I entered my class. The teacher hasn't entered the class yet. I take my seat. Me and Hana sit in the same row, but she doesn't directly sit behind me. We are two seats apart.
I look back at her and she is looking at me and is smiling. She is far from me so she looks normal and harmless, like how she always looked before she approached me in the literature club room. The smile from afar lacks the intensity of her words from our past conversation. Obsession or crush I still don't know but somehow I am surprisingly calm? Which even surprises me. I then turn and look forward and think about Yuki.
"Telling her was a really good idea. I am not alone in this, that's why I am calm and besides, I still haven't figured out if Hana just has a big crush on me or if it's obsession. She seems harmless. I then look down at my left palm, and the number- it's still upside down cuz duh. And I smile a bit. "I will text Yuki tonight." The thoughts reassure me, and then the teacher enters and starts the class. I don't look back at Hana, whether she is paying attention or looking at me I don't know.
Time passes in a blur. I don't look back and pay attention to the class. It ends and students get up and roam around since it's lunch break. I remain seated and then take out my bento box. My friend Akira slides towards me and says, "what's up?"
I reply, "things are interesting." He then sits on the edge of my desk. "What is interesting? The club or Aizawa?"
"The club. I can't tell you much about the situation, but it's straight out of an anime and it's not funny, it's a bit scary." As I say this I open my bento box, my expression is neutral.
Akira then gets down from the desk, walks to the middle row to his desk, gets his own bento box, and also he drags his seat's chair along with him and towards my table to eat together.
"So about the club and Aizawa, I can't believe you are still in it. Aizawa is a bit scary," he says this as he sits down. I look at him and smile, thinking about Yuki. "Scary? You're talking about the thing she does? If you get past that. She is a nice person."
"That thing that she does is the reason the club has no members. She had done it to me and my heart almost jumped out of my mouth."
I pause, laugh and say "she means no harm. I bet it's unintentional."
Akira looks up he isn't looking at me but behind me. He pauses there for a bit and then says, "looks like someone wants to talk to you. I will be elsewhere." He then goes outside the classroom. I am a bit confused by this until I look behind me. Hana is standing there with a bento box in her hands.
"Kurosawa-kun. How are you? I prepared food especially for you." She gives me a smile.
"Oh, you brought food for me? Well, we could eat together. I also wanted to talk to you about something." I reply to her but I am doubtful how to say I can't fulfill her promise.
She sits down in the chair that Akira had abandoned, she then opens the box, and I am shocked to see it. The food inside is arranged with meticulous care - three small sections of tamagoyaki, each slightly different in color, each with different flavors. I look at her. She's watching me, her hands pressed together under her chin, her eyes are laser focused on me. It's like I am her whole world.
"I made this food myself. I woke up at five in the morning and made them. I wasn't sure what you would like, so I made three different tamagoyaki. I thought you would at least like one of them."
"Three? You made three different tamagoyaki? You know, you could have made one, and if I didn't like it, you could make another one." I am still surprised by this and my voice doesn't hide it.
She continues watching me in the same manner. "I didn't want you to dislike the food Kurosawa, after all today is a special day, you will show me the club and introduce me to it."
I pause for a moment, chopsticks freeze in my hands. I put them down beside my bento box. "I got to tell her." The words are loud in my head. "Shirakawa, I wanted to say something."
"Go ahead. I will listen to anything you say," Hana replies, still in a bubbly mood.
"I won't be showing you around the club, Yuki will, It's proper procedure that has to be followed. She is the club president that's why." The words are loud as I say them, making myself clear towards Hana.
Hana, after hearing these words, goes still like she can't believe what I just said. She moves her hands from under her chin to grip the table edge. She has stopped smiling, her face seems normal but I can see the suppressed fury in her eyes.
"But you promised me!" The words leave her mouth, her voice is louder than normal.
I panic a bit and think: This is bad. I need to do something.
"I'm sorry," I say. "It's proper club procedure. I can't do anything about that. But I can show you around after Yuki is done. A double showing!" I try to sound calm, but my voice isn't.
But it works. Her grip on the table becomes lax, her brow isn't furrowed in rage, she is calm now and I can see it in her eyes. She smiles a little, I notice it.
"A double showing?" She repeats to herself. "Yes, it's still keeping the promise."
I give a sharp exhale, releasing all my panic with my breath.
"Eat the food, Kurosawa, I want you to enjoy it."
"Yes, I will they look good," I am trying to pretend that everything is fine. I take a piece of tamagoyaki in my mouth and chew.
"Kurosawa, you said Yuki will show me around." She then tilts her head a bit, her expression unreadable. "You used her first name, I guess you two are friends so that's normal."
I choke on the food as I hear this. After a while I finished eating, I somehow avoided choking on the food despite the suffocating environment. We then make our way towards the literature club room, we enter it. Hana has been silent this whole time after her previous words.
"So is she coming or not? It's getting a bit late," Hana finally said something.
"She isn't usually late, maybe she is preparing to greet you since you will be the 2nd member of the club." As I say this, a shadow looms over Hana. She looks back.
"Hi," Yuki casually says this like she didn't just appear out of nowhere. And isn't towering over her.
"Eeep!" Hana screams as she takes a step back. I didn't think Hana could get scared. I am trying not to laugh, momentarily forgetting Hana's fury in the classroom.
This is Yuki's usual approach when she tries to get students to join the literature club, they would be going on with their day and Yuki would appear magically behind them without making any noise and say, "Hey, are you by any chance interested in joining the literature club?" She would normally say this while towering over them like a titan. They would get scared and say something like "I will think about it later." That's why the club doesn't have any members, and that's also why she is called Yuki 'The Ninja' Aizawa.
"Let's begin this. I will be handling things from here, and thanks Kurosawa for bringing a new member." She says this while holding the club's form, pointing it toward Hana. She looks at me for a brief second when she thanks me and returns her gaze towards Hana.
"Yes, let's begin," Hana replies, having recovered from the jumpscare, her eyes sizing Yuki up.