Chapter 23
The next day at school was worse than the first. Ikuo had abandoned Naoyuki at the front door again and was acting even colder than usual; the kids had begun calling Naoyuki ‘Sheltered Shrimp’ and ‘Silent Smarty-pants,’ among other names; on top of that, Naoyuki’s make-up work just kept piling up; and to make matters worse, Naoyuki couldn’t keep his mind off of Haruko. Had she gotten better today? Was she still so badly hurt that nobody other than her parents could come visit her? That was what bothered him the most, more than any of the things that were happening in school. With that on his mind, he couldn’t concentrate on anything else, including his class work.
Finally, the last class of the day reaches its final moments. The Health teacher, a middle-aged, straight-laced man with dark-ish brown hair and glasses, finishes off his lecture with a remark about second-hand smoke, then dismisses the students when the bell rings. “Have a safe trip home, everyone!” he calls as the students put up their chairs and pick up their backpacks and stampede for the door.
Naoyuki neatly puts his make-up work into a folder, then puts his chair upside-down on the desk top and starts off with the folder. “Is everything all right, Kondo?” asks the teacher. Startled, Naoyuki quickly looks up at him.
“You seem distracted,” the teacher observes. “Is something on your mind? You can talk to me about it.”
Naoyuki backs away uneasily and shakes his head, then hurries out to his locker. What’s with that teacher? he wonders. It’s like he read my mind. He takes his backpack out of his locker and puts his folder inside of it, then closes the locker door, his hand shaking. The tears he’d been holding in all day were threatening to come out.
Hiding his face, Naoyuki hurries out of the gym exit – the emptiest one, now that classes were over – and huddles next to the wall outside, giving way to his tears. I’m worried...I want to see you...Thinking you were in that car because of me – it hurts so much, I can’t stand it... “Come back...Haruko...” Naoyuki cries. Approaching footsteps startle him out of his thoughts, and he wipes his eyes and looks up, still half-sobbing. It was Taki standing in front of him wearing a T-shirt and gym shorts.
“Naoyuki,...why are you crying?” Taki asks, stretching one hand out toward him. “Who’s Haruko?” she inquires, concerned. Taki lets her hand fall gently on Naoyuki’s head, but Naoyuki reflexively recoils away from her and throws his hands up to guard himself. “C’mon, don’t be that way,” Taki pleads. “What’s the matter?”
“M-My friend..She’s hurt,” Naoyuki stammers as he slowly lowers his hands. What am I doing? he thinks. I don’t even know her, and I’m telling her this personal stuff...
Taki frowns. “I’m sorry to hear that,” she says. She sits down on the ground in front of Naoyuki. “Hey, are you looking to get her a get-well present, or something? Maybe I can help,” she offers. “But then, I guess your folks must be waiting on you, huh? And I’ve gotta get to basketball practice...Try to chin up anyway, okay? Maybe we can look for something for your friend tomorrow.”
“I’ll make it myself,” Naoyuki says softly.
“Make what?” Taki asks, blinking at him confusedly.
“A present,” Naoyuki replies bashfully. “A bracelet, maybe.”
“Oh, you bead?” Taki inquires. “There’s a beading club here at the school. Maybe I can take you there tomorrow.” She smiles. “Does that sound like a good deal, Naoyuki?”
Naoyuki nods slowly back in reply, then watches as Taki bids him farewell and hurries away. Seriously, he wonders, what am I doing?
***************************
The next day after class, Naoyuki goes to his locker to pack up his things and finds Taki there waiting for him. “Hi,” she greets him. “Ready to go?” She takes Naoyuki’s backpack from him and leads him to one of the other wings of the school. “All the clubs meet here, except sports,” Taki tells him. “Sports clubs meet at the gym locker rooms.” She looks back at him and asks, “Are you thinking about getting involved in any clubs?”
When Naoyuki doesn’t answer her, Taki smiles and asks, “You really don’t talk much, do you? And here I thought you were finally feeling comfortable with me. Oh well.”
Naoyuki stares at her and wonders, Why is she helping me like this, anyway? I don’t talk to her any more than I talk to anyone else,...so why? Just because of yesterday?
“Hey, Naoyuki, I was thinking,” Taki says as she turns and walks to a door on their left, “you’re lugging an awful lot around in your backpack. Is it make-up work to get you caught up at this school? If you ever need a hand with it, all you have to do is ask. I can help you out any days but Wednesdays and Fridays – those are my basketball days.”
She knocks on the door and says, “Anyway, this is the beading club’s room.”
Naoyuki nods, but curls away from her. I don’t want your help, he thinks. Don’t ask anything from me. My only friends...I almost lost them,...and I don’t want that to happen again.
The classroom door opens up, and a girl steps out and welcomes them in. “Soejima-senpai, right?” the girl asks. “I’m surprised you like this kind of thing; basketball seems to suit you more.” The girl leads them to an open table with a box of beads and string on top.
“No, no,” Taki tells her, “we’re here to make something for a friend.”
The girl looks at Naoyuki, then back at Taki and asks, “Is he a relative of yours, senpai?”
“No, he’s a new student here,” Taki replies. “And, please, you don’t have to be so formal. Just call me Taki,..um...”
“Natsumi Sadamoto,” the girl introduces herself, “the beading club’s vice-president. It’s nice to meet you in person, Soejima-senpai.”
“Just Taki. Please.” Taki gestures to Naoyuki and introduces him. “And this is Naoyuki Kondo. He just transferred here Tuesday.”
“Nice to meet you, Kondo,” Natsumi says to Naoyuki, who backs up apprehensively.
“N-Nice to meet you...” he stammers back.
“He’s a little on the shy side,” Taki explains.
“Oh..I see,” Natsumi says. “Anyway, please, take a seat. Let me know if there’s anything you need, okay?” With that, she goes on to the next table to talk to the students there.
Taki and Naoyuki take a seat at the empty table. “Naoyuki, what kind of bracelet were you planning on making for your friend?” Taki asks, opening the box of beads and string. “Something plain, something fancy? One color, multi-color?”
Naoyuki pulls out a spool of string, a pair of scissors, and a gold flower charm.
“Hmm..Something to go with that, huh?” Taki muses. “With a gold flower, how about summer colors – warm colors?”
“Haruko likes pink...” Naoyuki says softly.
“Oh,” Taki says. “Well pink and gold go good together, I think...I don’t know, I’m really no good at this stuff.” She smiles and adds, “I’m surprised that you are.”
Naoyuki blushes a little, but starts digging through the box for pink beads and gold spacers, which he arranges, then slides onto the string one by one. “Wow,” Taki whispers. “You really are very good at that. I think your friend will like it a lot.”
Naoyuki looks over at Taki’s arm, then down at his own. I need to measure it. But Taki’s wrist is too big. He rolls out the spool a little bit and hands it to Taki, then holds out his wrist. “What..do you want me to...?”
“Measure,” Naoyuki says.
Taki wraps the string around his wrist. “It’s a little short, I think,” Taki says. “Will a catch help?”
Taki hands back the stringed beads, then Naoyuki digs through the box for a catch. Still not enough. He takes another bead and another spacer from the box and strings them onto the bracelet. That should be good. Naoyuki ties the catch onto the bracelet to finish it off.
“It looks good,” Taki tells him with a smile. “Really good.”
“Oh, Kondo, that’s so pretty.” Naoyuki jumps a little and faces the club vice-president. “Hey, do you want to join the beading club? I can think of a lot of people who might want to buy your bracelets,” Natsumi says excitedly.
Naoyuki shakes his head. “I don’t..want to,” he murmurs.
“Are you sure?” Natsumi pleads.
Naoyuki nods. He gently puts the bracelet in his pocket, then cleans up his work area and gets up to leave. Gesturing toward the door, he holds his hands out for his backpack. “I’ve gotta go,” he says softly.
“Is your mom here?” Taki asks.
“I can walk home.”
“I’ll come with you,” Taki volunteers.
Naoyuki shakes his head and holds his hands out for his backpack again.
“At least call your mom if you don’t want me to go,” Taki says. “You’re so little. I don’t want you to go by yourself.”
One of the other students in the club room snickers. “Are you his mom or something, Soejima?” she asks.
The girl sitting across from her knocks on her desk. “You know who that kid is, right?” she whispers. “Kondo is that fifth-grade transfer student who doesn’t talk to his classmates. They say he’s slow.”
“No wonder he needs an escort,” her friend laughs.
“H – Hey!” Taki cries. “I was just giving him a hand, is all! Don’t start spreading weird rumors!”
Naoyuki takes advantage of the distraction and grabs his backpack, then runs out of the club room; but Taki catches up to him only moments later and blocks off his path. “Naoyuki, what’s wrong? Hey, I’m sorry if I embarrassed you – !”
“I’m not slow!” Naoyuki cries.
“I know,” Taki tells him. “It’s just a rumor, right?” She reaches out to touch him, but Naoyuki bats her hand away. “Hey...! What’s the matter?” She stares at him and asks, “Do those rumors bother you that much? You should stand up for yourself, then! Don’t just let people call you slow and stuff!”
Naoyuki looks away from her and motions holding a phone up to his ear.
“What are you doing?” Taki asks.
“Where’s a phone..so I can call my mom?” Naoyuki asks.
Taki sighs and gestures off to her right. “There’s one in the office down the hall.”
Naoyuki nods. “Thank you,” he says before he turns down the hallway.
***************************
“Hitomi, I just don’t get him,” Taki says as she walks into school with her friend the next morning. “One second, things are fine, and the next second, he’s acting like he hates me. I don’t understand.”
“Maybe it’s not you,” Hitomi reasons. “Maybe Naoyuki is just the kind of person who likes to keep others at a distance.”
Taki frowns. “But don’t you think that’s kind of lonely?”
“Well..that’s just the way some people are.”
Taki looks down the hallway and sees Naoyuki heading to his locker. “Speaking of whom...” she thinks aloud. “He looks sad again. I wonder if his friend’s okay...”
“‘If his friend’s okay’? What do you mean?” Hitomi inquires curiously.
“Hitomi, I’ve gotta go.” Taki starts off down the hallway past the middle school lockers. “Naoyuki!” she calls. “Naoyuki Kondo!” She skids to a stop as Naoyuki slowly turns and looks up at her. There are bags under his tired, green eyes; it looks as though he hadn’t slept. “How’d it go?” Taki inquires. “Did you get that bracelet to your friend yesterday?”
Naoyuki frowns, then nods slowly. The truth is that the doctors had finally allowed them to visit Haruko; but Naoyuki hadn’t been prepared. Seeing her like that, seeing her weeping parents outside, made his heart sink like a brick.
“She’s still not doing too well, huh?” Taki proceeds, reading his expression.
Naoyuki shakes his head. Taki frowns. “I’m sorry to hear that.” She stares at him for a moment, wondering if she should ask about his friend. I’m really kind of curious, she thinks. If he likes to keep his distance, then why does this girl mean so much to him?
Naoyuki suddenly bows his head and hurries away down the hall.
“Naoyuki?” Taki looks in the opposite direction and sees a group of kids pointing toward where Naoyuki had been and snickering.
“The retard’s running away,” she could hear one of them say.
Taki grimaces. Naoyuki...They’re being so cruel to him... “Hey, knock it off and get to class!” she shouts to the boys. She watches the four of them turn and saunter away. But they aren’t the only ones she catches picking on Naoyuki that day. At the door of his classroom, she sees a boy ripping up his papers. Why won’t Naoyuki stand up for himself? Taki wonders. At lunch, some girls from the beading club tease him by putting jewelry on his head and arms. How can he take this? By the end of the day, when Taki sees him again, Naoyuki’s belongings have been vandalized, and Naoyuki himself looks like a wreck – his reddened, wet face betrays that he’d been crying, and his hair is a mess.
“Naoyuki!” Taki calls, then approaches him. “Walk with me,” she tells him.
Naoyuki falls in step with her and follows her down the hallway, sniffling a little, but trying to hide his tears. “You know you can’t keep letting that happen, right?” Taki asks him. “You have to stand up for yourself – stand up straight and tell them, ‘Stop it,’ or ‘Don’t touch me,’ or something. Like when you yelled at me, ‘I’m not slow!’”
Naoyuki frowns. “I- I...” He shakes his head, trembling.
Once they are outside, Taki takes Naoyuki to the gym exit and waits until they are alone. “Let them hear you talk, like you talk to me,” Taki pleads.
“I can’t...”
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
“I can only...” Naoyuki’s face turns redder as he stammers, “I can only talk to you like this... With anyone else,..I-I choke,..and the w-words won’t..come out...”
Taki looks questioningly at him. “Why’s that?” she asks.
I’m doing it again, Naoyuki thinks, just telling her all this stuff. Even I don’t know why. Naoyuki squints his eyes shut and blurts out, “Because you see me for me!” He lowers his voice and says, “Not just.. ‘that kid who doesn’t talk’...You said it was okay...” He curls his arms back and looks down at his feet. But I don’t want to...I don’t want to let her in; I don’t want anything else I can lose...like Haruko… “You’re like Haruko...” he murmurs.
“Naoyuki...” Taki reaches out to touch him, but Naoyuki slaps her hand away again.
“Don’t,” he says shakily, then turns and bolts away toward the sidewalks and waiting parents’ cars.
“Naoyuki,” Taki sighs, “I just don’t get you.” She watches him climb into a car, then the car pulls out and drives off. She hears footsteps behind her and turns around to face the girls’ basketball captain, a girl a little older than her with lighter hair and blue eyes.
“Soejima, practice is about to start. You’re late!” she says.
“Yeah,” Taki says, looking toward where Naoyuki’s mom’s car used to be. “Sorry.”
