what? Do you have something against sweets?"
"No, of course not," Yumehara replied, holding her hands up defensively. "I just didn't expect you to like sweets."
"How come?" Akemi questioned, lifting her head and looking at Yumehara.
"I don't know. You just don't seem like someone who likes sweets." Yumehara said with a shrug.
Akemi hummed, "There was a really good dessert shop not far from my old house. They had everything there. I used to go all the time."
Teruhashi shared a glanced with Yumehara and they both smiled at her before Teruhashi said, "That sounds nice."
"It was," Akemi replied, a frown forming on her face. Before the two girls could say anything else, Akemi sped up a bit to catch up with the boys that were slightly ahead of her, "Hey, where's this ramen place anyways?"
"Uh, it's just this way, "Nendo said as he pointed forward, clearly having no idea where he was going.
Akemi looked up at Saiki, who answered her question, "We're about five minutes away."
"Great."
Akemi fell back a bit from the boys, but not quite to where the two girls were walking, leaving her alone in the middle of the group. Just like Saiki had said, it had only taken them five more minutes to get to the ramen shop. Soon, Akemi found herself sitting at the end of a table next to Teruhashi and across from Saiki.
After they had ordered, Teruhashi had started a conversation with the boys and Yumehara and Akemi zoned out. Her mind wandered and she found herself recalling a recent memory.
* * *
The room was completely silent. The sound of the ticking clock filled the air as Akemi sat staring at the bowl of instant ramen. The air was thick, almost making it hard for Akemi to breathe. Sitting across from her was her father, who seemed to have something on his mind.
Then he cleared his throat, gaining Akemi's attention. "I found us a new house."
Akemi's breath caught in her throat as she stared at her dad, not believing his words, "What?"
"Yeah. I really think this will help." Taiyo started, taking a deep breath and leaning back in his chair. "If we stay here, we'll be stuck like this forever. I know this is where you grew up, but this isn't good for us. Hanaka wouldn't want us sitting here, hardly able to-"
"We can't move!" Akemi shouted, abruptly standing up from her seat. A rage she hadn't felt in over six months pulsing through her. "We can't!"
"Akemi, please calm down," Taiyo attempted helplessly.
"No! You can't just say it would be good for us to leave. It's not true! And it's definitely not what Mom wanted." Akemi growled. Taiyo flinched at her tone and the mention of his wife even though he had just brought her up himself a minute ago.
Taiyo sighed and his gaze fell to the table, "I already bought the house."
"What?"
"We're going to start moving in two weeks."
Suddenly, everything around her fell. Akemi felt dizzy and sick. Like her whole world was falling apart. She couldn't leave this house. It was the place she grew up in. The place that had got her through so many troubles before this. Maybe moving to a new house would help her dad, but it certainly wouldn't help her.
"I made a promise," Akemi mumbled, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.
"What?" Taiyo questioned, not fully hearing Akemi.
Akemi didn't respond, she just made her way out of the room before more tears fell.
* * *
"Akemi, are you ok?"
Akemi snapped out of her daze and she looked up at Teruhashi, who was staring at her with concerned eyes.
"What?"
"You're crying."
Akemi reached up and touched her cheek. She really was crying.
"Sorry," Akemi mumbled, rubbing her eyes. Then she stood up as she realized the tears weren't going to just stop. "I'll be right back."
The five that were at the table with her watched Akemi as she walked away and into the bathroom. She knew the second she went back out there, they would question her.
Damn it. Why did I let myself do that? Akemi wondered, taking a deep breath. She whipped her eyes with the back of her hand before grabbing a tissue and blowing her nose.
The memory she had recalled had been from about a month ago. It had caused Akemi to go through another state of depression when she was forced to say goodbye to her childhood home. Walking through her mother's garden for the last time had caused her to sit out there crying for multiple hours.
Especially after the promise Akemi had made to her mother.
The promise she broke.
Akemi took a few more deep breaths and calmed herself down. When she walked back out to where her classmates had been waiting, they all stared at her like she was some fragile thing. Like something that would break in an instant.
It really annoyed her.
"Are you ok?" Yumehara finally asked after they had all sat there in silence for a few minutes.
"I'm fine," Akemi replied simply, looking down at the food that had been set down at her place while she was in the bathroom. She took a bite and Nendo mimicked her actions.
"Oh wow, this is really good," Nendo said suddenly before starting to devour the ramen.
"Dude, you're gonna spill it everywhere if you eat like that," Kaido exclaimed as Nendo gulped down the ramen.
"You've gotta try this. It's so good." Nendo said, shoving the half-eaten bowl of ramen in Kaido's face.
Kaido pushed it away, "I have my own!"
"It's your loss," Nendo replied before eating the rest of the ramen.
"Wow, it is quite good," Teruhashi said, taking a bite of her ramen. There was a sudden mood shift and soon a ton of chiefs were surrounding their table asking if Teruhashi wanted anymore ramen.
Akemi let a small smile form on her face as she watched the chaos around her unfold.
Maybe this move wasn't as terrible as I thought it was.