Chapter nine. Run as fast as you want but I'll confess!

It was a complete bummer at school, but Kyoko was ready for it in some ways. And immediately went to Hideki's house. The Kazumi family's house greeted her with dark windows and emptiness. She waited for half an hour; she was completely frozen and thought about going home today and repeating tomorrow to stock up on at least a thermos of coffee. But a small figure appeared from behind and managed to notice Kyoko and call out:

— Kyoko Ame-san? What are you doing here? Why are you standing so late and alone? Are you looking for a brother? And why didn't they call him? He would have said that he was on a side job.

— He's not talking to me. Kyoko blurted out the biggest upset of the last few days.

— And why? Although okay," The little one waved her hand, "it's cold, come on, come inside.

— Sorry for the intrusion.

— yeah. Come and sit over there, Kyoko-chan.

Kyoko thought that in some ways, Yumiko Kazumi was like her older brother: first of all, she took care of the one next to her, in this case - Kyoko — gave her hot tea, covered her with a blanket, and put sweets. Then she poured herself a cup of tea and sat down opposite.

— Please tell me what's going on, Kyoko-chan.

The younger girl's gaze was not childishly serious and almost impolitely direct.

And in some ways, she doesn't look like her brother at all, at least Hideki didn't show such obvious curiosity and perseverance. Because of this, his behavior could sometimes be mistaken for complete indifference to the interlocutor.

— I hardly see my brother lately. He's either at school late, comes back, or goes to bed. Or he goes straight to his part-time job.

Yumiko sipped some tea, put the cup on the table, and looked at Kyoko with a searching look.

"And I suspect, Ame—san, that you have something to do with it. — Yumiko frowned, and her gaze became even tougher;— At first, I suspected you, Kyoko-chan, of anything bad, but — Yumiko's gaze softened a little — now I've concluded that everything is a little more complicated — because if you really were a creature and a bastard who wants to break my heart Brother, you wouldn't have stood outside our door for so long to freeze so much.

Kyoko lowered her head. It was a shame to cry in front of the younger girl, and she only hoped that her face was not visible — the room was still not brightly lit.

"So tell Ame-san, and I'll listen." I will help you, or, on the contrary, I will do my best to make your life unbearable; I will decide after your story.

"Yes, much more,— Kyoko involuntarily blurted out. "Okay, Kazumi—san, I'll tell you everything. Immediately after starting my studies after the summer holidays, I participated in the game of "punishment."

— And as a "punishment," was a declaration of love for an older brother determined?! It's unforgivable! Ame-san, I didn't expect this from you at all; you seemed like a good girl to me," Yumiko looked disappointed, angry, and dissatisfied but decided to listen to Kyoko to the end anyway.

—Yes," Kyoko lowered her head, "you are absolutely right, Yumiko Kazumi-san. Absolutely inexcusable. However, I didn't expect Hideki—kun to accept my confession. My playing partners thought that he would refuse, as he had refused everyone since the beginning of the year. And he just agreed.

— Did he feel sorry for you?

"Maybe," Kyoko shrugged, "There's nothing good in pity, of course, but those who confessed to him and were rejected were then bullied for several weeks.

— As if any calendar is worthy of my brother! — Yumiko was indignant, Kyoko already flinched from such a surge of emotions — I'm not talking about you, Kyoko-chan, not about you yet.

Kyoko exhaled to herself. Yumiko called her by her first name —there are chances.

The story took about half an hour.

—...well, they demanded that I break up with Hideki—kun, and I agreed.

— Why, Kyoko-chan? That is, if you didn't want to, why did you break up, and if you wanted to, why are you looking for a brother?

— Yes, because I really want to! To really confess! Really dating! At a time when I decided so myself… And if Hideki—kun can agree someday. But so far, we can't even talk.

—I see,— Yumiko said. She still couldn't pinpoint exactly how she felt about Kyoko. On the one hand, Kyoko said she wanted to be with her brother; on the other hand, she dated him because of the punishment game and left him. During Kyoko's story, Yumiko went through a whole range of emotions, from disgust to pity. However, she still deserved a little sympathy from Kyoko Ame, at least for your honest story.

"Kazumi—san," Kyoko interrupted her thoughts, "can you tell me where your brother works?"

She shook her head:

— I won't tell you without his permission. Ame-san, I'm not promising anything, but I'll talk to my brother.

— Thank you, Kazumi-san. I'll go then.

Yumiko escorted Kyoko out the door, washed the cups, sat down in the living room, and thought deeply.

***

Kyoko, who returned home quite late, did not find her younger sister, which was not surprising, but she was surprised to stumble upon the older one, who returned early from the university today.

— And what happened to my little sister? Her older sister began a little playfully.

— Aoi, you know Katari is at rehearsal, as usual. Kyoko attempted to slip away.

— And I'm not talking about Katari — Aoi looked at her quite seriously — I'm talking about you, my dear little sister Kyoko.

***

Hideki had just returned from a break. Twice a week, Mato-san, the owner of the workshop, spent the evening shift with him and spent part of his working time teaching him how to theoretically, for example, distinguish Korean—made alternators from almost the same-looking ones but well-made in China. And how to distinguish both from poorly made ones in China.

Plus, Mato-san allowed him to use the makiwara installed in the basement, and sometimes, he and Hideki's colleague in the dangerous auto mechanic business, Yamada, would arrange sparring under Mato-san's supervision. Without his presence, Mato-san forbade sparring, but he allowed makiwara or Gaijin pear to be used if there were no customers and at least one of them was at the counter. Anyway, as it seemed to Hideki, Mato-san himself respected Gaijin boxing more than local martial arts.

"You see, Hide-kun,— Mato-san said then, which greatly surprised Hideki, "you're heavy; you have a lot of mass.

"You mean fat,— shrugged Hideki, who had just earned the nickname Anpan-kun. He was rather indifferent to his fullness. The declarations of love stopped, but the bullying began. It did not come to full-fledged physical violence, but it was unpleasant. When the father saw his fat son, he only grimaced, but Hideki did not wait for anything except swearing and lamenting how his son became "like this." But Mato-san, who recently accepted him for a part-time job, asked what and how.

— If I wanted to say "fat," I would say "fat," and I said "heavy," in other words, having a lot of mass.

— And what's the difference? Hideki shrugged his shoulders in disbelief.

— How hard it is with you, especially if you haven't even studied natural science properly, let alone physics. Well, yes, I'll teach you that too, Hide-kun. Newton's second law, Hide-kun, says that force is equal to multiplying mass by acceleration. Acceleration is how fast the speed of movement changes, and you should already know what mass is. And what are the conclusions? What do you need to get more strength?

— Well, if this is a multiplication, then either this change in velocity must be either mass. Ah, got it, Mato-sensei.

"Enough of Mato—san; what kind of sensei am I to you, Hide-kun?" So, with your weight, chasing speed is useless so far; as I understand it, you are not going to lose weight.

"I'm sorry, Mato-san. Hideki bowed.

"It's all right, Hide-kun. And you will be able to escape from the offenders with great difficulty. But your weight is also your advantage, especially when you learn to put all your body weight into a punch. Well, or you'll get closer to this state of affairs. Then you have to learn not to miss. You won't make a professional boxer, and you don't want to. It is precisely because of the latter, basically, that it will not work.

"I understand, Mato-san.

Hideki only learned a few basic strokes. And it took only one response to stop the attempts at physical abuse. However, he had to wash his desk over and over again; he constantly cleaned out the trash from the locker and carried a change of shoes with him. And we talked to him in class only on business and after the teacher's instructions. But the jabs and "random" punches stopped, and Hideki was happy with at least that.

After graduating from high school, the bullying was limited to the nickname Anpan-kun and was addressed as "that fat man" and later "fat otaku."

But Hideki beat pear and makiwara more or less regularly.

"Hide—kun, what a pleasant surprise! Here, a cute classmate came to visit you and chat. Not your girlfriend, by any chance? Did I see you with her once?

Hideki looked up and almost cursed.

Surprises, as you know, are divided into those that are pleasant and such that it would be better if they did not exist at all. It was not necessary to guess whether he was somewhat pleasant or unpleasant. A girl came to visit him at work. Ex-girlfriend. Who became his girlfriend after a fake confession and has been trying ever since... what? To talk? Confess? Apologize? In addition, she found him in a not particularly neat state — right after training, flushed, only had time to wash his face and put his overalls back on. That is, an ex-girlfriend came to work for him, untidily dressed in a rough work jumpsuit, and became his girlfriend after a fake confession. Which part of it could even be considered a pleasant surprise?

— Good evening, Kazumi-san. — The girl who came to "visit" him was not in her school uniform, but she was also wearing the simplest clothes: a monochrome dark green dress, a light silver-gray jacket with a hood, and brown boots. No jewelry or makeup, unlike the ones they had met with her in what could be called dating situations. However, even in simple clothes and without makeup, Kyoko looked exceptionally cute. Hideki calmed himself down with difficulty. She's not interested in him; it's probably some situation to set him up again. He exhaled. Ame stared at him, still waiting for his reaction.

—Good evening,— Hideki managed to say. "You found me here, after all, Ame-san.

"There are no barriers for a maiden in love, Hide-kun," Mato—san grinned cheerfully, to which Hideki only winced. "Hide—kun, even here you couldn't hide from your girlfriend…

Hideki didn't have time to say anything. Kyoko was the first to react to his maxim.

"We are not in such a relationship, dear workshop owner," Kyoko bowed.

— Is that so? And why? Don't you like it, Hide-kun?

Hideki wanted to sink through the ground; how could Mato-san even ask such a rude and unethical question? Apparently, Mato-san spent too much time abroad after all. Even though he had no illusions about himself or Kyoko for a long time, to hear directly that she didn't like him was too cruel. He certainly did not expect this from Mato-san — he could not help but see how Hideki treated her — Mato-san's insight did not fail all the time that Hideki was familiar with that.

In complete silence, even Yamada-senpai, who was crying for something, shut up; Kyoko's answer sounded soft but clearly and clear, which does not allow any other interpretation:

— I like Hideki. I like it as a guy and someone I want to spend my whole life with.

No, it's not true, it can't be true, he definitely misheard! It couldn't be because it couldn't be!

But before Hideki, frozen in place, dumbfounded to utter amazement, managed to say a word, Mato-san continued the conversation:

— Ame-san, wasn't that too pretentious a statement for a little girl who would run away at the first difficulties, like the rejection of friends, the disapproval of relatives, or, over there, a dissatisfied and restless Hide-kun, — Mato—san turned and extremely impolitely pointed a finger at a surprised and not particularly pleased with the situation face Hideki (and he was unhappy that Kyoko, for some reason, had come to work for him, and now blurted out her confession in the company of work colleagues, that Mato-san himself, from scratch, had started extremely inappropriate embarrassing questions).

— Maybe it's too pretentious, — Kyoko grinned in front of her eyes, relaxing a little and becoming a young, self-confident, purposeful girl from a prickly lump of nerves. —But," she continued, less nervously than before but no less confidently, "My intentions are clear and open; I'm not going to change them, and Hideki—kun will definitely fall in love with me!"

Hideki was silent from such revelations; he couldn't find anything to say. But Mato-san didn't even pause.

"Okay, I have one last question for you, Kyoko—chan," Mato-san's slightly changed attitude could already be understood from the changed address, "but we will discuss this issue without witnesses in my office, "hush, hush Hide—kun, you are not a witness, but an interested person, Kyoko-chan and I will talk in your presence.

—Kyoko-chan," Mato—san began when he, Kyoko, and Hideki were in his office, "Are you aware of Hideki-san's complicated relationship with his relatives?"

Kyoko nodded silently, her face taking on a rather gloomy expression.

"Kyoko—chan, I won't say anything about Hideki-san's parents, but only out of politeness.

Hideki blushed but said nothing.

— He has a wonderful sister! Kyoko retorted a little hotly.

—That's right," Mato—san sighed, but apparently, he found some remnants of decency somewhere and did not pursue the topic.

There was the sound of a car approaching in the courtyard; Yamada—senpai's conversation was almost a scream; Yamada babbled something again and screamed again.

— It looks like you should help Yamada-kun; talk without me for now.

The door closed behind Mato-san, and Kyoko and Hideki were left alone. The lock clicked in private. They were also locked up.

Hideki sat a little to the side of Kyoko, looked at the wall behind Mato-san's chair, and was silent.

Kyoko shot him glances from time to time but did not interrupt his thoughts.

Finally, Hideki took a deep breath, looked at Kyoko, and, clearly forcing himself, said:

"Ame—san, please tell me again, what do you want from me?"

For some reason, talking without Mato-san, who was actually a stranger, was three times more difficult, but Kyoko gathered her strength and finally exhaled:

— Hideki Kazumi-san! I like you, and I want to date you!

— Kyoko Ame-san! I really liked you, but I don't believe you now, and I can't date you. — There was an immediate response to another confession.

Ame didn't really hope for another answer, although... after Hideki's words, she even got another piece of information and decided to ask again:

"Did you like me, Hideki—kun?" She secretly hoped that Hideki would also change his address to a closer one, but this did not happen.

—Yes, Ame-cha... san," Hideki—kun said quietly and confidently, more sad than angry.

—I see," Kyoko said, just as quietly but much more calmly than during her confession.

She got up from her seat, walked behind Mato-san's desk, where Hideki's gaze was still directed, and pushed her chair aside. She swayed from side to side and made a quick turn around her axis, which caused her skirt to rise slightly, revealing a view of her legs in white stockings, to which Hideki immediately stuck his gaze. Kyoko quite caught this look, smiled, and voiced her conclusion:

"So I'm your type, Hideki—kun?"

Hideki-kun did not correct the overly familiar address, and this time, he did not. However, as well as switching to a closer appeal yourself. He didn't deny it either and just nodded curtly.

"So," she came to a logical conclusion for herself and unexpected for Hideki, "there's nothing wrong with you going on dates with me?"

Hideki's dumbfounded expression demanded clarification, and Kyoko continued:

— They go on dates to get to know each other better, and not necessarily couples who are already in a relationship. Please get to know me better, Hideki-kun, and eventually, you can start to trust me.

And Hideki thought:

"And what does he lose?"

After a day and a half, tied to a chair in a dusty room, beaten and so abandoned, he was no longer quite sure that his course of action was correct

My head was pounding:

"How? Why? And most importantly, for what?!"