Oregairu: Reappearance

Chapter 24: At the table

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I just silently chewed and swallowed. Chewed and swallowed. Pretty damn good. I'd give it a chef's kiss if I could. 

But, I couldn't go on like that. After all, she'd been giving me those subtle glances for some time now. I could sense it from a mile away, even when I wasn't returning looks. 

My jaw was feeling rusty, it was hard to chew. 

“What’s wrong? Did Onii-chan do anything to you? Don’t worry, I’m here.”

C'mon, sister, why try to make me out as some lowlife scumbag…words hurt. Words could send me to jail.

“No, Komachi nee-chan…it’s just…I think I saw him at school…”

Komachi made a curiously confused face. She put her finger on her chin. Right after, she did her palm-fist-tap with a figurative light bulb lighting up in her head.

“Oh that, yeah. That did happen.”

Hearing that, an “Oh?” face formed followed by a thinking pose of her own, tilting her head up. 

“You don’t remember him?”

In a way, that was Kawasaki calmly encouraging her.

“I don’t know…like, I get the feeling that I’ve met him before.”

“Remember when you were young, you met someone with creepy dead eyes?”

There really was only one person I permitted to use that phrase. Probably because I just couldn't make her stop.

“Yeah? If I remember…his name was…”

She was still thinking. Still thinking. And right then, she massively gasped, 'Oh!' face following as she lightly tapped the table. 

“Haa-chan!”

I cringed a bit. Err, being called that was just…irking. Nonetheless:

“Oh, I get that.”

Haa-chan, huh. I forgot for obvious reasons, but why the hell did I let myself? Anyway, I swayed my finger lightly. For her…what was it again? 

“It’s me.”

She patted her chest with an open palm. Great help, but sorry. And that got her looking really down on the dumps. 'Don’t be blue.' Please, me, let me say it. Blame my memory.

It went on for a few more seconds. It could’ve been easy. Just have any of them spell it out for me, thank God they read the room and didn't. After all, she probably wouldn't have wanted that kind of cheat.

So, I had to struggle. I had to answer. I had to decide whether she had 'Flower' in her name. 

'Hana'? I don’t think so…it had to be a 'Ka'…right? Yeah, I got rusty. Best we didn't let her know. 

Capital…Kyo? No…'Kyoka' felt weird. Kyo…Kyo…Kei…

…Kei…ka…

 “Oh.”

Just like her, I had that 'Oh!' face as I snapped my fingers real quick. 

“Keika.”

“Yes!”

She clapped her hands accompanied by some 'Yay's. And there I was, in the middle of a thought. That little ball of sunshine and rainbows with destructive force enough to take out any man with a single word? She turned into that? What a surprise…How senile I must’ve felt right now.