Reaching the rather vacant aisles of foreign language books, farthest from the entrance of the store, he says, huffing,

"I thought you had some neurons in that skull of yours, Arai-san!"

"Huh?" Akira snatches her hand from Isamu’s grasp.

“What do you mean, huh? You were zoning out in the middle of a-”

“What? What is it?” Akira says, groaning.

Isamu lifts his head slightly, pointing towards her left hand. “Your hand-”

“What now?” Pulling her hand up, she notices her bracelet missing and a thin graze in its place. “Where’s my bracelet? Did I lose it in the crowd? But I should’ve felt someth- wait, so what brushed my hand back there, was it-”

Isamu says as he pulls out one of the earphones from his ears, “It’s quite something that you didn’t feel anything; you were zoning out pretty hard back there, Arai-san.”

“Oh, I was pretty absorbed in thinking, I guess. More importantly, what’s with pulling me here like this?”

“Ah, that- that was just-um because of the guy standing next to you. He was-”

“He was- what?”

“I thought was trying to- um- feel you up. I only caught a glimpse but it seemed like he was trying to do something.”

“So, that must be the guy who stole my bracelet then!”

“Arai-san? Okay, quit zoning out already. You’re bleeding there. Better treat it now.”

“Ah, I don’t have any handkerchiefs or tissues with me today; do you have anything, Matsumoto-kun?”

“No,” Isamu says as he turns towards the counter, “they might have something there. I’ll go check. Come along; it’s pointless if I find some first aid but you aren’t there.”

“Uh…hmm,” Akira nods. “Okay.” “But why would you choose to go to the counter first? Are they supposed to have first aid there?”

They make their way through some people to arrive at the counter. The attendant says as she prepares a paper bag, “Thank you for your patro-”

Lifting her head, her expression changes to a smile, “Ah, Matsu-kun. It’s been a while. You haven’t been coming to the store much these past weeks; I thought we’d lost a regular customer. Or worse,” She covers her mouth with her hands, “ you could’ve fallen sick! What would’ve…”

Isamu tilts his head towards Akira and whispers, “ Don’t worry about her. This little monologue of her happens every time I come here.”

Akira whispers back, “ How long before she realizes that you aren’t listening?”

“About 2-3 more minutes, I’d say. But we can’t wait that long, right?” Isamu clears his throat. “Um, could you call the manager?”

“Ah- Makoto-san? She’s upstairs.”

“Is it okay if we go up there?” Isamu points to Akira’s hand. “She needs some first aid.”

She peeks over the counter.“You’re bleeding, dear! Go around the back, Matsu-kun, you know the way, right?”

“What’s all this about going upstairs? Is this his home? Am I getting into something bad? I should just go home instead. Yes. Let’s do that.” “Um, Matsumo-”

“Hmm.” Isamu nods. Going around a barrier of the counter, he walks to a door at the rear of the store, behind the counter. Akira reluctantly follows, glancing around her as she does.

A sign hung on the door saying ‘Staff Only’ flashes before Akira’s eyes before Isamu blocks her sight of it. He pushes it open and starts climbing the dimly lit stairs.

“I can get through a fight if needed, right? Let’s put some trust in him for once and see. He won’t do anything, right? Right?” She passes through the door. The bustle of the crowd fading as she closes it behind her.

She sees Isamu’s shoes taken off at the base of the stairs and begins taking hers off as well. “Great! I’m almost sweating from thinking about weird things!”

Akira takes her coat off and rests it on her hand. “Okay, happy thoughts. Something to take this weird tension off.Something…somethi-”

Climbing a few stairs, Isamu peeks over his shoulder to see Akira only starting to walk up the stairs. “Is the graze hurting, Ar-”

He finds Akira chuckling. She says, “But Matsu-kun? Why does she call you that?”

“Are you a Rhino? Why are you laughing now?”

“Why are you getting ang-”

“She calls me that because she wants to.” He shrugs, “I don’t know why.”

“And what was that about a Rhino? Is that one of your insults?”

Isamu laughs and says, “I heard that when I was a kid. It was about a Rhinoceros laughing a day after it was tickled because of its thick skin. HAHA! Still makes me laugh!”

“It’s not that funny, you know, Matsu-kun.”

“Hey! No. You call me by my name! It’s embarrassing as it is, so please don’t start as well.”

Akira says with a giggle, “Fine, fine. Have it your way, Isamu-kun.”

“M-Matsumoto is fine. I could get the wrong idea, y’know.” He firmly keeps his head straight.

“Ahh- he’s red till his ears! I might get a habit of calling him this!”

They reach the top of the stairs. They go through the passage leading to the staircase, the wood creaking as they take their steps. They arrive at a door, directly connected to the passage. Isamu presses the bell to the side of the door.

Hearing no sound of it ringing, He knocks a few times before a middle-aged woman, seemingly younger than the attendant at the counter, opens it. “Ah- Macchan. Welcome. Welcome. Come i-”

She peeks around Isamu to see Akira covering her mouth with her hand. With a sudden smile, the lady says, turning her head towards Isamu, “Oh! I see you’ve brought a girl with you today. How unexpected! Come in, come in.”

Isamu says scratching his head, “She needs some first aid. Her wrist got grazed, you see. Could-”

She rushes to Akira and takes her hand. “That could have been dangerous, dear. Macchan, the kit is on top of the refrigerator. Go get it.”

Immediately, Isamu rushes in. He goes past a few doors, straight into the kitchen at the end of the hallway.

Meanwhile, the lady slowly takes Akira to the small but comfortable living room. It has a sofa and a table in front of it, both resting on an old carpet.There is a television on the other side of the table, still running.

She sits next to Akira on the sofa and turns the tv off. Akira puts her bag and coat on the table and begins folding her sleeves up.

A shout from Isamu echoes through from the kitchen, “There aren’t any dressings in the box. Should I look in the drawers here?”

“N-” Before she finishes, Isamu shouts again, “Ah- found it.”

“That child! Always so impatient!” She turns to face Akira, almost done fixing her sleeves. “Is it hurting?”

“Oh, no. It’s fine.” Akira waves both her hands.

Smiling, she says, “You sure look different from yesterday, huh, Araki-sensei? Whoever did your hair did a really nice job.”

“Ehm, don’t say that out loud, please. I haven’t-” Akira looks over her shoulder to see Isamu at the door, the kit in one hand and some dressing in the other.

Smirking, Isamu says as he comes in and hands the things to the lady, “So, you got robbed in a crowd you helped create.” He sits down on a side of the table, stretching his legs in it. He forces a bigger smirk on his face seeing Akira peeking. “That’s hilarious!”

“S-shut up! I know that already!” She hides her face from him. "I thought he didn't notice that down at the store!"

“Those are quite the bags you have under your eyes, Macchan. Haven’t been sleeping? Want to take a nap here?”The lady says as she disinfects Akira’s grazed wrist.

Akira tries to cover her widening smile with her other hand. “I can’t take this anymore! Matsu-kun and now Macchan!” A chuckle slips out and Isamu turns to her with an unamused look on his face.

She says as she dresses the wound, “I’ve called him Macchan since the first time he came to the store. That’s what you’re finding funny, right, Arak- come to think of it, what’s your actual name, dear?”

Akira promptly replies, “It’s Arai Akira.”

As he rests his head on the table, Isamu says, “I’ll take that nap then, Makoto-san.” Facing away from them, he yawns. He mumbles, “I need to wake up in a few minutes, though. Can you wa-”

“Hmm? Already, asleep? Seriously, he’s such a handful!” The lady says as she tucks away the things into the box. “Arai-chan, would you like some tea?” She stands up with the box in hand and heads to the door.

“How is this guy so comfortable here? This isn’t his home and she doesn’t seem like a relative either.” “Um, Makoto-sa-”

“Would you like some tea, Arai-chan? Your face tells me you have a few questions about the situation,” She says with a smile, “we can have a nice chat if you want.”

Nodding, Akira gets up and heads to the kitchen with her.

……………………………………………………………………………………

In the middle of the bustle inside the teachers’ lounge, Isamu stands in front of a woman, sitting at her desk.

“Sensei, why do you keep calling me here for these advice sessions?”