The Mystery Of Kaiya Akasuki

Chapter 3: Brought Together by Cereal

I tugged on the strings of my hoodie making sure that it completely covered my face and with a deep breath I walked out of the house. I kept my head bowed low all the way to my mom's car and quickly hopped in.

"Are you ready to go honey?" Mom asked.

"Yeah." I called out from the backseat.
I pressed my face against the window, watching the buildings and people fly by as we drove. I wished I could lower the window and feel the breeze on my face but that would be pushing it. I settled for looking outside through the tinted glass.

Upon getting to our destination I didn't have to go through the same charade I did earlier, instead I simply walked out of the car with my hood down. Everyone here already knew who I was so. There was no point in trying to hide it.

My mom walked us over to the waiting room, where she instructed me to sit on one of the chairs. I obeyed and sat down at the furthest chair away from people. I ran my eyes over the number of people there which was not much just a couple and a boy around my age with a tattoo on his biscep and a magazine over his face.
"Kaiya, you're up."

I got up at the sound of my name and I walked over to the counter, signing in before making my way to the mahogany door on the other side. I glanced over at the boy from earlier, eyes widening in suprise at the sight of his face, the magazine now in his hands. He watched me with a frown on his face and I immediately looked away in fear before rushing through the door.

Immediately after shutting the door behind me I sighed in relief. Taking off my hoodie, I hanged it on the rack before making my way to the two sitter couch in the center of the room.

"Hello Kaiya, it's been a while. How are you?" Ezume-san's soothing voice came from a chair across the couch.
I smiled back, greeting her before settling down on the couch.

"So I heard that you are finally heading back to school. How does that feel? Are you excited?" She asked, eyes twinkling in excitement.

Although she was very much older me, talking to Ezume-san sometimes made me feel like I was talking to a fellow teenager. I loved how friendly and approachable she was, it made opening up to her as my therapist a whole lot easier.

"More like scared. I'm terrified but I still want to do this. I feel like I need to do this, you know?"

She nodded. "You don't have to if you feel like you aren't ready but I think you are. So has anything happened to you recently? Anything out of the ordinary." She cleared her throat, eyes trained on me.

Takashi face immediately flashed in my mind and my cheeks instantly heated up. I tried to hide behind my hair but it was too late because she had already seen it and was now grinning from ear to ear.

"Tell me."

I sighed, turning my eyes down to the carpet as I spoke. "Misumi invited some group over after school and I happened to run into one of them."

"Oh, so what's his name?"

I flushed immediately sitting up and going on the defensive. "What makes you think it's a guy? It might be a girl for all you know."

She shot me a dry look. "I've been your therapist for two years now, I've listened to you rant about which dark haired anime boy you think looks better. I think I know which gender you prefer."

I rolled my eyes before settling back into the couch. "Takashi. His name's Takashi. Well technically, I didn't meet him we just happened to cross paths and stare at each other." My eyes darted around the room as I spoke.

"That's good. Why don't you try talking to him the next time you see him. Who knows you might just make good friends."

I nodded.