Blaming Myself 4

After a bit, we just kind of stayed like that for a while. Minutes passed, and we weren't moving. Although tears were coming out of Mari's eyes, she didn't appear like she was sobbing.

Although it took some time, I eventually released her and then proposed that we both talk in the empty classroom where she kissed me. Now that brings us to today.

"Here," I said, giving her a can of juice. I didn't have any money, but I did find some loose change in my bag. It wasn't enough for a train ticket home, though.

She grabbed it from me, popped off the lid, and started sipping. She was just sitting down on the floor while leaning on the wall just below the window. It's been a while since I last saw her like this.

"…So, what was that about?" I asked, taking a seat beside her.

"What do you mean…?"

Her voice sounded rather hoarse. She didn't sob when she cried earlier, assuming she did cry, but her voice sounded as if she had just finished venting out her problems. Not only that, I could see traces of the tears that flowed down her cheeks.

"Y'know… About yesterday."

I was calm to an extent. The feelings inside me that was bottled up for just a single day was washed away a little bit. To put it into better view, it's like a cup spilling its contents. It was now half full.

"Right… I'm really sorry about what happened that time," she said.

"Look, I'm not asking for an apology. I'm looking for an explanation. I'm guessing whatever you did yesterday to me may be related to that 'stalker classmate' you're talking about."

"Right… That stalker…"

After she said that word, she went silent for a while.

This moment felt kind of nostalgic. Not the fact that she was being stalked, but rather what we were currently doing right now. She looks helpless while I'm by her side, just giving her some company.

"…His name is Hifumi Nakai. You might've heard of him before."

"No, I haven't."

"Figured…Well, he's in my class. He has blond hair and multiple piercings on his left ear. He's at least a little taller than you."

Now that she mentioned it, she did talk to someone like that yesterday. He appeared to a playboy with all those things in his ear and his blond hair. That one guy which I thought was his new boyfriend.

Now, a new feeling was going inside me. It's different from the one I had earlier when Mari leaned in on me. It was something that was far more unexplainable than anything I've ever felt in my life. I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"He may appear to be someone who just likes playing around with girls, but there's been rumours spreading about him being a crazy person…"

"…Which proves the rumours true due to him stalking you."

"Yeah…"

She buried her face as she wrapped her arms around her knees.

"What we did yesterday stopped him from stalking me for now… But it wouldn't take long for him to get back to stalking me again. That's why you did me a great favor yesterday."

Somehow, hearing that made me feel relieved and regretful at the same time. It felt comfortable and uneasy.

"But… Why would you kiss me? We've broken up a long time ago back in junior high. I'm assuming you've already got yourself a new boyfriend by then…"

"N-No! I didn't even plan on doing any of those until I graduate from school! What do you take me for?"

"S-Sorry…"

"Besides…" She blushed. "You're the only guy that I've ever kissed in my life…"

That made my heart skip a beat.

"But," I said. "What are you going to do now? He's going to go back to stalking you eventually, right?"

"That's the problem. I haven't come up of anything, and I don't know what to do… I just can't take it anymore…"

She said that earlier as well.

I was having doubts. I didn't know if I should help her or if she should just sort it out by herself. We were just schoolmates right now, sure, but now that she's told me what's happening with her, I feel like I have an obligation to at least do something. Leaving her like this would just bring me guilt.

Just as I was thinking, my phone suddenly rang. When I looked at it, the caller seemed to be Yumi.

"Is it Yumi-chan?" Mari asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, can I answer her for a bit?"

"Sure."

I went outside the classroom and answered the phone call.

"Hello?" I said.

"Ah, hello, Taku-chan? Are you home? Your bike is still at school. Didn't I already tell you that you could take it?"

Club must've ended for them. Well, there's not much things the swimming club does besides swim, unless there's some sort of competition going on.

"I'm still at school. The teacher asked me to do something for them, so I'm staying for a bit."

"But it's already pretty late. Are you fine over there? Do you need some help?"

"No, I'm doing fine. I'm already almost finished over here. You can go back home first if you want. You can take my bike as well."

"No, I'll wait for you. Just call me if you need anything, I'll come rushing over!"

"You don't really need to do that…"

After that, she hung up. I went back inside and saw Mari burying her face on her knees again. She didn't face me when I entered.

"Hey," I called out.

She didn't answer. She kept her position steady, not moving a single inch. I moved closer to her so she could hear me.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked.

No response came, though. She just sat there with no reaction to whatever I said.

When I went closer again to check on her, I could hear her breathing. It sounded rhythmical, as if she was doing breathing exercises. That's when I realized something.

Although she appeared to be a healthy and active girl, Mari was a sleepyhead. She's tired most of the time, and when you don't watch over her, you can sometimes see her just outright sleeping. That's what she was currently doing.

I grabbed her shoulder and swayed her to wake her up.

"Hey… Classes are over already, wake up," I said, though the classes already ended a few hours ago.

I accidentally swayed her too hard, and then she almost fell over. Luckily though, she fell in my direction, so I caught her using my body. That's the problem though, she was once again leaning on my body. She still wasn't showing any signs of waking up.

"Hey, wake up already, dummy…," I said.

When I swayed her for the last time, she finally did wake up. She opened her eyes and then looked at my face.

"Takuma…kun…?"

When I saw her waking face, it just appeared to me as cute. She called my name again like she did earlier, which made me somewhat flustered. I hid it carefully though.

Realizing what was happening, she immediately adjusted herself from her previous position and became somewhat wide awake again.

"S-Sorry…,", she said, her ears a little red.

"No, don't worry about it… It was mostly my fault, anyway."

"How long was I out for?"

"Just a couple of minutes, probably. I think you started sleeping when I talked to Yumi."

"Huh… It kind of felt like a few hours, though…"

She looked around the classroom and analyzed, and then looked at the window.

"It's getting pretty late," she said. "You should go now. You wouldn't want to keep Yumi-chan waiting, especially because of me."

"But…"

"If you're worried about that stalker classmate of mine, don't worry. He was hanging out with some of his friends earlier, so he won't be coming to me. You should go. I'll stay for a little longer to think about what to do."

I said no words after that. It felt like Mari was keen on doing this on her own. I wanted to respect that, but it just felt wrong for me. I didn't want to leave her out like this even if we are just schoolmates.

I grabbed my bag and then walked towards the door. The feeling still stuck inside me. Not the one that's making me feel reluctant to go out of this classroom, but the one from earlier, when Mari mentioned who was stalking her.

I opened the door, and just when I was about to leave, I said a few words to her.

"Meet me here tomorrow at dismissal. You've already told me most of what problem you're having right now, so I'll try helping."

After I said that, I didn't wait for any response and just left the room.

It didn't take long for me to realize what had happened. Because of just a bizarre experience I had yesterday, I was now trying to help my ex-girlfriend with that stalker problem she has, which I'm still not sure how I'm supposed to help. Not only that, because of that specific problem she had, it managed to make us see each other again face to face after half a year. I'm not going to say that I didn't like those things, but everything about it made me feel uneasy for the future that's about to come.

Getting back to the problem though, there was a certain individual to which she said, and I quote, "a crazy classmate" that was stalking her. If you thought about it, I wouldn't be surprised to think she even has any stalkers. Since she's one of the prettiest girl in the entire school, at least I think she is, it's no surprise that there's going to be at least one fan that's utterly obsessed with her. And another problem arises from that as well, which is that the stalker is a player. It wouldn't take long before he'd eventually got his hands on Mari. That is, assuming Mari is an easy girl.

Although there are rumours going around saying that the guy stalking her is a crazy person, according to Mari, there was also a possibility that he isn't. I'm not going to take my chances though, since this is Mari, a beauty, we're talking about.

Also, speaking of rumours, if I were to help Mari with her problem and then someone just happened to see us, that wouldn't end up good. Instead of the "crazy classmate" being the famous rumour, the tide could turn against us once someone found out I was helping Mari with her problems.

Just as I was lost in my thoughts, I didn't realize I was already nearing the exit. When I looked, I saw Yumi who was playfully clicking away at her phone as she held my bike on one hand. When she saw me, she waved.

"Heeeeyy! You took so long!" she shouted.

"Sorry. I had to, since the teacher asked me," I said, lying.

"If they ever request for you again, just say that your cute childhood friend is waiting for you and that you have no time to spare at school!"

"You know I can't just do that."

"Worth a try, though!"

Well, now that she mentioned it, I guess it might be worth a try. I'll try doing that if I'm ever needed late after classes.

Once I was near the gate, I picked up my bike and she rode on the passenger seat again, just like last time. I pushed the bike and then started making our way home.

"Hey, Taku-chan! Wouldn't it be much more faster if you just ride it? It's your fault that we arrive home late every single time!"

"I don't think it's my fault. You have a train pass with you, but you only use it every morning. You could've taken the train from here earlier as well, but you had to take my bike."

I was going to say it's also her fault that I couldn't ride a train, but that one was on me, since I forgot to bring my wallet with me."

"But the clothing problem was a real problem that I didn't have time to think about anything! I only thought about you, and then I remembered your bike! The train totally slipped my mind!"

"Yeah, I guess I'll take that excuse for now."

"It's not an excuse!" She pouted as she leaned her head on my shoulder.