3 Chapter 3: Because, you are already doing a great job

POV Katsura

I wake up with a start, I feel adrenaline coursing through my body, I feel sweaty all over, my bed was wet with sweat. A nightmare, its always a nightmare, but I can't remember what it was. I never can, honestly, I never remembered any of my dreams. I check my phone at the bedside table, it was 5;30 AM , I had no calls, no texts. I was relieved a little, I think it should have been a peaceful night at the Hori household, I debate whether to sleep another hour or whether to get up. I decided against sleeping, I got up and set the oven going, boiled some milk and made some coffee, I took it and went to the balcony, a cool morning breeze was going. It was going to be hot later, I enjoyed the wind against my face. For a moment everything stopped hurting. I remembered last night and felt even more elated, then I remembered how "NORMAL" people tend to feel about me. It had been a gratitude thing yesterday. Don't get your hopes up, I chide myself. She probably has a boyfriend. No way she should hang out with a creature like you. You are a harbinger of disaster, not a hero. I guess that was true. I never was a hero. I felt stupid for getting my hopes up.

I went back in and started preparing breakfast. I poached a few eggs and fried some bacon. It smelled lovely. I have rarely cooked for myself, but most of the people who have tasted my cooking had praised it. I liked it too. Then I read a paperback for a few hours till the world around me was up and it was time for school.

I leave home a bit early, I want to walk slowly, the morning is beautiful, the day has not yet started to heat up, there is a lingering trace of the cool morning breeze, I see quite a few people on the streets, most are middle aged people in suits and bags going for work, I see women in balconies hanging washed clothes. The trees look phenomenally beautiful, the sunlight is perfect, I am no photographer, but this morning scenery deserved some good photography.

I reach school, it takes me some time to get up the stairs, I don't want to further damage my leg so I get up slowly, students stare at me, not sure about how to figure me out. My "keep away" aura is activated, I look like a guy who doesn't want to be messed with. People generally tend to avoid eye contact with me. Something with my intensity, the people at the institute made me behave this way. It inspired fear and generally kept non-combatants at bay. I couldn't count how many times; it saved me a fight if I looked malicious and scary enough.

I was almost at the third floor, when I felt a hand pat my back. After the INCIDENT, my response to a sudden action had been seriously heightened, I turned back rapidly, my eyes wide, adrenaline pumping, ready for quick action. It doesn't cross my mind that I am in a school, where the worst thing I could face is a bully, but it was not that. I turned around to see Hori sans smiling face, greeting me. "Yo. Good morning" she said, before noticing my alarm. "Did I scare you?" she asks, guilt in her voice. "No, no not at all, I was a bit surprised…... Good morning to you too." We walk up together, to the class, Hori san opens the door. The class was already half full, her two friends were already in, we take our seats. It is a bit uncomfortable for me. I don't want to put on my mask here, it just feels wrong, lying to these people without any reason. Without my mask, without Harry Freeman making me a impressive wordsmith, I am actually very shy, I don't know how to introduce myself. Surely talking to Hori san while her two old friends listened without any backdrop would be pretty weird. I blushed profusely and held my head down. The girl with the short hair spoke first, "Hey, good morning, Hori" The guy with the purple hair said "You know this guy, you two came in together?" "Yes. He helped me with some work yesterday" Hori san explained. I decided it was my time to chime in and said "My name is Katsura Takada. I hope you will be nice to me" I say it out fast and loud, then extend my hand. The others could clearly see me flustered, they held their faces, trying hard not to smile. The guy shook my hand "Ishikawa Toru, nice to meet you, you don't have to be so formal you know" he said kindly, he looked like a tough guy, but his manner of speech told me he was actually pretty nice. The other girl shook my hand "Yuki Yoshikawa, nice to meet you, so you are the new transfer student, everybody's been talking about you and…"

 "And…?" I ask "And, its probably because, you seem like that good looking transfer kid, that people see in anime" She said, her eyes bulging out and her nostrils flared like a little kid. I blushed again. "Stop it Yuki, you are making him more flustered" Hori san chided. "Okay okay…" Yoshikawa said. The trio seemed to have a good relationship, I could see it in their eyes, they all had pleasant smiles, they all seemed good natured enough, I didn't fit in there, they are everything, I can never be. "So… How did you break your leg?" Ishikawa asked, breaking my trail of thought. "Oh… this… I broke it while playing soccer" I lie. I hate lying I wanted to bury it with the other stuff, but I have to sing this song for now. The homeroom teacher enters, I actually met him yesterday with the principal. He seemed like a nice enough fellow, He taught English. The others fell quiet. " Yasuda is looking pretty happy today" Yoshikawa whispered turning to us "Ugh.. he tried to hit on me the other day" she feigned a disgust face. The roll call ended and the classes started.

I had been taught most required stuff at the Department lab, so I wasn't sure how much I could follow at a structured educational institute like a school, but to my surprise, the first three periods went well. I could do most of the math from memory most of physics and chemistry was being taught from materials, I had already memorised, the problem arose in English. Yasuda came back to take the class, it was a reading exercise, where everyone in the class read a few lines from the selected prose. I had turned Harry Freeman down, and I was on my own no mask, so, when my turn comes, I start reading with my own foreign accent, it was pretty hard to feign a Japanese accent, when your normal English sounds American, I tried to tone it down as best I could, but everyone still turned towards me. Hori san and the others looked at me with amazement in their eyes, even Yasuda was so surprised that he forgot to tell me to stop reading, by the time he told me to stop, I was already done with the page. "Your English is really good, Did you live in the US?" Yasuda asks

"My parents are mostly stationed there, and I have been there since childhood, so I just picked it up" I lie again. Even without Harry Freeman, it seems that I lie a lot. I have to lie, I have no other choice, if I want to keep up with this life. The rest of the period, passed like a breeze and just like that it was recess.

Yuki and Ishikawa left for lunch, but Hori san stayed behind for some reason. "Hey, aren't you going to go for lunch?" she asks. I had actually prepared some sandwiches for myself. It was new for me to experience my own cooking so I wanted to taste some more of my personal gourmet. "I actually prepared my lunch today. Sandwiches. DO you want one ?" I ask her extending my lunch box.

She picks one up and says "Don't mind if I do." She takes a bite, and I look at her expectantly waiting for her review. "Its delicious" she says her eyes glowing up "Do you take cooking classes or something?" I smile humbly. "Nah, its just from practice" I say.

"Hey I wanted to ask you something" She says suddenly turning serious. "How would you feel about coming to hang at my place after school. Souta couldn't miss you more. He was going on all night how you took down those guys, I think he still believes you are a superhero or something" she says. I am dumbstruck for a moment. Never in my life have I ever been invited to a normal family home. Why am I feeling so weird. My stomach just lurched. I could feel my heart pulsing. "I am…." "Sure, I would love to come" I blurt out, cutting her off, I didn't want her to change her mind. She smiles, probably relieved after being saved an explanation.

Yuki and Ishikawa come back soon. "Hey Hori, Iura and the others are going for karaoke after school, want to join?" Ishikawa asks. "Oh shoot, I am busy today, sorry guys, I will go next time for sure" Hori san smiles apologetically. I look at her face for a moment, then it strikes me. No one knows. No one knows, she has a little brother, that she has probably a ton of household chores waiting for her after she goes back home, then schoolwork. I feel sad for her, she is too young to be burdened with all these responsibilities. Her mother was overworked for sure. I couldn't figure out the father for certainty, but families like this, the adult sibling had a lot of responsibilities. I felt a respect for her surging inside me.

"But you never hang out with us after school" Yuki says, blowing up her face. Hori san smiles apologetically. "Do you wanna come?" Ishikawa says looking at me. "Sorry, I gotta take a rain check too. I need to catch up on schoolwork, since I am joining so late" I say. "You guys are no fun you know" Ishikawa says to us.

The rest of the day passes like that. I didn't know what to feel at the end of it all. I had never experienced such myriad of emotions in one day. Most of the times, it was just Harry guiding me towards safety, now that he is gone, I cant seem to know what to do.

"Hey Hori san wanna walk back home together?" I ask her. She nods and we start off. "You know, you can always ask me if you need help" I say "What do you mean?" She asks "With the daily chores, my leg will be fine soon, and I can handle daily stuff pretty well. You shouldn't take all the burden yourself you know. Go out with the others for once" I say, suddenly I am not sure about saying this aloud, was I overstepping my boundaries

"So you figured it out huh, Yeah, I didn't want them to know, No one knows at school. Almost everyone talks to me but no one inquired enough about my life after school. I would hope you can keep it a secret too, I don't want the others to think I am weird" she says. "Your secret is safe with me." I say. "I know we just met and I shouldn't be the one doing this, but…." I put my hand on her head patting it, "You are doing a great job…" I say softly,

 She looked at me awestruck, I couldn't figure out what was going in her head. Did I just blow it? Did I make it weird, did I just lose the only friend I have. I was going to apologise when she says "Thank you. I didn't realise how badly I needed this". I could see her eyes watery, she was suddenly so emotional. We make eye contact for a few seconds and suddenly she gets all flustered and red faced, she shoves me hard. I am surprised for a moment. So, Hori-san got violent when she was flustered. I break into a smile, she breaks into one too, there was no awkwardness…

I am relieved. She hadn't taken it in a bad way. "So, we both know each other's secrets now" she says with mischievous smile on her face " I guess we do" I say.

"I guess we do" I think, suddenly feeling elated. My life as a normal human had begun even before I could comprehend what was happening. Summer had arrived all of a sudden, lighting up every dark corner within me.