Warau

Chapter D: Falling and Rising couples

During one day at school, I told Chitanda about Radao and she agreed to join me on Sunday. I am pretty bad at dealing with kids so I really needed support. Sunday arrived soon and it was 8am in the morning that Chitanda reached my house. She greeted my big sister and we headed to our room to discuss a little more about Radao. With a surprise, she had come in with a plan to converse with Radao who was coming today.

Sigh. "Well, you remember that today's a special day for sis." I remind Chitanda about my sis's date. "Oh! Ye! I think your sis will handle it with ease." Chitanda replies positively. "I guess, but it's a big day for sis too. We need to consider their date once we are done with Radao." I tell Chitanda. Chitanda nods and agrees.

We waited in my room until Radao and his older cousin Saoto-san arrived. Upon arrival, Sis went in to greet both of them. As planned, sis took Saoto-san with her and called both me and Chitanda out to have some chatter with Radao.

"You sure are getting worked up for me, sorry for being a disturbance to your energy conservation." Radao tells me as Chitanda and I enter the guest room. "Don't worry about it, Oreki-san is ok with some minor disturbance." Chitanda ensures Radao. We both take our seats and start the important talk. "My big sister told a little about your past, we are really sorry for you." I say to Radao. "Sigh, so you all know about this too now, Well, just keep this aside." Radao tries to excuse this topic. Getting into someone's personal life is bad, but leaving them to suffer alone is a sin too. Chitanda tries her trump card, "Well, you can share with us to get rid of the pain, we are certain that you too want your pain ended by some miracle. I am really curious to know too!" "That doesn't work on me. I realized a while back that I was a fool to try finding someone who would mend my heart. It was never broken so don't worry." Radao unaffected by Chitanda's seducing. Chitanda was disappointed with her failure. Now, it was my turn to somehow persuade him into opening his mouth. Sigh, Never thought this day would come. I grab one of the hands of Radao who was sitting on the other end of the table and say to him, "I AM CURIOUS!" with sparkling and dazzling eyes(like that of Chitanda but a little more powerful).

So awkward this is, but luckily Radao takes the bait. He too felt awkward. He told me to let go of his hand and then agreed to tell the story Chitanda and I were eager to hear about.

Chitanda and I opened our ears wide and kept our concentration on Radao. Radao starts, "K, so I am an abandoned child. I don't hate my mother nor my father. My mother loves me even now, and is ready to take the life of my dad, so is he for me. But, I wasn't the reason for them separating their ways, it was the God himself who bestowed a curse on us to be separated from one another. Their love was a real one, representing the correct definition of love. How did they break? Well, according to me, if some love is even close to real, they are to be broken at least once before reuniting again. This one was perfect so the breaking was huge too, but I don't know why they aren't united yet...it's been 15 years since that day." Radao seemed to get sadder as he explained. "Why did they leave each other?" Chitanda asked as Radao paused for some seconds.
"Not certain yet, I speculate that they had a fight or some conflict, but some conflict cannot be the reason for them to split apart. I asked my dad and he confirmed that there was some controversy involved, but that wasn't the whole point of their separation." Radao answers the question. "Well anyways, we should try helping the couple to succeed on their date, the current topic is just dark and good for nothing" Radao tries to change the topic.

It's better to switch topics fr, I don't think Radao is at all comfortable sharing all this information. "I think both Saoto-san and Tomoe-san are doing great, they have great love for each other." Chitanda still had some curiosity and demanded more answers. "Hopefully they don't end up like my mom and dad." Radao says with a sigh. "I hope so." I agreed to his statement. Chitanda became surprised and said, "Wha- ur mom and dad can still reunite and they definitely will, life is long and patience is the key to success." "Never thought I would hear Chitanda-san saying 'patience is the key to success'." I tease Chitanda. "That's not some good compliment." Chitanda puffs her face while saying this.

"I will go and check on both." I tell the two. "Kay" "Roger" They allow me to go. I take my steps carefully, avoiding any noise and reaching the kitchen. Once reached, I noticed that the setup for the date was the same as how the maid service had been. The dishes seemed different, but the aroma still brought the mice to my stomach. Then I walked my way back to the guest room as staying for long will result in me getting caught. The eyes of Tomoe-nee-san are pretty sharp and something to be praised for. I gave the report to both Radao and Chitanda and cleared their doubts.

"How about we go out to have some ice cream?" - Chitanda
"Um sure, we should give the couple some alone time." - Radao
"You two can go, I'mma stay and take a small nap." - Me
"Well, Chintanda-senpai, can you keep a check on Oreki-senpai so that he doesn't sleep? I will go and bring ice creams for both for you" - Radao
"Ohk, leave Oreki-senpai to me, you can go and fetch the ice creams with no worries." - Chitanda
"Kk, thanks senpai." - Radao

Radao leaves the home to bring ice cream for us three. But, Chitanda calling me senpai somehow felt weird(and good). I get under the blanket of the table and gaze at the plain wall. Chitanda looks at me with worry and says, "Oreki-san, I had a question in mind for some time." "What is it?" I ask slothfully. "So, what made you turn into an energy conservationist?" Chitanda asks me. "I don't remember but, I have always been like this since middle school." I answer. "Then what about childhood? When you were in kindergarten or in first/second grade?" Chitanda throws another question instantly. "I was a normal kid, simple as that." I answered the second question.
"Um, do you remember why you became a conservationist?" Chitanda asks after a short pause.
"Because of my pride." I finally revealed it to Chitanda. "Your pride? Um, can you elaborate it?" Chitanda attempts to dig in deeper. "It's a story I would rather forget." I replied.
"O-re-ki!" - Chitanda
"Um wha-?!!" - Me
"Wha-?!!" - Chitanda
We both further our distances immediately and sit nervously(how th did I get up so instantly). "Well... Please share the story with me oreki-san...I am really curious to hear about it." Chitanda says nervously. "Um ok" I reply nervously too. I take a deep breath and start the narration of my past.

"Back in my 2nd grade I was an average kid, enjoying my life with some actual friends. It was all perfect for me until my pride destroyed it. I always demanded the best for me, in terms of marks, attention and even for looks; I was really weird. I wanted my friends to speak well of me. I never accepted defeat literally. This slowly ruined me and as the mid 3rd grade came, I started with my regrets. After being completely ruined, I entered 4th grade where I met Satoshi, after which I completely killed myself and took a new start. But somehow, the pride of the past is still inside me." I take a pause and say, "I won't continue anymore. Satisfied now?"

"Not completely, but at least you answered my question.". K, she is in full mood to extract my entire childhood and middlehood memories. "I can't tell you everything in detail, sorry Chitanda-san." I apologize to Chitanda. "Oh well, I am sorry too for prying way too much into your life." She apologizes and then she speaks in a lower tone, "I really get curious when the topic is about you."

The door opens and it's Radao. He is back with the ice creams. He notices us two blushing and asks, "Did I miss something? Perhaps a new romance movie trailer?". "Don't worry, you didn't miss anything, we were barely talking about your cousin and my sister." I try hiding the recent scene. "It's been awhile since you last checked, I wonder how they are doing-" "We are doing great." Saoto-san says standing behind Radao. This surprises Radao greatly who falls and drops the ice cream(poor ice cream and us three)."Want to hop on for a movie night?" My sis appears from the back of Saoto-san.

An hour passes and we are at the theater. The movie is a romance genre, good for fresh couples.The movie starts, so does my popcorns. Everything went normal for an hour until the ultimate romance scene came, where Tomoe-nee-san and Saoto-san held each other's hands. Our group notices it from the side and we become happy for them. The movie ended half an hour later and the credits started rolling but, the real romance was yet to start. We remained on our seats along with Saoto-san and Tomoe-nee-san. Once the credits too ended and the screen became blank...then came the grand scene of the romance movie. The crowd was empty when Saoto-san shouted, "I LOVE TOMOE-CHAN THE MOST, NO ONE CAN SURPASS MY LOVE FOR HER!" followed by my sis's "BUT I LOVE SAOTO-KUN MORE THAN HE LOVES ME!". The environment got warmer and the younger audience(me, Chitanda and Radao) applauded for their success.
~It was not long until the bawl was followed up with a kiss too.

Both were head over heels for each other. This was a great news for everyone- them and the people for the couple. We next headed to a well-known restaurant where Sis borrowed the kitchen there to make her special dishes for her man and us three. The entire outing was rather focused highly on the couple, and that's very well. The food once again won over my tongue, and everyone's too along with me. After the dinner came the departure period. Saoto-san didn't entered inside our home again as it was getting too late for Radao. Both of them said their loving byes to each other and oddly didn't kiss again for the one last time of the night. Both me and Chitanda said our adieu to Radao and watched him for a while as he walked home with Saoto-san.

"Ok then, hope you had fun staying with us the whole day today, Eru-chan." Sis does the usual rules. "Yes, I really enjoyed the entire day with your family." Chitanda says the double meaning.
Sis giggles and says, "We aren't married yet though, anyways it's quite late so you should be heading home right now, your parents should be worried about you. Come to stay over with Hotaro someday." "Sure." Chitanda concurred with Tomoe-nee-san. It surprises and arouses me but I keep my mind.

"Hotaro, it's quite the night so accompany Eru-chan till the main junction road." Sis asks me to escort Chitanda half the way to her home. "Hmk" I agreed. "K then, goodnight Eru-chan, let's meet another day." "Good night, Tomoe-nee-san." Chitanda leaves the area while I walk beside her.

We walk without a word uttered. But, as we reach near the junction road, Chitanda asks me, "Oreki-san, do you believe that my last highschool year is gonna be one of the best years which I would ever live?" "I guess it will." I answer. We reached the junction finally once my sentence ended. Chitanda turns back at me and says with a smile, "I have high expectations of you." "Kk, I will try my best." I say back with pride. These words made Chitanda really happy, but also made her face slightly red.