Violet Roses | Saiki K

Chapter 5

"Come have ramen with us."

"No. Leave my house."

"Come on, it'll be fun."

"Akemi, you should go. You need to get out of the house anyway."

Akemi turned and glared at her father. It was already bad enough that Nendo, Kaido, Saiki, Teruhashi, and Yumehara had all shown up on her doorstep, but now her father was going to force her to go with them. Akemi had planned to spend the weekend doing anything but hanging around her classmates. After spending the week with them, Akemi had already grown sick of their constant need for attention. It had made her excited for the weekend, only now for that excitement to be ruined.

"I have other things to do," Akemi growled, glaring at her dad.

"Yeah? Like what?" Taiyo said smugly, crossing his arms. Akemi glared at him and he nodded, "That's what I thought. Now, if you go, I'll find us a good dessert shop and get you whatever you want from there." 

"I-..." Akemi stiffened then let out a sigh, "Fine."

"Cool, let's go," Nendo said as Akemi slipped on her shoes. She shot her dad a glare one last time before walking out of her house and closing the door behind her.

"So, Kumiko, what was that about a dessert shop?" Yumehara asked as they walked down the street toward whatever ramen shop Nendo was leading them to, her and Teruhashi appearing on either side of Akemi.

"I didn't think you had a sweet tooth, Kumiko," Teruhashi added, smirking at Akemi.

Akemi felt heat rush to her cheeks at their teasing comments as she stared at the ground, refusing to look at either of them. But, for some reason, the comments made her feel more comfortable around the two girls. "So what? Do you have something against sweets?"

"No, of course not," Yumehara replied, holding her hands up defensively. "I just didn't expect you to like sweets."

"How come?" Akemi questioned, lifting her head and looking at Yumehara.

"I don't know. You just don't seem like someone who likes sweets." Yumehara said with a shrug.

Akemi hummed, "There was a really good dessert shop not far from my old house. They had everything there. I used to go all the time."

Teruhashi shared a glanced with Yumehara and they both smiled at her before Teruhashi said, "That sounds nice."

"It was," Akemi replied, a frown forming on her face. Before the two girls could say anything else, Akemi sped up a bit to catch up with the boys that were slightly ahead of her, "Hey, where's this ramen place anyways?"

"Uh, it's just this way, "Nendo said as he pointed forward, clearly having no idea where he was going.

Akemi looked up at Saiki, who answered her question, "We're about five minutes away."

"Great."

Akemi fell back a bit from the boys, but not quite to where the two girls were walking, leaving her alone in the middle of the group. Just like Saiki had said, it had only taken them five more minutes to get to the ramen shop. Soon, Akemi found herself sitting at the end of a table next to Teruhashi and across from Saiki.

After they had ordered, Teruhashi had started a conversation with the boys and Yumehara and Akemi zoned out. Her mind wandered and she found herself recalling a recent memory.

* * *

The room was completely silent. The sound of the ticking clock filled the air as Akemi sat staring at the bowl of instant ramen. The air was thick, almost making it hard for Akemi to breathe. Sitting across from her was her father, who seemed to have something on his mind.