Rob p.39-44

      Through these very eyes, I captured every detail of the back of her head, her neck, her body…but I didn't recognize her at all. She had walked around me one full circle, wearing a smile that said, "My, isn't this nice?" Her tongue was just slightly out of her mouth. A dog that I had a long time ago, back when she was a puppy, she would always sleep with her tongue slipping out the slightest bit. Seeing the girl made me remember my dog…and what a nice dog she was.      "Who are you?" I asked.      Her smile disappeared, and was replaced with a resigned look. But that look, too, soon went away.      She said, "You know what psychometrics is, right?" in an assertive voice.      After hesitating a little, I nodded. In psychometrics, through direct contact with another person (or with something else that belongs to them), one can supposedly look into that person's past or future through ESP. There's this movie called "Dead Zone" that I've always liked, and since psychometrics comes up several times in the movie, I happened to know what it was.      Upon seeing me nod, she reached over the table and put her hand on the back of mine. Her fingers were so thin, so delicate…pointing straight out, even without bulging at the joint. She slid her index fingers over my hand gently…before long, with her fingertips up, she began to rub a small area round and round.      "What I'm doing is looking into you…" she said in a gentle voice.      I just stayed quiet, watching the motion of her fingers. I don't know how many people have put their hands on me, but for the first time, I felt thankful to someone for doing it.      She removed her hand, only to give me a look as if it were all bullshit.      "You play basketball, don't you?" she said.      "How…how did you know?"      "Duh…psychometrics, maybe?"      I shut up for a while and just looked at her.      "What else did you find out?" I said.      "How many people have you gone out with?" she asked me.      I took my eyes off of her, and looked around. The gallery was now out of our sight. I then saw Takeshita over by the door. She had an expression of utter disbelief. I then looked around for Kato, because I was convinced that her sudden appearance had to have been Kato's devious plan.      The timing was great. Kato came up the stairs with a sandwich on a dish. Having just come up the stairs, and seeing a girl before me, she looked stunned. As Kato came around the table, the look disappeared. Instead, Kato game me a funny look out of the corner of her eye. After letting out a soft laugh, Kato respectfully set the dish on the table and, with the discipline of a waiter, gave a discreet bow and walked away from the table.      "Someone you know?" she asked me.      I looked deeply into her eyes, and could see that she wasn't playing around. Even Kato didn't seem to have planned this. If she did, it would mean that this girl was learning stuff about me through Kato. But as for what she did know about me, it appeared that she didn't have her facts completely straight. It wasn't that "I play basketball," but instead "I once played basketball." And she should not have asked "How many people have you gone out with" but rather "How many dozens of people."      First of all, even if she was keeping tabs on me through an acquaintance, I couldn't put my finger on any reason why she would approach me. Any one that I knew from school would, without a doubt, warn her, "Stay away from that guy." "What else do you know about me?" I asked.      When I asked her that question again, she gave me a "whatever" look, and said, "Enough of this for today." She went on, "Hey, why don't we get out of here? This place is so cramped and stiff and so boring that it's annoying as hell, don't you think?"      In all seriousness, I replied, "You sensed that too?"      With a puzzled smirk on her face, she said, "Let's go."      She hopped right down from the stool, and ever-so-vigorously walked to the exit. Not looking back a single time, she must have thought that I would just follow her. She was right to think that. Being drawn to her like a magnet, I got up off of the stool. Even the sandwich on the table seemed magnetic in nature, seeming to want to be sucked right into me. Her back drifted further and further away. I then stopped looking at the sandwich and left the table.      The instant we opened the door, a chorus shouting, "Happy Birthday" began. In the blink of an eye, the chorus contagiously spread throughout the entire store. I wanted to stay for Kato until the song ended, but the girl was already ten yards away from the store. Upon seeing her tiptoeing in the most determined of strides, I decided to bolt. I closed the door behind me, and I ran after her.      After we left the store, we ended up walking over by Tokyo Tower, and I wasn't the one leading the way (go figure). Being brightly lit up and reaching high up into the evening sky, Tokyo Tower was quite a sight. Her and I, just moving our feet, didn't say a word to each other. We just keep quiet and walked. But it just didn't feel like it was time to reflect. With me right beside her, sometimes she would peek over into my eyes, and when I let out a cheerful laugh, she would giddily slam herself into me. It was as if she just wouldn't give me a break. I once saw a baby higuma having been just born, and curious of the camera that was filming him, ram himself right into the camera. The girl made me remember that. She was so cute…I wanted to get to know her.      After we had been walking about a half-hour, I threw out a question.      "Are you in high school?"      She nodded, and told me the name of the public high school she was attending. It happened to be an incredibly prestigious school.      "I just started my third year. What are you now, second-year, third-year?"      Why did she omit "first-year," I wonder? Maybe she knew something else about me?      "I happen to have also just started my third year myself," I said.      When I said that, she raised an eyebrow, giving me a smug look.      "What is this 'I myself'? You shouldn't talk so proper like that…it's not your style, you know."      She had to have known something about me.      "The school I go to…"      When I said the name of my school, she moved her brow as if she had wanted to say to me, "I know."      "That sweater really suits you," she said abruptly. Like the boy on "Adults just don't Understand".