Part II

“Hmmm,” I tapped my head as if thinking. “No. No, I don’t think I will be apologizing to you and you certainly won’t be anywhere near my ass, Daishi.” He came forward aggressively until he stood several centimeters away from me, chest puffed out in a way he most likely felt to be threatening. I looked up bemused at him and smiled, ignoring Mizuki shaking beside me while pawing impotently at my arm. At this point in time I felt I had two choices, either a hiraken tsuki to the adam’s apple, spin kick to the knees and ippon ken to the bridge of his nose as he fell or take the less dramatic but only slightly more satisfying route of crushing his spirit. With a grin I chose the latter.

“Why don’t you just mind your own business, huh? How about that?” He growled. I glanced behind him to the several people who had gathered to talk on their daily walk and my smile brightened.

“How aggressive you are today! Are you going to beat me up, Daishi Teruya?” I called loudly enough that it drew their attention. “I doubt your father would appreciate you trying to beat up a girl!” It took him a moment to realize what was happening. The moment realization kicked in his face blanched in fear and I sighed. It really was too easy. I looked back down at my phone, pressed another series of buttons before holding the phone back up.

“If you’re nice to me I might not have to beat your ass and take your apology that way,” Daishi’s disembodied voice said from my phone. Daishi’s pale face grew paler still, though I hadn’t been sure that was even possible.

“I’m not sure daddy would appreciate you talking to someone like that in front of voters. What do you think?” I smirked at him.

“J-Just stay out of my way!” He stammered, taking a step backward.

“Be a good boy and go home before you get more than just butt hurt,” I snorted derisively and stepped past him, pulling a terrified Mizuki with me.

“W-What was that about?” Mizuki whispered after we’d crossed the bridge. I waved my hand dismissively. No doubt about it, the American was far too much trouble.

“So that’s that,” I finished explaining things as we began the descent toward our houses.

“You’ve always done these things,” Mizuki shook her head. “Remember that time Tadaki pushed me down and took my bento and you got him suspended from school for a week and then beat him up?”

“Tadaki…”I mumbled. I wracked my brain, trying to remember him. There had been an incident regarding a bento, I thought. Something to do with making him scream obscenities at me in front of a teacher if I recalled. “Um…Vaguely?”

“You’re just the little wrong righter,” Mizuki gushed, grabbing onto my arm and beaming at me brightly. “You’re my hero!”

“Ugh,” I pushed her away. “Stop it, you stink like Yuto. This American really is bothersome, though.”

“She seems like it, yeah,” Mizuki empathized before completely changing the subject. “Say, doesn’t Emi come back Friday?”

“Does she?” I asked, trying to remember. I opened my phone and looked through my LINE messages with her. “Oh, yeah, she’s back Friday afternoon.”

“You both should come over to my house and sleep over. My parents are going to Okayama on business and Emi always brings back the best sweets from Osaka!” Mizuki enthused.

“She really does, huh?” I asked. “That sounds good to me.” I texted Emi to ask as I walked. “I’m sure she’ll be up for it. After all, she’s had a week and a half of her grandma and she always gets antsy after the first few days.”

“What’d her grandma catch this time?” Mizuki asked, stepping around a mud puddle left over from the rains.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged, putting my phone away. “It was like Botulism or something last time, wasn’t it?”

“Do you think she’s just making diseases up to get Emi to visit?” Mizuki asked. Four times in the past six months Emi’s grandmother had caught some dread illness or other and guilted Emi into going to Osaka to visit. I honestly didn’t think Emi minded too much since her grandmother spoiled her terribly when she went, but it was inconvenient for Mizuki and I to constantly have to help Emi catch up on school work.

“Probably,” I replied with a shrug. “After all, someone that old catching so many diseases you’d think she’d just drop dead from one of them at some point, right?”

“Most likely, yeah,” Mizuki replied as we stopped in front of her house. “See you tomorrow, Kasumi.”

“Yep, yep,” I answered, waving at her as I continued down the path to my house.