Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Are you ready????
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Chapter 4"Well...here it is." I said opening the door to my apartment.
Eri steps inside, tossing her shoes carelessly by the door. I couldn't stand it so I picked them up and placed them neatly next to each other as I did with mine. No one knows (except Aya) that I'm a serious neat freak. Almost the OCD type. I switched on the lights and Eri's eyes lit up as it did at Kidzania. Again, fascinated by everything she sees.
"Wow! It's much different than I thought." Eri gawked.
"Like what?" I asked. I scanned my place. It's definitely not an IKEA showroom nor a shabby shack. It was just normal.
"I thought all you had was a TV and futon in the middle of the floor or live in those capsule hotel thingies."
"What the hell?" I retorted. "Why do you think that?"
"I just thought since you're always by yourself that you didn't really need that many things."
I didn't know whether to be offended by that or brush it off because she didn't know better but I decided to brush it off.
"You're freaking weird, Eri." I stated the obvious.
"Thanks." She smiled absentmindedly as she sat down on the couch.
"That wasn't a compli--nevermind."
I give up. I shook my head at the poor thing and sat on the opposite end of the couch. It felt weird sitting on it with anyone besides Aya. She looks around as if she's ready to get up and touch everything. Then she spots my neatly organized DVD collection by the TV. She gets up and walks toward it.
Don't touch it. Don't touch it. Don't touch it. I said in my mind and then,
Argh. She's touching them! Just don't ask to borrow anything."Wow. I've always wanted to see this movie." She holds up the DVD and shows me. I knew exactly what she was going to say next, so I mouthed along with her. "Can I borrow this sometime?"
"I rather you n-"
"Hey, what's this?" She interrupts me. She held up a burned DVD in which a note,
Enjoy! It's one of my favorites. - Sanma-san, was written on it with marker.
I slightly panicked and quickly came over to her and snatched it out of her hand.
"It's nothing!" I lied. "Sanma-san's always giving us copies of lame movies he's seen whenever we do Youngtown. I just use it as a coaster now." I grabbed an empty glass which happened to be on the table and placed it on top of the disc. That was close. I sighed mentally. Seriously, Sanma-san needs to stop sending me copies of his AV collection. He always talks about it during Youngtown and keeps asking Aichan and me if we ever watched any. Why haven't I gotten rid of it sooner? Oh yeah, Aichan wanted to borrow it. Well she can have it for all I care. She's weird too. I looked at Eri who didn't suspect anything and continued rummaging through my collection.
I sat back on the couch and sighed. "So..yeah. What have you been up to?" I decided to start a conversation before things got really awkward, boring, or annoying. Then I thought, too late, all three already happened.
That made Eri stop looking through my stuff. She balled herself now on the floor like she did at Kidzania and added a little rock into it this time. "I just came back from my trip to Phuket a few days ago." She replied.
Oh, no wonder her skin looked tanner than usual, something I've always envied about her. I glanced at my kohai, tracing her outline with my eyes. She looked just like a turtle balled up like that. Well she is
kame after all. When my eyes came to her legs I couldn't believe how big they are, well-toned and muscular. Makes mine look like a starving third world country kid's. Her legs alone could easily replace Aya and me in GAM.
"Oh yeah, you went to
Thighland...I mean, Thailand. How was that?" I slipped. It couldn't be helped. Not when Eri has those legs of hers. Her shorts, excuse me
skort, looked like it was trying its best to stay on her body and if she were to move any more her thunderthighs would surely rip them apart.
"Oh, it was fun!" She exclaimed. "I went to the..."
And I lost her after that. I let her ramble about it while I sat there pretending to be listening to her. I was deep in thought, wondering whether Aya was ok or where she was, and why did she just leave me alone? It's just not right. She knows I'm always there for her, no matter how absurd her situation may be. I sighed, it's no use wrecking my brain over it. All I could do is wait for her to contact me again. Hopefully soon. I could faintly hear Eri still talking in the background, she doesn't stop. So I interrupted her.
"Did you get me anything?" I cut her off.
"Of course, I did." She smiled. "I got all of you something."
"Really? What is it?"
"Nah uh, you'll have to wait till Christmas to get it." She says teasingly. I'm sure it's something really lame anyway. She's certainly not the greatest gift giver. I remember one time she gave me three socks. Not
three pairs of socks, but
three socks. Suddenly her face lights up as if something just popped into her head. "By the way, whatcha doing for Christmas?"
"Nothing." I answered.
"Nothing? Not going to spend time with your family? And where's Matsuura-san?"
I'd like to know too. But I had to come up with an answer so she would stop asking anymore questions. "She's out of town."
"Oh." Eri says and nods. "So...If you want, you can come to my house then."
"What? Why?"
"It's not good to be alone on Christmas." Was her answer.
True. But that wouldn't have happened if
someone could just learn to chill out. I looked at Eri and answered, "It's all right, I'm used to it."
Eri pouts. "C'mon, it'll be fun. My family has this tradition we do every Christmas."
Christmas with the Kameis? Tradition? No thanks. One weirdo is enough, although I've had met her family in the past at least once. They were decent and normal people, I don't know how Eri is related to them. I sat in silence, pondering in my thoughts once again.
"Please?" The turtle girl pleads.
I'm getting irritated.
"I'll think about it, k?"
She nods her head. I nod mine. Then a long tortuous silence followed. I yawned. She's staring off into space. I fidgeted in my seat. She looks completely gone. I'm getting tired. It's getting late now. Why is she still here? And then...
"Can I watch something? Is that ok?" Eri finally says something.
What? She asks that after all this time? Why doesn't she just go home? I rolled my eyes. "Sure, whatever, go ahead. I'm gonna get a drink then. Want something?"
"Sure."
"Beer?" I suggested jokingly.
"Sure." She repeated but I don't think she was paying attention that time.
I glared at her. "Yeah, right."
I opened my fridge, grabbed a bottle of beer and took another bottle with me.
"Heads up!" I yelled as I tossed the other bottle at Eri. She screams and ducks for cover. Luckily the bottle landed softly on the couch. She picks it up and looks at it. It was a bottle of Gogo no Koucha.
"Compliments from Aya." I said. "Take a case home if you want." Aya had so much bottles of tea crowding in her fridge that she gave the excess to me. Now my fridge is full of it and as much as I like Gogo no koucha I can't possibly drink it all. I opened my beer and finally settled back down on the couch. "So, what did you put in?"
"Ah, this drama. I've always wanted to see it." Eri replies as she presses the play button on the DVD player.
I looked at the screen and there plays the drama Aya and I just watched a few days ago. I groaned. I think I'll need a few more bottles of beer.
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Sorry.
Topic: April no Aho [Chapter 16 - 3/4] (Read 49299 times)