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Everyone was born with some small name written on their wrist. The name was usually your soulmate, or your other half. Sometimes people would go online looking for their love, or maybe wear short sleeved shirts whenever possible, just praying that their partner would find them.
It was stupid to him.
He rests his head on his hand, as the teacher mulls on and on about historical events that really didn't truly matter to Oreki. His friend Satoshi sat up front in the class, giddy as he answered a question about the world war correctly. It was an old subject, only being taught for reminder, as the teacher hadn't been assigned any new textbooks from the school yet. Which was weird in itself.
Closing his eyes again, he let himself be lulled by the talking and lectures. The wind outside barely passed into the open window to his left, but when it did it was like a natural alarm clock, keeping him conscious enough to know exactly when the class bell went off, signaling the end to school for an hour and bringing in the lunch break.
It takes about thirty minutes for the bell to chime off it's anticipated ring; his friend Satoshi quickly moves to him, as Oreki places his papers into his book bag. His friend looks excited, more so than usual.
"So, what do you plan on doing today?" he askes Oreki as the brunette takes a stand and they both head out into the halls, up into the room they normally use for their club meetings.
"Nothing." Oreki answers, intent on listening to the wind whistle through the windows. He loved the wind; always a constant companion, always waking him up when he needed it and always lulling him to sleep. Such a blissful thing, to him, in a friend.
Satoshi stops Oreki's walk as he slips in front of him and turns to face the other, arms behind his head, bag hanging off to a shoulder, "Well, I just saw Mayakas name..." Satoshi says with a smile and an odd glint to his eye, "I'm feeling so much better knowing it was my name on her wrist!" he laughs, spinning around to allow them to continue their pathway up the stairs. "That's good." Oreki answers simply.
Satoshi smiles when they enter the geography room, upon seeing their two friends, Eru Chitanda and Mayaka Ibara, sitting at the table, papers scattered around as they both stopped to greet them. Satoshi allows Oreki to pick his usual seat, and he plops down next to him.
"Oreki-san, Satoshi-san!" Eru greets, grinning as she claps her hands together, "Do you want to go out and celebrate?"
She must have been told the same thing he was told, Oreki thought. He thought Mayaka would play it out a bit more, as she wasn't ever really one for private conversations or telling someone something private like that. It left him a bit surprised, not that he would show it.
"Heck yeah!" Satoshi laughed, pumping a fist in the air, "How about we all rent a bunch of movies and stay up all night at my house, eh?" he questions happily, accidentally elbowing Oreki in excitement.
"Sure!" Mayaka agreed, something weird glinting in her eye,
"I'll have to ask my mother, but I hope to see you there!" Eru nodded, smiling as if the world gave her a new puppy or something.
Before he knew it, everyone was staring at him. Oreki opens his eyes from resting his head on his arms, to view what had shut his friend's conversation out, only to come face-to-face with his friends crowding around him. He sighs lightly, he thought that they might let him off for answering this one, because he knew they already knew he'd show up. Did it even really need an answer? What a waste of energy.
"I'll go." he forces out; really, he didn't even want to answer such an obvious thing, but for friends, he tells himself, for friends.
"Then it's settled!" Satoshi exclaims, slapping Oreki on the back, forcing a wince from his brunette friend, and turns to the girls, "We'll all meet at my house at six for dinner! You guys could all stay the night! Like a slumber party!"
Eyes closing as a breeze wafts into the room, Oreki finds himself shutting out his friends' plans for resting a moment. He was so tired these days, ever since Chitanda joined his little group and made him move. He was happy though, if only to see his friends excitement as how he'd do things for them. He even answered a few large questions and solved some mysteries on his way. Definitely something he could tell someone if they ever asked him what his highschool years were like.
The shouting of his friends had all but turned into murmurs of happiness. He didn't care what was being said, as long as the voices were happy he was happy.
A prod on his shoulder was all it took for him to be woken up, as Satoshi gave him a once-over, then smiling, "Hey, did you hear my question?"
Oreki shakes his head, and stretches his arms across the table, feeling his back and shoulders pop with the effort, "No." he answered, and yawned.
"I was asking if you could show us the name you have on your wrist," Satoshi raises his index finger, as if he'd just had an idea, "that way we could look for your soulmate too!"
"Chi-san already showed us hers!" Mayaka chuckled, "We don't know who it is yet but someday we will."
All three of Oreki's friends watched his sluggish movements as he went to sit straight. He blinked his eyes a few hard times to clear his vision, and yawns again. "I don't have one." he finally says, as he rubs his left eye.
Satoshi's smile instantly turns into a concerned frown, Eru and Mayaka both turn full attention to their friend. Satoshi, seeming the braver of the lot reaches an arm over to rub at Oreki's back reassuringly, while the girls move over into the space, seeming to block all chance of escape. 'Could they take up more of my personal space?' Oreki thinks to himself as he shrugs off Satoshi's hand.
He yawns yet again, and takes a stand, he places the large tome he had been carrying in his bag and places it as close to his window as possible, ignoring the stares his friends gave him. Great, where did all the chatty happiness go? Did the wind blow it out of proportion, or did they think he needed sympathy?
He wipes the crinkles from his school jacket, and fixes the sleeves, "I'll see you at eight." he assures them after gathering his bag. He was so sure Satoshi would stop him from leaving, but all Oreki caught from the usual mischief-maker was a sad smile. Eru and Mayaka were both sharing odd looks to each other, most likely having their usual silent conversations. 'Honestly, it's not like it's a huge deal, is it?' he thought.
Exiting the room instantly made him realize how gloomy it was in there. His friends were seriously worried about him, and look at this, Oreki, the great sloth of the school, yet again runs from his problems with the grace of the very thing Mayaka tells him he resembles. He wonders if she ever realized that, to Oreki, she reminded him of this toy poodle his sister insisted on taking care of for a month. The little small puff was always angry at him for never playing with it. He could have played with it like a normal person, but he ever really was a huge dog person.
He walks through the nearly emptied out hallways, his body moving mostly from memory as his tired mind worked up what he should do as soon as he arrived to his sister's home. He knew what to pack, but he'd also have to bring a movie or something, as his friends had all agreed on each choosing a movie or two.
The thing is, for Oreki, that was hard to do enough on it's own. He didn't know any new movies that had come out, and he wasn't very up-to-date on what his friends wouldn't mind watching. He knew Mayaka and Chitanda liked romance, comedy, or mystery movies, but he wasn't too sure if he even owned anything like that. The only true movie he knew Satoshi would love that Oreki owned was the Hobbit, but he wasn't too sure if any of the girls owned it as well.
"Ore-san! Wait up!" he hears behind him as he descends the stairs. Eru, followed closely by Mayaka and Satoshi, walked beside him, panting as if they had run to catch up to him. ( 'Really? You don't have to run to catch up to me.' he thinks bitterly to himself. )
"Are you okay?" Eru askes, as she clings to his left arm, Satoshi squares in on his left along with Mayaka. They take up most of the hallway like this, but Oreki doubted someone would care.
"Mhm." he hums, as they take a turn to the exit of the school's main building. The sun is slowly setting itself between the mountain tops, sending most of the sky into a cacophony of beautiful Oranges and Pinks. Oreki hates Pink, but with the Reddish tint of the sky next to it, he couldn't complain much. 'Red at night is a sailor's delight', after all.
They walk in silence until they reach the split in the sidewalk that lead Eru and Mayaka one way, and Satoshi and Oreki another. It is right here where Chitanda's grip on Oreki's arm is like a vice. He is tempted to pull his arm away, but he forces his body to still, and turns to look at the girl.
"Oreki." Eru starts, sounding as if accusing him of something,
"This isn't bothering you a bit?" Satoshi finishes, peering across to his friend. They've known each other since middle school, so Satoshi must be surprised at how little he knew about Oreki.
"No."
"But there must be something going on-" Satoshi tries again.
"No," Oreki says again, firm on the answer, "Nothing is going on," he manages to politely pry Eru's vice grip off of him, "Nothing is happening at all, and I feel nothing for this subject." He simply states. He admits that it sounded rude, even to his ears, but this is one of the first times he has actually been bothered by someone about the missing name which should have been on his wrist, and also one of the first times he has been honest about it. ( 'Would you just all let this go?' he wanted to say. This subject was tiring him out.)
Mayaka frowns at him with more concern than he is comfortable with, while Satoshi takes his other arm, the one opposite of Eru, and holds tight. Eru herself takes the arm she had before, and smiles up at him, instead of frowns.
"If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay." Eru says, voice light like water washing over stone, clear and leaving a slight happier outcome to the feeling that seems to have followed Oreki around today. "But, if you need us, we're here for you."
He felt his heart skip a beat, and he almost stopped breathing for a moment until he composed himself.
No one's ever really said that to him before. He was so used to being badgered on and on to answer question after question by various people that even just getting away from it is surprising. And for Eru to be the one to let the subject go? Truly, today was going in his favor.
Mayaka enters their strange form of an embrace, and for once Oreki allows himself to be crushed in the middle of his friends; he was thankful for them.