Anju Khanna 4

We got to the karaoke and immediately find out some good news and bad news:

· The bad one: it's closed.

· The good one: it opens at 10 am—in less than an hour.

"And now what?" asks Ino Yamamoto.

"Well, let's check our options," I say, "we can:

· Stay here and:

· Talk about:

· The course ANIME LIFE's going to take;

· Things our classmates like and we could do at ANIME LIFE, like:

· Go out somewhere—even though I've never gone out with friends, and that's one of the reasons I've organized this. Wait. Does this means we're already friends? Or is it too soon? What's the process we have to follow to become friends? What's the difference between being friends and not being friends? Is it really important to make friends? Sorry, it's just the concept of friendship is too abstract and obscure to me. But anyway. We can also:

· Play videogames—some of my classmates talk a lot about them. They seem fun.

· Go to group dates—"

"Um…" says Sotoka-chan. "We're not doing that."

"Why not?" I ask. "My classmates talk a lot about them—and despite that I don't know what's its objective because I've never been in one, and that's because 1) honestly, I'm not very interested in social activities; 2) I surely wouldn't know anyone there, so I'd be really uncomfortable there; and 3) no one has ever invited me."

"Don't worry about it. They're so uncomfortable, to be honest, so, I don't know, let's never do anything like that."

"Ok, I guess. So, continuing with my list, we can also:

· Stay here and:

· Talk about:

· Ideas to recruit the last member;

· Us, to get to know us;

· Some topic you're interested in;

· Etcetera.

· Or we could play a game like:

· Rock, paper, scissors;

· That one were you have to move your hand away before the other player hits them—even though that game seems too painful, and I don't get what's the satisfaction of playing something like that;

· That game were you have to say three thing about you; two are true and one's a lie, and the other player has to guess which one's the lie, or:

· Etcetera—I don't know any more games.

· We could also tell each other:

· Jokes;

· Stories;

· Etcetera.

· Or we could walk through the mall and:

· Find some place open and spend out time there.

· Or go somewhere else like:

· A park;

· A restaurant—I already ate, but I don't know if you're hungry, even though there's lots of food at Izumi's place, but there's no way we get back there now.

· Etcetera.

"We'd better stay here, right?" Hamano-san interrupts me, and I get it; she'd already chose an option, so there was no need to hear the rest.

"Let's see what's open. Come, Sotoka-chan," Izumi Natsumura takes Hamano-san by the hand, and she runs away.

"Wait, Izumi, stop running," Hamano-san has no option but start running to.

Their footsteps are heard throughout the mall; practically we're the only people there, with the obvious exception of the open store's clerks—if there are this early— and:

"Hey, you two, don't run in the hallways!" probably a security guard yells.

"Ha," laughs Ino Yamamoto. "Was that Nagai-san or what?" She tells me with a smile and raises her hand for a high five.

And I give it one, but:

"I don't know who's Nagai-san," I tell her.

"Oh…" her smile immediately dissapears, "you'll meet her later."

"Yeah, it's probable," I reply. "Everything's probable."

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"So," I tell Ino Yamamoto so get rid of that uncomfortable silence. "You like music? What is written on your T-shirt—Disintegration—is the name of a band, right?"

"Yes, you heard it?" she asks, and it's a real shame because now I'm obliged to disappoint her.

"Not really; I mean, is a name I've seen many times in band lists like Top 50 best bands of the last decade, but I've never listened to them."

"You should; they're pretty good. I recommend you their albums Ain't calling the cops and God is somewhere but here. They're my favorites. Wait. You like music? Really? Isn't it too irrational for you or something?

"No, in fact, I find music incredibly fascinating: did you know there only exist twelve different notes—well, without counting the musical notation systems but the occidental one? This means most songs are not but different iterations of this twelve same notes—and yes, many other factors also play a role, such as time signatures, duration of each note, bpm, instruments used, silence, different octaves, and a very long etcetera that make it almost obvious that there are an infinity of possible iterations, but even so the main element of the song is the notes, and there are only twelve, therefore the different iterations should be very similar to each other, but they are not; there are countless bands and songs that sound quite unique, and there's new musical sub-genres and sub-sub-genres and sub-sub-sub-genres and so on are constantly being created.

"That's why I think music's one of the best type of art ever because it contains the beauty of math and probability and presents it in an enjoyable way, even though sound's still abstract, but you get what I mean, right?

"Ah… yeah, sure, same here or whatever. Anyway, listen to Disintegration.

"Ok, I'll search those albums you recommended."

"Ok."

"Ok."

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"And which bands do you listen to?" Ino Yamamoto asks me, and that's a great question—I hope I thought about it earlier so we could get rid of that uncomfortable silence.

"Well, I like—

"Almost all stores are closed," Hamano-san interrumpts me with some good/bad news—and that's good/bad news becaus the fact stores are closed is bad news, but the fact almost all are closed means some are open, and that's good news.

"And we got scolded for running," says Izumi Natsumura, but this is neither good nor bad news; it's just something we already know.

"And whose fault is it?" asks Ino Yamamoto even though we all probably should know the answer.

But if she needed to ask maybe is because she doesn't know. But why wouldn't she? We saw Izumi Natsumura ran away while she dragged Hamano-san with her.

Maybe she doesn't remember.

Or maybe she was distract when it happen.

But, anyway, this doesn't affect me, and if she had that question, she already asked it. Why do I worry about it?

"Is his fault, obviously," replies Izumi Natsumura. "No one's here, so we're not gonna stumble with anyone, and if we stumble against ourselves, it's our fault, why would he care?" I completely agree with you, Izumi Natsumura.

Completely agree.

"He just scolded us 'cause he's a nuisance."

"Just don't run here," says Hamano-san. "It's not like we're in a hurry," I completely agree with you too, Hamano-san.

"But if he hadn't scold us, nothing would have happened, and it's not like he's being watched now that no one's here," again, I completely agree with you, Izumi Natsumura.

How is it possible that two people using seemingly perfect logic can reach such different conclusions?

"Oh, Izumi," says Ino Yamamoto, "you're really a dumb one, you know."

"Shut up, Ino. No one asked you," Izumi Natsumura waves her hands frenetically and yells at Ino Yamamoto, "and why don't you mind your own business? Get a life 'cause I'm so tires of you—

"If you'd walked instead of ran, you'd been longer alone and holding hands with Sotoka-san."

Izumi Natsumura is completely stunned by this latest statement, but after a moment she yells:

"No one asked you!"

"It would have been a nice walk at the mall. But you missed your chance. A real shame," Ino Yamamoto shrugs.

And yes, what Ino Yamamoto said is true, but why does it matter? Why did she suggested that Izumi Natsumura could have been longer alone and holding hands with Hamano-san? But, now that I think about it, Izumi Natsumura and Ino Yamamoto seem very close to each other, and, I mean, I just met them yesterday, but it's obvious the dynamic between those two is fairly peculiar—but I'm not very well suited for these topics, to be honest. Could it be that…?

"You're a couple or something?" I ask, and the girls turn towards me and react in very different ways:

First, Ino Yamamoto laughs until her face turns completely red.

Second, Izumi Natsumura looks at me puzzled and says:

"What? Where do you get something like that? Yes, Sotoka-chan's my bestest friend ever in this goddamned universe, and I daisuki her so much, and I love to hug her and take her by the hand and be with her as much as I love anime and manga, and we are both gonna be together forever and ever, but what does this have to do with couples?"

And, third, Hamano-san gets real mad and tells me:

"What's wrong with you? Just because Izumi-san—

"CHAN! CALL ME IZUMI-CHA—

"Not now," Hamano-san warns Izumi Natsumura with her words and a cold and hostile glance. Izumi Natsumura—as Ino Yamamoto and I—remains surprised and silent.

"Just because Izumi-san holds my hand you think we're a couple? Just because she approaches me and talks to me we're a couple? Because that's how it works: if I talk to someone or even look at him—or her—that means I'm seducing him—or her—right? Fuck off! I'm just kind, and if I'm talking to you it's just because you're talking to me, in the first place, because if not, I would never be talking to you! So I'm sorry to be kind and not a total bitch—

"YAMETE, SOTOKA-CHAN!" Izumi Natsumura hugs Hamano-san with all her strenght. "SHE ONLY SAID THAT BECAUSE SHE'S MEAN AND SHE HATES ME, BUT I HATE HER EVEN MORE 'CAUSE IT MADE YOU MAD, AND NO ONE MAKES MY SOTOKA-CHAN MAD!" so Izumi Natsumura, without letting go of Hamano-san at any moment, turns towards me and glares at me. "KIRAI, DAIKIRAI, SHINU! I WISH WE'VE NEVER LET YOU IN OUR CLUB, AND I WISH WE'VE NEVER MET, AND I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU…"

What's going on? Why those two suddenly hate me? Yes, love is something as complicated as irrational and incomprehensible, but I just made a simple question, one that could be answered with a 'yes' or a 'no', so why are they telling me all this weird stuff I never asked for. And why did Izumi Natsumura call me mean? I just made a question, so am I mean for asking questions? That doesn't make any sense, even though questions often make people uncomfortable, especially the ones about lo—

"Just shut up, all of you," Ino Yamamoto puts herself between Izumi Natsumura/Hamano-san and me. Her face's still red. "Izumi, no one hastes you. Khanna-san's just dumb; that's why she asked that."

What? Me dumb? Well, I've never considered myself dumb, but, since I do not understand anything of what happens, I might me—the possibility exist and always had been, but because I'm a way more rational person that any other I've never considered this possibility as worth considering, which has pretty foolish, now that I think about it.

But yeah, it's most likely I'm a bit dumb—and that's understandable: there's a lot of things I don't know or even understand, and that's ok; it's impossible to know everything, or the 1% of everything, but there's a lot of people who know way less than I do.

Anyway, Ino Yamamoto's still talking:

"Sotoka-san, you and Izumi sometimes look like a couple, or something even weirder. And Khanna-san's dumb; she didn't mean it. But I'd also get mad if someone asked me if I'm Izumi's couple or something. Gross."

Ino Yamamoto turns towards me and points at me.

"And you, Khanna-san, nobody likes nosy people, and nothing we do here makes much sense, so don't ask that much."

"I can't do that," I say. "I need to ask questions to understand thing better, and even though I won't always receive an answer, at least is way more probable to get one when I ask."

"What?" Ino Yamamoto seems a little confused.

"I said I'm going to keep asking even thou—

"Khanna-san…" says Hamano-san.

I turn towards her, and I find her way closer than before.

She's staring and me.

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And she bows.

"I'm sorry, Khanna-san, I'm sorry, it's just that, I don't know, people always mistakes my kindness for flirting, and I, I don't know, just want them to leave me alone. But, anyway, sorry again for everything, and don't hate her, Izumi-chan, she's not a bad person. I am."

"No, Sotoka-chan, you're not a bad person! She is!"

"She's not," says Hamano-san still bowing.

"But she is," replies Izumi Natsumura.

"Are you calling me liar?"

"But she is."

"Apologize to her."

Izumi Natsumura puts a pouty face.

"But she is," she whispers.

Hamano-san grabs Izumi Natsumura by the back of her head and pushes it down.

"But it was me who caused all this. I'm sorry," I say and bow accordingly.

"I don't regret anything," says Ino Yamamoto, and it's the only one who's now bowing right now. "But let's go somewhere else. What's open?"

Hamano-san, Izumi Natsumura and I stop bowing.

"Milton's and Crawford CP," says Hamano-san. Milton's and Crawford CP are both department stores, so they are the perfect place to spend our time until 10 am. "Milton's right here. Let's go."

"Come, Sotoka-chan!" Izumi Natsumura takes Hamano-san by the hand and runs away, but stops.

"Let's walk instead," she says, and they both walk towards Milton's.

Ino Yamamoto goes after them, but I stop her by putting my arm on the shoulder.

"So, are they a couple or not?" I whisper to her.

Ino Yamamoto smiles, shrugs and keeps walking.

I go after her.

"Is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?"

She shrugs and keeps walking.

"Why don't you answer me?"

She shrugs and keeps walking.

"Ino Yamamoto?"

She shrugs and keeps walking.

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This doesn't make any sense.