Week Seven, Wednesday
Ayano wakes up before her alarm today, but only by three minutes. She sighs, turning the alarm off, and gets out of her bed. Her morning routine goes as usual, and Ayano forgets about her dream by the time she opens the door.
Her phone buzzes in the middle of her conversation with Oko. Ayano waits for their conversation to finish, then checks her phone with one hand, the other one occupied by Kizano’s.
Ayano is surprised to see that it’s a text from Musume. Intrigued, she clicks on it.
‘ Hey...I just, like, wanted to thank you for letting me vent yesterday. It helped, like, a lot. ’
Ayano smiles at the text. It’s not what she’d expected, but to be fair, it seems that Musume is set on trying to change.
‘ Of course. It’s what friends do. ’ Ayano sends the text, then gets wrapped into a conversation with all of the boys that lasts the rest of the walk to school.
When Ayano gets to school, she waves at her quickly dispersing group, then turns to go to the Student Council room.
She’s quickly distracted by the sight of Mujo and Mido.
Honestly, Ayano is amused by the way Mido struggles to flirt with Mujo. It’s such a change from the always smooth, flirtatious teacher that she sees in class. The most bizarre thing, of course, is watching Mido resort to pickup lines...which Mujo doesn’t catch on to.
“Hey, I’m Mr. Right. I heard you’ve been looking for me,” Mido says, leaning against the wall.
Mujo just raises an eyebrow. “I thought you were Mido Rana? Oh my, have I messed up your name?”
Mido just blushes, and coughs awkwardly. “No, you’re right.”
“I thought you just said you’re Right?”
Mido looks ready to pass out, and chuckles nervously. “Ah, um, how many letters are in the alphabet?”
Mujo looks concerned. “Twenty-six…”
“Really? I thought there were twenty-one?”
Mujo grabs Mido by the arm, and Ayano nearly laughs at her teacher’s fully red face. “Are you okay? Are you running a fever?”
Mido, the poor soul, just tries to persevere. “Oh! I forgot about U R A Q T.”
Mujo frowns. “How could you forget those five letters? They’re all used a lot. Well, maybe not ‘q’, but the others are common! Here, come into my office. I’ll take your temperature. I think you’re a bit sick. Do you need me to call in for a substitute teacher?”
Mido shakes his head as Mujo drags him into the office. Ayano follows them slowly, unwilling to leave.
Mido tries a third time. “Did you know I’m writing a phone book? Can I get your number for it?”
Mujo stops. “Who uses a phone book anymore?!”
Ayano can’t help but laugh. Immediately, both men turn to look at her. Mido is scarlet, and Mujo is, well, as lost as always.
“Mujo, he’s just trying to ask for your number,” Ayano says, deciding to do her job as matchmaker and help her teacher.
Mujo just blinks. “Well, why didn’t you just say so?”
Mido sighs and shrugs, handing over his phone.
As Mujo puts in his number, he asks, “So, you’re not actually making a phone book, right?”
Ayano leaves before they hear her laughing again, finally going to the council room.
When she gets there, all four girls are already patrolling around. Ayano reads through a few more students before the bell rings.
Ayano can’t help but chuckle when Mido walks in, face still a bit red. He glares at her, but the smile that’s stuck to his face ruins any effect it could’ve had on her. The bell rings, and Mido starts the lesson. To the rest of the class, he’s oddly distracted by his thoughts. Ayano knows better, and just smiles as she writes down her notes.
The bell for lunch rings, and Ayano quickly finds herself being pulled towards the roof by the two boys in her class. She laughs for the third time today, happiness spreading through her entire body.
Her friends notice her mood when she sits down for lunch.
“You look happier than usual today, dear.” Amao points it out first, handing out cookies to everyone as he speaks.
“It’s been a wonderful day,” Ayano replies. “I’ve been enjoying myself.”
“That’s good,” Oko says, and the rest of the group nods.
Ayano talks with her friends as they all eat, the happiness never fading...until she spots Kokoro, who’s typing something.
Ayano reaches for her phone, feeling some of her happiness slip away. Because now she feels bad. Here she is, enjoying herself and forgetting her fears more and more with each passing day.
She opens up her chat with Musume.
‘ Want to come eat lunch with us on the roof? ’ Ayano sends the text.
Her phone buzzes soon after.
‘ Are you sure? Do they want me around? I know I’ve been awful...what if they, like, hate me? ’
The self-awareness in the text, mixed with the obvious worry, makes Ayano feel guilty . Because Musume finally realizes that she’s been a bad person, and wants to fix it...and is stuck dealing with fear while Ayano can shove it aside, can ignore it as it dissipates.
Ayano feels guilty for promising to help Musume, to be a friend, and forgetting about her so quickly in the rush to see all of her other friends.
Ayano looks up at her group. “Guys,” she starts, and after a few seconds, everyone is silent. “I’m inviting Musume to sit with us for lunch.”
“What?” Kokona asks.
“She’s all alone now. Her little squad left her, and she’s terrified of him .” Everyone knows what she means. “I want to be a friend to her and help her. She doesn’t deserve to be left because she’s scared. And she realized that she needs to change her act. She’s working on herself. But she needs friends.”
Osano sighs. “Aya, one day you need to focus more on yourself.”
Ayano shrugs. “When someone needs help, there’s no reason not to.” And Ayano believes it. She believes in helping Musume, more than ever.
“We’ll take your word for it that she’s changing. But if she tries to be mean, we’re not putting up with it, dear,” Amao says, and the others nod.
Ayano smiles. “Thank you.”
‘ They said they’re happy to have you around. They know that you’re trying to change. Don’t worry, Musume, they’re wonderful. ’
‘ Ok. ’ The response is short and simple. A few minutes later, Ayano spots Musume coming up the stairs.
She looks terrified, her eyes searching the entire roof before finally resting on Ayano’s group. She hugs herself as she quickly walks towards them.
She’s intercepted by Kokoro. Ayano stands up as soon as Kokoro opens her mouth, and walks over.
“-and there’s no way that anyone asked you to come up here! You’re pathetic now, Musume! You got kidnapped for, like, two days and became an absolute loser.” Kokoro sneers at Musume, who tries to hold back tears.
Ayano makes sure that her smile is as friendly as possible. “Musume! We’ve been waiting for you to join us! Come on, let’s go eat.” She reaches a hand out to Musume, and the scared girl latches on, letting herself be pulled away. Ayano doesn’t look back at Kokoro, ignoring the rapid typing behind her.
“Thank you,” Musume whispers, wiping at her eyes. “For, you know, back there and all that.”
“Of course. She has nerve, trying to bully someone she called a friend just a week ago.”
Musume frowns. “It’s how we all are. It’s why I’m trying to change.” Her eyebrows furrow. “It’s why I’m going to change. I don’t want to be like them.”
Ayano smiles. “And you’ll get there. Let’s start by reintroducing you to my friends.”
Ayano pulls Musume down with her, and the girl shyly smiles at the rest of the group. They all make an effort to return the smile, a few ‘hello’s coming from Ayano’s friends.
“Thank you for letting me sit with you,” Musume says, voice almost a whisper.
“We’d never say no to someone,” Oko says, voice just as soft.
Amao holds up his container of cookies. “Would you like one?”
Musume looks to Ayano, eyes wide with nerves. Ayano just smiles softly and takes one.
“They’re wonderful. Amao is the best baker I’ve ever met.” When Osano huffs, Ayano giggles. “Osano is a great baker as well, but I prefer his cooking.”
Musume giggles, the sound awkward. “Alright. I’d, uh, love one!” She reaches forwards and takes a cookie. When she bites into it, she gasps. “These are, like, amazing.”
Amao just smiles. “Thank you. You’re welcome to come by the Cooking Club anytime. We don’t mind letting people pop in and take a treat or two.”
Musume looks like she doesn’t know how to react. She blinks, awestruck by the kindness. “Thank you,” She finally says.
For the rest of lunch, the group talks about anything that comes to mind. Musume only adds in her thoughts a few times, as if scared to say the wrong thing.
By the time the bell rings, Ayano is confident that Musume will be a great person one day.
Afternoon classes go by in a blur, and Ayano is heading towards the Drama Club room with Kizano before she knows it. A few minutes later, the rest of the club members are there, all excited to start.
“Alright, everyone!” Kizano says as soon as the last person arrives. “Let’s get straight into auditions. I’ve put snippets of scenes on the table, go whenever you’re ready.”
Ayano grabs a scene and looks it over. It seems interesting.
Ayano waits for Kokona and Riku to finish their snippet, then steps up. “I’ll do the part from scene three. I need someone to play the male, Ken.”
Shozo steps up quickly. “I was hoping someone would do this one!” He admits, grinning.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Kizano says, ready to write any notes.
Ayano smiles at Shozo. “Hi.”
“Hello.” Leaning down, Shozo reaches for her hand and kisses it...and keeps kissing it, staring into her eyes the whole time.
Ayano yanks her hand away. “It’s...great to meet you.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” The accent he uses is odd, which is perfect.
“So, where are you from? I can’t place the accent.”
Shozo looks away. “I was raised in the mountains of Guam...and was born..” The accent stops, “on the shore of New Jersey!”
Ayano stops for a second, blinking. Then, “Do you want to order some appetizers?”
The scene ends, and the two step away. Kizano just smiles, and gestures for the next audition to begin.
The rest of club time flies by, and once everyone is done auditioning they talk about other short, one act plays that they’d like to include. A few are mentioned, and they decide to do another vote in a few days.
The walk home is nice, filled with talking and laughter.
Ayano falls asleep, happy to have had such a nice day.
Notes:
<3
1857 words.