"Don't you feel the same?"

A rebuttal that caught Brad off-guard, "What?"

"When you're talking with Akito-san and all those other girls you're always looking off somewhere, never at them. I don't know how they haven't noticed it but to me it's obvious, you don't care about them at all."

Brad's silence answered Katsumi's question.

"You've just been leading Akito-san on this whole time?"

Brad shook his head, "It's not as simple as that."

"For most people I'd say it is. Either you'll be with them or you're just leading them on..."

"Saki's a caricature of what a 'popular-girl' should be... And that tells me nothing about who she is. How do you expect me to like a person that I know nothing about? I don't know how she acts with her parents, the thoughts she has late at night, or maybe even her weird eating habits she has... How am I supposed to get close to someone when they aren't even showing me who they are."

Was her request really that shallow? Wanting to get to know someone? I don’t think she has the first clue about Brad… But why? They spend so much time together isn’t it inevitable that they’d drop at least some of their facades.

This thought brought up images of the group of college-kids he considered ‘friends’. Then, one girl specifically.

Why was it so different with her? Why, even for a second, did I never try to hide anything from her?

“What if she’s afraid?”

Brad gave a look that asked Katsumi to elaborate.

“I’m guessing she’s never met someone like you… The idea’s always been forced into her that you aren’t supposed to drop your facade. That people hate that weird part of you.”

“...That’s something she’ll have to figure out on her own. I can’t give her any push in the right direction.”

Katsumi nodded along in silence.

A buzz on Brad’s phone caused him to pull it out. The time was now nine-twenty four, “Oh look at that it’s Kiki-chan. I gotta go, we’re meeting at nine-forty for our date,” He took out a five-hundred yen coin and left it on the table as he stood.

“I’ll see you later Katsumi," With that good-bye Brad left, waving and giving a parting word to Meuriko at the front counter.

 

Katsumi was doing something he usually never did. He wasn’t at home in front of his Playstation, or drugged out on his couch, or even at a friend's house drinking. He was at the school’s library reading. It was Monday now. Another weekend had passed with Katsumi living much the same days. Except this weekend he did find himself reading everyday, a small change that he enjoyed thinking about.

You know, Akito-san has done something nice for me actually. I never really knew that I’d like the school library so much. It has a nice atmosphere, plus it’s quiet.

Katsumi looked up from his book to the front-counter. There was a third year girl with a similar hair-style to him behind the counter. She smiled and gave a little wave as he looked up.

It’s nice here.

However, as Katsumi was beginning to find some peace, a harsh reality fell upon him. A head of familiar, long brown hair filled his vision.

“Murakami-kun, we need to talk.”

“We have to? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Trying to flirt with the library-volunteer and reading some nerdy book isn’t being busy.”

Katsumi responded with a grumble and set down his book.

Saki sat down across from him and folded her arms on the table, leaning forward slightly, “I want to know what you… found out about… Brad.”

She isn’t gonna like this… I mean I can just lie. But do I really want to? I’ll just start off with a question… I should see where she’s at with him, “How was your date with Brad last Saturday?”

“What?! How do you know about that?”

Shit, she didn’t know that I knew, “We… met at a diner Saturday morning.”

Saki’s anger and confusion quickly turned into a vague look of sadness, “Oh.”

She’s probably wondering the same thing I was. Why didn’t Brad invite her out instead… He could’ve just asked me those questions in school or something.

She quickly followed up with, “He was acting a little weird… DId you tell him about this?!”

“No no no, of course not. Some of my friends know his sister and he just wanted to talk about that.”

She gave his explanation a strange look. Like he said something she had no idea how to process.

Katsumi ignored this look and moved on to ask a question, “What was he acting like?”

“He was asking me a lot of odd questions… Like ‘do you feel real?’ or ‘what was something interesting you thought about’. I didn’t get it all.”

Brad, you can’t just mess with this poor girl like that, “How did you answer?”

“I was confused at first but I said of course. Then I told him some things I thought about, but it was like I didn’t answer the question right. Like, what does that even mean?”

“Maybe he wanted to know more about you?”

“Really? What would he even get from a question like that?”

“I’d assume it’s something that’s important to him.” After Katsumi’s response a short silence fell over the two.

“You know… You came up in our conversation at the diner.”

“Seriously?!” She responded quickly with excitement, as if she’d been waiting this entire time for Katsumi to say that.

How do I put this in a way that doesn’t hurt her… There’s no way I can tell Akito-san what we really said, “He mentioned that you should… Uh—” I should’ve thought more before I spoke… “Be more open with yourself.”

“What?”

“Like how he was acting ‘weird’. I think he wants you to be more like that.”

“You’re calling me weird?” She lowered her eyebrows.

“No. I’m saying that he wants you to… open up a bit more.”

Saki took what he said into consideration, nodding her head, “I think I get what you mean.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s that I should try and share some of Brad’s interests.”

No. That’s not it at all… I don’t know how she came to that conclusion. But I mean, is that better than telling her the truth? That Brad thinks she’s fake and shallow person? I think it is, “Sure. That’s probably a good point to start getting to know him better.”

“What are some of his interests? Did he mention any?”

A question he was not expecting to get hit with… Katsumi racked his brain. Uhhh… I think his sister mentioned he like being on his computer a lot? I’m assuming Akito-san doesn’t want to hear that though… He suddenly remembered back to his and Brad’s first meeting. He mentioned the gym I think… With how he looks I’m guessing he’s pretty big into it. But is that something Akito-san would even consider doing?

“He mentioned the gym before. I’m pretty sure he’s big into that. You can ask if you could go with him.”

“Is he really? I think he mentioned it once but I never expected that.”

“Seriously? Have you ever looked at him? People don’t look like that naturally.”
Saki’s expression gave off embarrassment. She nodded her head, agreeing that Katsumi was right. She stood up from her seat and pushed it in, “Thank you, Murakami-kun… but I have one more question. How do

I… work out… with him?”

Katsumi smiled, he thought this was a really stupid question, “That’s something you’ll have to ask Brad. I have no clue.”

Saki could tell Katsumi was making fun of her and turned a light shade of red. She quickly turned and left the library.