I grabbed my stuff, tossed enough money on the table to cover the mess, and got out of there fast. Out on the street, my eyes darted around until I spotted her. Sena was already a block ahead, moving stiff and angry, shoulders scrunched up like she wanted to disappear.
The streetlights stretched her shadow way out behind her, made her look smaller than she ever lets herself be. That fragile look didn't belong to her, not really.
"Sena, wait!"
"Just leave me alone!" she yells over her shoulder. Even from here, her voice stings. She picks up speed, disappears around the corner, and I'm left standing there on the sidewalk, feeling stupid.
I ran as fast as I could to catch up with her, who was now standing on the bridge in the middle of the sunset. When I caught up with her, I grabbed her hand.
"Sena, come on, just listen—"
She brushed my hand away with eyes shining from tears she's trying to hide. That tough act of hers? Gone. "Don't touch me! I don't want to see you anymore!"
She walks off, stiff-backed, never looking back. Her footsteps fade into the noise of the city, and suddenly the bridge feels emptier than I thought possible. The air's colder. The city lights out there just make it feel even lonelier.
What a drama queen. She was the one who blackmailed me, and when I spit her a few facts, she was the one who got hurt, as if I were the villain. Excuse me? Did I miss acting class or something?
Forget it. I'm not apologizing. Better to get home while I can, before she changes her mind and tries to pull something else.
I walked home alone, trying not to let my mind be burdened by all these. I still have a better things to think about. I should getting up early and making it to sensei's office before she's pissed off again.
The second I get home, I collapse onto my bed.
I thought I would fall asleep right away. But in fact, I can't stop staring at the ceiling. Everything about today's events keeps spinning around in my mind in an illogical way. No matter how much I want to shrug it off, something keeps nagging at me. Sena's face when she walked away, the way her voice cracked, it sticks with me more than I'd like to admit.
The room feels unusually quiet, almost suffocating. My phone sits on the bedside table, a silent reminder of the unresolved tension.
Hmm…
I don't like this feeling.
Without realized it, I already grab the phone and staring at Sena's number.
Should I call her?
Should I say I'm sorry?
…
…
Nah. This was Sena we were talking about. If I called her now, she'd just turn it into a joke at my expense. I could already hear her, all smug. "Oh, were you worried about me, Romi? How pathetic. You're totally in love with me, aren't you?"
Just thinking about it made my skin crawl. I wasn't about to hand her that victory. By tomorrow, she'd be back to her usual self, finding new ways to mess with me and laughing about it. I went to bed telling myself she'd be fine.
Next morning, I woke up way earlier than usual. Didn't want sensei on my case, so I rushed through getting ready. I actually felt kind of excited about the day, until I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Yikes. Panda eyes, wrinkly skin, hair all over the place. What the hell? I could've sworn I slept fine, but I look like an archaeologist who just came out of a pharaoh's tomb. And on top of that, I felt both exhausted and weirdly wired. Something was definitely off.
But whatever. I dragged myself to school and showed up at the faculty office ten minutes ahead of schedule.
"Ah, good morning, Romi. You're on time—wait, what happened to you? You look exhausted. Is everything alright?" Sensei gave me that look. She was as put-together as always: black stockings, black pencil skirt, and today, a pink blouse instead of the usual white one. Still just as tight, hugging her figure like it was tailored for her. Not that I was staring. I remembered her blouse ripped yesterday—guess she wasn't risking that again.
"Do I really look that bad?" I checked the window's reflection. And I found a devil. "I'm fine, Sensei. Just didn't sleep well. Let's get started."
"Really? You can rest for a bit if you need it."
"Nah, I'm good. Let's just get this over with—we've got class soon."
She seemed to get that I didn't want to talk about it, so she nodded and handed me a stack of stuff to organize. An hour later, I'd finished all my assistant work and asked if I could head to class.
When I got to my classroom door, there she was. Sena. Just standing there. The air felt heavy and weird.
"Hey, Sena… morning…" I mumbled.
She didn't even look at me. Her eyes, usually burning with mischief, looked flat and empty. She seemed just as tired as I felt. She brushed past me, her arm icy against mine, and went straight to her seat. No greeting, no mocking, no laughing. Just nothing. She just dumped her bag and dove into a book.
I slunk over to my own seat. Kato was already there, watching us like she was witnessing a car crash in slow motion.
"Is everything… okay?" Kato whispered.
"Everything's fine," I said, probably a little too sharp. "Seriously, don't worry about it."
Kato kept glancing between me and Sena, her eyes sharp, like she was piecing together a puzzle. She leaned in, voice low. "Come on, Romi. Something happened between you two, right? These last two days have been chaotic for some reason. You can't just say it's fine when it's clearly not."
"Why don't you ask her instead?" I jerked my chin at Sena.
Kato tried. "Sena? Are you okay?"
Sena didn't move. She just gripped her book so tight the pages started crumpling. The silence in the room got thick to squeeze.
Then the classroom door slid open. Hasegawa walked in, and the whole room quieted. Her pink blouse, though a deviation from her usual white, is indeed fitted, accentuating her figure with professional elegance. She moves with an air of composed authority, her gaze sweeping across the room.
"Good morning, class." Her gaze landed on Sena, still buried in her book. "Sena. Is everything alright? You seem… very focused this morning."
Sena didn't even look up. "I'm fine," she said, totally flat.
"If you say so." Hasegawa grabbed a stack of papers, eyes lingering on Sena for a moment. She walked over and set a sheet down hard on Sena's desk. "Your assignment from yesterday. Only half done."
Sena's head snapped up, a flash of her old attitude. "What?! But Sensei, I thought—"
"I told you yesterday: one hundred questions. You did fifty. That leaves fifty more, due by the end of today. And no more excuses. Finish it today, or I'll double it."
Hasegawa shut down any argument, just like that. Sena slumped in her seat, groaning like she was dying. "You've got to be kidding me."
Class finally started. Chalk scratched across the board as Hasegawa wrote a complex mathematical equations. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Sena scribbling like mad, erasing so hard I thought she'd tear through the paper. I felt a sharp jab of guilt. It sucked seeing her like this.
I leaned back and whispered, "Hey, Sena. If you want help with the rest after class, just let me know."
Sena's pencil stopped. She looked up at me, and for a split second, I saw a flash of something soft in her eyes—maybe hope, or maybe just surprise. But it vanished as quickly as it came, replaced by a wall of pure spite.
"Fuck off, Romi!" she hissed, her voice trembling. "Stop talking to me. I don't want to hear anything from you."