I was sitting on my own bed, reading a magazine. While I was reading, I was thinking. Was Yasaka… really avoiding me? Earlier, I had thought that she might have been, but gradually, as time passed, I changed my mind and decided that she couldn't be. I don't think Yasaka could change how she acted around me that easily. I would do my best in my own way to keep that from happening, so that we could live on normally like we've been living. It's just, today, I felt a strange prickling pain in my mind.
As I thought, I was in no mood to study, but even when I read magazine or watched television, I just couldn't get into it. Because that monkey bastard Sun had said those stupid things, I was getting a bit worried by some trivial things in Yasaka's behavior that I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Tossing the magazine I was reading away, I collapsed onto my bed. Taking out my cell phone, I hit the number one on my speed dial. I mean, it's probably better if I just ask the person herself. That's what I thought. In any case, it was probably some boring misunderstanding, so I should call Yasaka right away, get this cleared up, and then this will just become a funny story I can recall later. But… "The cell phone you have dialed is not in an area with cell phone service, or is turned off—" The phone call didn't connect.
What the hell. Sighing deeply, I squinted at my cell phone display. I guess there's no helping it. I'll ask her at school tomorrow. For some reason, I found this all very hard to swallow, and could feel myself getting irritated… so I had to be patient till tomorrow… a bitter smile appeared on my face. But the next morning, I was unable to talk to Yasaka. That day, Yasaka didn't even come to school.
"Yasaka-san is dealing with a situation at home, so she's taking a few days off." That's what Yuuhi Sensei, our homeroom teacher, said.
A situation at home… what could that be? I haven't heard anything about something like that… I tried to ask Yuuhi Sensei for more details, but she couldn't supply any. I tried to ask the other girls in the class, but I got responses like "I don't know" or "But, now that I think about it, she's been a bit out of it lately… maybe that has something to do with it?" But nobody could tell me anything about this "situation at home" that I wanted to know about. Well, that's that. If I really wanted to know, I should probably ask Yasaka herself. But Yasaka was still unreachable by cell phone. My phone would still go to the same old "The number you have dialed—" message, read by a robotic-like voice.
As I listened to the message, I thought, "Well… what should I do…?" I started to think of another plan of attack.
After school. Having returned to my own room, I took out my cell phone from my bag, and called a certain someone. Even if I couldn't connect to her cell phone, there were a few other ways I could try to get in touch with her. The phone in her house was used both as the phone for their home and for their business. So, whenever I had to get in touch with someone, I would try as much as possible not to call their home phone and call cell phones instead, since I didn't want to interfere in their work. When the call connected, the person on the other line greeted me very loudly.
"HEY WELCOME! This is the Uzumaki shop!"
"Why the hell are you answering your cell phone with business talk?" Also what was with the sing-song way he was speaking?
"Huh?! It's how I always do it! That kind of question… could this be you, Naruto?!"
As always, he was such a flashy guy. And his voice was so loud. Slightly bewildered, I responded with a "Yeah, this is."
"Seriously?! This is seriously You?! You're not trying to trick me right?! If you're really the real Naruto, over there on the other end, you should be able to beat me into submission with a witty remark!"
"You're really an idiot. Just look at your Caller ID, dammit. My number should be listed."
"Ooooh it's really you bro! HEY! As expected from my favorite cousin!"
Damn he's so loud. I moved the phone away from my ear, and turned the volume two levels down.
"Hey, Menma. You really don't need to shout that loud, but do you have a minute?"
"Oh, what a coincidence, Naruto. I had something I wanted your advice on too. How do you get rid of a nickname once it gets attached to you?"
"You can't."
"Instant KO?!"
Having answered Menma's question in an instant, I continued in a harsh tone.
"And don't interrupt someone in the middle of asking you a question with your own problems, dumbass."
"Geez. What's up with you Naruto, you sound like you're in a bad mood. Usually you would play along for a bit longer."
Maybe. But, the only reason I called you was to deal with my bad mood in the first place.
"Sorry. I'm not in the mood to play around with you right now. I need you to help me with something first."
"I see. Okay. Hehe… alright, I shall listen to your request." This bastard, acting so smug about it.
"Unfortunately, I'm not calling to talk with you. Could you put Yasaka on? For some reason, her cell phone doesn't seem to be on."
"Huh? You need something with my sister? Well, you're out of luck since she's not home."
"What? She's not home? Why? I heard that she didn't come to school today because of a 'situation at home' or something… does this have something to do with that?"
These questions all came out lumped together, but as if avoiding my questions, Menma answered in an annoying way. With an irritating tone, he said, "Tch tch tch… sorry, can't say."
"I see. Next time I see you, maybe I'll give you a German Suplex."
"W-Why, Naruto, are you always only making jabs at me?!"
"It's your imagination."
It's not like I was singling him out or something. Rather, I'm being pretty nice to him. He doesn't know the things I say to Naruko, so he can complain like that… but with Naruko, I had to be ten times as forceful as I am with him, or else she wouldn't even give me an inch. It was seriously annoying. And also, I reacted that way because he was so self-important. I remained silent, letting him interpret the silence however he wished.
"Ugh… you're seriously in a bad mood… how unusual. But, I mean, it's not like I'm trying to be arrogant or something… I seriously can't say anything about it. Nee-chan told me 'if Naruto asks you don't tell him!'"
"What…?"
What the hell? Yasaka had anticipated that I was going to come asking about this, and told her brother not to tell me? Why did she have to do that…? Dammit, I don't like this at all. Even though Yasaka was usually pretty bad with planning ahead… I felt my mood getting progressively worse. It was inevitable that I would get angry at Menma in this situation, and I couldn't help myself from getting more aggressive in my questioning.
"Why the hell did she do that?!"
"I don't even know! That's all she told me to do… but Nee-chan isn't home right now, and she's taking a bit of a break from school too. That's all I can say!"
"Tch, are you trying to piss me off?! Alright! Fine! Whatever!"
"You're really in a bad mood right now… Naruto."
"Ugh… alright, I'm sorry. I won't get angry anymore." Trying to calm down the muttering Menma, I continued talking. If he was told to not tell me anything, then I wouldn't get anything out of him. "… well. When is Yasaka going to come back? You can at least tell me that much, right?"
"Umm… in the evening on the weekend, she said."
So, in three days then. Until then, Yasaka wouldn't be in school. I wouldn't be able to see her, and of course, I wouldn't be able to talk with her. Even though three days wasn't even as long as a week, to me right now, it seemed like a horribly long time. It was really annoying that I had to spend these three days not knowing why exactly Yasaka had been acting so strange lately.
Hm… let me see if I can approach this in a different way…
"By the way, lately Yasaka has been acting pretty weird… have you noticed?"
"Hm, now that you mention it, she's seemed a bit down lately… maybe."
"Really? What do you mean by 'lately'? Can you be more specific?"
"I don't think so… it's not like I'm always paying attention to my sister's mood or something…"
"Tch. You're a useless idiot, aren't you."
"You're seriously being terrible today, Naruto!"
Well, sure. After all, I sounded like Naruko just now… dammit, I guess I'm way more annoyed about this than I thought I was. But if I think about it, I don't always pay attention to my sister either. So here, Menma was acting correctly.
"Sorry, sorry. My bad, Menma. I apologize… so could you try just a bit harder and tell me if you remember anything?
"It's fine… umm… I think that a few days ago, while she was watching Gentle Thief Roman and eating dinner, she really seemed down about something, I think. I can't remember anything from before then though."
"Ah, umm… that was five days ago, maybe? Hold on a second… "
I checked with the television schedule on a newspaper I found, and as I thought that was five days ago. If I thought back, the first time Yasaka began to act strangely with me was around three days ago. And, before that… I had met with Yasaka… umm… there was a day off in between… yeah, it was the day when we had met Akeno on the way home from school. So, in other words… between the time we separated on that day and evening on the same day, something had happened to Yasaka that put her in a really sad mood…
"Menma… so did anything else happen?"
"Well, that haircut was a pretty big fail, so that was pretty depressing…"
"I'm not talking about you! I'm talking about Yasaka! I'm asking about your sister!"
"Well… I know, but…"
Liar. He didn't know at all… but I didn't comment. I had already said that I wouldn't get angry. I really shouldn't keep on breaking my promise like this.
"Hey, speaking of hair, I was thinking that I should buy a wig while my hair is still short."
"You really didn't understand what I said, did you, idiot?! Fine, I'll give you one word of advice, don't even think about doing that! If you suddenly come into school with a full head of hair after being bald, your classmates won't let you live it down!"
"I see… so if I don't do it gradually, I'll get exposed, right?"
"Can we please get back on topic?! I seriously might smack you Menma!"
In the end, I really couldn't get any more useful information out of him.