The orange light shone into my room, colouring the floor. Somehow the sight made me feel nostalgic--I could still remember that back in the present, since I'd always ate lunch alone most of the time (Daisuke would sometimes join me, depending on whether the girls in his class caught him). No one really dared to approach me, because of my 'aura' according to Daisuke. Whenever I asked him to explain he would just tell me to find out myself.
During those lonely lunches, I would go up to the rooftop and ate there myself. Students in my school got the message that the rooftop was my territory, so they rarely spent time up there too.
Things were slightly different in middle school though, or at least in seventh grade. I wasn't stress up about acting--I was having fun with it. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy it now; I do. However, I was not really thinking really complicated things like stepping out of my parents' shadows, although I had been thinking about it for a really long time. I didn't get serious until I managed to enrol in my current high school, which drama club had always been one of the top in the city. I became really determined when I entered high school--I started to take acting really seriously, so seriously that I had been neglecting my studies.
Regrets began flashing in my mind in the form of images. If I were back in the present, I would have spend more time practicing for my semi-finals or fighting with Satoshi. I shut my eyes so tight, trying to get rid of the sudden lump in my throat.
Wait a minute. My heart skipped a beat, and I suddenly felt anxious. Why hadn't I been thinking about Satoshi? Isn't he my crush? The person I like? I gripped my pants hard, trying to think of an excuse. "It's probably because I'm very busy these days." I nodded to myself. Not the fact that I was beginning to forget him.
Immediately, I turned my attention to the Yukimuras, and soon enough I began clutching my head in frustration. "Yukimura...Yukimura..." I tried to think of something--anything--that could help me (and the Shinsengumi) find the two missing persons, but nothing popped up. My eyes automatically filled with tears, and I wiped them away, feeling vexed with myself. "Why am I so useless? I can't help the Shinsengumi...or even myself..." It took almost everything to keep myself from bawling my eyes out. Somehow, I managed to hold back and instead concentrated on mumbling the Yukimura name under my breath until I heard someone sniffling their laughter behind the door.
"What are you doing, mumbling to yourself?" My heart jumped before sinking into my stomach. Okita Souji. Who else could it be--no one really laughs at how I acted in the Shinsengumi except the insane man.
I didn't hide my displeasure about it. "Why can't I have my own privacy, even if it's only just for a minute?" I growled, folding my arms to my chest.
"You can't really have your 'own privacy' here, though. You're being watched all day." He yawned as if he was bored. "Anyhow, it's my turn to keep watch. Haven't you notice me? I thought I wasn't being very quiet outside."
I froze at that, a sudden blush creeping up my cheeks. "Wait, do you mean...did you actually heard what I just..." As if in response, Souji smiled and blinked almost too innocently, and I knew--he had heard everything, hadn't he? I wanted so much to jump out of the window and run away, but I was stuck rooted to the ground, staring into that pair of emerald green eyes which always seemed to annoy me.
"I--" I was about to change the subject when someone appeared behind Souji.
"Have I interrupted something?" Saito looked at me, noticing the expression plastered on my face.
"Wait, Saito-san, you're here too? You didn't hear what I said, right?" I laughed, that last sentence supposedly to be a joke, when I met that serious gaze of him. I groaned loudly as my face flushed red. "You can't be serious, can you...?"
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I'll try and update this story every two to three days. I have the upcoming chapters all planned out, so all I have to do is to type in all out in Word or something.
As always, thanks for voting and commenting.