Chapter 19: Time to Kill

“He’s taking a while, isn’t he?” Rinse asked as they continued to stand outside. To her, he never seemed to be a boy that would take a long time to get changed.

“Something tells me his mother caught wind of our little outing.” The more she listened to him talk, the more she wondered on how much one person can truly know another. He seemed to not be surprised with anything that happened with this guy. “So she wants to gussy him up a little.”

“Okay, okay, I’m fine.” Ishi came barging out of this house while being chased by his mom. “We’re just going to see a movie, it’s not anything special.” Things were a struggle for him to get dressed as she had insisted he look as good as possible. Which is why he was wearing more fashionable clothing than usual. Along with that, his hair was held back with gel.

“You’re looking pretty snazzy.” Otoya commented in a teasing manner.

“Shut up.” As soon as he was free from that woman, Ishi immediately messed up his hair. “Let’s go meet up with Hanada so I can get all of this over with as soon as possible.” Of all days to be doing this, well, there was never a good day for him to be doing this. Either way, he didn’t want to do it, but obligation took over. So the boy was just going to have to grit his teeth and bare the pain.

“Don’t get too excited now.” His friend followed as he led the way. Meanwhile, Rinse lagged behind them to observe their actions. Apparently those two were friends since childhood, but how that was, she couldn’t understand. After all, their personalities seemed to be polar opposites. Not to mention that Ishi didn’t appear to even like the boy.

“I can’t believe you won those tickets. That’s some real luck right there.” She paid attention to their conversation. Despite the choice of words, his tone seemed to be nicer than what might be suggested when one met the boy.

“That’s real rich coming from the one who sits next to an idol…” Part of the reason she even accepted the offer from Otoya was because of him. Despite the words exchanged between them, Rinse did want to know more about this boy. One because of his odd personality, and secondly because there really wasn’t anyone else that she knew to hang out with. Most people gushed about her position, but none of that involved her getting to know any of them.

At least with him, he didn’t seem to be too interested in learning about her. Yet at the same time, despite his protests, Ishi didn’t seem to push her away either. So there was a chance for her.

Why was she so interested in him? Perhaps it was how he acted around her and others. Or maybe there was something about him that drew her in after that night during the field trip. Though her simply being bored during the Summer break and him being the only target wasn’t out of the picture either.

They reached the park, where Youna was already there waiting for them. The girl was sitting all by herself on a bench. Her eyes darted back and forth as she appeared concerned that her presence was out of place. Obviously nervous about waiting for them to arrive.

It was not clear as to what she was apprehensive about. Her outfit was a simple dress that ran all the way down to her calves. Over it was a muted green cardigan. This bespectacled girl was not one to stand out in a crowd, so why would she be worried about how anyone perceived her? If anything, they most likely were not aware of her existence while going about their day.

“She’s not even pretending to be on her phone.” He quietly commented on her awkwardness even while alone.

“Hey class rep, we made it.” Otoya gave a warm welcome to the young girl. “Hope we didn’t make you wait too long.”

“If I’m being honest, I was worried you weren’t going to make it.” She told them.

“But we’re five minutes early.” Rinse informed everyone as she checked her phone. “How long were you waiting for us?”

“Um…” She got anxious with all of them looking at her with their puzzled faces. “A-anyway, we were going to watch a movie, right?”

“We’ve still got at least an hour before the showing.” Ishi explained. “So we figured that we could all grab a bite together beforehand.”

“Since I’m new here, I’d love to hear what your favorite places are.” Rinse let them take command of deciding of what food they should eat.

“I don’t have a favorite place.” Ishi answered, not helping at all.

“Yeah… I don’t eat out all that much either.” Youna’s tone made it sound like she was trying to admit an embarrassing truth.

“Looks like it’s up to me to save the day.” Otoya did have a good spot in mind. “Oshiba’s burgers!”

“I’m not really sure how much a joint like this is appropriate.” Ishi commented as they entered the fast food restaurant. Though his words about it were harsh, the building was well-kept and clean. There was a reputation to be upheld, as well as dozens of customers to please as they waited in line.

“Ah, Hattori.” Otoya spoke to the girl. “If you’ve never eaten here, then may I make some suggestions?” While those two were discussing meal plans, Ishi studied the menu while standing behind them. He had been here plenty of times thanks to that boy. So he was used to pretty much everything they had to offer.

“What are you going to get Hanada?” He asked while still making his decision. “I’ve never tried that new special burger, so maybe I’ll give it a shot.”

“Um, Well…” She got bashful in answering his question. “I don’t think I’ll be getting anything.”

“Hm? Why not? Burgers not your thing?” If that was the case, then he realized that they should’ve made sure everyone would like the food they were going to eat. “You should’ve said something, we would’ve came up with something else.

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“It’s not that.” Well, she had never eaten one of those before anyway. “But, I thought we were just going to watch a movie with the free tickets your friend got. So I didn’t bring any… Money.” Her voice trailed off as she explained the predicament. “It’s fine though, I can go a while without food.”

She said that, but it was impossible to resist the smell of good food. Which is why her body disagreed and let out a small growl. “I’m not hungry or anything…” She put a hand over her stomach and that look on her face appeared distressed. This was easily the most embarrassing thing to happen to her in a while.

“It’s fine.” He told her. “I can just pay for the two of us, then you’ll just owe me.”

“Owe you?” She was worried about ever being in debt to someone. “How will I repay you?”

“...With money equal to whatever it costs me?”

“Right, that’s how everyone repays debt…” She weakly laughed to try and play off her words as a joke. Soon enough, it was their turn to order food at the register. Since Ishi was the one paying, he was also the one speaking up to order. Though the latter was also due to Youna’s nervousness about messing it up.

“Hmm? They have one of those twofer meals for a good deal.” He took note of the one thing he never paid attention to. Since he always ordered his own food when eating with Otoya, he never cared about these combos. But they were actually good value. “Maybe we could get the double up meal, unless that’s too much food for you.” Ishi wanted to make sure that was good with her before committing.

“I can handle it.” She replied. So he went to make that order, but not without a comment from the lady running the cash register.

“You know, you’re a real sweet boyfriend.” She said as he was given the receipt along with a couple of cups. As she walked away to get their order started, Ishi pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Why did people keep assuming that anytime he did anything nice to a girl to be romantic? Was he apparently unable to do anything nice without it being misinterpreted? Actually, this wasn’t even something to be nice. The boy just didn’t want to be sitting next to someone who’s stomach was growling while trying to watch a movie.

Everyone got their orders, then sat together at a table. The boys sitting next to each other, and the girls doing the same on the opposite side. Ishi found himself sitting in front of Youna, as his friend wanted to sit across from Rinse for obvious reasons.

“So what movie are we going to watch anyway?” Rinse asked while taking bites of her sandwich. “You still haven’t told us what those tickets were for.”

“Uh uh uh, that’s supposed to be a surprise for all of you.”

“Knowing you, I think it’s pretty obvious what you picked.” The two had seen plenty of films together. Specifically of a certain genre, which conveniently enough, a hyped up movie in said genre just released. “Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to eat before watching.”

“When you say it like that, now I’m really worried.” Though she said that. It didn’t stop the girl from continuing her meal. “It’s not going to make anyone throw up, will it?”

“I doubt it.” Ishi responded. “You know, since you’re squeamish, you don’t have to watch with us.” He directed this statement towards Youna, remembering her poor attempt to gut the fish. “It’d be bad taste to force you to watch something you won’t like.”

That caught Rinse’s attention. Did he really show care towards someone? Or… Did it have to do with that specific girl sitting in front of him. Could a cold boy like him actually have feelings for the shy and meek class representative?

No, she must be misunderstanding him. She remembered him mentioning how he listens, how his mind is able to pay attention. So that meant despite his harsh words to the girl when she was gagging about the stench, he must’ve been committing the information into memory. Whether consciously or not.

Then again, this could simply be an attempt to reduce the number of people within their party. The boy did prefer to be alone most, if not all, the time.

“No, I’ll be fine.” She answered. “It wouldn’t be fair if I backed out after your kind offer. Plus, it would be a waste of a ticket, right?” Youna took a bite of her burger, which was really tasty. Though that only served to fill her more with guilt about how this wasn’t paid for with her own money. “I’m really thankful that you got me food, but are you sure I really deserve it?”

“Not sure what deserving it has to do with anything.” Ishi took a sip of his fountain drink. “It would just be weird if you were sitting with all of us and not eating anything.”

“Plus, Ishi doesn’t mind spending money on others.” Otoya spoke up. “Don’t you remember last year? During the culture festival when our class couldn’t get the costumes for our cafe?”

“It was only because it would be lame if our class didn’t have a theme. Plus he’s over exaggerating, I only rented those costumes. So it wasn’t expensive at all.” Though he was grateful that the lady who ran the shop really liked his family’s repeat business.

Now this sounded insane to Rinse. This boy always mentioned how much he didn’t care about his fellow classmates. Not to mention how little he cared for the wonders of youth. Was that all a lie, a ruse to hide how much he truly cared about others?

The more she learned of Ishi, the more interesting, and confusing, he was to her. This was actually getting to be pretty fun for her. He was someone that stood out compared to the rest of her classmates despite his attempts.

“You know, if you take a photo, it’ll last long.” Ishi caught her staring. Immediately, Rinse stuffed her mouth with some fries and played off her blunder.

“It’s only because you have something on your face.”

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