Chapter Four: Yokohama Boy:

His name was Kenya. He’s such a nice guy. Aoi started talking to him a couple of days back. He seemed to come out of nowhere too.

Atticus found himself in a sticky place.

“Um…” he spoke up. He reached at out for his girl.

“Aoi-chan,” Atticus said. The boy ran to catch up with her. She and the other boy looked up.

“Atticus-kun?” she asked. Atticus stopped to catch his breath.

“Hey,” he said. “Who is this?” Aoi blinked and tilted her head. The boy stepped forward.

“Nice to meet you,” he said. “My name is Suzuki Kenya.” The new boy bowed. Atticus blinked.

“Okay… I’m Atticus,” he said. The boy bowed as well. Kenya clapped his hands.

“Let’s be friends!” he said. Atticus nervously chuckled.

Kenya wouldn’t go away.

Every morning, he waited for them. At lunch, he was there. He followed them home. Kenya even popped up on the weekend. Aoi didn’t seem to mind. But, Atticus on the other hand…

“Does he have to follow us everywhere?” he asked on a Friday morning.

“I don’t know,” Aoi said. “Is something wrong?” Atticus struggled to say what he was thinking. He pressed his lips together as he looked behind him. Kenya followed them with that big grin on his face. Did he ever stop smiling?

“Nothing,” Atticus said. “It’s just… I wanted to spend more time with you, alone.”

“Alone with me?” she asked.

“Yes,” the boy said.

“Why would you do that?” Aoi asked. Atticus looked down at his hands, blushing.

“I really like you,” he said in a soft voice.

“You like me?” Aoi asked. “In what way?” Atticus’ face turned bright red as he broke down laughing aloud.

“Are you feeling okay?” the girl asked. She reached out to his forehead.

“What are you doing?” Kenya asked. Aoi turned her with a confused look on her face. She shrugged and shook her head. Atticus took off running.

----------

Did she really understand what he said? It didn’t help that Kenya was in their class as well. Atticus needed a way to get his feelings across clearer to Aoi and politely get Kenya to back off a little bit. The latter was harder than he thought. Kenya was a nice guy, but just clingy. Why did he want to hang around them so much? Didn’t he have other friends to follow around?

“Hey!” someone said. “Hey! Atticus-kun! Atticus-kun!” The boy lifted his head. Aoi stood over his desk.

“Aoi-chan?” he asked. “What is on your mind?”

“When you said you liked me, what did you mean by that?” she asked. Atticus gulped.

“I really like you,” he said in a low voice.

“As in you want to… date me?” she asked. Her dear friend’s cheeks reddened as he slowly nodded.

“Oh…” she said. “I thought that’s what you meant.” Atticus looked away.

“Do you feel the same about me?” he asked. She paused before opening her mouth.

“Hey!” another voice shouted. The old friends turned their heads. Kenya poked his head in the doorway.

“So this where you went off to,” he said. Atticus dropped his head. Did he have to come along and ruin everything? She was about to give her answer to.

“We’ll be there in a minute,” Aoi said. She ran over to their friend. Atticus frowned. If he thought Kenya was bad for his potential budding relationship with Aoi, it when get worse as more distance would come between them. His object of affection turned back to him.

“You coming?” she asked. Atticus sighed and stood up.

“Yeah,” he said. The boy followed his crush out of the empty classroom. Aoi smiled as he joined his side. She held out her hand to him. Atticus about jumped at the gesture.

“Are you sure?” he mouthed. Aoi still held out her hand. The boy took hold of it and followed her further down the hall. Maybe there was still hope for a relationship. He would have to see.