Age:
High School
Reading Level: 3.1
Chapter 1
It rains at last, on a Tuesday. Regardless of the day or the hour, Igashi is ready.
Shibuya Station. 21:00.
The text pings before the first drop of rain.
I look out the window. Sure enough, misting rain fogs the glass, light as a veil of silk.
But the thick, woolly clouds overhead promise something more in a little while.
Igashi is patient. He has a perfect eye for the right conditions. He is never wrong.
So hungry though… Just finished practice, Haru texts in answer.
I can almost hear the whine in his voice. It probably won’t rain for long anyway.
Haru is usually wrong.
Chapter 2
Then don’t come, Igashi answers him.
I laugh out loud. This is the reason most people can’t stand Igashi.
He doesn’t cut corners. He doesn’t smile. He doesn’t make friends.
And yet, he doesn’t need them. He already has us.
I’ll be there, I write.
Damn it, Kuro. Haru’s text comes only seconds later. Fine.
“Mama, I’m going out!” I yell. I shove my feet into sneakers that are already wet.
“Don’t skip cram school tomorrow, then!” comes her answering voice.
Like I would miss the very lessons that will help me get into the best university.
“And don’t forget an umbrella!”
Chapter 3
When I get there, Shibuya Station is its usual chaos. People are jammed so close together, you can’t see the street under them.
The umbrellas only make it worse.
One whacks me on my face, but I only tighten my grip on my equipment.
You see, you guard what’s most valuable to you. You leave the rest to the elements.
“Kuro!”
An excited roar hits me moments before the actual bear hug does. Haru jumps me, swinging a sweaty arm around my shoulders.
His shout gets a worried look from the nearby mother of two. Hurriedly, she steers her kids away from us.
We're the bears, the dangerous ones.
Haru laughs, clueless. It’s how he gets away with everything.
He doesn’t notice the bad things.
He doesn’t get hurt.
