Suspicion

I woke up late today.

My alarm kept ringing and ringing, but I just kept slapping it to turn off. before I knew it, I was half an hour off my normal schedule.

It dawned on me that if I didn’t get up now, I wouldn’t have time to shower and have breakfast.

Racing out of bed, I started up the shower and pulled out my pill. I quickly put it in my mouth and attempted to take it dry.

It went down the wrong way. I started choking, regretting my corner cutting. For a moment, my boring life flashed before my eyes.

Every day was pretty much the same. Wake up, shower, eat breakfast, go to school, come home and study, then go to bed. What sort of monotonous life was I living here? Things only really started to get interesting the last few days, and that had all to do with Ekko.

When I started thinking about her, the panicked state my mind was in confused her for a vision of an angel. Her beauty, her kindness, her silly personality…all that made my life seem a lot more interesting.

If I'd been asked if life was worth living before, I'd have said no. but with her in my life...she gave me a reason to live.

I wanted to keep seeing her. Not just for the paper, but personally as well.

Guess I wouldn’t get to do that if I choked on this pill. Was I really going to die here?

The bathroom door swung open. My sister ran in and swatted my back with a paddle.

*FWAAACK!*

The pill flew out of my throat, right into the shower drain.

I turned to her, coughing up a storm, trying to catch my breath.

I had just enough mental strength to say “thanks.”

“You’re welcome. It surly would be a shame if that pill had gone down the drain. Good thing you managed to swallow it.”

But, it did go down the drain. What was she saying?

“I didn’t eat it,” I replied.

“Clearly your delusional from a life threatening situation.”

I reached for another one, but she smacked my hand with the paddle.

“No. Taking two pills in one day may cause unwanted side effects.”

She was acting like I’d already taken one today. Clearly the thing got washed down the drain just a few seconds ago.

I didn’t understand what she was doing, but her serious face was enough to convince me that maybe it was best to avoid taking one today.

Besides, I’m sure the lingering effects of the pill yesterday would get me through the day. Was it wrong that I felt slightly relieved that I didn’t actually have to take it today?

***

At school, things were unusually quiet. Ekko and I would often chat every morning, but a student council meeting had caused her to show up to school early, so I didn’t see her.

The bell rang, singling that it was time to head to class. I turned to march to the auditorium, but a pair of footsteps paced up behind me.

With excitement, I turned thinking it was Ekko, only to find our old English professor standing at attention.

“Excuse me, student," the teacher spoke. "I have noticed that you and Ms. Haruki have been spending time together. What is the nature of your relationship to her?”

A slight tinge of fear caused me to freeze up at his suspicion. But truly, the nature of our relationship wasn’t scandalous. We simply started conversing for the sake of our project.

That’s what I kept telling myself, anyways. I’ve come to realize that even the times we haven’t been working on the paper together still seemed desirable.

“Ekko and I are currently finalizing our co-operative English project.”

The teacher held an emotionless face.

“I have noticed your conversations are very animated. Would you like to explain that?”

My heart felt like it just exploded. How could I have been so foolish, letting us interact so casually in public like nobody would notice?

Yesterday, I had a moment where I’d very openly showed affection toward Ekko in public. Who was watching that? We could have been reported if someone had seen.

It brought up an even bigger question that I’d been pushing from my mind. Why was I suddenly feeling so different when I was around her?

Excuses filled my mind to answer his question, but all of them seemed too weak to get him off my case.

A female voice joined the fray. “I would like to respectfully protest your use of the word, ‘animated,’ professor.”

Ekko walked in from behind the teacher. She folded her hands neatly behind her back and stood at my side. Her tone was so authoritative, much like I remember her before the incident on the bus.

“Ms. Harumi,” the teacher addressed her. “Please explain your reasoning.”

“I would like you to define ‘animation’ in this case,” she answered.

The teacher adjusted his glasses, then nodded.

“Animation: The state of being full of life or vigor.”

Ekko shook her head.

“I did not ask you to define the word animation in a general sense. I asked for the definition regarding this situation.”

The teacher’s brow raised.

“You’re getting a bit testy with me, aren’t you, Ms. Harumi?”

“I believe not, professer. Your assumption is largely based on a generalized definition, which seems more emotionally driven then logically conclusive.” She held a proud stance and didn’t change her tone at all. “The nature of our relationship has exclusively been to complete our project, nothing more.”

The professor was glaring at her, visibly bothered by her response.

Ekko continued speaking. “On the other hand, how would you feel if I announced your unusual obsession with two normal students, especially with one of them being female? I've noticed you have had your eyes on me for a while now. Perhaps, even eyeing my more attractive features.”

“That's not true!” he immediately retorted in a loud voice.

“Oh, but who would believe you if I were to report that? As a student council member, I have much more influence over the student body than a measly one subject professor, like yourself.”

He dabbed the sweat off his forehead with his tie.

“Are you afraid, Professor?” She said in a lifeless, sinister tone. “You know, fear is suppressed by the pill.”

If he says yes, he's off his pills. If he says no, he'll look like a fool for not heeding her words.

Ekko was cutthroat. It took my breath away.

Since he was smart, he decided not to answer. He just walked away, leaving us with parting words.

“Good luck on your assignment.”

With that, we were safe. At least for now.

It’s likely that if he noticed our time together, we’ll possibly have more eyes on us in no time. We’d both have to treed carefully going forward.

But still, Ekko really won a key battle right here. I'd forgotten how serious she could be, especially with how goofy she’d been with me the last few days. The contrast was striking, was this even the same girl? I blushed at the thought, but got a little excited.

“That was amazing,” I said to her.

“I didn’t become part of the student council for nothing…” her tone turned shaky.

As she turned to me, the hero of the hour broke out into a nervous sweat of her own, taking down her poker face.

“That was so scary,” she said. “I…feel so awful...” she fought the urge to cry, “...so dirty…”

It was that dirt that may have just saved us from rehabilitation.

But her reaction just now confirmed a suspicion of mine. She said it herself, fear is suppressed by the pill…and if the two of us were afraid at some point in the last few minutes…it only meant one thing.

We were both off our meds. I had some questions, and I know Ekko had some answers.

She promised we’d talk tonight. It wasn’t safe to bring it up here, so I agreed to meet with her after dark.