Judgement from the Heart

The bell pierced through the silence of the classroom, the only provocation Emi’s fellow students needed to escape the room. Emi and Light brought up the rear of this outward flow after gathering up their materials.

“I’ll see you outside,” Light said as he turned to go in the opposite direction of Emi, reminding her of the inevitable social experience she was going to have to endure. She could just hear her mother gushing about how adorable it is that she had met a guy on her first day of public school.

She maneuvered down the seemingly endless hallways trying to get to her locker. On the way there, she encountered her three “friends” from earlier that afternoon. They were leaning against what she assumed were their lockers and sending her cold death glares that would make a normal person flinch and wish they had never messed with them.

Emi, however, was far from normal.

Upon passing the three boys, Emi suddenly felt arrogant; like she had done something most dared not to try. Her cockiness showed in her actions as she smirked and flipped her long, black hair nonchalantly. The three gawked at her in shock, obviously expecting fear.

After turning a last corner, she reached her locker and entered the combination. She slowly gathered her homework and shut the metal door. Emi meandered to the exit, taking her sweet time.

Outside, she found Light leaning against the banister at the bottom of the steps. He tilted his head back slightly to look at her as she descended the stairs. “There you are. I was starting to wonder if you had gotten lost.” He smiled at her, signaling the joke.

“Sorry. No such luck there, Light.” Emi stepped off of the final step and faced Light. “So why do you want to get to know me anyway?”

Light pushed himself off the banister and headed down the sidewalk, Emi following. “Well, why not?” he wondered, holding back a sly smile.

Emi rolled her eyes. “Now you’re just avoiding my question, which tells me you’re hiding something and that I can’t and shouldn’t trust you. Either answer my question or I will just go home regardless of the fact that you saved me from having to endure the dreaded task of speaking about myself in front of the entire class.”

Light stopped and smiled down at her charmingly, causing Emi to want to blush. Because she was slightly flustered, however, she kept the reddening at bay. “I think I just got you to speak more than you have all day in the course of two minutes.”

“Congratulations,” muttered Emi bitterly, seriously debating just keeping quiet the rest of the time.

The two began walking again. “So I bet you want me to answer that question you had?”

Emi gave him a look that said, “Obviously.”

Light chuckled, concealing his hands in his pockets. “Well, to answer your question, you just seem interesting.” They stopped at a corner, waiting for the signal to change to ‘walk.’

“Interesting?” Emi questioned softly, the people surrounding her making her antsy. She stared at the signal, willing it to change with her mind.

“Yeah,” began Light as the signal switched. “You didn’t attack me trying to go on a date with me like most girls, you actually use your head from what I’ve observed, and you can actually defend yourself. That makes you interesting.”

“Oh. I see,” Emi murmured, not sure if she should feel complimented or not and too shy to ask.

Light sensed her apprehension and smiled. “That was a compliment in case you were wondering.”

Emi nodded and attempted to move the hair out of her eyeliner-surrounded gray eyes. As always, it just fell back into her face.

Light stopped when he arrived at his house and held the gate open for Emi. She stepped inside with Light behind her. “Your house is nice.”

“Thanks. But I think my mom would like to hear that more than I would.” Light tried the handle and frowned. “Huh. Mom must have went grocery shopping or something.”

Emi shifted nervously and bit her lip as Light fished out his house keys. “So, you’re parents won’t care that you’re alone in your house with a girl?”

Light pushed the door open with a shrug. “No. But if you feel uncomfortable with it, we can go somewhere else.”

Emi shook her head, but couldn’t help wondering if she should have said, “Yes, this bothers me. I barely know you and you could be a rapist.” But, she decided it was too late to get out of this now and only experience will tell her if she should take off running.

Light pulled the door closed after Emi was inside. “Just make yourself at home. Tea?” He slid out of his shoes and pulled his jacket off, draping it over his arm.

Emi followed suit and began unlacing her boots. “Sure. Thank you.”

Light nodded, then headed for what Emi assumed to be the kitchen. She slipped her boots off, revealing her striped, black and white, knee-high socks. She placed them beside the door out of the way and proceeded into the kitchen where Light was filling a kettle to boil the water in.

Emi leaned against the wall by the doorway and examined the room. It was extremely tidy and reminded her of her own kitchen. The counters and floor gleamed in the kitchen light. Even the walls seemed extremely clean, making her feel like she shouldn‘t have he back against it. A table was situated in the center of the room, a bowl of apples in the middle of it.

“Your kitchen is really clean. My mother would love it in here,” Emi decided to point out in a sad attempt to make conversation.

Light laughed as he put the kettle on the stove. “Yeah, mom’s a bit of a neat freak.” He pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. “You can sit down, you know.”

Emi accepted the invitation and sat down in the chair opposite him, first making sure her skirt didn’t ride up. “So what are your parents like?”

Emi raised an eyebrow, wondering why he asked that if he wanted to get to know her. “Well, they’re not my biological parents, but they’re both workaholics, neat freaks, and want the absolute best for me. They’ve been good parents, though.”

“You were adopted?”

Emi found it weird that he was so interested in the life of someone like her. By looking at them, they’d seem like polar opposites. But, she replied anyway. “Yes. I was apparently adopted by my current parents because they’re both infertile and really wanted a child. So they adopted me from an orphanage somewhere when I was about a year old and voila.”

Light leaned back in his chair, eyeing Emi to see if there was a change in her emotions. He hoped he hadn’t brought up a tender subject. Relief swept over him when he saw her emotional state was the same as it had been before he brought the topic up. “Oh, I see. That’s a fairly sad story.”

Emi nodded as the kettle began to whistle shrilly from the stove. Light pushed himself away from the table and removed it from the burner.

The sound of the door opening made Emi glance toward the source. “Hey, Light! You home?” a young, female voice called.

“Kitchen, Sayu,” he hollered back as he poured water into two tea cups.

A girl with brown hair and a carefree attitude bounded into the room. “Light! I need help with my homework!” Then, her eyes rested on Emi. “Oh! Hi! I didn’t see you there for a minute. Sorry!”

Emi waved shyly to her. Light retuned to the table and placed a cup of tea in front of her. “Emi, this is my sister, Sayu. Sayu, Emi. She’s new at my school.”

Sayu smiled slyly at her brother. “Ooooh. I think someone has a cruuush.”

Light rolled his eyes. “You always think that when a girl is mentioned in the same sentence as me. We’re just talking. I wouldn‘t expect you to know anything about this, but I‘m being polite.”

Sayu giggled and sat down next to Emi. “Has my brother bored you to tears yet?”

Emi smiled slightly as she sipped her tea. After replacing the cup on the table, she said, “Not yet. Should I be expecting to be?”

Light closed his eyes in slight annoyance and drank his tea quietly. Instead of interfering with the conversation, he sat quietly and listened.

“What do you do for fun?” Sayu questioned Emi.

Emi shrugged. “Just whatever seems appealing at the time I guess.”

Sayu nodded, then looked down at Emi’s feet. “Oooh! I like your socks!” Light snorted quietly at the random compliment, causing Sayu to glare openly at him. “Shut up, Light! It’s not like you’re being a very good host! I‘m doing all the talking.”

In response, Light just shook his head, not wanting to prolong the argument any further. He decided that a brother-sister bicker was rather rude and might make Emi hate him.

Emi, however, had just watched the two curiously. Having no siblings of her own, she had always wondered what it would be like to have a brother or sister. A small smile graced her lips as she asked, “So, should I want a sibling, or would it be better to stay an only child?”

Sayu scoffed and crossed her arms dramatically. “Well, you definitely don’t want one like Light, that’s for sure. He’s boring.”

Light chuckled at her comment as he stood up to wash out his cup. “Then if I’m so boring, I suppose I’m not going to help you with that homework.”

Sayu glared at him just as her phone began to ring. She grinned, then hopped out of her seat. “I’ve got to go. But it was nice meeting you, Emi!”

Emi nodded. “It was nice meeting you too, Sayu.” With a last bright smile and enthusiastic wave, Sayu exited the kitchen.

Light returned to his seat, somewhat relieved that Sayu had left. That conversation could have gone awry quickly.

“So…your sister seems nice, but you two seem really different.” Light gave Emi an inquisitive look at this statement, and Emi quickly added, “Oh. I don’t mean you’re mean or anything. It’s just she seems more…” She began moving her hand in a way that seemed like she was searching for the right word in an invisible file cabinet. Finally, her hands ceased moving. “Animated.”

Light smiled, mostly at the method Emi had used to find the right word to finish her quotation. “Yeah, I’ll agree with you there. Funny how that works, huh? Raised by the same people, but we end up totally different.”

“Mmmhmm.” Emi finished off her tea. “Not to sound like I’m insulting you or anything, but maybe Sayu doesn’t want to be like you. After all, she did say you were boring.”

“That’s not exactly something I’d expect from you,” stated Light, getting up and taking Emi’s empty cup to the sink. “Seems too blunt of a response for you.”

“Oh. My mom does say I’m brutally honest when I do decide to speak…” She twirled a strand of her hair nervously. “But, really I didn’t mean anything by it; it was just a guess. It could also be her friend selection or she just prefers to be loud and out there. There’s probably thousands of possibilities.”

Highly amused by how quickly she had thought he was insulted, Light smiled to himself as he sat down again. “You’re probably right. And I wasn’t insulted if that’s what you thought. It’s a valid assumption.”

The once defeated blush finally overcame its enemy, Emi’s stubbornness, and crept into her pale cheeks. After cursing herself for not having hardly any social skills for the umpteenth time in one day, Emi nodded and smiled sweetly. “Okay. I wouldn’t want to upset my host.”

Light just flashed her an enchanting smile as the clock from the living room chimed five times. Emi hopped up suddenly. “I need to go. My parents will be home soon and expect me to be home.” She walked swiftly from the kitchen to the door slipped her boots on.

Light leaned in the doorway and watched Emi lace up her shoes. He couldn’t help but notice how precise she was with it. Even the bow at the top was perfect.

Once finished, Emi gathered her books, stood up, and slung her messenger bag over her shoulder. “So…I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

Light nodded and opened the door for her. “Yeah.”

With a sweet, but small smile, Emi trudged out the door, sending one last wave to Light before heading down the sidewalk to her own home.