CHAPTER 5 - GIRL PROBLEM

Yukito is at the minimarket where Taiyo works. Suddenly the lights went off, everything is pitch-black. Yukito baffled, he tries to find a flashlight but suddenly a hand grips his shoulder tight followed by a loud thunder outside. The lightning blinded Yukito's visions,

"AAH!" Yukito screams in fear,

"Yuki..."

A voice from behind called his name, Yukito turns around to see...

"Ah- Taiyo?"

"..."

"Jeez dude! Don't scare me like that, anyways do you know where the flashlights are? I think the power went out."

"..."

Taiyo didn't respond and kept quiet,

"Taiyo?"

"Yuki..."

"...WHY WON'T YOU COME TO MY CONCERT?! YOU WILL NEVER GET OUT OF HERE. YOU'RE GONNA BE STUCK WITH ME FOREVER, THAT IS NOT UNTIL YOU WATCH ME PERFORM!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!"

Yukito screams in horror, he jumps out of his bedsheets and falls onto the floor.

*THUD!*

"Ouch! Khh... That hurt.." Yukito grunts in pain while patting his hip,

"It was just a dream? That scared the heck out of me... I'm going to guess that was a sign.."

A few hours later, Yukito goes to the minimarket to meet Taiyo. He wanted to tell Taiyo that it would be hard for him to come to the event because of the distance. But just as he was about to enter the minimarket,

"Wait! Miki-chan! Calm down for a second- I can explain!"

"Explain what?! There's nothing left for you to explain!"

Yukito overhears an argument happening beside him, on a bridge next to the river, there he was,

"Taiyo!" A girl scowled,

"Geh*- what's up with that girl?" Yukito thought,

The girl had white ribbons clipped on her brown medium length hair, she was wearing a white shirt covered with a jeans overall, her face as red as a chili and her height much shorter than Taiyo, she looked like a dwarf compared to Taiyo,

"Miki-chan, please stop hitting me! It hurts!"

"There's a proverb that says pain is the best teacher!"

"Owww!!! Miki-chan I'm sorry please forgive me!!"

"Hmph! I bet you don't even know your mistake! When will you learn!? You're just wasting my time, I'm off! BYE!" The girl stomped away leaving Taiyo in tears,

"What was that about?" Yukito asked,

"UWAH! Yuki?! You were here the whole time?"

"Yeah, I saw the whole thing. What the heck did you do?"

"That's the thing Yuki! I don't know!!" Taiyo cries,

"We were doing just fine yesterday, then suddenly today she's mad at me! I don't understand her at all! Help me out here Yuki~!" Taiyo responded as he clings onto Yukito asking him for help,

"Gross! Get off me! Your snot is getting on my shirt!" Yukito pushes him away,

"So-Sorry.. (sniff)"

"Okay, just calm down. First of all, who was that?"

"H-Huh? Oh, sh-she's my childhood friend, Miki-chan.."

"Miki-chan?"

"Yeah, it's short for Miyuki. We've known each other since we were toddlers because our parents worked in the same business."

"Right, so what happened earlier?"

"I don't know Yuki!!! I'm about to lose my sanity over this! I don't think I did anything wrong but she got all angry and started hitting me! Look at this! My face, my handsome face is now bruised because of her!"

Yukito looks at Taiyo and realizes the words on top of his head had changed,

"Sad and confused because of a special person? Hm, I guess the special person is the girl from earlier." Yukito said inside his mind,

"YUKI! HELP ME PLEASE! I bet you've known lots of girls before because of your good looks right? I don't understand why she's so mad at me!" Taiyo whimpers,

Yukito may look handsome now but he never came in contact with any girls. Even though he was popular at school, it was only because he was the student council president. And what's even funnier is the fact that he actually looked lame, he wore glasses that were way too big for him and he even had a bowlcut. Other than that, he was outshined by his vice president, Daisuke Ichikawa.

"Uhm, sorry to burst your bubble but I've never really got close to any girl. Well, they all thought I was boring so I also have no clue how to handle those species."

"WHAT?! You? Boring? From where!?!"!?! Which part of you is boring? All I see is a girls magnet in front of me."

"You're mistaken, I have no experience with girls."

"You're being serious?"

"Dead. Serious."

*crick crick (crickets chirping)*

"I-I'm doomed. What am I supposed to do Yuki?" Taiyo wailed,

"Can you remember what happened yesterday? Between you and Miyuki-san?"

"Hmmm..." Taiyo tries his best to remember his conversation with Miyuki that happened yesterday. He starts to think really hard until his face scrunched up.

"Ah! I remember now!" He says pointing his hands upwards,

"I was working and Miki-chan stopped by to say hi but I was still busy with a customer."

"And then?" Yukito asked getting impatient,

"And then... I said hi back but she just stormed off!"

"What... This is not helping at all." Yukito buried his face in his hands,

"Okay, first up, can you tell me what you were doing with the customer?"

"Well, of course I was helping her! I mean, it is my job to assist customers or else I'll get fired."

"Right, yeah, okay, uhm..."

Yukito carefully pondered Taiyo's story, he tries his best to connect the dots and he remembers something, a clue that is very important and could help solve Taiyo's problem.

"Taiyo, could you visit her?"

"Right now?! I have work to do, and she seems really mad.. I don't think she wants to see my face..."

"Fine, just tell me where she is."

"What do you have in mind?"

"I'm gonna talk to her, just trust me."

"I knew I could count on you bro!" Taiyo shakes Yukito's hand, the strength of Taiyo's firm grip made Yukito's whole body oscillate. Yukito snatches his hand away,

"Yeah, yeah, just don't hope too much. Your grip is so strong, it's hurting me."

"Sorry Yuki, well I'm leaving everything to you! Thank you!" Taiyo responded entering the minimarket to get ready for work. Yukito waves goodbye and heads off to the place Taiyo described to him. He walks across the bridge where Taiyo and Miyuki fought, a few steps later, he finally arrives to his destination. A small playground, there she was, sitting on the swing with her head down. Yukito tries to read the words above her head but due to the distance, he can't seem to figure out what the writing says. He tries to get closer,

*snap*

Miyuki turns around and asks, "Who's there?"

Yukito stood there awkwardly, Miyuki with a confused expression on her face,

"Who are you? Are you stalking me?!"

"What? No!"

"What's up with this girl? So aggressive!" He mumbled,

"Get away pervert!"

"I'm not a pervert! Look, I'm Taiyo's friend. I'm here to talk to you."

"He never mentioned you before... You seem suspicious."

"Well it's probably because I just knew him yesterday." He responds sarcastically,

"I don't trust you. Plus even if you're Taiyo's friend, there's nothing for you here. I bet you're here to gain information from me to help him, sadly for you, I'm keeping my mouth shut! He needs to learn by himself! Huft!" She huffed and walks away, however the distance was enough for Yukito to read the words above her head,

'Jealousy and one-sided love'

"Ah, I get it now. Taiyo.. No wonder she's so mad..." Yukito sighs.

Even though he has never had a girlfriend before, he at least understands that much. Taiyo seems to be too dense to understand Miyuki's feelings. It looks like Yukito's ability is becoming useful, Yukito comes back to the minimarket to meet Taiyo,

"Yuki! You're back, how'd it go? Did you find out the reason why she's mad at me? Please tell me you did! I really need to know!" Taiyo asked with a concerned worried look on his face. Yukito opens his mouth but just as he was about to speak, he realizes that he shouldn't meddle in people's businesses. It's not his problem anyway, why is he going this far for Taiyo? They just met yesterday, technically they're still not that close. Even so, Yukito still wants to help,

"This is only to pay my debt from yesterday," he thought to himself,

"I think there's a misunderstanding between the both of you, you should probably talk to her and sort things out."

"But she won't talk to me... I know how she is when she's angry."

Yukito furrowed his eyebrows, he's getting more and more frustrated,

"How can this guy be so dense?" He muttered,

"Just buy her chocolates or flowers, that should make her happy."

"But- she hates chocolate and she's allergic to pollen..."

"Are you serious? Then just- (sigh) Just talk to her. I already helped you, I'm gonna leave now." Yukito walks away,

"Ah- Wait! Yuki! What did you say about the band performance earlier?"

Yukito halted for a moment, he collects himself together and says,

"I can't come to your concert."

"What why?"

"It's too far and I don't know if I can go... I have school." He lied,

"Oh..."

The atmosphere turns dull, both of them stayed quiet until Taiyo broke the silence,

"But Yuki, it's.. summer break? And it's gonna be on the weekends..?"

"Crap."

"We-Well.. It's not.. real school, umm.. It's tutoring! Yes, sadly I have tutoring during summer break.."

"Oh, alright then? If you say so! You should come by some other time!" Taiyo gave Yukito a big grin,

"Thanks for helping me out, I'll try and talk with Miki-chan later. Then I'll tell you how it goes. See you later Yuki!"

"See ya." Yukito replies, he feels a little bad that he lied to Taiyo but he really doesn't want to go to loud events. It really isn't his thing. Yukito walks back to his house, it's currently in the afternoon. he glances over to the riverside in front of his home, he can see the sun setting reflecting on the clear water, on the cobblestoned stairs he sees Miyuki. He peeks over to try and get a better look at her,

"Her label changed again?"

It is now 'One-sided love, upset over her friends, and confused feelings', Yukito squints his eyes, it looks like she's crying. What on earth happened? Yukito stares for a while wondering what had happened to her, it's not his right to intrude though. He ignores his curiousity and closes the door behind him. He heads to his room, and a few minutes later he takes a quick look at his window. It's raining again. Isn't it supposed to be summer?

"I wonder if Miyuki-san and Taiyo already made up or not?"

(Ptooh)

"What am I even saying? I don't care about them."

*Knock knock*

"Yukito? Are you there?"

His"mother" is back from work, nagging her son once again. That's all she ever does, work and bothering her son, does she have nothing else to do? This time Yukito doesn't stay quiet,

"What is it?" His tone cold,

His "mother" stays quiet for a bit, it looks like she was taken aback by her son's answer.

"Well, I was wondering if you would want to come to your grandmother's house with me? Maybe this Sunday?"

"What is she trying to do now? Mother-son bonding?" He grumbles,

"No. I don't want to."

"Yukito... why can't you try to understand? I'm trying so hard to be a good mother, can't you at least try to make an effort too? I know it's hard, it is for the both of us. But ple-"

Yukito clenched his fist in anger and before she could finish her sentence, he threw open the door,

"NO! You're the one that doesn't understand. You need to stop pushing me around, didn't you say so yourself? YOU'RE NOT MY MOM, I DON'T KNOW YOU! Actually, you know what? I'm going out. Don't look for me and stop bothering me." He roared aggressively, Yukito ran downstairs and escapes from his "mother". Breathing heavily, his mind out of control, he feels queasy, his face pale, it felt like there was no air to collect. Feeling dizzy, he stops for a moment, wiping the sweat dripping down from his face, but it was no use as the rain is still pouring, wetting his whole body. He looks up at the sky and closes his eyes. Trying to calm down, he listens to the sound of raindrops falling and takes a deep breath trying to maintain his composure.

*Japanese term for "Ugh!"

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***