It was not worth it.
Yesterday after I took a plunge with Hana, she invited me inside her house to dry off and shower but I had to refuse, I didn't want to be a burden on Her father, so she went back inside her house and brought out at towel for me to dry off with, after drying myself off and giving it back to her I went back to my home, and when I got back I started to feel ill, most likely I had gotten a cold from deciding not to come inside her house to warm myself up, not to mention the towel barely did anything to dry off my clothes, so I was walking in the rain while I was freezing, and damp, which wasn't exactly pleasant to say the least.
I was lying in my bed. It was Sunday and I had a meet up with the photography club but I couldn't get out of bed. I felt so awful, I couldn't breathe through my nose, my throat felt like it was being cut with tiny razors every time I had to hack my lungs out, despite that my brain had failed to tune out my phone buzzing in my pocket, I pulled it out to be met with a text from Hana.
Yamada Hana : [Look out your window :)]
I stood up from my bed and walked over to my window, and it was none other than Hana, outside my front door, staring into my bedroom window. If she was trying to be creepy she sure was doing an amazing job.
I looked back down at my phone, and texted her.
Sato Masaichi : [Creep.]
Yamada perked up and looked down at her phone, and presumably saw my message. A smile spread across her face before she replied.
Yamada Hana : [Look who's talking, perv.]
I looked back out the window, she was covering her mouth with her hand, I shut my blinds, my room quickly turned quite dark, I could barely see anything beyond the glow of my phone.
Yamada Hana : [Hey, open your blinds back up you moron, I can't see you!]
Sato Masaichi : [Why are you even here?]
Yamada Hana : [You weren't at the meet, I had to present my photo to the president by myself, so I came by too see If you were alright.]
Sato Masaichi : [Im sick, but ill be fine, just go home]
She didn't respond. Instead of her sending another text message I heard the faint sound of knocking at my front door, she was trying to have my mom let her in.
Sato Masaichi : [Please don't bother my mother, I beg of you.]
Yamada Hana : [I just want to meet her, you met my dad didn't you?]
Sato Masaichi : [Yes…]
Just then I heard another knock, this time I heard the yell of my mother coming as the door to the bathroom creaked open, she was busy doing her daily routine of skin care, what I liked to call "pointless care", as I saw almost no difference of how her skin looked when she did and didn't do it.
"Coming!"
My mom rushed over to the door and was shocked to see that it was Hana, my friend.
"Oh Yamada, are you here to see Masaichi?"
*****
My mother and Hana were sitting on the sofa in the living room, while I was in the kitchen making myself some herbal tea that my mom bought from a convenience store nearby to try and nurse me back to health, meanwhile Hana was making good conversation with my mother, even if it was mainly my mom asking her the questions.
"Yamada tell me, what do your parents do for work?"
Hana was holding a cup of coffee my mother had made her, she took a sip of the hot caffeine enriched liquid before responding.
"My mother works as an accountant, she stays in her room most of the time on her computer doing… accountant things."
"Mhm."
"As for my father, he works at the post office."
"Ah interesting, you know my husband is almost never here you know, he's a part of the self defense force, he has to live close to base because of that, I usually visit him every saturday."
Hana put down her cup and settled her hands onto her lap, she looked at me and back at my mother and responded to her.
"Oh, I see."
My mother twirled her blonde hair, she looked nervous for some odd reason.
This was awkward as hell for Hana and I could just tell by how she was acting, she would almost never sit up as straight as she was right now, and her words were very methodical and devoid of any emotion, was it something my mother said that had set her off?
"Masaichi, how is the tea going, is it ready?"
I stopped staring at Hana, and I looked my mother directly in the eyes.
"Oh, uh yeah its almost done"
I stifled the urge to cough. I was really sick, this cold sucked.
Suddenly I heard my mothers phone ring inside her pocket, she hastily pulled it out of her pocked and her fingers slipped and it fell to the floor
'"Aw, shi-"'
My mother looked at my friend, whilst being stuck on the vowel "I", she had let her English slip out for a second, but Yamada most likely knew what she was saying just by looking at her face, she was trying with all her will power not to smile.
'"-oot."'
My mother caught herself mid sentence and switched to a less profane word than what she was about to say, before she picked up her phone and walked towards her bedroom, it looked like her work was calling her, for what reason I had no idea.
Hana looked at my mother and back at me, before speaking once again.
"So she's american, right masaichi?"
"As American as someone born in the United States can be, she had a real hard time trying to get a visa here, and getting a job too."
"I assume your father is American as well?"
I paused before speaking, the tea was done, I put the pot off the burner and placed it in the sink to cool off.
"No, he was a foreign exchange student who met my mother during high school, he had a real knack for english apparently, and my mother took an interest in him."
"How did she learn Japanese?"
"She got tutoring in the states, she got fluent and then moved here, dated my father for a while, and got married to him."
Hana rested her head back on the sofa, before stretching her arms and let out a loud yawn.
I was extremely confused, she had just drank coffee of all things and she was tired, I looked around on the table to see if she had anything else that could have made her tired, to no avail. Hana turned around and saw the confused look on my face, before realising what I was thinking.
"Oh I see, you're probably thinking 'How is she tired despite having just drank coffee?' honestly I have no idea myself, I just get tired whenever I drink loads of caffeine."
"Interesting…"
"Masaichi, do you have anything you want to ask about me?"
I tilted my head and raised my brow, pouring myself a cup of tea.
"Hmmm, well I do have one question."
"And what would that be, hotshot?"
"Why do you have no other friends?"
Hana frowned, pursing her lips, she had obviously taken offense to such a question.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."
Hana clasped her hands together and shrugged before continuing.
"Well, I just suck at finding other people that fit my hobbies and criteria, you're the only other person who loves video games as much as I do."
"What about that girl, her name was Haga Ayumi, right?"
"The black haired gal we met at the photography club?"
She closed her eyes in contemplation, looking as if she was carefully choosing the words she wished to say.
"Shes alright all things considered, but we barely talk outside of school, she's usually busy hanging out with her boyfriend."
"I see, anyway I'm going to pour myself some tea."
As I was deciding what coffee cup would suit my tea drinking needs, I suddenly then started to feel a rising pain in my throat, as my temples throbbed with the pain of them being stabbed with dull thumbtacks, I walked back away from the counter and stumbled over my own feet as I caught myself on the kitchen table, I felt like shit.
Hana stood up, her eyes wide with concern, as she then speed walked over to me.
"This is too much for you, you need to rest masaichi."
I coughed, before replying the best I could, with sarcasm of course.
"What, really? No way I'm totally fine."
"Yeah haha, but no I'm being serious."
She then proceeded to grab me by my shoulders and drag me to my bedroom, she pushed the door open with her feet.
"Go in and sleep, I'll talk to your mother about your condition."
"I have never seen you talk so seriously before, are you my Hana?"
She put her hands up defensively, her palms facing me, her face was a deep red, as soon as she noticed that I had seen this she turned her head away from me with such force that would not usually come from such a girl, and whispered under her breath.
"Yes, I'm just worried about you dummy."
**********
AUTHORS NOTES
Hello, sorry for the lack of uploads on friday and monday, I am currently horribly sick and this chapter was written mostly while I was Healthy and thinking coherently, I just had to finish the rest of this because I felt like I could knock it out and then rest some more, I hope my health gets better soon so then I can write well again because near the end, my writing felt mediocre and off from how I usually write.
Oh and to avoid any confusion as to why I use so many asterisks and then cut to a new scene and also why I used loads of them at the end of the chapter, here is why.
Large (or short) passage of time : *****
Authors notes : **********