Katou Shigeaki:「Pocket」| Part 2
Extracted from Ikitakunai - Katou Shigeaki "Pocket"
Ever since then, I had been curious as to what he was about to complete. Something that can't be completed even in a duration of a month. There's many things that fit that description. Moreover, I didn't know much about Mochisugi's likes or hobbies, so it was hard to narrow down the possibilities. Which is why I had set my mind on asking for an answer if Mochisugi were to come to school again one day.
He dully rejected my offer with, "I brought my own bento". As I egged him saying, "That's fine too, but I just want you to hang out with me", he eventually gave in and said okay.
I ordered a pork cutlet napolitan from the cafeteria, and sat myself across from Mochisugi. Mochisugi's bento had a lot of side dishes and was filled with colours. He put the food brimming with his mother's happiness into his mouth, seeming as though he thought nothing of it.
"Did you finish it?"
I immediately demanded an answer.
"Yes"
Mochisugi stuffed his cheeks with tamagoyaki. That cross-section seemed very similar to the geological formation we learnt in earth sciences during 4th period.
"I've been curious about it since then, but what did you complete?"
Mochisugi's hands stopped for a moment.
"I don't want to say it."
With that said, he picked up a cherry tomato with his chopsticks this time.
"I tried thinking about it in my perspective. The first thing that came to mind was an piece of artwork. Like a sculpture or clay. Or illustrations or manga. I also thought it could be plastic models, but I don't think it'd take up to a month."
"Plastic models take time too."
"So it's plastic models?"
"No"
The cafeteria's pork cutlet napolitan had a very junk food-like taste, without a trace of delicacy at all. But the only reason I ordered it was because of how well the addictive sweetness of the ketchup goes with the fat and oil of the pork cutlet, and most of the students in the cafeteria ordered this pork cutlet napolitan as well.
"Or it could perhaps be something completely unrelated to physics at all"
"Heh, what do you mean by that?"
"Something like completion of the soul?"
"Sounds like something religious"
"Like a trip in pursuit of knowledge"
"If that took only a month to finish, it doesn't seem that big of a deal."
"Then a diet"
"You've got to be kidding me, to skip school just for a diet. You can tell it's not that just by looking at me, right"
Mochisugi let out a small chuckle, and mumbled, "You think of such interesting things".
"I properly did something. And finished it."
"Are you not gonna tell me what it is no matter what?"
"I get it," Mochisugi said, and pulled out something like a name card out of his pocket.
"If you come here tonight, you'll find out. 8 p.m."
On the card, "Archivist" was written.
Lastly, I asked Mochisugi, "Will you come to school from tomorrow onwards?". "Probably. But I'm not sure. It might depend on tonight," he answered.
After lunch, I parted ways with Mochisugi and called my workplace. I lied to them saying I was unwell and had to go to the hospital, and the shop owner said okay without any hesitation. I felt like there wasn't any difference whether I was there or not.
In the end, I skipped work not for Ann's sake, but to go to "Archivist". But for things to turn out in Ann's favour could be because of her magic - or curse, I might call it. Ann has that side of her. As I thought, I don't wanna go.
When Mochisugi was appointed to be in charge of homeroom, I glanced at him, but he didn't say anything. He greeted me as per normal, and lessons came to an end. I wanted to talk to him one more time, but he had left the classroom in a hurry.
Ann had just missed him at the door, and asked with her eyes wide, "I heard Mochisugi came to school?!"
"Yeah"
"Why?"
"I wonder"
"Didn't you ask?"
"He wouldn't tell me"
"So you asked him. As expected of Jousuke. Shall we go then," Ann said as she took me by the arm and forcefully pulled me up from my seat. It was obvious from her strength that she wouldn't let go no matter what, so I lost my motivation to fight back.
As we left the school entrance, we could hear the sound of volleyballs being spiked from the gym, and Ann shot me a puzzled look.
"I haven't been going recently"
Ann let go of me, and pretended to serve a ball as she asked, "Why?"
"I took a break because I was studying for tests, so it was hard to show up"
I received her air ball.
"They're gonna lose without Jousuke, at the farewell match"
Ann lightly bent her arms, and tossed the ball.
I didn't feel anything towards the mention of the farewell match. Even though I had been a member of the volleyball club for 5 years, when I took a break from it, I began wondering why I was even doing volleyball in the first place. I'm sure the life I would've lived with and without volleyball would be exactly the same. With that in mind, my motivation towards volleyball disappeared into thin air.
I spiked the ball that Ann had tossed with all my might. At the same time, Ann jumped with her arms up, shouting, "Block!"
"Were we not on the same team?"
I could still hear the sound of the balls hitting the floor from afar.
Thanks to Ann, the sense of guilt I've been suppressing all this time had resurfaced. I felt like what I should've done today wasn't my part-time job nor skipping it to go with Ann, but to be in the gym playing volleyball.
"As I thought, won't you be able to go by yourself?"
"Ehh, why did it come to that?"
Ann pulled my shirttail in an attempt to beg me. Even if she did that, it had no effect on me. Without knowing that, Ann had always acted haphazardly.
"Why are you breaking up?"
"Eh?"
It was more unbelievable that she now had such a defenseless look on her face.
"Did he do something bad to you?"
I don't know anything about Ann's boyfriend. I didn't ask her about him either. Ann reports to me every time she gets a boyfriend, but that's something she does on her own accord, so I have nothing to say about that. Ever since we entered middle school, Ann had been getting boyfriends here and there, the complete opposite of me, and I've never got hyped up at the topic of romance. In the first place, it was impossible for me to understand Ann's love life, and she thinks it's boring to talk to me about it. That's why it's unexpected that she came to me with this request.
"Not at all. He's a really nice person"
Ann's bag has a lot of character keychains on it, and they knock against each other every time she moves.
"But I feel like I've cut off this relationship with him"
"Cut off?"
"Yep, like to complete it. Take a flower for example, it blooms, bears fruit, but eventually wilts right"
My heart skipped a beat at the coincidental overlap of the word, "complete".
"But you could just continue it right"
"He's not that kind of partner"
"Heh~"
"Jousuke hasn't had anyone he likes so he wouldn't know"
I can't compare my emotions to other people, so I can't pinpoint whether I've had anyone I liked or not. I generally like everyone I meet, and dislike only a fraction of people, but it doesn't make sense to have this conversation now, plus Ann wouldn't want to have this conversation either, so I kept quiet.
We arrived at an ordinary park that had a sand pit, a horizontal bar and a slide, right in the middle of town. It felt like a leftover park that was a place for drunkards to sleep at, and one where high-school students wouldn't go near to.
"I'm thinking of talking it out with him here"
Ann sat herself on the bench and said, "See, our classmates wouldn't come here, so the chance of being spotted is low, and," she pointed to somewhere. It was a cafe on the second floor of the building next door.
"If you sit there, you can see this spot directly. And there's WiFi too."
"WiFi?"
"You won't be able to see that clearly from there, so I'll be connecting a mobile television. Be sure to watch me okay"
Ann then took a look around and said, "This angle seems good," as if she were taking photos of flowers.
"Will it really go that well?"
"It's okay, I'll leave my phone here so"
She put her phone in the outer pocket of her bag, and the camera jutted out perfectly.
"The WiFi from the cafe can reach here too, so go set up the settings of the mobile television and connect it"
I called Ann's phone using a video call application. The screen showed a part of Ann's shoulder. When I showed her that, she adjusted the placement of her bag with, "A little more like this maybe".
"Jousuke, sit beside me"
I sat in the seat that her boyfriend would be in. We eventually found an angle that could capture our faces and everything above our waist, and went with that.
"Ann, your hair blocks your face in this angle"
"But if I tie up my hair, it'll show this-"
She lifted up her hair, revealing a wireless earpiece.
"This comes with a microphone too. If I left my bag there, it may not be able to pick up our voices so"
I find myself surprised once again that Ann had prepared so much for this.
"But I do want you to see my face too though. Maybe I'll do this"
With that said, she took off her earpiece and stuffed it in the knot of her necktie. It looked more natural than I thought, with the knot a bit bigger.
"Try and see if you can hear me like this"
I took the phone and walked away from Ann, far enough so I don't hear her directly, and put the phone to my ear. Once I gave the okay signal, I heard her voice of, "Truant Jousuke-kun". As I returned to the bench, I replied with, "As I thought, I should've went to work or volleyball today".
"Don't say that. That's all for now I guess. Make sure you properly listen to the flow of the conversation too okay."
Ann tied her long brown hair with a hair tie. Seeing her bare chin, it reminded me of when my biology teacher said that human chins are getting thinner because people in the modern age are eating less hard food. But I remember Ann eating unbelievably hard rice crackers without any problems since we were young. I touched my own chin, and realised it was thinner than Ann's. Perhaps there is another reason that more people are having thin chins. I was about to search it up on the net, but screen of the phone in my hand had me and Ann reflected on it. The setting sun painted our faces red.
I found it a little weird to easily accept the fact that I'm reflected on the screen of the phone in my own hand. But more importantly, it was more unusual that I'm sitting in the seat of Ann's boyfriend, and I'm about to watch them break up.
"The meeting time is 6 p.m., but what time is it now?"
With the mobile television was still connected, I checked my phone and it showed 5:49 p.m.
"It's almost time huh"
"You're right, I think he'll arrive right on the dot, so you should start making your way to the cafe"
"On the dot huh. He's quite a firm person then"
I climbed the stairs to the second floor, and people were scattered around the place, but there was one seat right by the window. I put down my bag, and went to order a cafe latte. While waiting for it to be prepared, I looked around the cafe. There was a man that seemed like a university student reading a book. His facial features didn't seem Japanese. He had a gold ring on his pinky finger. Perhaps he had noticed my gaze, but he looked up at me. When our eyes met, he smiled. I panicked and nodded slightly, but he looked at his watch and left the cafe. He had more than half of his coffee left.
Once I returned to my seat, I plugged in my earphones and immediately heard Ann's voice saying, "Good work". I can see Ann through the window. As I looked beyond that, the man from just now can be seen walking towards the bench.