Price of admission

Price of admission Part 16

"Look Takagi, it's not what you think." Takagawa pleaded.

"You do own a pink hoodie."

"I can explain!"

"I hope so cause I know you don't have a crush on Nishikata."

Takagawa let out a sigh of relief. "Good, for a minute there I was worried that you'd be upset that I sent him that letter."

"So it was you."

Takagawa froze. "Oh ... yeah, that was me. But you have to believe me, I only wanted to ask him for advice, I don't have any feelings for him."

"I know." Takagi began. "What I don't know, is why you kept it a secret from me, and everyone, especially since so much has happened that could have been solved by a simple explanation."

"Oh ... that ... well, I was afraid that you might get the wrong idea and I didn't want to make you upset."

"Why was the message designed to look like a love letter?"

"Because I didn't want anyone else to see it; you said he gets really embarrassed by stuff like that, so I figured that he would do a better job keeping it secret before I could tell him to keep it secret."

"Yet that backfired."

"How was I supposed to know that he and his friends were having a blood feud?"

"Wait, what blood feud?"

Takagawa sighed. "I don't know the specifics, but Nishikata told me to keep the gist of it a secret."

"Well that would explain why he's been so distraught lately." She scratched her chin and began thinking. "You said that he asked you not to tell anyone anything about it?"

"I'm fairly sure he didn't want me to mention it at all so ... yeah."

"Hm ..."

"By the way, what did he message me about?"

"Oh, I didn't look at that part." She handed the phone back to Takagawa. "I figured it was personal."

Takagawa took her phone and read the message. "Please help, there is a terrible rumor going around that I hate Takagi. Worse, I accidentally blew her off, and now her phone is going directly to voicemail. I'm worried she blocked me, what do I do? I need advice."

Takagi walked over and looked at the phone with Takagawa. "He sounds concerned."

"He sure does." Takagawa said as she began typing her reply.

Takagawa: She's with me now, her phone ran out of power so that's why she didn't pick it up.

Nishikata: That's a relief, but what should I say to her?

Takagi looked at Takagawa with a hint of concern. "I don't think he understood what you meant by, 'she's with me now.'"

Takagawa ignored Takagi and typed in a response.

Takagawa: You don't hate her, right?

Nishikata: I could never hate her; sure, I get annoyed when she teases me sometimes, but she's really grown on me and means a lot to me.

Takagi looked at Takagawa showing a little more concern. "Maybe I should step away?"

"No, stay right there."

Nishikata: But, please don't tell her I said that.

Takagawa glances over at Takagi before typing her response.