Run Over Chapter 3.3

The Traducer
Chapter 3 Part 3
"See you tomorrow, in cla.s.s. Be sure to come." We said to Fus.h.i.+mi and left the warehouse.

We didn't have time to notice how it began to darken. Wiping off sweat, Hara and I crossed the schoolyard together. A little rain was falling, invisible in the darkness. When we went into the room of the literature club, to take our bags, there were still people left there. Uchida, who we met before going to the warehouse, looked at us. Without saying a word to him, I grabbed my bag and left, Hara following me.

"But…" Uchida called Hara, as the door closed.

His call reached my ears, which means it reached Hara as well. However, he gave the appearance that he hadn't heard, and closed the door. We walked down the dark hallway. We left without any greetings or farewell. The literature club was a place of gathering for useless, worthless waste, who crawled here to lick their wounds and close their eyes on everything that was happening around them. They used this room, with a battered table, rusty chairs, and a ruined book cabinet as a haven for their worthless souls. There was no other use for this club.

Isn't that right, Hara?

Without talking, I changed shoes and went home by my usual route. Hara seemed to be getting to his house on foot, so we parted on the corner, and I headed for the station. When we parted, Hara said only one word.

"Bye."

I waved my hand slightly, but Hara responded with enthusiastic waving.

***

I took the train home. Today, the carriages were packed again. Someone staggered and flew at me. Someone behind me clicked his tongue flas.h.i.+ly. Turning and looking back, I saw an employee with a tired face and a crumpled t-s.h.i.+rt.

Our eyes met, and to my surprise, I saw something frivolous in his face. This got me interested. This man, showing fatigue with all his body, who was almost falling into pieces, was defiantly clucking his tongue at the person he flew at. What's there to think, nothing can be more amusing.

Is he trying to provoke me? You crashed into me, hurt me. Because of you, I started raging. Maybe, with his clicking, he was trying to tell me just that. Or maybe with this sound he was trying to attract attention to himself?

I am angry! Look at that!

Huh?

Unexpectedly for myself, I began to laugh. I was not angry at the impact, I didn't lower my shoulders guiltily, nothing like that – I met the man's look and started laughing. This man, this hopeless, pitiful man, amused me. He clearly heard my contemptuous laugh.

He could have easily barked out something like, "Hey, what are you snickering about?"

The man turned away and looked down at the floor, on which a piece of chewing gum was stuck.

As he pleases.

***

When I got out on the station, I didn't head home right away, but walked a long uneven route around. It was still drizzling. There was darkness all around me, but I could still make out the falling droplets in the headlights when cars rushed by. Ignoring the fact that my wet s.h.i.+rt stuck to my skin, I walked serenely through the rain. Walking, I thoughtlessly kicked the weeds that grew in the crack-covered asphalt.

The pedestrian flow was not impressive. Streetlights here were rare, one of them was blinking, as if counting its remaining years. Soon it will also stop working, and the surroundings would plunge into the darkness. The lamps gave off a weak, pale-orange light. Looking up at it, I continued walking. The streetlight went out with a bang, and darkness enveloped me.

"What are you doing here?" Came from my side. I turned in that direction and saw the figure of Minato standing in the white light of a streetlight in a dress with a green umbrella in her hands. I answered her:

"Walking…"

Minato asked another question:

"Without an umbrella?"

"Mhm…."

"You didn't return for a long time, and I went to meet you at the station."

I didn't go to my house, the complete other way, that's why we missed each other.

"Meet?" Raindrops fell from Minato's umbrella. "Why do you need to meet me?"

Hearing my question, Minato was dumbfounded.

"Why?" Minato got closer to me and offered the umbrella raised above her head. "Are we not partners?"

I see.

That's how it is.

"It's time to cook dinner. Let's just go home quickly and eat," Minato smiled. "How about curry for today? What boys don't like curry, am I right?"

I got under the offered umbrella not fully, and the rain continued to hit the uncovered part of my body.

"Thanks," I whispered softly.

"Huh? No need to thank me," Minato answered and reached up to make is easier to stand under the umbrella. I took it away and raised it even higher, so that we both could stand under it. But then I later thought that if she came to meet me, she could have taken two umbrellas.

***

The next morning, we went to school together and went on the train. I didn't have the time to blink, when Minato already got a duplicate of the key to my house and settled down in it. I didn't understand her motives. But I wasn't going to kick her out either. The train approached a turn with a screech and the crowd shook. Leaving the carriage, we walked side by side. Pa.s.sed the school gate, changed shoes, climbed the stairs. Walked down the hall.

Today, in the cla.s.s of 2-4, there was no habitual hubbub. When we opened the door, by my desk in the back of the cla.s.s, stood Fus.h.i.+mi. Before him was Hara. He wasn't twitching or blinking, his shoulders rose steadily to the beat of his deep breaths. He was no longer afraid of Fus.h.i.+mi, who didn't even move from his place. But Tanabe wasn't here yet.

"You're in my way." I put my bag on my desk and told Fus.h.i.+mi, "Get out of here."

To my surprise, my voice echoed through the cla.s.s. Everyone was looking at me. When Minato walked in behind me, Fus.h.i.+mi's face showed horror, and everyone froze immediately. But the girl calmly walked to her spot.

I exchanged glances with s.h.i.+bata: he looked up from his laptop and looked at me. He behaved himself like a simple observer, just like me a few days ago. Though we were cla.s.smates, we barely communicated, but our most important conversation happened yesterday.

I looked into his eyes.

Didn't I tell you?

I'll be able to do it.

***

"Yeah… Idzono-kun… well, t-thank you… for yesterday," Hara said, sitting on a bench in a park and tossing bread to some pigeons. The light of the evening sun sparkled in the fountain droplets. It was half past five. Cla.s.ses have ended, and Hara brought me here. It looked like he constantly fed the local pigeons.

"Yeah it's fine, forget it. I wanted it myself, so I set everything up," I answered. Minato would say that I was completely forced.

"Ah… uh-huh."

Hara nodded. The pigeons flew to the scattered bread crumbs and pecked their beaks on the road surface. Hurriedly, as if squeezing out words, Hara asked:

"That… and what's next… what do we do?"

Next. With Fus.h.i.+mi. With Tanabe. Asking these question for Hara was only reasonable. Most of my cla.s.s got together, like a herd of sheep, and bullied Hara. It's not enough to just deal with Fus.h.i.+mi and Tanabe. If you were to look from Hara's point of view, there was an abundance of candidates for the following showdown.

"What do we do?" I repeated. Hara lowered his gaze to his feet, by which the pigeons gathered. They were stomping around in antic.i.p.ation for the next set of crumbs. Hara didn't answer. Maybe he was thinking?

After a short while, Hara seemed to suddenly remember and announced:

"Right… Idzono-kun, you uh, have you ever fed pigeons before?"

Hara opened up his bag and took out a transparent plastic bag, and out of that – a piece of bread. It seemed that Hara took some pieces of toast with him, slightly over toasted in appearance.

"What do you mean, have you ever?" I asked, pointing at the bread.

"Have you ever thrown a full piece?"

When would I do such things? And anyway, what a strange question to ask, have I given pigeons food.

As if reading my mind by the expression on my face, Hara smiled and threw a hunk of bread, not some crumbs, into the crowd of birds. The pigeons didn't keep themselves waiting, and immediately attacked the food. They clung to the unfortunate piece of bread from all sides and began to peck at it. Seven, eight, nine pigeons, there were more and more coming. New birds tried to fit their beaks in between the others. A few pigeons broke off little pieces and waved their wings, attempting to fly off, giving off dancing fluff. In exchange, new pigeons flew in, who were keeping their distance at first, and were now almost landing on the heads of their relatives gathered around the bread.The tight birds, trying to get back in, pushed around everyone around them. Into the grey crowd, some ten to twenty birds got in, who all moved as one. The spectacle of a bunch of independent organisms, who got together in a heap and acted like a whole, struck me with its absurdity.

Hara stared at the scene, fascinated. Without taking his eyes off, he folded his index finger, middle finger, and thumb on his right hand into a gun and pointed it at the grey ma.s.s.

"Bam," Hara yelled, like in a children's game.

If only he had a real gun. It wouldn't hurt to shoot a couple of pigeons, I thought.

The gray heap continued to sway in the cloud of small fluff. The crumbs, that Hara threw, were flying because of the flutter of the wings.

"Kiyama… How about him… next," Hara said.

The next. Let's choose him. We'll change the target, and method.

Let's choose him.

Minato, Hara, and I.

Maybe, one more person can be added to us.

Edited by: Akshaythedon