CHAPTER 7 - October Occasions (2)

[MOTHER AND DAUGHTER]

Rinka's exam papers shook in her mother's clutch before slamming them on the table. "I thought you were getting better from your first-semester finals. Now, you have taken a step back!" she yelled furiously.

The young girl turned away in disgrace with her right hand on her left elbow. The results of their midterms were expected due to the time spent in labor – instead of studying – as penance for the old principal whom they had caused to be hospitalized. But the feeling of disappointment still did not escape the Class 3-E students and their teachers. Including their parents.

"Aren't you going to say something? You're always like this. You don't care about your studies even after all the work I've done for you," her mother rattled, eyes filled with disgust and fury.

'No, that is not true,' Rinka thought woefully.

After her mother was done eating, she rushed back into her room, leaving her daughter alone. Rinka cleaned up the dishes, as she always did, when hot liquid trickled down her cheeks. A heavy feeling settled in her chest as her meager sobs were drowned by the gush of water coming from the faucet.

At the present moment, she craved for someone's presence – his comfort.

She briskly made her way to her bedroom and put on her cardigan. Then, taking her phone, she summoned Ritsu on the screen.

***

10:15 pm. The doorbell rang.

While in the middle of doing homework, Chiba heaved up from the floor of the living room to greet the unprecedented guest. After swinging the door open, the person behind took him by surprise.

Her pigtails were missing with her eyes slightly red and swollen. Her hands were empty except for her phone, which meant that she had come here out of a hurry despite the distance of their homes.

He pursed his lips before positing, "What are you doing here?"

She folded her arms as lines etched in between her eyebrows. "I did not know what to do, so I asked Ritsu for your address," she answered vaguely.

"Ryuu, who is that?"

He looked over his shoulder to see his mother peeking out from the kitchen whose pupils dilated at the sight of a girl – her son's age – standing at the main door.

"Is she your girlfriend?" she piped as she hurried towards them.

"No," he replied shortly, being clueless on how to explain a classmate's sudden visit to their house in the middle of the night.

So Hayami did it in his stead. "Good evening. My name is Hayami Rinka, Chiba-kun's classmate. I want to discuss something with your son, so I'm sorry for intruding in your home." As a greeting, she bowed down politely.

His mother smiled tender-heartedly. "Come inside, Hayami." She started to walk towards the living room as Chiba stepped aside to let his guest in.

Eyes straight ahead, Hayami followed his mother. Moments ago she was feeling overwrought, aware that she would be in trouble for leaving the house at this hour, although she turned calm upon seeing him and briefly engaging with his considerate mother.

Chiba had taken a seat on the couch when she sat down beside him. His mother remained standing by the doorway as she asked, "Do you want some tea?"

"No, thank you. I won't be here for long."

The slight uneasiness on the young girl's face made his mother ask, "Do your parents know that you're here?"

When those emerald eyes had darted away, she connected some of the dots. "I'll leave you two alone then," she said before disappearing out of the room with Hayami's gaze following her.

"Your mother is kind," Hayami proclaimed as she looked at him.

He knew that this was not the time to talk about his family. He turned towards her and asked in a fruity tone, "What happened?"

She could not remember the last time she opened her troubles to someone else. Although it was difficult to find the right words, she still made the effort of letting them out while he listened intently. Because of that, a weight was lifted off her chest.

"I know how you feel," he began to say. "But that doesn't mean we should continue to shoulder everything by ourselves. Remember what Korosensei has told us?" When she had bobbed her head, he continued, "We can't stop everyone from worrying over us especially our family. That's why the least we can do is to let them know what we feel and to share our troubles with them."

In the past, he had kept everything to himself from his family, which put a barrier between them. That's why they never understood him back then until Korosensei taught him a lesson in Okinawa when they were facing Gastro. It was because he started placing his trust in other people that he was able to open up to his parents.

He knew that she would have to do the same. If only she would take the first step.

While she kept silent, he carried further, "Why don't you tell your mother what you told me? It's what you have been feeling all this time, right?"

"Won't she be bothered by it?" she asked quietly.

"That's because she cares. I'm sure she still wants to know how you feel despite that." He gave her a smile that was identical to that of his mother.

Her apathetic face broke down as she said in a mellow tone, "Thank you, Chiba" with the corners of her mouth curved up. Looking relaxed unlike before, she stood up from her seat.

"It's time for me to go back. I should greet your mother before I leave."

***

It was already a norm for the sniper duo to not say something whenever they walk together. Instead, they wallowed into each other's presence, the darkness enveloping their surroundings and the footsteps on the ground bringing them into shallow serenity.

They were on their way to the bus stop when Rinka noticed an all-too-familiar silhouette walking in their direction. Her feet became frozen into place.

"Rinka?" The figure broke into a jog, now coming closer.

It was her mother.

"Mom..." She was about to apologize for running away when she was cut off with a tight embrace.

Her mother blurted, "I was so worried when I couldn't find you in the house. I thought something happened to you!" Then tears sprung out from her eyes, which were emerald, like the ones that her daughter has.

"When I called, your homeroom teacher said that you would be here," she added. "It was odd though because I thought his voice has changed."

'That was definitely Korosensei, not Karasuma-sensei,' the two snipers thought at the same time.

She pulled away and straightened her back before wiping her cheeks. She was wearing an expression that Rinka had never seen since her father's death – a gentle one.

"I'm glad that you are okay." Her eyes darted to the quiet boy with bangs covering half of his face. "So you went to your boyfriend's house?" she queried.

"He's not my boyfriend. He's my classmate, Chiba Ryuunosuke," Rinka stated a bit sheepishly. Somehow, she's feeling nervous at the fact that her mother was meeting him right now.

Her mother dipped her head at the said boy. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter. I'm sorry for the trouble," she said.

This made Chiba feel self-conscious and humbled. With this, he returned the gesture with a small bow as he replied, "It is no trouble at all."

After that, both the mother and daughter bid their goodbyes to him. With a wave, he watched their retreating figures, mulling over the fact that the two were so alike although the other one was already grown-up and has straight hair. He also hoped that they would be able to smooth things out between them as he had with his family.

***

Because it was almost midnight, there were only two passengers on the bus when they had climbed in. And yet, the mother and daughter settled themselves on the back row.

"I feel terrible for being so harsh on you all this time," her mother began to say. "After your father died, you were still young back then, so I have to do everything myself. I thought that giving you the basic needs and the best education would be enough, but I guess I have forgotten that a child also needs other things –"

She glanced at her daughter with her eyes becoming misty "– like mother's love."

Then she heaved out a long sigh as she faced forward. She said further, "I have been taking out my stress and pressure on you. I thought that I'm failing as a parent since I don't know what you're thinking or feeling."

Rinka's eyebrows drew together. "I'm sorry for not telling you anything," she said in a weak voice.

Her mother turned back towards her. "I'm sorry, too. After talking to your sensei, I realized all of the wrongs that I have done to you." She, then, half-smiled while her gaze on her daughter softened.

"He told me that you are a reliable student and the mistakes and achievements that you shared with your class have made you grow. That's why –" she gave her daughter a light pat on her shoulder "– despite what I have said, I'm saying now that I'm proud of you and I know your father will be too."

With this, the corners of Rinka's mouth turned up. It was pleasant to hear her family say that they were proud of her. Even so, her smile soon faltered and for the first time, grief was shown on her face.

"After all this time, I still miss him."

Her mother shared her look as she caressed her head. "Me too," she replied softly.

***

When he had arrived at the door, the first thing that his mother said was, "Why didn't you tell me that you have such a pretty girlfriend?"

While changing to his indoor slippers, he clarified again, "She's not my girlfriend." In contrast to his words, Hayami was, in fact, his closest female friend, and, technically, they had gone out on 'dates' twice already.

His mother pouted with a frown. She could smell that there was something special going on between her son and the orange-haired girl. As a mother, she has to find out what it was as she wanted to get along with him.

"If a girl comes to your home in the middle of the night when she's in trouble, she is not just a classmate," she interjected.

"Please don't make such baseless assumptions," he said as he made his way to the living room.

She followed behind him while faking a sob. "Oh come on, son. I just want to know you better."

He squatted down the floor between the coffee table and the sofa, his notebook and pen splayed out before him. "I still have to do my homework, Mom," he deadpanned.

A smile floated over his mother's lips as she thought – Dodging the topic now, eh. "Okay. I'll surrender –" then a sly look flashed on her features "– for now."

She began to climb the stairs when she turned over her shoulder and stole a glance at his back. "If she officially becomes your girlfriend, please properly introduce her to me next time, okay?" she added before tittering her way up.

He sighed in exasperation. It was disconcerting how everyone – Class 3-E, their teachers, and now his family – were meddling in his relationship with her.

Before he could resume his homework, his phone vibrated and glowed simultaneously. He picked it up and read Hayami's message, which contained a question that is, for him, odd. After sending his reply without ado, another message popped on his screen:

/Don't bring your bento tomorrow. Got it?/

Now he was immensely curious about her intentions. It sounded like... 'No, that can't be it.'

He typed in his answer – O.K.

***

Upon opening the door of their home, her mother turned to her and asked, "Do you like him?"

Rinka halted. She knew who her mother was referring to and, surprisingly, was dumbfounded at the direct question. She bit on her lip, trying to fight off the blush on her cheeks.

"It is not like that," she floundered.

'She likes him huh?' Her mother thought, figuring out the hidden meaning behind her daughter's 'tsundere-like' words.

"I see. If you start dating, I want you to bring him here, okay?"

Taking off her shoes, Rinka whipped her head in her mother's direction. "There's nothing going on between us," she pressed.

Her mother snaked her arms across her chest, unconvinced and yet amused to see her daughter yielding an abashed look because of a certain 'emo' male classmate.

Rinka couldn't believe that even her mother has started probing her relationship with him. "I'm going to my room," she said, to quickly escape, before making haste to the staircase.

She closed the door behind her to her bedroom and went to her desk. After slumping down the chair, she let out a sigh. Just by merely talking to him had helped resolve her turmoil. She wondered... since when did she begin to rely on him?

Was it during the summer festival when he caught wind of her aching foot? Or was it way back on the Okinawa Fukuma Palace Hotel when she had placed all her faith in him to immobilize their enemy? Or after she got her first semester midterm tests and she approached him for comfort?

Fully aware that what she did was rude – going to somebody's house unannounced – her mind scrambled for something that she could at least do to repay him.

She fished out her phone from her side pocket and, then, sent him a message: What is your favorite food?

𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚋𝚊: Hard-boiled eggs

A smile crossed her face as she typed on her phone eagerly and pressed the send button. Then she clutched her phone to her chest. It was worth a shot.