Surrounded by Morons
Seita first noticed the girl next door on the day he and his parents moved in. She was loud and energetic, just like the boys he knew back in Hikarigaoka. Which was weird, because she was a girl. Girls didn’t run around kicking soccer balls in their front yard, or talk back when their parents were talking. Girls didn’t have extremely short hair or stare back at you with cocky, confident looks.
She was… intimidating.
With further observation, Seita also noticed that she was horribly lonely. When she wasn’t kicking soccer balls, she was sitting on her front steps, looking anywhere from bored and listless to sad and depressed. And it was obvious to anyone who looked that her parents did not get along. There were nights when screaming and shouting could be heard from the house next door.
“I’m concerned about the Mitsuishis,” Seita’s mom said, wiping a dish with a towel and staring out the window at the house. “It’s been two months since we moved in, and yet they’re the only ones in the neighborhood who haven’t greeted us or given us a welcome.”
Seita was only half-listening – the latest episode of his favorite Sentai show was on, and it was just getting to the good part.
“I suppose it’s a lack of opportunity,” Seita’s dad replied, looking up from his tablet. “You know how busy people are these days.”
“They have a daughter Seita’s age,” his mom added, “I was hoping they would bring her over and they could play together.”
They were interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. Seita saw from the corner of his eye that his mom got up to open the door. Then he turned back to the TV, watching as the heroes’ giant robot finally appeared and was locked in combat with the enemy.
There were soft footsteps behind him, an exasperated sigh, and a curt, “What are you watching?”
Seita whipped around, coming face-to-face with a pair of deep violet eyes. He let out a surprised shout, tripping over his feet and landing onto the floor.
The girl next door raised an eyebrow and stared back at him with an intense look. “I just asked a question,” she retorted, “Nothing to be scared about.”
“I-I’m not scared!” Seita shot back, picking himself off the floor. “I just didn’t see you there!”
“Seita,” his mom said, walking into the room with another lady. “This is Mrs. Mitsuishi, from the house next door.” She turned to the girl, smiling. “And this is her daughter, Akira.”
“Hi,” Seita mumbled, looking down at the floor. He looked up again and saw Akira staring at him, tilting her head. The deep purple shade of her eyes unnerved him, despite her blank expression.
“I hope you’re not as boring as you look,” Akira said dismissively.
Seita frowned. “I’m not boring! You’re boring!” Why was she being so mean? This wasn’t how Seita thought their first meeting would go.
Akira scowled. “Moron!”
“Akira,” her mother said exasperatedly, “You don’t call people ‘moron.’ It’s not polite.”
“But you call Daddy worse things every day!” Akira retorted, folding her arms and looking away.
Her mother let out an impatient sigh. “Akira, this is not the time to argue about doing what I say and not what I do!” She looked over at Seita’s mom with an embarrassed expression. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Kazama. She’s not in a good mood today.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Seita’s mom said reassuringly, “I’m sure she and Seita will get along and be friends soon enough!”
Meanwhile, Seita continued to stare at Akira warily. “What are you staring at?” Akira asked, annoyed.
“Your eyes,” Seita answered, “They look weird. A funny purple color and not blue or brown. They look-”
Before he could say ‘they look cool,’ Akira scowled and whipped toward her mother. “Mom, he’s making fun of my eyes!”
“No, wait-” Seita interjected, but she wasn’t listening.
“You’re a moron!” Akira shouted, turning around and running out of the room.
Her mother let out a groan and followed her out. “Akira, don’t do this…” she started. Then she turned toward Seita’s mom. “I’m sorry, I think we’d better go now…”
Seita’s mom sighed, and turned toward him. “You’d better apologize to her, right now,” she said sternly.
“But I didn’t mean it!” Seita protested.
“Apologize anyway!” his mom answered.
Seita gulped, and walked into the other room where Akira was crying in her mother’s arms. “I’m sorry…” he said softly.
Akira looked up and promptly stuck her tongue out at him.
Apology not accepted.
Seita continued to observe as Akira and her mother left the house, her mother apologizing profusely. He ran the entire meeting in his head, and couldn’t figure out why it had gone so very wrong. It wasn’t his fault, obviously, so the problem must have been with Akira.
If only she said she wanted to be friends, and not been so mean. Then maybe he could have joined her in kicking soccer balls in the yard, or watching TV in the house, or even walking around the neighborhood. Maybe he could have seen her smile, even just once, instead of being angry or sad all the time.
The next time Seita saw Akira, she glared at him across the yard. “Moron…” she muttered under her breath. She obviously hadn’t quite forgiven him for that first meeting yet.
Seita smiled at her, a confident, cocky smile.
“Moron to you too...”
Notes:
The beginning of Seita and Akira’s tumultuous, up and down relationship! Of course it had to with a huge misunderstanding that blew itself out of proportion and ballooned outward through the years. And we get a glimpse of Kyoko pre-divorce, who was just as unlikeable here as she is in the main story.