Clouded Distance

Chapter Twelve

Strange Behaviour

Hana's tongue touched the corner of her lip as she bent over the desk, scribbling furiously on the page, filling the one empty white space with words.

She was almost done with her final copy. If she could finish it today, then she'd be able to hand it to Hikaru tomorrow, three days before her deadline. Once she did that, it would be a large weight off her shoulders, and she could start devoting more time to the swim club. Not to mention she'd also have more time to do homework. Hikaru would definitely understand if she only turned up to a few odd meetings from then on - he'd always had her best interests at heart, anyway.

Almost done. This is probably the last page. Visualising the entire ending in her head, Hana smiled and selected a new blank place to write on, and hastily began scribbling. She didn't even notice those annoying ink smudges caused by her left hand.

Just as she was nearing the end, her hand aching from the time she had spent writing, her phone went off. Hana leapt out of her seat, heart hammering against her chest. "Gosh," she gasped, clutching her chest. She had been so used to the silence of her room that the sudden, excepted noise had frightened her beyond measure.

Her heart still racing, Hana pushed her chair back and hurried to her bed, where her phone lay resting. Quickly, she accepted the call before the final ring sounded and pressed it to her ear. "Yes?"

"Hana, we need you!" Gou exclaimed, in a way of greeting. Hana brought the phone a little away from her ear due to the volume of her friend's voice.

"What is it?" She frowned.

"We think Rei-kun is lovesick!"

She blinked. What? Where did that come from?

Hana's brows furrowed in confusion. "Explain."

"You know how Rei-kun's been acting weird, right?"

Well, yes. He's been quiet a practices, and he's always leaving mysteriously at the end. He never gives us an explanation either, other than that he has to run an errand, or something similar. "Yeah..."

"Well, I saw him on Sunday, and he was shopping for ingredients to make cakes, and after taking a few other things into consideration, we've come to the conclusion that he's lovesick!" Gou said.

Okay... I understand. But why did you have to phone me to tell me this? Sure, I'm worried about Rei... "So... what does this have to do with me?"

"What does this have to do with you?" Gou sounded incredulous. "You're in a relationship with Haruka-senpai! You know the most about love out of all of us!"

A few things clicked in Hana's mind just then. "You want me to talk to Rei about love?"

"Yes! Could you please, Hana? I mean, Haruka-senpai isn't exactly the right person for this sort of thing, but you...""

Hana chuckled. "Hey, don't worry. I'll be there in a second."

Her story was almost finished, anyway - she'd probably finish that last half page in under ten minutes, and then it only required her going through it with a fine-tooth comb, picking out any small grammar or spelling mistakes. This was her final copy: she didn't think she had to change anything.

Besides, if her friends needed help, she was all too willing to provide it. And if Rei was suffering, like Gou said, then she was all too happy to help him out.

Though, she thought that he might've approached her earlier...

"Thank you, Hana!" Gou breathed.

"No problems. I'll be there soon."

*          *          *

Hana staggered on to the school grounds and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She glared at the numerous books she carried in her arms. They were heavy, alright. Hana had dropped them about five times on her way here.

Now she thought of it, if she'd been smart, she would've brought a bag. Slapping herself mentally, Hana sighed and trekked toward the school building, where Gou told her to meet everyone.

Sure enough, they were all lingering in front of a classroom. Their faces all broke into smiles as she approached.

"Right, where is he?" Hana gasped out.

Gou jerked her head in the direction of the nearest classroom. "In that classroom."

Hana huffed, readjusting her hold on the small stack of books in her hands - all the books about romance she could find in her house. Most of them belonged to her mum. With her somewhat expertise and the help of those who really were experts, Hana thought she was ready. "Okay. I got this. Wish me luck."

Soft calls of good luck sounded behind her. Not everyone was entering, so it didn't feel as though they were cornering Rei. Hana grunted as she walked in, and saw Rei seated at his desk. Those books definitely were a pain to carry.

"Rei," Hana greeted shortly. She walked over to his desk, and unceremoniously dumped the books down on them. She sighed in relief as the strain was relieved from her muscles.

Rei's eyes narrowed as she glanced at the pile of books she'd planted on his desk. "What's... this?"

Hana looked at Rei, directly in the eye. "We've noticed you've been acting weirdly lately, Rei. And we're worried about you."

The blue-haired boy blinked in response to her words. "Understood..." Rei sounded uncertain.

Hana leaned in a little, hoping her desperation came across in her actions as well as her words. "So if there's anything you need to talk about, please, just tell me about it! I am in a relationship, you know, I'm more than willing to help you out!"

She spoke very fast, and ended up gasping for breath as she finished speaking. She looked up into Rei's eyes, and found he was staring blankly back.

"You think I'm in love?" Rei asked blankly.

She frowned. "It seems like a logical assumption..."

Hana found herself cut off as Rei started laughing: loud, hearty guffaws "Me? In love? As if I'd ever be taken in by anything as illogical as love!"

He continued laughing, as though Hana's words were the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. She frowned. So he's not lovesick, like Gou and the others presumed? Then how come...

"Then why were you shopping for cake?"

At this, Rei stopped laughing abruptly. He froze, his body snapping up, and he glanced uneasy from side to side. "I just, feel like eating cake every once and a while."

"Then where do you keep disappearing every day?"

"Just some minor business." He nervously readjusted the positioning of his glasses.

"What business?"

"Just some minor business, meaning insignificant, which is to say it isn't beautiful at all, to the degree that I hesitate to utter its nature here! A-Anyway, I have minor business to attend to today as well! Excuse me!"

He spoke so fast, Hana barely was able to understand his words. Before she could get another word in, however, he snatched up his bag, almost tripped as he pushed his chair back and shot up to his feet, and then made a wild dash for the door. Hana's eyes followed him and she frowned.

That is definitely unusual behaviour. Even if we haven't confirmed if he's lovesick or not, we have definitely confirmed that there is something up, something that Rei doesn't want to talk to us about.

With a sigh, Hana picked up the books Rei hadn't even bothered to check the titles of, and walked out of the room. She dropped her gaze as she met her friends. "Sorry I couldn't get a more concrete answer, guys."

"Hana, it's fine." Some of the weight was relieved from her arms, and Hana looked up to find Haru take some of the books for her. She flashed him a grateful smile.

"But something is definitely up..." Makoto mused, looking in the direction that Rei had disappeared.

They definitely needed to look a little more into this.

*          *          *

Hana grunted a little as she walked along, her body sagging forward a little as she carried one of the bags and was helping Gou deliver.

She hadn't been doing much, so when she had seen Gou's job, she had opted to help without second thought. Even though it was heavy, she didn't mind. It helped her friend out a little, and that was worth it. 

"Thanks for helping me, Hana," Gou said.

Hana smiled over at her friend. "No worries. I wish I could spend more time with you."

She definitely regretted it. Hana felt like she'd been neglecting Gou a little as she became caught up in the swim club and her own minor problems. Gou was such a good friend, and she hadn't deserved to have been pushed aside like she had. Hana made a resolution to make more time for her friend.

"Two clubs must keep you busy," Gou hummed.

"Yeah." Hana smiled wryly. "But, once this short story is out of the way, I'll be able to focus mostly on the swim club."

"Ah, that's great news! It'll be great to see you around the pool more often."

Hana smiled. "I've missed it, too. It'll be a lot of stress of my shoulders."

They reached the end of the path, and was just about to turn left when Hana picked out a familiar, blue-haired figure in front of them. She smiled, spotting Rei. Gou had noticed him, as well.

She was about to call out to him, but her voice died as she spotted him approach a senior. Both of them were wearing gym uniform.

"That guy... what fabulous forearm muscles!" Hana chuckled as Gou shook her head, suddenly flustered. "I mean... what's Rei-kun doing, talking with him?"

Hana frowned, and looked at him a little closer. He looked familiar: he was in her year. But she didn't know anything else about him other than his face. "I don't know," she admitted.

Gou then gave a sudden gasp. The bag she was holding fell to the ground with a small thud. "You don't think... that the one Rei-kun is in love with... is that guy?"

Hana frowned dubiously. She glanced over at the two. They were just casually talking. She doubted what Gou said was true, however...

"I've got to meet the writing club today, to hand in my story for the school's newspaper," she said. "You should bring this up to Haru and the others in the meantime. They might know who the other guy is. It's probably nothing, but maybe it has something to do with why Rei has been acting weirdly as of late."

Gou nodded. "Right. I got it."

The rest of the day passed quickly after that. Hana believed it was mainly due to how impatient she was about handing her story over, and getting an opinion from Hikaru. If he liked it then, after today, so much stress would be relieved from her shoulders.

If not... then, she had a few more late nights ahead of her as she strode to make the deadline.

When the final bell rang Hana stood, quickly bid Haru and Makoto goodbye, before she made a dash for the writing club. She wasn't the first there: Hikaru had arrived before her.

"Ah, Hana," he greeted. "I'd almost forgotten what you'd looked like."

Hana rolled her eyes. "Hah, that's funny." She placed her bag on her desk, opened it and pulled out the black folder that contained the pages of her short story she'd printed out just that morning. "Here's my finished copy."

Hikaru took it, and read over it slowly, taking in every word. Hana gnawed on the inside of her cheek as she waited, her nerves continuing to build with every second that passed. There was no emotion showing on Hikaru's face. Was that good or bad? Did he love her work, or did he hate it?

The suspense was unbearable.

When his eyes drifted away from the last page, Hana's heart jumped up into her throat. "What do you think?" she choked out, almost terrified to hear the answer.

Hikaru looked up at her, still expressionless. Her heart skipped a beat. That isn't a good look.

And then, he smiled broadly, and clapped her on the shoulder. "It's really good, Hana."

Relied washed over her with the force of a tidal wave, and she breathed out in relief. "You think so?"

"Definitely." Hikaru nodded, and sent her a gentle smile. "You've outdone yourself. I'll send this to the newspaper club for next week's issue."

"Thanks so much!" Hana couldn't help but feel a little giddy. It was always nice to know when her work was liked by others. It gave her a little boost of confidence.

"Where are you going, Hana?"

"To meet my friends. They need me right now. Oh, and, Hikaru-kun..." She paused in the doorway. "Do you mind if I... you know, don't come to the writing club as often anymore? Two clubs really is a burden, and I'd like to focus more on the swim club since the preliminaries are approaching..."

She bit her lip, waiting for Hikaru's reaction. She let out a breath once he smiled at her. "That's fine, Hana. Two clubs is a lot to juggle, especially in third year. I'm surprised you kept at it for this long."

Hana beamed at him. "Thank you so much."

With a new skip to her step, Hana hurried back through the school building toward the swim club. She quickly glanced at the time - she was hardly late.

When she arrived, Rei was the only one who hadn't yet turned up.

"So, what happened?" Hana asked as she stepped into the clubroom, immediately taking note of the slightly dispirited looks of her friends. "Did you manage to find out more about where Rei's been going?"

"We think Rei-chan wants to return to the track team," Nagisa said, voice quiet.

"What?" Hana gasped, her eyes flicking between each person in the room. W"hy do you think so?"

Gou stepped forward. "The person we saw earlier, Hana? The one Rei was talking to?" Hana nodded to show that she understood. "He's the captain of the track team."

"Oh..." Hana's eyes widened, and she felt as though something had been tugged underneath her. Rei was leaving them, his friends, for the track team? Something pulled at her heart. "But, he can't leave!" she cried.

"We don't plan on letting him," Makoto said. There was a determined glint to his eye. "Instead of practicing today, we'll call an emergency meeting so we can talk to him about it."

"I see."

There was a distinct sound of footsteps outside. Hana didn't know what was going on as Haru pulled her into a line and murmured a few instructions about their plan. She nodded and quickly did as he said.

"Sorry I'm late..." Rei gasped, as he pushed the door to the club room open. When he straightened up, his eyes widened as he took in the scene before him: the other five members of the swim club standing in a row, eyes narrowed and arms folded. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing!" Makoto said. "But Rei, do you have minor business to attend again today?"

Even Hana gulped as she witnessed the sudden change in Makoto's demeanour. It was scary how his facial features had changed from calm and at ease to dangerous and determined. She wanted to step a little away from him.

Rei looked a little to the side, appearing to be a little unnerved by Makoto. "I do."

Makoto straightened himself up. "In that case, practice is cancelled so we can hold an emergency meeting at Haru's house!"

As Nagisa and Gou cheered, Hana smiled to herself.

It was time they found out what exactly Rei had been getting up to.