Chapter 244 - Silent Cold Streets At Night

Sekiguchi was looking intently at the glass I handed him. The evidence was right before his eyes. I could tell that he was having trouble accepting the fact the friend did something like this.

"Yasui… man I have nothing to say." He looked towards Ishihara, who was making the most pathetic face I've seen in a while. He opened his mouth, "Wait… dude I can explain."

"You can't. Trust me." I said in a plain and cold tone. I was surprised that he still had something to say in his favour. 

"Sorry man… I didn't know…" Sekiguchi handed me the glass and said in a downcasted tone, as I waved my palm and assured him, "Ah it's alright. Nothing drastic happened at the end of the day."

"Sakamaki… dude listen to me." Ishihara said with quite the desperation in his voice, but I wasn't in the mood to listen to his bullshit. But instead of taking a rude way, I decided to improvise. Looking at him in the eyes, I said, "Listen… you did what you did. Better not sulk over it."

"Kazuo… man…" He didn't get much of a reaction from me so he turned towards Sekiguchi, but he seemed to be done with his shit too as he replied, "I'll talk with you. Later."

Looking at Ishihara, who wouldn't dare to look into my eyes as his guilt was eating from inside. At least he was feeling remorse. I patted his shoulder lightly and said, "Ishihara, resent me if you want, but I was just looking out for a friend."

"I still can't believe this." Sekiguchi commented, as I was about to walk back. Turning around, I said, "I'm sure, he had his reasons. But I don't justify his actions."

"I can understand… thanks though."

"Huh?"

"For handling this situation so smoothly."

"Ahh… thank you for cooperating with me." We both laughed and nodded, even though I could tell that he wasn't feeling well about this ordeal.

The rest of the mixer went normally, as everyone was done eating. We were slowly leaving, as I left with Shiraishi and Moriko. She was quiet, while Shiraishi was going on about the mixer.

As we climbed down the stairs, I looked at Shiraishi and asked, "Shiraishi, will you and Moriko go together?"

"No, she will take another route." She replied with a confused look on her face. She obviously didn't know about anything that happened with Moriko and I didn't plan on revealing it, either.

"Will you mind walking her home?" I asked her, but Moriko declined, "I'm fine, Sakamaki."

"What's wrong with her?"

"It's nothing… you two can walk back." Moriko replied with a sheepish smile, but I wasn't planning on leaving her alone.

"You're sick. Leaving you alone won't be something either of us would want."

"What the… what happened to Adda-chin?" Shiraishi was getting slightly concerned. Moriko was quite persistent in her decision as she kept declining, "I'm fine Suzuha, don't worry about me."

"You don't look well." Shiraishi said, narrowing her eyes at her, as she nodded and replied, "You'll have to walk out of your way."

That day, I got to know that Moriko was a person who kept others before herself.

We were standing in front of the building while debating on the correct course of action. It was quite dark too, so there was no chance of letting a sick girl like her on her own.

I sent a text to Shiraishi which she didn't check at that moment.

"I'll walk her home then, since I'll be going that way too." I offered, as Shiraishi looked at me with a shocked expression, "Wha… I guess."

"That way you won't have to make a double trip." I said, but she wasn't delighted at the fact that I was going to walk Moriko home.

Just the two of us.

"I know that… fine." After a while of contemplating, she finally gave in. Turning around, she started walking and yelled at me, "Take care of her!"

"Be safe on your way back. Call me after you reach home." I said as she continued walking and replied without turning back, "Yes!"

We also started walking, but none of us said a word. I knew that Shiraishi didn't like the fact that I was alone with another girl, but considering the circumstances, I just couldn't leave Moriko alone.

She wasn't my friend, neither was she someone I liked.

But it was just a basic courtesy to help a person whose predicament was like her's.

Maybe the old me would've ignored her and this situation completely. But I've changed in the past few months. I could feel myself getting changed.

We're finally a bit far from that place and the noise of people was fading away too. We were walking through the silent cold streets at night as Moriko broke the silence between us, "Sorry for imposing so much trouble on you." 

"Are you feeling better than before?"

"Yes, that's why I said that I could walk back alone."

"Areh… I would've gone this way too." I said as I glanced at her face and she looked genuinely concerned.

"I think… Suzuha didn't like this." She said in an unsettled tone.

"She is your friend, right?" I asked, and she gave me a slight nod as I added, "I'm sure she will understand your situation."

"Thank you again. For helping me, back there." She said, and continued, "I was really scared… but I didn't have the strength to do anything."

"I don't know what would've happened if you didn't come on time."

"You think a lot of unnecessary crap, don't you?" I asked after listening to her trembling voice as she was recalling those memories. She stared at me with an embarrassed expression and nodded, "Huh… I mean, you can say that."

"Nothing happened in the end, so leave it." I said, which was a bit insensitive, but it was necessary at that moment to make her stop from reminiscing about those moments.

"I guess…" She nodded, even though I could tell that she didn't take those words in a positive light.. Without saying anything further, the rest of our walk remained silent.