"Feels kinda bald"

"Daichi!"

Somebody's calling me… That somebody made me I didn't forgot to lock the door before going to sleep.

Suddenly I felt a hefty amount of weight on top of me that it burst my eyes open. All the air inside my body were pushed out in a force as this gray haired girl towering over, looking at me with her blue eyes sparkling as if finding an insect on the ground.

"Thought you never going to open your eyes again, Daichi." She smiled.

"Morning, Matsuri."

"Mornin' Daichi!"

Silent filled us. We really doing a staring contest this early in the morning?

"Please don't jump on me like that Matsuri, I might die young."

That statement was partly true. Lately, from day third into my high school debut, I always felt throbbing in my heart as well as a skipped beat. At first I thought of a heart disease so I checked to a doctor. But they said it's normal. I'm a healthy high school boy they said. So forth, I came to realize that my heart acting up every time I was with Matsuri.

Love? don't be joking. Those stuff should feel nice and exciting, not worry and dying.

Matsuri dismounted then sat on the edge of the bed. "Let's stop by the convenience store later, I gotta buy a sandwich."

"Sure thing."

Twenty minutes later we went out and made our trip to school. The air was chilly that morning and the sky was dazzling blue with some streak of clouds like thin snow. We walked side by side like we always do but this time, my eyes always trying to peek to my right where Matsuri humming along the music she played from her phone. Not only did I have a possible heart disease but also a motor problem within the nerve. I noticed until lately that she always keeping the left ear unplugged by the earphone when we were walking. That was a considerate move that I respected a lot from her and was pretty much, cute.

We arrived at the mini market and stepped inside. Despite the chilly air, getting buzzed by the A/C was pretty nice. Matsuri led me to the sandwich aisle where different types were displayed. Again, I as  a human I was, noticing another unique behavior of her. For as long as I know and live, we've been doing this routine of a pilgrimage to the convenience store to an extend where if we don't go, a curse or sin or even an unease feeling will fell upon us. And as of late, I found out that her time to decide which sandwich to buy was exactly the same every single visit.

Like now, she was looking at both ham and beef sandwich. This combination of choices led to an impeccable 32.5 seconds of decision time. And not just that, it all depends on the filling. If you place tuna into the equation, it reduced to a solid 25 seconds with tuna having ninety percent chance of being picked. So on if you add the egg sandwich into the equation, 23 seconds was unavoidable with egg sandwich has forty percent chance of winning against tuna and sixty percent against ham or beef. What a masterclass of precision and diligence. So now, what will you pick, Matsuri—

"I think of both."

Impossible… for the first time in history of Kizaki bloodline, Matsuri picked both tuna and beef! And the time was set for 20 seconds! new record indeed. Has the curse finally descend upon us? God please have mercy.

"Here you go, Daichi." said Matsuri shoving the beef sandwich into my blazer pocket.

"Wha—"

"It's for earlier. Sorry for jumping on you like that." She said with an apologetic 'He-hee'.

Urk… there goes my heart, the curse did fell upon me. Matsuri walked ahead as she hummed and smiled like a blossom. She stopped far away and waved at me. That was cute, I thought.

One thing I learn from the disease were the cure. Standing or sitting next to her might incite some sudden heart disease and an abnormal beating rhythm but, with her also more often where I found the cure for it. Like now, when she showed her bright smile brimming with kindness that I always know since the day we met at the sea exhibition, my heart went back to normal and beating steady. She might be the cure for those with bad heart but there's no way I let her be monopolized by the pharmacy.

<><><>

"Daichi!"

Urk… I almost jumped if she didn't call my name. Matsuri pushed something cold on my nape as the lunch break begin. Since middle school, we always ended up in the same class so I can be always on guard with her action. Now that we were separated, I thought I could let my guard down.

"You have to choose between surprising me or calling me, you know?"

"Eh~ but you might jump if I didn't call your name, right?"

"Ugh… true."

Matsuri sat in front of me as she placed her lunch box next to the sandwich and drink she bought. The sun shone on her making her white skin stood out even more. I wonder if she ever this… eye-catching. Her eyelashes were sharp and lips were plump. Blue eyes dazzling as if competing with the sun.

I gazed away. But why? For as long as I know, looking at her was walk in the park. Even then we used to do a staring contest over a last chocolate till it melted. Now I can barely look for a second. To support my statement, I took another chance trying to stare at her like the creep I am.

"What is it, Daichi—Ah! Staring contest!" Matsuri with her almost-serious expression stared back at me. One word, 'cute'.

I gazed away again. God, why is it so hard to look at a fellow homo sapient.

"What is it Daichi? You lost your power? We fought until death back then."

"I have to change contact lenses it seems—Anyway, why are you here?"

"Huh? What's that about? Of course to eat."

"What about your friends? Aren't they more interesting." I said.

"Hmm… interesting or not, eating without you even just for once in a week felt wrong. Like… there's a part of my head that goes bald."

"Hrk!" I almost choked. Almost, if it wasn't for the bald part. My heart skipped a beat but then went back to normal. She has a point though. Whenever I spent weekend alone, my mind thought of her immediately and thinking what is she doing right now. Looks like I wasn't the one who felt a partial baldness.

"What about you, Daichi?"

"Huh?"

"How do you feel when I wasn't around?"

I had to check for any injuries there because of the damage she inflicted with those questions. How do I feel? How should I tell her? I couldn't decide whether or not to tell her with the same tone of of her analogy.

"M-Maybe like having one of my eyes closed? It's still clear but something's off?" Yosh! that was such a metaphorical answer(Maybe).

"Or like having one of your feet out of the blanket?"

"Pfft," I couldn't hold the chuckle. Her depiction was somehow spot on. "Or like having half of a book torn apart?"

"Or like having no cheese in a cheese burger!"

"Or a cloudy sky with no rain?"

"Onigiri with no seeweed!"

We both laughed it off and the analogy kept on going back and forth like a ping-pong match until the end of the lunch break. Honestly, I wanted to hear all her analogy about it. But the class started and separated us once again. When high school started, I have to say goodbye to the eraser thief in front of me or the fragrance smell coming from the front. Also the poke on the belly from behind when I pretended to hear her call from behind. So the only thing I hope for was just Matsuri keep having lunch with me.

The school ended. The sun also about to end themselves as they approaching the horizon. I stepped on the hallway to leave and bumped with Matsuri and her new gang of girls. Five people were in the group excluding Matsuri. 

"Daichi…" Matsuri stopped as well as the other.

"Where are you guys going?" I asked.

"The mall!" said one girl with black ponytail hair. She has this blinding bright aura around her.

"Is that so?"

"Yep," said the girl with a hair shorter than Matsuri. Probably resembled more of a boy's hair. She clapped her hand. "Let us borrow Matsuri for today, please?"

Borrow? Just hearing that spread something on my spine. She isn't somebody's belonging. Though it did feel disappointing since we promised to battle on Super Squash Bros later. What's the prize you ask? An ice cream, that was it. But not just any ice cream, it's Hag&Dash! That bad boy was no joke in terms of taste and price. One can make a student fell in to a recession after purchasing one. I'd bargain with her but after reviewing each other's cash flow, she agreed to make it as the prize. Yes, she agreed.

"Well then, I'll go home myself." that word was hella weird to say.

Matsuri nodded then the group moved on passed me as they continued their conversation cheerfully. What's this feeling? I thought.  Her back getting smaller and smaller. I wanted to take her arm but I couldn't do it. Something was holding me off.

Who the hell am I?

That's right. We knew each other to the point an easy insult barely make a dent but that didn't mean I have the right to stop her. No matter what, people change. She won't be spending her time with me at all time now that she became fond of people that definitely different in lifestyle and personality than those in middle school. I would be lying if a peer-pressure wasn't a thing but that surely played a factor.  Should I change too? Will it be too late? Should I yield to the peer-pressure?

So I walked home—Long live go-home club. It was deafeningly quite. No hums. No banging music out of an earphone—poor earphone. I turned around a corner and saw vending machine on a small playground trying to proof its existence by keeping its flickering lights on.

"Gosh, your an old man now." I said to the vending machine. It might be a reincarnated vending machine. This old thing still fighting even now. I remembered coming here when I was eight. Not too fond of it but since Matsuri dragging me so there I goes. Monkey bars was her favorite.

I took a seat on a bench and opened a can of a black coffee—Matsuri's favorite. She started to drink this hell of a concoction right after our graduation from grade school. At first she hated it but later on told me that this drink snapped her back to reality. What are you, an old man?

No birds as well now that I noticed. Just where did everybody go—

"Don't move a muscle." said a voice deep yet feminine.

"Wha—"

I felt a heavy, cold, and circle of something sitting on top of my head. The radius were small so I guessed it was probably a can of something.

"The can is opened. If you move, I'll tip it off." the voice said. "You don't wanna be smeared by this abyss of a drink." The voice were faker than a con-man. But I knew who it is.

"What are you doing here?" I said. This turned into a agent drama real quick. "You're not suppose to be here."

"Who are you to say?" 

Suddenly a shadow appeared next to me after it hopped over the bench. It was Matsuri of course. She wouldn't sat down and instead smiled in front of me with her wicked thought spilling out.

"Please have mercy."

"Fine~"

She took the can off my head and drank it. Little devil, she really opened the can.

"Ah! the coffee, you drink it as well."

"I'm snapping away from reality."

She chuckled. Never tired of those chuckles and now my heart raced again. Why is she here, I wondered. Did she just change her mind and went walked home? Won't that be rude to her friends? It'd been barely a month now since we enroll, so I thought it was the time to find your own circle and by the time next month arrived, you'd settled. Did her current friends were incompatible? but the way I see it was Matsuri were pretty happy with them.

"Seriously, why are you here?" I asked, looking at her.

She placed her pointy on her lips as she pondered. Even closing her eyes to an extent. "Feel kinda bald again."

"Eh?"

She stood. "Besides, we have a deal, right?"

What's this feeling, I asked myself. It was fuzzy and warm. An embrace was more like it. Nope, they got us in the first half not gonna lie, the heart still racing again like a racer it was. I felt unease but happy since she really honored her not-so-honorable competition.

"Ah yes, the prize would be a bread in yakisoba." I dodged.

"As if… you better honor the arrangement. Hag&Dash, chocolate."

"Yeah, yeah."

And so we walked side by side again. The hums returned with its accompaniment escaped from the poor earphone. I even heard the birds again thank god. It might not be over yet, I thought. As long as she kept feeling kinda bald, we might stay like this for another while.