Chapter 25

The art club’s clubroom was filled with talk and laughter, with everyone gathered around the table in the middle of the room. The talk went from the most trivial things, like the weather or school work, and moved on to bigger topics, one of them being the upcoming school festival. Everyone was equally engaged in the conversation, at least everyone except Shuya, who had been staring at the closed door since he entered the room.

Deep deep inside, he knew the door wouldn’t open. No one would come, but he still couldn’t look away. Instead he let out a sigh ever so frequently, feeling his heart drop a little with every passing minute.

“Shuya, why do you keep sighing? You’re ruining the mood,” said Keiko in a firm voice, but Mei quickly gave her a push and sent her a glare.

“Keiko might be rude, but she is right,” said Mei to follow up. “I have a hunch about what might be bothering you, but we want to have fun with you, so can’t you try to put it aside for now?”

“You’re right, nothing good will come from me sitting around moping like this,” said Shuya and stretched out his body, spinning around on his chair so he had his back to the door. “I’m sorry if I ruining the mood. What are we talking about?”

“About how wonderful it is to be done with the midterms,” said Noriko and looked towards the ceiling with folded hands, like she was sending a little prayer to God.

“I think someone really doesn’t like tests,” said Yusuke and nudged Noriko in the side. At first she looked away shyly, but she quickly regained her posture and spoke back.

“Who likes tests anyways?”

“Shuya does,” said Yusuke and Shuya widened his eyes. “What? You’re the top student, you should like school work and tests and stuff like that.”

“Let’s not talk about it...” said Shuya and tried to push his thoughts away.

“O... kay...” said Yusuke confused.

“See, I told you, nobody likes tests,” said Noriko.

“She’s right, but now it’s over,” said Keiko. “And thank goodness for that, because we need to start preparing for the festival.”

“Preparing what?” said Shuya.

“Our stall,” said Keiko. “We should think of some way to present our club to the guests.”

“I see,” said Shuya and nodded. “Have you decided on what to do?”

“We talked about painting portraits,” said Mei. “The visitors can choose whichever artist they like and have them paint a portrait of them in that specific art style.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” said Shuya.

“We think so too,” said Keiko. “I just wish I knew if Iyori was in on it.” The mention of Iyori’s name made Shuya swallow hard.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen her,” said Noriko with a sad expression on her face.

“It has, I’ve tried texting her, but she hasn’t replied,” said Mei.

“Me too, I can see she read my texts, but I get no reply. Even if I call she doesn’t answer,” said Keiko and looked frustrated. “If only there was someone who could reach out to her.” Keiko and everyone else looked at Shuya intensely.

“What? Don’t look at me,” said Shuya and raised his hands.

“Come on, she will listen to you,” said Keiko.

“I don’t think so, Iyori doesn’t listen to anyone,” said Shuya. “Besides, she’s not talking to me either right now.”

“What? Did you have a fight?” said Mei in horror.

“Not exactly,” said Shuya. “It’s hard to explain, the bottom line is, she’s not talking to me right now.” Everyone looked at Shuya with a dejected look on their faces, seeing their last ray of hope being washed away in front of their eyes.

“Well, can’t you give it one more try?” said Keiko. “Even if she’s mad at you, she might say yes if you’re the one who asks her.”

“I really doubt that,” said Shuya, but the pleading look from everyone made him reconsider.

“She will listen,” said Mei. “I don’t know why, but when you tell her something, I can tell she takes it to the heart. She actually thinks about it. If it’s anyone else, she just shuts down and lets it go in one ear and out the other.”

“Fine, I’ll give it a try,” said Shuya when he couldn’t withstand Mei and Noriko’s puppy eyes any longer. “But I won’t promise you anything.”

“Thank you,” said Mei.

“Great, with that out of the way we can continue our planning, knowing Iyori will be in on it too,” said Keiko.

“But I just said–”

“Yeah yeah, we heard you,” said Keiko and shushed Shuya. With mouth agape, Shuya watched as Keiko continued talking about their plans for the festival, all the while he was getting cold sweat, thinking about how to face Iyori after everything that happened.

***

A few days passed and Shuya still walked around with a heavy weight on his shoulder. 

It was impossible. 

No matter what he did, she just didn’t want to talk to him. Not in school, not after, not even if he requested her for a date. She just rejected him right away and at this point, he was scared she would actually block him if he continued being pushy.

If I could just talk to her for a one minute, and apologize, thought Shuya as he sat at his desk. I might be able to make her consider joining the club activities for the festival.

In the same moment, Shuya saw a silhouette pass through the door and when he looked up, he saw Iyori sitting down on her chair. He almost immediately got up, ready to run up to her, but he didn’t even get to move one millimeter before Fuyoko walked in the door and his dreams were crushed.

“Good morning everyone,” said Fuyoko. “Today we’ll be talking about the school festival.” Fuyoko immediately got the entire class’ attention and she continued speaking while walking up to her desk.

“First of all, we need to decide what to do for our class project, does anyone have a suggestion?” Fuyoko grabbed a piece of chalk and turned towards the board, ready to write down whatever ideas the students would come up with.

“A haunted house,” yelled one student.

“A cafe,” yelled another.

“A karaoke bar,” yelled a third.

It continued like that until the board was filled with ideas, some crazier than others, and some more realistic than others. Fuyoko looked at the things she’d written and then turned around, looking at the students.

“Thank you for all the wonderful ideas, sadly we can only go with one of them,” said Fuyoko. “So how about we put it to a vote?” Everyone seemed content with that idea, so Fuyoko sent around a piece of paper where everyone could write their vote. It took a while for the paper to circle the entire class, and when it finally landed in the hands of Fuyoko again, her eyes only filled with worry.

“Well, it looks like everyone is really keen on the idea for a cafe,” said Fuyoko. “I should’ve said this beforehand, but sadly, I don’t think our budget will cover a cafe.”

“What?” yelled several students.

“Can’t you speak to the principal?” asked one student.

“We have to do a cafe!” said another one. Every comment felt like a stab to Fuyoko’s heart.

“Can’t you at least ask,” said one student, looking at Fuyoko with huge pleading eyes.

“Alright then,” said Fuyoko with a sigh. “I’ll go ask him right away, but I won’t promise you anything.” There was a momentarily sound of victory in class, something that only made Fuyoko more nervous about her quest, but she left the class with a smile on her face, and everyone started talking.

With the classroom buzzing with talk, Shuya pulled himself together and got up from his chair, walking up to Iyori with firm steps. He gently poked her on the shoulder and she turned around.

“Hey,” said Shuya, a little awkwardly while waving. Iyori just raised an eyebrow without giving an answer. “Um... it’s been a while since we’ve seen you in the club. Actually, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you, just in general.”

“You see me everyday in class,” answered Iyori.

“Well, that’s true, but–” Iyori interrupted Shuya with a sigh.

“Did you need something?” Her carefree and almost rude attitude made Shuya’s blood boil. He almost slammed his hand onto her desk, wanting to shake her, wake her up, something. Anything to get a reaction out of her. But he held it in, took a deep breath and then continued.

“Yes, I did need something, actually,” said Shuya in a firm voice. “The art club is planning on making a stall at the festival where they paint people’s portraits.” Shuya looked at Iyori in anticipation, but there was not a single care in the world found in Iyori’s eyes.

“And?” said Iyori, and Shuya took in another deep breath to keep himself calm.

“And... we want to make sure that you’re in,” said Shuya. “Everyone is looking forward to it. It sounds like a lot of fun.”

“Then have fun, I’m not in,” said Iyori and turned around, diverting her eyes away from Shuya.

Shuya just walked to the other side of her desk and looked at her again.

“Come on, everyone wants you there,” said Shuya.

“Of course they do, they want me because I’m the best,” said Iyori. “They want someone who can do all the work.”

“What? That’s not–”

“Don’t try to defend them, I know that’s why they want me there,” said Iyori.

“That’s not true, they want you there because it’s something we can all do together as a club.”

“Oh, so you’re painting portraits too?” said Iyori and looked up, making Shuya the one to look away.

“Well...”

“That’s what I thought,” said Iyori. “Just leave me alone, I’m not doing it.”

The blood in Shuya’s veins only turned hotter and his eyes filled with rage when he looked at Iyori.

“How can you be so... selfish?” yelled Shuya and Iyori looked up in shock. “Just how highly do you think of yourself? You might be good, but you’re not that good. At least not so good that it makes up for your horrible personality.”

“Horrible personality? Selfish?” said Iyori and stood up, looking straight into Shuya's eyes. “Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

“What are you talking about?” said Shuya.

“I see... you don’t even care enough to know what you’ve done,” said Iyori and snorted.

“What?” said Shuya and was about to make a harsh comeback, but he suddenly stopped and thought. “Wait. Is this about the midterms?” Iyori looked away, confirming his suspicion.

“Why are you still thinking about that? You did really well,” said Shuya. “We can’t always do as well as we want. I didn’t get the grade I wanted this time either.” 

“Are you actually comparing my grade to your 99 out of 100? What’s wrong with you?” said Iyori and grimaced. 

“How did you–”

“Hanako told me,” said Iyori and looked up. “She couldn’t stop boasting about it. Neither of you two had eyes for me, all you thought about was yourself. So don’t ever say I’m the one who’s selfish.” Shuya opened his mouth, but no words came out, and before he had the time to come up with something, Fuyoko walked inside the classroom again.

“Can’t you just do it?” whispered Shuya while Fuyoko was still walking to her desk. Iyori glared at him and then turned around.

“I’m afraid I don’t have good news,” said Fuyoko. “As I suspected, our budget simply won’t be enough to make a cafe.”

“What if the students help?” asked one student.

“Yes, we can make a contribution,” said another one.

“I’m not sure that–”

“Rin's father owns a restaurant, maybe he can help,” said a student and looked at Rin, who quickly felt everyone’s eyes turn to her.

“I... I don’t know...” said Rin. “It’s just a small family business, our income isn’t that big.”

“Can’t you ask?” said a student.

“Alright everyone, let’s not bully Rin,” said Fuyoko. “Rin, if you want to ask your dad, you can, but don’t feel any pressure.” Rin nodded her head in response.

“Now, let’s try to come up with another solution for our festival, since a cafe isn’t very likely,” said Fuyoko.

“What about Shuya.” The statement from Iyori made everyone turn heads, looking around, confused by the voice they so rarely heard speak out in class. 

“Excuse me?” said Shuya and looked at Iyori.

“Mr. Hayato Takahashi owns a ramen factory, and he’s helped out the school before so I’m sure he doesn’t mind doing it again,” said Iyori.

“Mr. Takahasi has already done enough for the school,” said Fuyoko. “Shuya, you don’t have to feel pressured.”

“He doesn’t mind,” said Iyori and turned around. “Do you?” Shuya’s eyes glared into his soul, not blinking, not looking away for even a millisecond.

“She... She’s right... I’m sure my dad would love to help, I’ll ask him tonight,” said Shuya.

“Is that so?” said Fuyoko. “In that case, thank you. Please contact me when you’ve confirmed things with your father.” Shuya nodded as reply. 

When the class finally ended, Shuya was quick to walk up to Iyori’s desk, slamming his hand into it while he looked at her.

“What was that about?” said Shuya.

“What? I thought your father was eager to sponsor the school,” said Iyori. “Besides, if I need to do something I don’t like, that means you have to do something you don’t like either.”

“Wait... does that mean–”

“I’ll do the stupid portrait thing.” Shuya suddenly couldn’t hold back his smile, but Iyori’s facial expression didn’t look like an invitation, and her next statement made him back up instead of move forward.

“Now, if you could please leave me alone.”

Hello everyone!

A nice little argument between or dear couple, well, it's unavoidable. But it looks like Iyori will end up participating in the festival after all. Let's hope she has lots of fun.

On that account, I hope you're having lots of fun too. I was sick recently, so that wasn't fun, but I'm much better now and somehow, I have avoided COVID so far. I hope the same goes for you.

But make sure to take good care of yourself and stay safe wherever you are!

Love, Annalise~