Chapter Fifteen: Crisis in Three-Month Relationship

DURING A BREAK IN BETWEEN CLASSES, THE students were gossiping with each other. The boys grouped up with each other and talked about their interactions with girls or their exes while the girls gossiped about their past relationships. One boy asked his friend, "Did you break up with Minako?"

The boy shushed him, "You are too loud."

"You're single again." A different boy laughed slightly.

His other friend jested, "Welcome back."

A girl across the class scoffed as she talked with her own friends, "My ex-boyfriend was too jealous."

Kusuo grunted as he and Akari listened to the chatter of their classmates. The pair were trying to ignore their conversations about such trivial things as relationships. "Good grief. It is the season of breakups." It's true, it seemed like exactly after three months, some relationships start to deteriorate and end. And it was now that time of year. 

Akari glanced around the room in a bit of annoyance and uninterest, 'I know relationships don't always last, but why is it always three months?' She has no idea what it's like to be in a relationship, and the ones that she's seen of her parents and the Saikis is a bit extreme in some cases. Really they're examples of true love. Something that teenagers might not find on the first try. Though who knows. Akari and Kusuo sure have stuck around each other long enough, right? Though what does that have anything to do with true love? Ha ha ha…. ha.

"I don't understand the excitement." He commented as he could feel the intense stare bruning on the side of his face, "I don't understand Yumehara. Chiyo Yumehara." Said girl was staring at the psychic in the same love-sick manner that she had done about three months prior. Her rosy cheeks and half-lidded eyes were pinpointing Kusuo in his spot as she sighed dreamily, no doubt daydreaming about him. She obviously couldn't see Akari, despite the shadow-manipulator sitting right besides him on his desk. "I don't know what's gotten into her, but she grew feelings for me." Now a quick flashback to a few chapters ago when Yumehara was trying to talk with him. Along with how each attempt was foiled by either Kusuo or Akari. "She has tried to approach me. We have managed to block each attempt. I thought she gave up and dated another boy." Apparently she then thought about what Kusuo was like, which was completely wrong. Kusuo scowled as he heard her thoughts, "Get your eyes checked."

'It's quite strange to me how she can like you even though the image that she has of you is completely wrong.' Akari thought. She's never had a crush, so perhaps she doesn't understand it completely. However, she does know that whatever fantasy Yumehara has of Kusuo is completely distorted. He told her what he's seen in Yumehara's thoughts, and honestly, she laughed a bit at it. Yumehara has never really even spoken to Kusuo, so how could she say that she has a crush on him when she doesn't actually know what he's like? Sure, she knows people can grow feelings towards someone just based on looks, so perhaps that's what Yumehara has done. Akari can't say for sure, she's not the mind reader. Though Akari couldn't really blame her if that's the case. 

Oh~ Akari~, where did that come from? Huh, huh?

"I see, the season of breakups is coming for her." Kusuo commented with a roll of his eyes, breaking Akari out of that train of thought. He sighed heavily, hearing all of the grievances that she has with her boyfriend. "Good grief. I don't care about the romance of others. But if they break up, she will start bothering me again. It can't be helped. I will become the shelter protecting their love umbrella."

Akari lazily turned to her friend, 'You probably should have just told her you weren't interested before.' She shrugged her shoulders and acted uninterested, since she had told him to do that beforehand. A small snicker slipped past her lips due to her friend's misfortune, 'Maybe then you wouldn't have this issue.'

Kusuo scowled at her, not really willing to admit that she may have been right, "Tsk."

So the duo decided to head out of their classroom to get a look at Yumehara's boyfriend. Afterall, it's his fault for not being a good boyfriend for Yumehara to have a crush on Kusuo yet again. They walked down the corridor to find her boyfriend, Takeru Shinoda. The last time they saw him, he was being romantically poetic with Yumehara which instantly caused the girl to fall for him. So what could he be doing that could cause her to be infatuated with Kusuo once again?

The two peered through the door into the other classroom where Takeru was laughing with his friends. "Are you serious?"

"That must be Takeru," Kusuo commented.

"That's so funny!" The boy laughed only for his mouth to suddenly click as his jaw seemingly dislocated. Akari cringed at the sound and shivered slightly, it was a bit of a disturbing sight. "My jaw…" Geeze, it really is disturbing, even as an animation.

His friends were also in shock as they watched him "Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine." He waved them off as he put his jaw back into place, "That hurts. Sorry."

His friends around him just stared at him in uncertainty as one said hesitantly, "Sorry for making you laugh."

"The mood is ruined," Good job stating the obvious Kusuo.

After fixing his mouth, the spikey-haired boy's friend asked him, "Takeru, how are things with your girlfriend?"

The teen flashed them a thumbs up, "Perfect."

"Not at all," Kusuo deadpanned.

Akari shook her head, 'how is it that he can't see how his relationship is deteriorating with Yumehara?' She tapped her chin, 'perhaps she's doing a good job of hiding it?'

---

After school, Akari and Kusuo kept to the shadows and followed Yumehara. It's not that they necessarily cared, but they wanted to see just how bad the relationship between Yumehara and Takeru was. If anything, as long as Yumehara turned her attention away from Kusuo then it was fine. If Takeru had to be that person, then they were going to make sure that the couple stayed together.

Using her shadows, Akari made sure to keep herself and Kusuo out of sight as they waited for Takeru to show up. Yumehara was also waiting for him at the front of the doors. The expression on her face didn't give any sort of hope for her relationship with Takeru. 

Takeru joivally waltzed up to his girlfriend, "Sorry to make you wait. I can now protect your heart from rain…" Ah, there he goes with that same poetic saying.

"It's okay." Yumehara said with a dead expression, "I just got here."

Akari shook her head slowly, really she shouldn't have expected anything else. 'She's definitely not hiding it.'

So the couple started to head towards the gates. Takeru asked Yumehara, "Do you want to go somewhere?"

The girl shrugged her shoulders, certainly not invested in her boyfriend as she should be, "I don't care."

Not hearing her uncaring tone or her expression devoid of emotion, Takeru smiled widely, "Let's take a little detour."

"I can't go too far." They two trotted off, Yumehara not that enthusiastic about being with her boyfriend, and Takeru being more than excited about their date. These two really are night and day at the moment.

Kusuo and Akari watched them go from behind a pillar. The pink-hair psychic raised an eyebrow just a little bit, "It is far from perfect."

So sticking to the shadow, thanks to Akari, the superpowered duo followed after the couple and kept an eye on them. No, it's not weird or creepy. They just want to make sure that Yumehara's relationship is sufficient enough to stop her from having a crush on Kusuo. Okay, maybe it's a little bit weird. 

"How about a game center?" Takeru suggested to Yumehara as they walked down the street in town.

The girl shrugged her shoulders, "I'll pass."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Nowhere in particular."

'How blind is this guy?' Akari wondered in a bit of disbelief. Sure, she didn't have the greatest understanding of social interactions,(since she rarely talks to anyone outside of her family, the Saikis, and only like two other people) but she could definitely see how blatantly Yumehara didn't want to be there. Really if she were not enjoying her day, shouldn't she just tell him that? Saves them all the trouble of having to deal with this love issue.

"This is worse than I thought." Kusuo commented as he stared at Yumehara's likability meter for her boyfriend, "Yumehara's rating of Takeru is now at 57 points. It keeps dropping." You see, the likability meter is a telepathic ability that Kusuo has. He's able to read everyone's mind and calculate a likability based out of 100. MJ would have explained that during the short episode titled 'Hot-Blooded! Dodgeball!' but Akari was obviously not a part of it, so she just skipped over it. Back to the problem at hand, Kusuo read Yumehara's thoughts who was currently lamenting the fact that Takeru didn't remember his anniversary with Yumehara. "I see. Women care about special dates. I know because my mother is like that every month. Does Takeru remember?" Nope, the boy wasn't even thinking about that. "Too bad. I'll have to tell him." He then used his telepathy to remind Takeru, "Three months."

The thought then struck Takeru, "Three months?"

"What?" Yumehara gasped, her cheeks starting to flush as her boyfriend "remembered". "Did you remember our three month anniversary? I'm so glad." Her likability meter spiked up to 68.

Kusuo grunted at the promising sign, "Good."

"Of course," Takeru said confidently, "I have a present, too."

"Really?" Yumehara exclaimed as her likability once again jumped higher to 71. It really doesn't take a lot for people's likability meters to change, does it?

"His rating improved, but does he really have a present?" Kusuo asked.

Akari watched the interaction, not being able to see the likability meter, and crossed her arms over her chest. 'Seeing as he didn't remember their anniversary, I'd say he doesn't.'

Just as Akari thought to Kusuo, Takeru was internally panicking. Kusuo didn't even blink since he was expecting that, "It was a bluff." Though it turns out that he thought some half-eaten squid jerky was a suitable enough present. Which it isn't. "She isn't an old man."

Yumehara had her eyes closed as Takeru held the food in front of her proudly as if he had done a more than acceptable thing. "Can I open them?"

"Sure." 

Kusuo then jumped into action throwing a punk stuffed bunny towards them, "Of course not!"

The bunny slid right into Takeru's hand. So instead of presenting Yumehara with a horrid gift like squid jerky, he instead was giving her a cute present. Yumehara gasped, "It's so cute! What a lovely bunny!"

Akari turned to her friend in surprise, 'Where did you get that?'

"She did look closely at that before." He explained, "Good thing I bought it just in case. I am taking ¥3,900 from your wallet later."

"What a lovely present!" Yumehara giggled, "I smelled squid before. I knew that couldn't be my present."

Takeru sweatdropped, "Of course not."

So for the rest of the afternoon, Akari and Kusuo trailed after Yumehara and Takeru. They kept an eye on them and made sure that Takeru didn't do anything to ruin his image in front of Yumehara. So they followed them through the arcade to help Takeru impress Yumehara by winning her a few prizes. At one point, even Kusuo helped get Akari a stuffed black cat. The little stuffed animal had caught her eye at one point as they were leaving the game center. Barely catching how her eyes trailed at it, Kusuo used his powers to get it. It has wide yellow eyes that reminded him of her own yellow eyes while it was soft to the touch.

To say that Akari was surprised by the stuffed animal being presented to her was an understatement. It was even more of a surprise to see that it was from Kusuo. Sure, over the years the two have gotten each other gifts. They wouldn't be friends if they didn't give each other christmas gifts or birthday presents from time to time. However, they always had a reason to do it, such as holidays and such. This time though was spontaneous. She took the cute little stuffed cat from him in bewilderment as they continued out of the arcade. While Kusuo worked to help make the date between Takeru and Yumehara was perfect, Akari was thinking over the fact that people could think that she and Kusuo were also on a date.

Not only that, but Akari noticed how Kusuo seemed to know what to do for Yumehara to make her happy with Takeru. It's true, he has an advantage of being able to read her mind to know what she wants from her boyfriend. Still it didn't stop Akari from feeling both a little uneasy and intrigued. She was intrigued at seeing how Kusuo may think about being on a date. This obviously isn't his date. However, she couldn't help but wonder what he would be like on a date of his own. With how? Well she hoped it would be- 

Akari shook her head at the sudden thought. Her long hair flying around like a black curtain as she squeezed her eyes tightly and held her new stuffed animal to her chest. Where had her thoughts been going there? Who had she been hoping for!? It still didn't help explain the uneasy feeling of how she didn't like to think that it was anyone else besides… Well, she can't think about that right now.

It's not that she thought that this was a date or wanted it to be. It was just from an outside perspective, someone might think that she and Kusuo were on a date, right? They were going to places together, not with the sole purpose to spend time together, but they were still there with each other. Not only that but they always are together at any moment they can be, so she took that into consideration. Kusuo even got her a gift from the arcade. She looked down at the cat in her arms who stared up at her with matching yellow eyes. Question was; did either her or Kusuo want this to be a date?

Though Kusuo didn't even notice her thoughts, too distracted by trying to help Takeru on his own date. Despite those little instances between Kusuo and Akari, they were still able to continue their task at hand. Thanks to Kusuo, Takeru's rating continued to rise until it had finally reached 90 points.

Yumehara smiled widely, seemingly forgetting any sort of grievance that she might have had with her boyfriend beforehand, "Today was so much fun!"

"Right?" Takeru agreed happily, "Let's get food."

His girlfriend nodded her head, "Okay."

He caught sight of a burger joint and started to point at it, "There's a hamburger…"

"Okonomiyaki," Kusuo then put the thought into his head, steering his attention away from the burger place.

"Okonomiyaki."

Yumehara gasped for like the hundredth time that day, "All right! I was just thinking that I wanted to eat okonomiyaki!"

The likability meter rose even higher now reaching 95 points out of 100. There's not way that this could go wrong any further, right? Kusuo nodded his head at the accomplishment he made today, a successful mission, it seemed. "His rating is so high that he could propose to her right now. They won't break up now."

"Welcome." The host of the restaurant greeted the couple, "A party of two?"

Takeru seemingly exploded at the man with a scowl, "Isn't that obvious? Show us our seats!" And so began the downfall of the likability meter. It started to free fall quite quickly. First from 95 to 67 after Takeru's rudeness to the host. The two then got to their table and took their shoes off, "I am hungry." It once again fell from 67 to 49 at the terrible stench of Takeru's feet. Once they got their food, Takeru started eating with his chopsticks in a strange way and talking with his mouth full, "Let's eat!" That was the last straw. Now Yumehara's likability meter for her boyfriend was at 0, how sad.

"I can't take it anymore!" Yumehara cried dramatically and ran out of the restaurant, "Goodbye!"

"Hey!" Takeru yelled through his stuffed mouth, "What happened?"

Akari facepalmed, 'Teenagers are so oblivious.'

"Right," Kusuo deadpanned, "Humans can ruin their image in a second."

The Shadow-manipulator groaned, "Seems like that was for nothing." She voiced out loud, the first time talking with her voice now that she was certain her and Kusuo were alone.

"Possibly," Kusuo grunted along with her.

The two then started to turn around to head home. "I don't understand how Yumehara could be so… fickle with her relationship."

Kusuo glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. His violet irises glinting inquisitively from behind his green glasses. "What do you mean?"

Akari sighed through her nose and tried to come up with the right words. "There are quirks that are a part of everyone. Little things that make people who they are, and sure some of them aren't the best, but if you love someone you should be able to look past them." As they walked, Akari brushed her fingers through the soft fur of her new plushy. Something that Kusuo noticed her doing. "Yumehara had a problem with them, that's obvious. And if it's been like that for a while, then she should have told him that instead of keeping it bottled up." She sighed, 

"She's not good with communication it seems."

Kusuo stared at her with a small dip in the corner of his lips. "You know quite a bit about being in a relationship." Did that mean that Akari has had experience with relationships? He knows everything about her, but could there be a small bit that he doesn't know? Like her having a significant other?

"It's not anything like that…" Akari coughed out, surprised that he would say that. She didn't even notice that Kusuo was now a bit sullen at his own thoughts. "It's just… we talk, well, not necessarily talk but if we have a problem with each other we tell each other that we're annoyed or something." She paused her steps to turn to him fully and motioned between them, "We don't gloss over something we don't like. You tell me, and I tell you clearly. Even if there are things that we don't like about each other we don't continue to hate it or anything. We accept it." As friends, the two of them are quite clear and open with how they feel. Well, relatively. They can read each other pretty well, as stated before in previous chapters. So if one of them is annoyed with the other they fix it or at least state what's wrong. They don't just ignore it or anything.

Kusuo looked at her with a small tilt of his head, "Are you saying that we're in a relationship?"

"Of course not!" Akari jumped at the accusation and waved her hands frantically. "I'm just saying, if we can do it as friends, then Yumehara could have been able to do it with her boyfriend."

In her mind, she definitely thinks that it's a logical assumption to make. If they could have this strong of communication(outloud or telepathic) between them, then Yumehara could do the same between herself and her boyfriend. Akari has no experience when it comes to having a boyfriend or anything, but she does know at least how to have a relationship with an extremely good and close friend. It couldn't be that different, right? 

Who's gonna tell her that she and Kusuo really do act like a couple already? You? Me? Nah, we'll let them figure it out on their own.