Using a small bucket a child might use to play in the sand at the beach, the boy is frantically bailing the water out of his rowboat. The storm has calmed enough to stop raining but the waves are still towering overhead. The boy knows if he doesn't remove enough water that the boat could sink. Unfortunately, the waves are fighting him and occasionally add more water to the little rowboat. The boy can swim but would rather stay in the boat with the miniscule amount of protection it provides. The boy picks up the pace with his bucket hoping he can stay ahead of the waves.

***

Friday morning, as expected, Koro was in the usual spot waiting for me. I couldn't keep myself from smiling when I saw her big smile as I approached. It was always so warm and welcoming. It also helped that her lips looked like soft pillows.

"Morning! Miss me?" Koro was beaming as she greeted me.

"Yes." I didn't elaborate but saw the slight look of surprise on Koro's face at my response. We walked together without further conversation towards Ryou's street. Ryou was already there waiting for us and ran over to hug Koro when we got close.

"You look great! I missed you, Koro." Ryou blushed a little but continued to look at Koro. I observed the interaction from next to Koro without adding anything.

"Missed you, too, Ryou. Aki missed me, as well. I guess I am just that awesome." Koro grinned as she glanced at me and flipped her hair back over her shoulder. However, I didn't react at all, making Koro pout for a second. Ryou seemed sad for a moment before quickly recovering, though I noticed it. I was trying to pay more attention to the people around me since I felt the whole week was just a series of confusing interactions and possibly misunderstandings.

I felt singled out by Koro when she tried to call me out about missing her but she was only speaking the truth. I think she was hoping I would be embarrassed by her comment. A little proud of myself for not giving her the satisfaction. I fell into step next to the girls as they walked to school. I wonder if Koro knows all that's been going on this week. I guess she can't really know much other than what Ryou would know. What does Ryou know? Is she aware of how it has made me feel? I suppose she couldn't since we haven't talked about anything.

I returned to reality as Koro spoke again. "What are we doing this weekend? You two make any plans yet? I was thinking of a bike ride to the lake. Saturday the weather is supposed to be really nice." Ryou seemed to light up at the idea and I was honestly loving it as well. I used to ride my bike all the time.

"Yeah, the lake would be great!." Ryou's excitement was very clear. "Oh, but I have no clue what sort of shape my bike is in. Been sitting around collecting dust for who knows how long."

"Mine, too. Can't even remember the last time I rode it but I am sure we can get them back in working order. Bike's aren't that hard to maintain, right?" Koro seemed sure of what she said but I had my doubts. Proper bike maintenance was important to keep things working as they should and for safety.

"Could require some serious maintenance if it's been years." My comment was met with looks from both girls, though I only partially noticed since I was thinking about what they might need.

"I remember you riding your bike over to my house all the time. You even helped me with my own bike maintenance a couple times." Ryou was staring at me. I met her gaze for a second before facing forward again.

"I have the tools, or most of the tools we would need, if we need to do more than add air to the tires."

"Great! Then it's settled. Aki will bring his tools and make sure our bikes are ready before we leave tomorrow." Koro left no room for discussion. "We can ride to the lake and have a picnic! Ryou and I can be in charge of the food since Aki will be in charge of the bikes."

I decided it wouldn't help to argue. Not that I wanted to. I was excited to spend another day with my friends outside of a classroom. "Ok, sounds good." Despite my flat response, I was smiling again.

"You should come by my house after school to check out my bike, Aki. It may need new tubes for the tires or something and we can get them before the trip tomorrow." I noticed Ryou staring right at me again. Her usual smile was beaming at me. I loved that smile and quickly nodded in agreement in case she suddenly changed her mind.

After school, I headed over to Ryou's house as planned. I didn't have any of my tools, but I wanted to at least get an idea of what might need to be done to get Ryou's bicycle in working order.

"I am going to go home and grab my bike so Aki can look at it. May take me a while to dig it out." Koro waved to me and Ryou as she continued down the road. We watched her walk away for a moment before heading up the little hill toward Ryou's house. The familiar building came into view a few minutes later and the pair of us went straight down the driveway towards the garage.

"I am going to go let my mom know I am home and put my stuff away. The bike is in the garage somewhere if you want to see if you can find it. I will be right back." Ryou went inside and I turned my attention to the garage. Being somewhat familiar with the space from years earlier, I stepped through the side door and flipped on the light.

The garage was surprisingly clean and well organized. I remembered Ryou's dad was out here on the weekends with the main door open as he worked in the garden or on other projects around the house and yard. Shelves lined the left and right side and a workbench lined most of the back wall with tools hung above and to the side. It all looked exactly as it did the last time I had stepped in there.

It took all of 10 seconds to spot the bikes hanging from hooks on the ceiling. I noticed there were still three bikes. The lack of dust told me that Josie kept this space clean as though she was waiting for her husband to use it again over the weekend. The thought was both touching and sad as I pulled down Ryou's bike from the hooks. I was pushing it out the side door onto the driveway when Ryou came out the back door with a plate of what looked like cookies.

"Mom said hi and wanted me to bring out these cookies for us. Mostly you, I think. She was super excited you were here again." I caught movement in the corner of my eye and turned to see Josie looking out the window at us. I waved and smiled and was glad to see her wave back before turning away and disappearing into the house.

"You're mom always loved providing snacks for us." I grabbed a couple cookies and put one in my mouth as I flipped the bike over to rest on the seat and handlebars. Both tires were flat but the bike otherwise looked in good condition. "Do you have an air pump or compressor we can use for the tires?"

"Yeah, in the garage somewhere. I can't remember where, though." Ryou looked towards the garage but didn't really seem to be looking at anything in particular. The smile on her face began to fade as her look became more distant. I wondered if it made her think of her father.

"I am pretty sure I know where it is, actually." I walked back towards the garage and looked back at Ryou just before going back through the side door. She perked back up and her smile returned, though not as bright. I went inside and came back out moments later having found exactly what I needed.

I got the tires back to the proper pressure and checked the chain. I turned the pedals a little by hand to see if there were any issues but it seemed to work just fine. I checked both brakes to make sure they grabbed their respective wheels then checked them individually by spinning each tire and using the brakes to stop them. I was about to check the tire pressure again for leaks when Koro came up the driveway pushing her own bike.

"Took me some time to dig it out. Since it has been so long since I used it, a lot of junk was piled on and around it." Koro stopped in front of me and looked at him for instructions. It took a moment for me to realize what she was waiting for.

"Flip it over so it rests on the seat and handlebars like I did with this one. I am almost done with Ryou's bike." I returned to the tires and used a pressure gauge I grabbed earlier, it was conveniently sitting right by the air pump, to check the psi. The tires seemed to be holding air just fine. This was a little shocking for me since I used to have to replace the tubes on my own bike when I stopped using it over the winter each year and came back to it once the weather got nice again.

I shifted my attention to Koro's bike. It was upside down on the driveway as I had requested, a few feet from Ryou's bike. Both tires were flat on this bike as well. After pressurizing them, I spun both tires manually to make sure there were no bends in the wheels and checked the chain. I went through the same checks as I did with Ryou's bike and found no issues other than the chain needing a little oil. Luckily, there was some in the garage and after making sure the tires weren't leaking, I was done with both bikes.

Ryou and Koro were standing nearby eating the cookies while I worked. When I finished Koro's bike, I flipped it back over and pulled the kickstand down. "Ok, both bikes are good to go." Koro clapped excitedly at his announcement. I smiled weakly at her then grabbed my backpack from where I had set it down at the edge of the driveway.

I paused for a second before setting the bag down. "I want to check one more thing." I got on Ryou's bike and took off down the driveway. I shifted gears a few times as I took a trip up the street a little ways before coming back. "Ok, this bike seems fine. Didn't notice any issues shifting gears."

I got on Koro's bike next and gave it the same treatment. It had a slight hiccup going from second to third gear so when I got back to where the girls were standing eating all the cookies, I grabbed some pliers from the garage and adjusted the line tension a little. I got back on the bike to check the shift again then came back and parked the bike. "Ok, they are both good to go."

"What were you doing?" Ryou seemed to genuinely be interested.

"I was checking to make sure the gears were shifting smoothly without any weird issues. Yours was fine but Koro's bike needed a slight tweak. It's working fine now." Ryou nodded in understanding and I walked back over and grabbed my backpack.

Koro grabbed another cookie from the nearly empty plate before getting on her bike. "I will see you two in the morning." She rode off before anyone could reply. I watched her leave for a moment as I put my backpack on.

"I remember riding our bikes together a lot in the summer." I looked over to Ryou as she spoke. "Mostly up and down the street but sometimes a little farther when we had money for snacks."

"Yeah, we would go to that convenience store to get ice cream." I had many fond memories from that time. I hadn't really thought about it in a while until we came over here to check the bikes. They felt like happier times but I wasn't sure if that was actually true or just how I remembered it. "I remember I fell off my bike on the way back once. Scraped my knee hard enough to make it difficult to ride my bike so we walked them back the rest of the way."

"Oh, yeah, I think I remember that. It took us so long to get home because you couldn't walk very fast and it was nearly dark when we got back."

"It hurt really bad. I just wanted to go home but your house was closer. Your mom was there waiting for us in the driveway." I remembered it hurt so much I was in tears. It was so late I thought we might be in trouble. "Your mom brought me inside and cleaned up my knee. Then she gave me a ride home."

"I don't remember that part. I only remember you got hurt, then going home slowly."

"You put your bike away, then came inside and helped your mom with my injured knee. Then you were told to get ready for bed. She waited for you to leave the room before she took me home." I figured my experience was more traumatic and that contributed to me remembering more of the details. "She was very kind. Even thanked me for making sure you got home. I remember being surprised by that since I was the reason you were so late." I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and started heading down the driveway. "See you tomorrow."

Without looking at Ryou, I continued down the driveway and walked home. I thought I heard her whisper something back but couldn't hear it well enough to know for sure. Tomorrow was going to be a fun day. I was glad to be able to spend more time with my friends. Trying to learn from my mistakes, I kept my expectations low. We were just friends and I was ok with that. Hoping for more was only going to cause more problems.