Chapter 7: Secretive

On that day, they arrived quite late at the library. Takato went there first, followed by Tsubasa since she conversed more than Takato throughout the group discussion. She could recognise the traits of each of her group member. Setoka was the shy type. Despite having pretty face and long wavy hair, she talked quite slow which made the group mates asking her for repetition. She also sometimes hesitated. Somehow, due to everyone's acceptance, she eventually able to talk as casual and provided more information the group needed. She was in charge of making the plot.

The couple of lovers Asahi and Mitsuko were the outspoken type. They sometimes bickered even among themselves. But they would not bring it to fight. They were firm with their own point of view, thus leading them to different opinion. They were always willing to do physical job since they were a couple of lovers; they basically had more manpower than the other three; the other three lived in different houses but they lived together. Plus, Asahi seemed much reliable for labour work compared to Takato. Hence, they were in charge of finding the receiver of their work.

That Takato man? Tsubasa let out a long sigh. Even though Setoka was the quiet one, Takato was the least spoken during their discussion. He was more to listening and did seem like daydreaming a lot. But he listened well since he jotted down everything they brought up. Thus, he was in charge as an observer.

"It's a drama script we're about to do together," Tsubasa reminded while fishing out her things from her backpack.

The sitting Takato glanced at her and returned to his novel writing. She settled down and purposely fixated her eyes on him. He seemed serious in novel writing but he did seem a little anxious during the meeting. She propped her chin to lure Takato to change his attention towards her instead.

As usual, that Takato man did not seem to be shaken.

Probably I'm not sexy, Tsubasa thought to herself.

"So, what should I do?"

Takato did not directly reply. He shredded a paper and wrote something on it before passing it to his neighbour. Tsubasa quickly took it and read the content aloud.

She glanced at the squinting Takato.

We are in the library. We need to volume down.

"Yeah, right," she babbled to no one but herself. She replied the letter and pushed it back to Takato.

Takato did not stop writing but he took a glimpse of her letter.

All right. We write then.

Takato exchanged look from the letter to the grinning Tsubasa, then to the letter back. He frowned as he did not know what the exact response he should act out. He then wrote the answer.

What do you want to know?

It was Tsubasa's turn to frown. Did he hear her carefully earlier?

What should I do?

This time, Takato did not falter. He swiftly wrote the answer.

Just stay put and read whatever you want as resource.

"What do you mean?" Tsubasa squinted at Takato's poker face. He really used that kind of expression very well.

How about the script? came as the reply.

Takato blinked as if he did not know what happened to his life. Tsubasa sighed in boredom. She pondered whether that Takato man was really serious in doing an assignment. She just discovered that he was her classmate all these while, and she never saw him doing any of the assignment at the library. It speculated her, and she really had the urge to inquire, but she did not have the gut to do so. She was worried that she would accidentally ask something she should not even mention of.

We need to wait for Setoka's task to finish first.

"But-" she was cut off by Takato as he gestured his hand, asking the letter back. Tsubasa did return it to him. He added some more.

We can create a whole script with the plan Setoka has created, plus the information Asahi and Mitsuko have gathered. The three of them were doing their respective tasks today, so we should start by tomorrow for approximately two days and a half.

"We what?" Tsubasa half shrieked as she was literally shocked by Takato's answer. It was long enough to fulfil a paragraph of a short essay, which made her to wonder more of that Takato man.

She shook her head to clear her mind. Reading Takato's determination quivered her a little. She wrote the reply.

Doesn't it sound unfair? They do their job but both of us do nothing here.

It was obvious that Takato was squinting at her, making her to laugh wryly. She avoided looking at what Takato jotted and gave it back to her.

It doesn't. Basically we will wrap up their effort. For today, you can find sources; provided script in the research section of the library, and read it as your reference. So tomorrow we will start.

"Wow, you do sound confident here," Tsubasa giggled whilst reading the letter. "I'm amazed by your conviction. All right, your idea is acceptable. I will use it."

She noticed Takato was lowering his head even more than usual. As she gazed upon the expression, he was blushing. Her compliment towards him was clearly audible, thus it must be the reason behind his shyness.

He looked cute though, she smiled at herself.

Tsubasa rose and made her way to the research section. She might get some referable script there. Takato at the table gazed at her from behind. He watched her walking thus leaving him alone there. He looked downward, to his novel. The handwriting has changed – yes, he noticed it too. He was the first one to see it. He disliked the transformation though. His novel was becoming harder to be read if his handwriting was shrinking. He sighed in disappointment as it has been days of attempt but he could not revert to his original handwriting.

Someone arrived, stomping. He looked up to witness the fuming Tsubasa. Tsubasa was glaring at him, as if he was the prey and he was about to be eaten by a cheetah.

"I thought you would help me finding some scripts!" she hissed while clenching both of her fists. "You imbecile!"

Takato ogled at her in disbelief. She huffed and puffed, but seeing Takato changed his poker face to a very puzzling look was hilarious. She could not maintain her scrunched face as she eventually laughed.

"You are so honest!" she even patted her own chest to calm herself down, "Everything was shown on your face right on the spot!"

From a very perplexed expression, he adjusted to a very pissed off face. She laughed even louder until Mayumi warned her to keep quiet from afar. She apologized for her misbehaviour but she still laughed at Takato. Takato rolled his eyes. He jotted down something and gave it to Tsubasa.

In the letter, I've already mentioned 'you', not 'we'.

"Yeah, I know, I know," Tsubasa wiped away the tears emerged from her eye tips, "It's just because the research section is too quiet, and I am very afraid of being alone there for a long time."

She folded the latest letter from Takato and kept it in her pocket. Takato grasped on his pen; the one he used to write. She then put on a very cheerful smile.

"Can you accompany me there for a while?"

A very long sigh escaped from Takato, bursting Tsubasa's laugh.

Even though he seemed unpleasant, he did accompany Tsubasa to the research section. It was as quiet as a sea, and it was quite isolated from the counter compared to reading section they used to spend time at. There were less people available in the section, which contributed the silence. Tsubasa and Takato looked for the scripts they could be using as a reference.

"I'm sorry for today, Takato," she stated to kick off the conversation. She wanted to get rid of the awkward silence engulfing them in too, "I was so happy that I was able to get friends."

She glimpsed at the stumbling Takato in between the bookshelves. He was listening while looking for any script suitable. She chuckled.

"As how you said we are – no, we were friendless."

Tsubasa found a hardcover entitled Best Drama Script from Department of Mass Communication. She took it out from the books and shoved it to Takato. "It's all thanks to you that I was able to communicate with Setoka, Asahi and Mitsuko. Without you, I had no idea how I could approach them in the first place."

Takato lowered his head. He pretended to read through the pages, in fact he was listening earnestly. Tsubasa continued looking for another book.

"I don't do much," Takato flushed a little. "I just do what I'm supposed to do. Setoka asked me how to approach you, and what I did was more to responding to her question."

They had a pause as Tsubasa gaped in disbelief. She cupper her mouth with her eyes widely opened. "So that was how your voice is! I feel like it's my first time hearing it!"

Takato chirped as to him Tsubasa's reaction was a little too much. "Stop it. I just talked, that's all. Besides, you've listened to my voice at class."

"It was different because you didn't talk to me! After months of us sitting together at the same table, finally I am able to chat with you," she then chuckled. "You have a sweet voice, and manly. Like a father talking to a daughter."

"For sure you are not the daughter," Takato rolled his eyes.

"Aw, you're meanie!" Tsubasa pulled a pout.

Takato drew out a hardcover, almost similar like the one Tsubasa discovered beforehand. He opened it to ensure they were not the same books with the same content. After confirming them as two different book of scripts, he paced to a table to read through. Tsubasa tailed him without any complaint.

"Are you, by all means, an author?"

His hand stopped flipping the page. He lifted his head up and directly stared into Tsubasa's eyes. It was strictly aimed, but Tsubasa did not sense any ill intention from him. She believed he was merely mortified by Tsubasa's correct deduction.

"I will keep your secret as a secret. An ultimate one."

"Forget it."

Tsubasa intentionally hummed and acted as if she has won the argument. Frankly, both of them were not bickering, but Takato was playing dumb, so she attempted on revealing his identity.

"All these while you wrote a novel, right?" she drew her face closer to Takato's, causing the latter to blush even more.

Takato evaded the eyes, but she was really persistent. He groaned as she was literally forcing him to divulge. "How do you know?"

"I've been watching you, Takato."

"So that was how you know my name?"

"Yes!"

Then both of them fell into deep silence. Tsubasa has just realized she has spoken more than she should. She retreated and cupped her mouth to prevent herself babbling more of her covert activity including peeping Takato behind book shelves at the reading section. It obviously sounded like a stalker. Since she has discovered even Takato's name just by being at the same table as his, she might acknowledge more than that if she was to heed on him wholly.

"Forget what I've said!" Tsubasa butted in as she saw Takato parted lips, "I don't mean it in bad way! I just happened to notice your name from your matric card, and I don't want to do bad thing to you!"

Takato gradually turned to her. She was blushing like him too, or she might be redder than him. Her eyes were wet, which meant she was on the verge of weeping in no time.

"I'm sorry, I've said something you shouldn't know. I'm sorry."

She flipped the pages frantically as if they were short of time there. Takato watched her reading through the pages, while his hand also did the same. He should say something so that the girl before him would not feel guilt.

"I'm okay. You don't have to apologize multiple times."

Tsubasa pursed her lips. "I don't want you to misunderstand me."

"It's okay. I will not."

Tsubasa slowly lifted her head up. It was that thing – the smile she has seen on Takato. It was short yet very sweet. It was filled with honesty and soothing. He gazed at her softly as if he was looking at the one he loved dearly. The kind of look he emitted was telling her that he was totally fine and would not think her as rotten.

"Takato." She was practically petrified. That kind of smile by Takato – only she witnessed it. The calmness that smile brought along was infinite, and she has never ever experienced her heart unstably throbbing.

Oh, no! Have I fallen in love with Takato?