"-and that's why I'm here in Kamakura," she said while sipping on her coffee.
She lowered her cup and gently placed it on a ceramic plate, promptly grabbing a packet of sugar sitting on the right side of the table.
As she mixed the sugar with a spoon, it periodically hit against the sides of the cup, emitting a soft clattering, a sound which, in this empty café, resounded quite loudly.
Now as to what she was talking about… well… I don't really know.
I hadn't been paying much attention to the conversation going on before me and instead, my mind was still hung up on Tomiko.
'It's Kido! It's always been Kido!'
The words of Tomiko… or I should say Kido, lingered in my head.
I wasn't able to get a wink of sleep after that. I had spent all night racking my brain, combing through every single memory trying to recall anything that would give me a clue as to where we had met.
Elementary school? No it couldn't be, her name never popped up in the yearbook. The park? Unlikely, I knew every face back then, and hers would've definitely left an impression. No exchange students either. Just Kei, Nakai and the usual lineup of classmates.
That only leaves…
One option remained. A ridiculous possibility which I couldn't discard because as unfortunate as it is, it would explain why I don't remember her.
Did Kido… use to dress up as a boy…?
It's an insane and embarrassing thought to even consider.
However it's also on-brand with my crap luck and the whole tropes thing… but would six-year-old me really make that kind of promise to another kid?!
No, probably not, there must have been some kind of mistake... right?
God, I just hope the next time we meet she doesn't tell me that her father is a gangster or that she has a mysterious key that can unlock a necklace.
"So," she spoke once again, momentarily snapping me out of my daydreaming.
"Are you fine knowing that…?" she asked while averting her eyes.
Uh… crap.
I wasn't sure what she was referring to, so after taking a sip from my choccy milk, I simply nodded along.
"I see… I'm relieved," she replied with a soft smile.
Still don't know what she's talking about.
Anyways, I now find myself in a rather strange dilemma.
On the one hand, I drove Kido away. Which meant she wouldn't approach me anymore and as such, no more bothersome cliches to deal with.
But, on the other hand… I had unintentionally driven Kido away.
Sigh, I guess this is what you would call suffering from success.
Honestly, this would've been a whole lot easier if I simply hated her… or if she hadn't cried.
But she did. And now I get to carry that with me.
Thanks to that, I now have an annoying voice living rent-free in my head, redecorating the place as however he sees fit.
And no, I'm not talking about schizophrenia, rather, just your standard moral cricket. Only instead of whispering advice, he jabs a metaphorical stake into my chest every time I remember Kido's face.
Honestly, I'm beginning to see why Pinocchio went full Wack-a-mole on that poor bug.
In the end I'm left with two choices. Make up with Kido… or live on with being the human equivalent of discarded gum.
Not the most attractive choices, especially because of the downsides they each come with, but those are the cards I was handed.
Now would patching things up with Kido be counterproductive? Yes, yes it would.
Could I live with myself if I don't patch things up? Debatable.
I guess it really comes down to whether I want to-
"Are you listening?" she exclaimed with an eyebrow raised.
I stopped mid-sip to look at the girl sitting in front of me. My chocolate milk had gone lukewarm, and I had nodded about three seconds too late.
"You aren't listening at all are you?" she asked, finally snapping out of my thoughts for good.
Across from me, and with an unimpressed gaze, sat a girl who could've walked off a magazine cover.
Pink, cotton-candy hair. Big, suspicious star-like eyes. An outfit that screamed 'fashion chic' and the same girl who mistook me for a pervert a couple of days ago and knocked me out. Seo Misaki.
Although to be fair, she did see me in my underwear.
"I'm listening…" I mumbled, avoiding eye contact while stirring my chocolate milk.
Misaki stared at me without saying a word. It was almost as if she was trying to read my mind and gauge my expression.
After a couple of seconds a mischievous smile formed on her lips.
"You wouldn't…" she continued, "happen to be thinking of another girl while you're with me… right?"
Alright, she might actually be a mind reader.
"Um… I-"
But Misaki cut me off before I even got to say anything.
"Hmmm~ So you are thinking of another girl, and no less while you're on a date Naoki-kun"
Misaki leaned forward, resting her chin on her folded hands.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Naoki-kun. You're quite the playboy, aren't you?" she said in a playful and mockful tone.
That again?!
"I'm not a playboy," I said defensively.
"Oh, you're worse," she teased, "You're clueless and distracted."
I looked away. She wasn't wrong, and once again, I was reminded that this 'seemingly' innocent girl was not to be trifled with.
But it wasn't just her personality that threw me off, it was also her way of doing things.
Honestly, at first I was pretty excited when she asked me out… that was until she made me text a random old man to confirm the date and the location.
Not only that, but when he gave me an address that led to a hidden café, tucked behind what looked like a retired futon shop, with no signs, no music and no people, I was almost certain I was being lured into an organ-harvesting scheme.
Fortunately, Misaki was waiting outside in that hella-drip outfit that probably cost more than my monthly allowance.
As for me? I looked like a sea urchin someone stepped on.
My first thought upon seeing her was to wonder if she was an actual model doing some promo work for a high-end fashion brand or something.
After all, she had that sort of vibe, and heck, even Tanaka, the old man I had to text seemed like the manager type. The way he spoke, how formal he was… it all made a little too much sense.
I glanced once again at Misaki with these thoughts in mind, and asked, "So, do you do modeling work?"
Her expression flickered just for a second, then she settled into an amused smile.
"You sure do have a lot of preconceived notions about me, Naoki-Kun," she said, "I wonder what else you've assumed."
I guess I'll take that as a no.
"Sorry, I didn't mean it in a bad way," I responded, "You just give off that sort of feeling."
"What sort of feeling?" she asked with curiosity.
"Hmm… mature and fashionable? Like those people you see walking around in Harajuku that only go to aesthetic places."
She gave a light laugh and looked around. "Well, I suppose this place also fits the aesthetic criteria, don't you think?"
I followed her gaze. The café was quiet, with just Misaki, me, and an old lady tending to the counter.
The place itself had wood tones, warm lights, soft jazz, plants decorations everywhere and a tv hanged up in a corner of the room playing news.
"Yeah," I said. "It's actually… really nice."
"Mhm." She nodded and then looked reminiscently outside the window. "Places like these help me stop thinking so much."
Thinking huh…
She had a point. I'd also been drowning in my own thoughts all week and a place like this? It was a refreshing change of pace to say the least.
"You probably get what I mean right? Work, people. Those kinds of thoughts," she continued with a thin smile.
Her expression made it clear that she had someone in mind as she said that.
I guess even someone like Misaki had her own fair share of people problems. At least in that aspect we were similar.
"A fellow connoisseur of tranquility, I see" I replied half-jokingly trying to brighten up the mood.
Misaki let out a small scoff.
She looked at me again, but this time with a thoughtful smug look. "Say mister connoisseur, for someone who seems to value peace so highly, you seem like the type to always be involved in some sort of trouble… especially girl trouble"
I let out an awkward laugh.
God this girl is insanely perceptive.
"Right in the mark, is it?" She said with a proud smile.
"Listen, in my defense, I don't go looking out for trouble, okay? Rather trouble comes looking for me." I responded way too seriously.
Misaki laughed at my response, "What are you John Wick? No wait, maybe it's more like that superhero guy, what's his name? Pace something? Pacemaker?"
"You mean peacemaker?"
"Yeah him!" she responded excitedly.
Playing along with her comment I used my hands to simulate a mask on my eyes, "I cherish peace with all my heart. I don't care how many men, women, and children I need to kill to get it."
"What is that?" she said while clutching onto her stomach, "You look so hilarious with your hands up like that!"
Seeing her enjoying herself like that left me with no choice but to carry on with more impressions. Right after that first one, I did a crap Batman impression which fortunately Misaki seemed to find amusing and kept on laughing. For a moment I had forgotten the thoughts that kept lingering in mind.
"You're actually a pretty funny guy huh? Is this why you're so popular with the ladies?" she teased once again with a grin.
If only she knew most of my interactions usually end up with a slap to the face.
"I'm just messing with you," she continued, doing a soft punch to my chest, "After all, nobody in their right mind goes out of their way to look for trouble."
She took another quick sip from her cup, "I also know better than anyone else that when trouble comes, you don't have much say in it… you just deal with it."
Her expression regained that almost sorrowful look from before.
Crap, what am I supposed to say in these types of situations again?
"You uh… wanna talk about it?" I asked with hesitation.
Misaki let out a small scoff, "Why do you sound so serious? It's no big deal, seriously. Just job stuff and whatnot. I mean my job isn't the easiest when it comes to dealing with people, but what job is?"
I raised an eyebrow. "In what sense do you deal with people?"
"The sense where you always have to smile. Where people expect you to be a certain way, no matter how you're actually feeling." As Misaki said that she didn't sound bitter or sad, just tired.
Ohhh now I see, so she works in retail.
I nodded along, having heard of the struggles and horrors of working in retail, "Sounds rough."
"You get used to it," she said. "But some days it's like... everyone's wearing a mask. And they expect you to wear yours tighter than everyone else's."
Is… that what retail is like…?
"Why don't you just quit?" I asked, maybe too bluntly.
Misaki seemed surprised by my suggestion, "Quit? You can't be serious right?"
"I mean why not? If it makes you this upset, why keep doing it?"
"That's…" she hesitated for a moment before letting out a sigh, "It's not the job itself that I hate… rather the people... they're the exhausting part."
"And from what you've told me, that interaction is an inevitable part of the job."
She looked out the window again, realizing it was true.
"You make it sound so easy, but it's a lot more complicated than that… I'd… be letting a lot of people down… and besides quitting would feel like I was running away from my problems."
"Running away's still running. Backwards, forward, either way, you're still moving." I continued, and as I said those words, a brief image of my old high school came to mind. "Sometimes, that's better than standing still and getting stomped on."
Misaki's gaze drifted toward her reflection in her cup.
She then let out a soft laugh, but there was no smile behind it.
"That's… surprisingly philosophical of you."
"Even a broken clock's right twice a day." I replied.
She shook her head, amused. "You're a pretty weird guy, Naoki"
"And yet you keep talking to me."
"Tch. Guess I like broken clocks." She replied in defeat.
Misaki took a deep breath, and in one swift motion, she stood up, brushing imaginary dust from her skirt.
"I'm going to the bathroom. Don't run off while I'm gone, okay?" she said as she pointed at me.
"I'll try to contain my urge to flee." I replied sarcastically.
She smiled and walked off.
Running away from problems she says…?
I leaned back, staring at the café ceiling.
I questioned if my suggestion to quit was even correct. Somehow, it felt like I was just trying to justify myself to her unknowingly.
Maybe I should refrain from giving advice from now on. I thought to myself.
Suddenly, somewhere behind me, the TV flickered to life, the sound just low enough to grab my attention.
I turned towards the screen, which was broadcasting one of those celebrity news gossip channels covering one of those celebrity dating scandals people often make a big deal out of.
Honestly, I don't know what the fuss is all about, but I guess people just love to be nosy about others drama, as if our own isn't enough to satisfy that need.
Soon the news anchor transitioned into a new topic, and a large subtext appeared below her which read: [Starlight Symphony on halt after unexpected cease of activities.]
The news anchor, a lady in glasses began to speak, "Starlight Symphony a rising talent idol group has found itself in the midst of spotlight, as their sudden raise in popularity was cut short by an unexpected halt in their activities."
I watched with mild interest. I wasn't really into idol groups, but that group name sounded vaguely familiar and gave me a sense of discomfort.
"The agency in charge of the group hasn't given an official comment regarding the motivations behind this sudden hiatus; however many people speculate that one of their key members, lead singer Lumi, has taken a leave of absence. These rumors come about after many fans have claimed sightings of her on Kamakura beach"
Huh.
Kamakura.
What a weird coincidence.
I thought as I sipped on the little remaining chocolate milk left in my cup.
"However these are not the only rumors circulating these days. Insiders suggest disagreements among the group's core members may have contributed to the decision. While no details are confirmed, some close to the matter describe Lumi's sudden disappearance and the friction between the members as a major catalyst for the hiatus."
Disappearance? Friction?
Those two words seemed to stick out to me for some odd reason, but I couldn't exactly piece together why.
Regardless, it was surprising to hear that an idol could be in the vicinity.
Guess even idols need a break from dealing with people sometimes. I thought to myself.
My cup clattered loudly against the plate it was on.
Kamakura beach? Dealing with people?
Wait.
No way.
I glanced in the direction Misaki had gone. The feeling of discomfort from before grew stronger.
Confident personality. A fashion sense out of this world. People problems. Extremely cute.
I blinked rapidly.
No. Nope. I'm overthinking this.
Hahaha.
Hahahaha—
There's no way.
I shook my head.
Totally just a coincidence. Couldn't possibly be... her.
…Right?
Just then, I heard footsteps.
Misaki returned, brushing her hair behind her ear and looking refreshed.
She caught me staring and tilted her head.
"What's with that face?" she asked, grinning. "See a ghost or something?"
I slowly set my cup down.
I could see a red flag being hoisted on top of her head.
...I'm cooked.