Beyond The Table Thus The Boundary

Chapter 13: Mistake

Her eyes were fixated on the thermometer in the box. Newly bought, yet she did not feel any urge to frenziedly open it. It was almost like a gift by Takuya, stressing the significance of self-examination during affliction. Tsubasa has been convincing him that she would get better on the next day (it was how her body repaired itself) as long as she was nourished finely and getting enough sleep. Takuya did not reject the advantages of eating nutritious food and sleeping schedule, however his overthinking dragged Tsubasa to not dump his considerateness too.

            “I probably should return this to him.”

At first she fibbed about having a completed set of first aid kit at home. She did think she had one. The closer they paced to Sakura Street, the clearer Tsubasa’s mind went on. She somehow was able to reminisce a few weeks backwards, and the image of an empty first aid kit came to her view.

            This Takuya man was quite tenacious. Judging from Tsubasa’s contemplation, he could guess she was telling untruths. He confidently led to a pharmacy nearby, right before arriving at Sakura Street, and undoubtedly purchased a thermometer and a box of headache medicine for her. Not enough with that, he also bought a take-out for her, emphasizing that it could prevent her from having empty stomach before ingesting medicine.

            She gazed at the thermometer for some times until she yawned. She has had the take-out, and even consumed the medicine soon after that. It could be that the effect has kicked in. While her inner self praised Takuya for providing her a very effective medicine, she was still hesitating.

            Of all people, why did this Takuya man treat her nicely? As how she has been recalling, only a few days have passed since their first introduction. If she was to total up those days, it has been only three days of meeting him in person. Moreover, Takuya was a rather occupied senior compared to her. She never saw Takuya somewhere in the library although Takuya did say he saw her once, and they even met up there too. On the day Tsubasa was prying over Takato’s uncommon absence, Takuya was the one sitting across the table.

            Takato?

            No one ever told her, yet she was fully aware that she blushed the moment she reminisced that incident. It was utterly superficial, yet she was still establishing to herself that it was entirely a dream she had when she was asleep in the infirmary. She never thought of meeting Takato elsewhere but library, however confronting once in the dream should not be hurtful her. Nevertheless, it did hurt her in some way.

            If it was really a dream, it tormented her quite much. Takato confessed to her – The painful part was it was not real. Thinking thoroughly, it would create an unperceivable gap in their friendship and involuntarily there would be delicacy between them. Even though they have never really talked at the library, Tsubasa liked how the way they were currently, plus the environment between them was enhanced by the presence of Setoka, Mitsuko and Asahi.

            Therefore, she was not going to tarnish the recently-built friendship between those four and her.

            She tugged the blanket up to her chin, locking her eyes on the ceiling above her head, and let the drowsiness overtook her consciousness. If Takato’s confession was a dream, she did not want it to repeat itself whenever. She disliked the vibe she experienced when Takato confessed to her despite the surrealism. Takato was indeed a very mysterious person, and she could say amongst those she considered as ‘mysterious’, Takato booked the first place. She never ever found someone who never initiated a conversation whereas they have been sharing the same table for more than a month. Didn’t guys tend to beguile girls whenever they got the golden chance to do so? Takato did obtain such opportunity, and she was not declaring herself as hot as sexy girls of her classmates, yet she found out Takato never seemed to use the chance wisely. Well, honestly she has never been enticed by guys for her entire 18 years old of life, so she practically had no idea on handling a heart-to-heart confession. Takato in that dream seemed so serious as if he would not accept No as an answer. She did not admit or deny it – merely staying silent and acting dumb was her chosen reaction. It was inappropriate since she believed Takato might have poured his feeling into the confession, but she could not say Yes either.

            BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP -

            The ringing alarm startled her from a calm sleep. Tsubasa was awoken by the deafening tone it produced. While her mouth mumbling curse words, she still got up and stared blankly at the wall, waiting for her view to clear. She looked around in messy bed hair, processing the stimulus, before frantically jumping off the bed.

            “It’s 9 AM!” She screamed at the top of her lung, obviously ignoring the fact that it might disturb the neighbours.

            The neighbours were not the one getting late – She was. She immediately dashed to the bathroom without taking her bath towel, and noticed its absence when she was about to put off her pyjama. She sneaked out since she has put off the pants, fetching the towel by the bed, and rushed back to the bathroom.

            Fundamentally it was her very first time getting ready for class in less than 20 minutes. She always took 40 minutes to settle everything, excluding opting out shoes she thought of wearing for the whole day. Most of her collection were sneakers, yet she had difficulty to match each of the pairs with her own attire.

            “EXCUSE ME!!”

            Tsubasa was basically bumping into everyone in her way. She heard those who she ran into cursed back at her, but she turned to deaf ear. All in her mind was methods she constructed to be able to reach Amethyst College while making her way there. What kind of reasoning she should deliver? How could she enter the class unnoticeable? Who was going to back her up, regarding either her absence or her presence there? Which subtopics she has missed during her disappearance?

            She remembered Setoka, Mitsuko and Asahi. She did remember Takato. Those were her closest classmates, however she could not hypothesize whether those four would cover the class for her. She never hoped for anyone to back her up all these while – Each time she did wrongly, she would have to shoulder the fault alone and all she could do was to apologize and receive every sarcasm from other people.

            Meters from afar, the sight of arched gate of Amethyst College came to her view. Without hesitation, she sped up and barged into the building of her faculty. From a very self-reliant one, her mood flipped into timid little girl as soon as she looked around. It was not that she mistook a different faculty as hers – She just noticed there was no one to be seen. The corridors, the class, even the toilets, were all empty. She could not find even cleaners.

            Getting hit by unbounded perplex, she made her way to the class she was supposed to turn in. Even the class was empty, and there was no students to ask around. Did her classmates have already gone home? It was still too early to go home either.

            “Tsubasa?”

            In between the paradoxically ringing silence in her ears, Tsubasa finally heard a voice, abandoning the fact that it might be only her sole imagination. Attempting on finding the truth, she turned around to see the puzzled Takato staring blankly at her.

            “Takato?”

            “What are you doing here?” Takato drew closer to Tsubasa. In his hands were books Tsubasa could not speculate what they were.

            Tsubasa blinked in bewilderment before replying, “I was late for class. I woke up late.”

            A brow raised, “What class are you attending today?”

            “Weren’t you coming? English for Science and Technology,” Tsubasa disliked Takato’s tone while asking. It felt as if he was belittling her, even though his face did not seem like it. They were literally classmates and even once in a same group assignment though.

            Tsubasa was about to leave Takato as the latter added, “That was yesterday’s class. Today is Saturday.”

            If only they were animations, the animators might have illustrated a thunder striking Tsubasa over the divulgence. Tsubasa gaped in disbelief as she heard the word ‘Saturday’ from Takato. That one word meant weekend, and her recklessness has wasted one Saturday. She slid onto the floor, stabilizing her own pace and breaths, and gazed at the overly calmed Takato.

            “What are you doing here?” Tsubasa did not want to seem dumb for mistakenly perceiving the next day right after she woke up was a Thursday instead of Saturday.

            Believably because she was having fever, she forgot the lesson she had. She could not concentrate on the class, and she could not stay awake due to headache and increasing body temperature. She was forced to get some rest at the infirmary by Setoka, Mitsuko and Asahi, and since she had an undeniably ample reason, she agreed on resting there.

            And while she was resting, something has happened out of her deduction. It was still vague though.

            “Were you absent yesterday?” Takato asked with his straight face.

            The question was clear, but Tsubasa was clouded. This man asked whether she was absent on the previous day? “Weren’t you present yesterday?”

            “I didn’t,” Takato shrugged, also in confusion. “I came today to replace my credit hour.”

            “Oh,” was the only thing Tsubasa could utter out at the moment.

            It was too shocking upon the fact that Takato’s confession to her was indeed surreal. A part of her heart felt crumbled, thus blocking her to keep on looking at Takato’s direction. Lips pursed in pure frustration, fists clenched in beheld dissatisfaction, and eyes averted as the response to Takato’s bewilderment.

            Wait. So how long have I been sleeping since the day I had fever? Did I really sleep for that long?

            “Were you absent yesterday?” Realizing the question was unanswered yet, Takato repeated himself. He noticed Tsubasa’s abrupt mood change and was about to ask further as she turned her back towards him and marched away, leaving Takato dumbfounded.

            Perceiving an unsettled emotion lingering between them, Takato half ran towards Tsubasa. He somehow could sense something was not right, plus Tsubasa’s reaction including her glum facial did bother him. Tsubasa heard Takato was running to her, speeding up her pace to not let Takato confront her alone.

            “Tsubasa, wait!”

            Yet, Tsubasa ignored Takato’s calling, completely. She refused to let Takato witnessing her expression. Even she, herself, never ever thought she would get demotivated just because she found out the confession was untrue. If Takato listened to her story, he might be laughing at her for daydreaming.

            “Tsuba-!”

            She was so sure she did not mishear. There was a pause in Takato’s calling. Acknowledging Takato’s vanishing footsteps, she ceased and turned around to see him breathing heavily and in difficulty. Takato was literally huffing and puffing, almost desperately recomposing his own breathing, but his eyes fixated on the flustered Tsubasa.

            Takato was in need of help. He reached out his one hand towards Tsubasa, as if he was pleading her to spare his life. His other hand clutched on the shirt covering his chest. From his gestures, Tsubasa could say he was in pain, either choking himself or pressurized chest.

            If Tsubasa still decided to leave him infirm there, she was the truest heartless person Takato might have ever recognized in his life. Tsubasa quickly ran to get him and lend a hand.

            “Are you okay? You were running too much probably,” She rubbed on Takato’s back, calming his palpitation down.

            The latter did not directly respond. He, too, was recomposing his own pace of breathing. It was utterly fast, thus he could not calm down just easily. He glanced at her worried face – She could be feeling that it was partly her fault. His throbbing head fazed his view, however unconsciously his chest pain reduced. Tsubasa assisted him to sit on the nearest bench, anxiously looking for a bottle of water, and handed it to him.

            “I’m sorry. It’s not that I ran away from you. I was feeling miserable for misunderstanding,” Tsubasa mumbled almost to herself, yet it was audible to Takato.

            Takato has calmed down. His colour returned, and he was entirely in much better condition than how he was seconds ago. He leant his back against the wall, staring at the ceiling and inhaling deeply.

            “I’m sorry if I frightened you too,” Takato was not facing towards Tsubasa, yet the latter was aware he was talking to her.

            Instead of running away, Tsubasa settled down right beside Takato. Well, this might be a rare chance to be able to sit beside him though.