ENG - My best friend's sister ᵐᶦᵏᵉʸ ˣ ᵒᶜ

7

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We spend a few more hours at the here and I'm surprised that after dinner it's not as bad as I thought.

We sat down in the shallow water and talk. Whereby I listen rather than join in. Although the atmosphere was nice, I still feel a little uncomfortable being surrounded by so many strangers. The sun was burning down on us, but the cool water provides relief. On the lawn, there are many colorful umbrellas, along the deck chairs where people are lying. The smell of sunscreen, fried food and chlorine is in the air, and everywhere you can hear the happy laughter and cheerful voices of other bathers.

Suddenly Mikey shows up with a mysterious ball he found somewhere, and no one asks where he got it. Presumably he stole the ball from some kid. We gather in the water to play with it. We throw the ball back and forth while splashing each other with water. While Hina and her unknown friends swing on an air mattress, in deep water.
At some point, Emma and Kenny disappear, presumably to be alone for a bit. The rest of us splash and swim for a while, when Mikey suddenly starts having a water fight. They splash around wildly, and soon we've split into two teams and are splashing each other with water. I can't help but join in, and we laugh and scream as we splash each other.

When Kenny and Emma were back, the boys are playing soccer on the lawn with the mystery ball, Kenny asks us and girls to join in. Emma is always lifted up and to the side by Kenny or Mikey, I too am often simply taken under the arms of Kenny and lifted to the side. And since he is taller than me, he has an easy time of it. Hina and her unknown friends are the only ones who are left alone. The boys are so gentle with her, as if they don't want to touch her. Probably this is because of the different relationships we have with each other. Kenny is my brother and Emma's boyfriend, and Mikey and Emma are siblings as far as I can tell. It was mentioned in passing. Mikey also leaves me alone, only Kenny always lifts me up.

Despite everything, I actually still had fun and we all still laughed quite a bit. As the sun slowly sets and it gets cooler, we pack up our things and head back.
"We have to head this way, we'll see you at school on Monday Mei-chan," Hina says, waving goodbye. She disappears shortly after with her friends, whose names I didn't remember. We walk a bit until Kenny starts too and says, "Emma and I will go this way. I'll see you at home later, Mei."
"See you, bye!", Emma waves as well and disappears with Kenny. Now I'm alone with Mikey and somehow I feel uncomfortable around him. My heart beats faster and I get goosebumps on my arms.
"I have to go this way," I say quickly and just start walking.
"Wait a minute, I'll go with you!" he calls after me and runs after me with quick steps. No, no, no, why? I don't want that and I know the way! For a while we just walk silently side by side. We walk through narrow alleys and I can hear the hum of the busy city and I try to focus on the sounds to avoid this uncomfortable silence.
"Let's take a detour, shall we?" he suggests, which makes me cringe slightly since it's so sudden. As nice as I am, I can't refuse, so I agree with a nod. I look around at the surroundings to hopefully remember the way back. I have no idea where it will lead me. At some point I don't recognize the area and have forgotten which way we took to get back. My attempts to remember the way fail.

At some point he stops at a green area and drops into the grass. Confused, I look down at the now prone Mikey.
"Come sit down," he says, tapping the ground beside him. I hesitate at first, but finally do. So I sit down next to him, some distance away, and press my bag against me, which has my towels and bath stuff in it. I stubbornly look straight ahead and realize that we have a great view of Tokyo from here. I didn't even realize we were walking uphill. The city looks so beautiful with the orange light of the sunset and the lights coming on. It just looks beautiful.
"Beautiful, isn't it?", I suddenly hear next to me, as if he knows what I'm thinking. I wince slightly and look over at him. He sits up and looks down at Tokyo as well.

I look away again and move even further away from him, and apparently it doesn't go unnoticed.
"Don't you like being close to boys?" he asks me suddenly. Almost automatically, I clutch my bag and look the other way to avoid looking at him.
"Or maybe I just don't like your closeness," I give out quietly, staring stubbornly at the city.
"You've got a point," he laughs suddenly, then asks after he calms down again, "So? Don't you like it?"
I answer quietly, "No, I don't like it. That's why I don't want to be touched without being asked," I look the other way and try not to look him in the eye.
"Is there a particular reason for that or are you just shy?" he continues to ask. He's bugging me! I sigh and rest my chin on my bag, still hugging it to me.
"You already know I live in a brothel, right?", I ask him a bit sarcastically.
"Yeah, I know," he replies again with that dopey grin.
"I grew up among the women there and sometimes I help out in the bar. Some men thought I was one of the girls for intimacy...", I sigh and bury my face in my pocket.
"Some of those people also got physical and grabbed me in certain places," I add, biting my lips to hold back my tears. Why am I even telling him? I don't know this boy!
"Were you raped?" he asks so directly that I cringe and look right at him.
"What, no!" it never got that far, thankfully. Security always got me out of there in time before anything else happened," I say, looking away again.
"I just don't want to be touched when I don't want to be and those men at the brothel are to blame for that," I add and stand up quickly, still clutching my bag to my chest. The thought of what happened gives me goosebumps. I suddenly feel so dirty again.
"Any unwanted touch is disgusting and it pisses me off how disgusting some men are. I just don't like your species, thank your same," it sounds mean but it's the truth now. The only man I can stand is my brother. All the other men I've met have shown me that they're not worth getting involved with.
"I don't even know why I'm telling you this. Just don't touch me" I whine more to myself than to him.

I stand up and say, "I'm going home," then turn and walk away with quick steps.

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