We were in the pool area at Oya, Motoaki was frying Yakisoba, I was hungry and the smell was so good that I took it as soon as he offered it. Everyone except Tsukasa was eating.
Without realizing it we made a circle around Fujio, I was sitting on the arm of the couch, while Fujio was sitting in the middle, occupying two seats, to my right were Yasushi and Kiyoshi, to our left Nakagoshi sitting at a small table and Nakaoka sitting at a cooler.
The topic, once again, was Rao.
"It's the truth!"Fujio replied, when the others doubted that he was really Rao's friend.
The others laughed, but still looked at Tsukasa as if asking him to claim it was a lie.
"Is true." Tsukasa confirmed.
"No chance! With Rao? The guy is a total monster!" Nakaoka spoke with his mouth full of food.
"You're wrong! He's an incredible man! A true champion of justice!" Jamuo chimed in excitedly.
"Is that true, 𝒞ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑢?" Yasushi asked looking at me.
I finished swallowing what I was chewing so I could speak. "Yes, it's true. Rao is like a hero."
"Ah!" Kyoshi shouted. "Do you think he's more amazing than us?!"
"That's not what I said! You are my brothers, you will always come first." I refuted immediately.
"So you only think we're cool because you like us?!" Nakagoshi said, followed by a chorus of screams.
"God!" I said laughing, thinking I should have kept quiet.
"This food is a masterpiece!" Kyoshi suddenly changed the subject. "I want more, Motoaki!"
Kyoshi and Yasushi got up, desperate for more food.
"If there's any left over I'll also want more, this is so good!" I said smiling.
"Of course! Of course!"Motoaki replied to me, very focused on frying the food .
"Is it okay if we eat it all?" Fujio asked.
"Okay there's a guy named Zen at work and a guy he knows messed up an order. A ton of food showed up!"Motoaki replied laughing."He asked if I knew someone who would eat it all. So I thought of you guys."
Everyone celebrated and laughed, I love these moments, with everyone together .
Then Todoroki arrived, as almost always accompanied by Shibaman and Tsuji.
"Look at all these fools, eating Yakisoba," Tsuji said as he looked around.
Motoaki asked if any of them wanted some, but instead of answering, Shibaman said. "We saw some guys from Kamasaka on the bus this morning."
"Kamasaka? Why would they be here?" Yasushi said with his full mouth. "Kamasaka is on the other side of the mountain in Tendo, right?"
"Who are these kids from Kamasaka?" I asked, stopping eating to pay attention to the answer.
"They're from a school far from here, they don't usually walk around the area." Tsukasa answered my question, he had that look of concern, Tsukasa can always see far beyond everything so that makes me apprehensive. He got up and gave his seat to Tsuji who decided to eat Yakisoba.
I went back to eating and realized that Motoaki hadn't eaten yet. "Why don't you eat some, Motoaki? We can wait."
"That's it, take a break, I'll cook." Yasushi agreed with me.
"It's okay. My stomach isn't that strong."
When Motoaki said that I froze, I was so scared that I didn't even finish swallowing before asking with my mouth full.
"What do you mean?"
"These noodles expired a long time ago."
Everyone together spat what was in their mouths back onto the plate, including me.
"Oh God!" I threw the plate away.
"You gave us rotten noodles!" I couldn't identify who screamed, as I was thinking about how much I ate.
"You just said it was delicious!"Motoaki replied.
I've never eaten rotten food and I'm already feeling sick, I don't know if it's just in my head or if I'm really starting to feel nauseous. But I keep walking.
When I was on the way home, I saw a commotion, some boys dressed in red clothes were passing by, the boys looked angry and they passed me so quickly that I don't think neither of them even noticed me.
I approached and looked in the direction they came from and saw a black car parked, I don't know about cars but it looked expensive.
I saw that a person came out of one of the establishments on the street, so I hid behind the wall so that no one would see me, when I looked again I recognized that it was Amagai, right behind him was Ryo.
Ryo had that cold and distant expression, as if he was keeping everything inside him.
After the driver, Ryo's father, open the door for Amagai to get into the car , they drove away, without even looking at Ryo. Another boy, with a blue coat came up to Ryo. He started talking about how Ryo was the leader of Nami High School, but now he's at Senomon, with Amagai preppy bastard.
"It's none of your business." Ryo interrupted him. I got scared, I've never heard him talk like that. "Keep your nose out of my business."
Ryo seemed like a different person when it came to Amagai. This makes me worried.
The angry guys that passed by me wore red, as were Ryo and Amagai. Maybe, something bad happened?
Or maybe I'm just thinking too much.
But Ryo is so kind, funny and I like seeing him smile so much, Amagai It's like those people who think they are much better than others because they have money. I really wanted to be able to understand the friendship between the two, but my heart just wants Ryo not to get hurt.
"Ryo!" I call around the corner, Ryo stops walking and turns to me, he hadn't gotten very far so it doesn't take long for us to come face to face.
I want Ryo to feel like I'm here if he needs me, even if he doesn't say anything. That's why I'm here, because I think he needs it.
"What are you doing here?" is the first thing he says.
I'm surprised, he never spoke to me like that. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you."
I see his face change, as if he realizes what he just said.
"I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. I didn't mean it, I was angry, I shouldn't have taken it out on you." He said as he framed my face with his hands. "Forgive me?"
Here he is. The Ryo I know, the Ryo who cares.
Ryo and I were on a swing in a park, it was empty at that time. Just a few people passing by on the street.
"You forgive me?"
"This is the tenth time you've asked, and yes I forgive you." I said looking at him. "But know that I'm here if you want to talk. You seem stressed."
"I still can't be a jerk to you for this."Ryo told me.
"You apologized and jerks, don't feel bad about being jerks, so I think you're fine." I said. "But still, is there something going on? I saw some guy passing by me, they looked angry, did you see them?"
"Did they say anything to you? Because, I swear if they did..." Ryo said, starting to get angry.
"No, they didn't even see me." I replied. "Do you know them?"
"We go to the same school..." Ryo sighed calmer.
"And that boy who is talking to you, also goes to your school?"
Ryo thought for a moment before answering. "No."
"He's not from Kamasaka? Is he?" I asked thinking about what the boys said this morning.
"No... you're full of questions today, aren't you?" He laughed awkwardly.
"I'm sorry, but you never talked about other friends, besides..." I didn't finish, but I'm already relieved to know that he wasn't with boys from Kamsaka, maybe these boys were just lost in the Oya area.
"Amagai."Ryo completed for me. "You can say his name."
"I know... it's just..." I thought about telling the truth, that I don't like the way Amagai treats him, and that he doesn't seem like good news. But I don't know Amagai, Ryo knows him, so there must be a reason for him not to walk away. "Okay, let's change the topic."
We were quiet for a while, I think the idea of being on a swing was the worst idea I could have today, my nausea is increasing.
"What are you doing tomorrow?"Ryo asked me.
"I'm going to see my friend, the one who studies with me, we agreed to watch a Drama together." I replied, trying to forget my discomfort. "Did you want to go somewhere? Sorry, but I already arranged with her a while ago."
"No...it's okay, enjoy."Ryo looked to the side, as if he didn't want to look at me while asking."If you're going to spend time with her, you're not going to see your other friends tomorrow, right?"
"Um...maybe at night, I don't know. Why?" I asked confused.
Ryo didn't respond, but he looked back at me, bringing his face closer so that I could feel our breathing in sync.
"You're amazing...for so many reasons. One of them is because can you like me, without making effort ." He whispers, holding my face with one hand, he runs his thumb across my cheek and I close my eyes, thinking.
"Liking you is not a burden, it is a pleasure." I said lowering my voice to the same tone as his.
"People who know me don't think like that." He whispered, still not taking his eyes off mine.
"These people don't know you like I do." I said.
"And you don't know me like these people know me..." Then he kissed me.
It was a kiss different from the others, as if he wanted to say something that he couldn't say with words.
When we parted I prepared to talk about what he had said, ask if he had something to tell me.
But then I felt it, I turned my head quickly.
And I vomited...