When Silence Roars

“Ujiteru did what?!” Kumai exclaimed.

I answered him calmly. Two of us making a scene wouldn’t be a good thing. “Keep your voice down. It was on the cheek.”

“Oh, okay.” He relaxed a little but still seemed a bit shocked. “But still, what!”

“You know, I don’t really know what happened, rather, what caused Ujiteru to do that.”

We sat on the bench in my backyard and Kumai smiled at me. “You’re a pretty girl Sayuri. Which guy wouldn’t want to do that, you know?”

I smiled shyly at him and thanked him for his compliment. “By the way mom said hi.”

“Cool. Tell her I said hello too.” He leaned back and looked up at the sky with a sigh.

“He’s paying me 20,000 yen per week for me to be his tutor in every subject. That’s quite shocking, isn’t it? I agreed.”

Kumai quickly looked at me in disbelief. His eyes were bulged and his mouth partially open. “You got a fantastic paying job while studying; you’re going places Sayuri.” He giggled and slapped my arm playfully then looked at me seriously. “I hope he doesn’t have anything planned up his sleeve.”

I looked at him quizzically. “Well, the only plan he would have would be to learn and that’s good to know.”

“Aaah Sayuri.” Kumai spoke as if he was hinting at something. “It’s good to know that he wants to learn, but it’s Ujiteru and I bet he has an ulterior motive.”

“We’ll see what goes on, dear friend.” I yawned and looked at Kumai. He understood what I meant and walked me inside the house.

“Hello Mrs. Haruno.” Kumai greeted her from the back door. “I just dropped by and I’ll be leaving now,” he said pointing towards the front door.

“Oh hi Kumai,” my mom said happily taking her fixed stare away from the television screen. “It was good to see you.”

“Same here.” Kumai hugged me and ruffled my hair. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He walked out the door after waving to my mom and me.


I walked down the hallway toward the cafeteria. I felt someone cover my eyes and I stopped in order not to bump into anyone. “Guess who,” the voice said.

“Is this Kumai?” I wondered if it was.

“Guess again.” The person said in a sing-song voice.

I laughed and held the person’s wrists. “Hi Takaya.” He pulled away his hands from my eyes and held my hands. “So you’re going to eat now?”

“Yeah, wanna come with?” I swung our hands like five year olds would do.

“I’m taking up that offer. Come along child.” With that he skipped off holding onto my hand. We sat down outside under a tree near the pond after ordering our food. Takaya smiled while opening his sandwich.

“Why are you smiling?” I asked him, because really, what was there to smile about?

“I remember this was where I sat when you wouldn’t stop staring at me. It’s funny we’re sitting here together.” He took a bite and playfully shoved my arm.

“Yeah, brings back memories, doesn’t it?” I took a sip of my drink and looked at him. “Ujiteru is paying me to be his tutor.” I waited for his response while unwrapping my sandwich.

“Seriously? How much?”

“20,000 yen.”

“Whoa, that’s a lot of money.” He almost choked on his sandwich.

“I agreed. I don’t know why, but I did.” We spoke about random things and what we both liked to do in our spare time. I glanced at the crowd of students eating at the concrete tables and saw Ujiteru wearing an inquiring expression. I raised an eyebrow at him and he turned away and continued talking with one of his friends.

Takaya stretched and rested one of his arms on my shoulders. “That was seriously good food. I enjoyed that. Did you?”

I patted my tummy and licked my lips. “I most certainly did. I wonder if I’ll be able to move after eating all that food.”

He gave me a lazy smile. “I’ll help you out if you can’t.” He chuckled.

“Thank you sir. Greatly appreciated.”

We got up and headed to the cafeteria. I saw Ujiteru looking at us from the corner of his eye while he spoke to a few people gathered around him. He quickly excused himself and ran in front of Takaya and me.

“Takaya.” He said trying to be civil.

“Hey.” Takaya said nicely.

Ujiteru put his hands in his pocket and looked at me calmly. “Remember after school?”

I smiled at him. “Sure. See you then.” I started walking away with Takaya and Ujiteru quickly threw in a statement.
“Cool. I’ll wait for you in the parking lot.” He quickly walked back to where he previously sat and continued talking with his friends.

After we left the cafeteria Takaya took his books from his locker then stood with me at my locker. “Don’t you think Ujiteru is acting a little weird?” I asked him.

He leaned on a nearby locker and stared at me. “I’ve not known the dude long enough, but if you say so, I’ll believe you.”

I gave him a quick glance then shut my locker. “I really wonder what he’s up to. One day he’s all mean then, the next day he’s nice.” We started walking to our History class. “You know, I think this all began when I started talking to you.”

Takaya giggled at my comment. “That’s ridiculous. It’s like I said before: maybe he has an interest in you.”

I looked at him with a secretive smile. “You know,” I purred, “he can be really threatened by such a handsome guy like you.” I smirked and waited for Takaya to respond.

He blushed and quickly added, “Thank you for the compliment, but I don’t think I’m any match for a guy who is rich.”

I scoffed at his comment. “As if. He’s mean but his looks and money don’t make up for it.”

“Not everyone thinks that Sayuri.”

I sighed and agreed with Takaya. Almost every girl wanted Ujiteru mainly for his looks and money. Wow, some girls can be really shallow. We walked into the classroom and sat in the middle. Few students were already in the classroom talking with their friends.

We faced each other and continued our conversation. “Takaya, I forgot to tell you one strange thing that happened yesterday.”

“What’s that?” He looked at me interested.

“He kissed me on the cheek when he dropped me off at my house.”

Takaya looked at me puzzled. “What?” He looked as if he was discussing the possible reasons in his head. He sighed and looked at me seriously. “Sayuri, I know I’ve just met you but I’m really concerned now. You’re going to his house after school today to tutor him; make sure you’re very cautious. I wish you wouldn’t go but you’re getting paid and I don’t want to sabotage anything for you.”

I was feeling scared now and I was wary of what would happened when I leave with Ujiteru. “Maybe I should tell him I can’t make it today.”

“No Sayuri, you’ll have to go other days any way. Just be careful and have your phone near you so you can call anyone if something goes wrong.”
“Okay. You’ll be the first person I contact. Wait a minute. It just dawned on me that he’s the one that will be taking us to his house and I don’t know where he lives!” I was really worried now. Anything could happen to me.

Takaya quickly grabbed my hands and tried to soothe me. “Calm down Sayuri. I’m sorry for scaring you, but you have to think of the possibilities. I tell you what I’ll do. I’ll trail you guys in a taxi and wait for you until you’re finished. Okay.”

I smiled at him with comfort. “That sounds reassuring but wouldn’t your family worry where you are?”

He still held onto my hands and gave me a big smile. “Don’t worry about that.”

The bell rang and everyone shuffled to their seats. Ujiteru walked in and stared at us. He didn’t look happy at all. He walked to his seat, sat down, and took out his books.

Takaya stared at him then looked at me. “He doesn’t look happy at all.”

“It’s like I said before: he can be really threatened by such a handsome guy like you.” I snickered and turned around in my seat. Takaya said nothing but I could see the pink blush appearing on his face as he quickly turned in his seat.

Throughout the class Ujiteru would sneak a glance in our direction whenever he got the chance. I’m seriously annoyed at this now. The bell rang and Takaya and I walked out of the classroom and headed to our lockers. After we left Takaya’s locker he followed me to my locker and held my bag as I placed my books inside.

“You know,” Takaya said while pressing some buttons on his phone, “Ujiteru snuck a glance in our direction whenever he could during class.”

“I noticed. I’m going to ask him about it later.”

Ujiteru pointed to his phone that was not at his ear. “I’m calling the taxi.” I smiled at him and leaned on my locker waiting for him to finish. “It should be here in about five minutes.”

“That’s good.” We still stood there, in a non-awkward silence. We were just watching the few students that passed us by.

Takaya turned his head in my direction and looked at me. “Ready to go?”

“Ready.”

We walked toward the exit and Takaya saw the taxi outside the gate. “There it is, my lady. I’ll be watching you from my safe haven.” He joked. I guess he was trying to lighten the mood so I wouldn’t be scared.

I giggled and walked with him towards Ujiteru.
“There you are.” Ujiteru said when we stopped in front of him.

Takaya hugged me and whispered, “Be careful. Call or text me if you need anything.” He let go of me and handed me my bag. Ujiteru looked at us and beckoned for me to go inside the limo.

“See you later Takaya.” He waved at me and went towards the gate.

Ujiteru and I sat in the limousine facing each other. He looked like he was itching to say something. I glanced behind him and saw the taxi Takaya was in a few feet away. I looked back at Ujiteru and spoke. “What’s up with you?”

“What do you mean?” He asked calmly and took a soda from the small fridge. He opened it and slowly drank it.

“You’ve been acting nicely ever since I’ve started talking to Takaya. Are you jealous?” I’m sure I hear him gulp loudly at the question I asked.

“I’m not jealous.”

“We saw you sneaking glances at us in history class. I’ve seen the way you look at Takaya, Ujiteru, with disdain.”

He scoffed at my statement and took a sip of his drink. “So what? You guys are an item now?”
“You didn’t deny glancing at us. So what if we are an item, it shouldn’t matter to you.”

He looked at me in surprise. “Are you guys really an item?”

I laughed and shook my head. “Wow, I certainly agree that you do need a tutor. I just met him Ujiteru. We’re not.”

Ujiteru turned his face away from me. “From the way you guys have been acting, especially in the parking lot just now, I would believe you guys are.”

I studied his face and decided I didn’t want to hear anymore of this. “How far do you live from school anyway?”

“About ten minutes. You’re gonna love it.” He smirked then finished his soda.

I glanced behind Ujiteru and saw the taxi still trailing us. Takaya better be close by if anything goes wrong. I’m not so confident in this idea anymore.