Chapter Text
It rained heavily and steadily. The school, once bustling with students, was now comfortably deafened by the drumming of the rain, which was a pleasant solace to the ears. A touch of the nostalgic scent of rain lingered in the air.
Drenched umbrellas rested by the entrance, forgotten alone in haste to escape the storm. The stairways whistled as the breeze sang with the rain’s mist, while the school grounds shimmered and sparkled—decorated by the downpour.
In the dim classroom, a girl sat alone, her chin resting on her palm, arms draped over the wooden desk. Her amethyst orbs glimmered drearily at the glass windows, trailing the rain droplets as they slid down the glass like tears. Her lavender hair hung lifelessly, and her pale skin—as delicate as a lily petal—dwindled under the shadow of grey clouds. Only her eyes, filled with bittersweet torment, remained vivid with sweet torment.
A shadow was cast upon her face.
“I…” The feelings were never made into words and never made past her cherry blossom.
“I… I love you, Okazaki-kun! Please date me!” A similar girl, albeit with shorter hair and shy eyes, unleashed her feelings before the said boy.
Okazaki Tomoya, a silent, unassuming kid with untamed raven hair and sharp yet mellow blue-tinted eyes. His emotionless face has a twinkling of hidden kindness and a pinch of mischief visible.
A silent and lazy boy who was also unambitious and impulsive at times—a delinquent bum, as she would call him—and he would, without question, agree. Yet he was more than willing to offer support—unconditionally kind and selfless; rushing to help anyone before they knew that they needed it.
That is how Kyou thought of him. She would never dare to show this to anybody—even if it clawed at the walls of her heart, tearing its way slowly.
The boy's face did not hold any reaction to the girl's surprise confession. With unjudging eyes, he silently urged her to continue.
His lack of response made her voice deflate noticeably; her head still bowed, and her bangs hid her eyes—eyes, unbeknownst to him, still impossibly, painfully earnest.
“Um… I’m sorry. You wouldn’t know what to do even if I said something like this, would you?” She clenched the fabric of the uniform softly in a fist over her heart. “But it hurts not to say it.”
Okazaki shifted, unsurely leaning his weight on his other leg.
“Ah… You know,” he let out tentatively, brushing the back of his head. At Tomoya’s first response, she snapped her head up, and an excited “yes” escaped her lips, heavily laced with hope.
“Thanks,” he bit the inside of his cheeks. “But we only recently started to get to know one another, right?” he continued in a friendly, neutral tone. “Like, we eat lunch with the three of us—Kyou included—often, but…” he trailed off.
Her face dropped slightly, yet signs of melancholy and rejection were still barren. “R-Right,” the word clumsily stuttered out, nervously fidgeting with her hands.
He hurried to reply, “It’s not that I don’t like you. More like, I wasn’t really looking to get into a relationship with you—” He paused, looking apologetically at her. “Wait, I guess that was rude of me.”
A silence fell over, further deafened by rain. Its beating was like a countdown.
He looked at her; she was looking past his shoulders, beyond the windows. He tilted his head, biting his lips.
Something constricted Kyou’s chest as their silence stretched on. It suffocated her, drowning her breaths in anticipation.
They say one would not know their heart's desire until they witness it tearing away from them—away from their fleeting grasp.
The proceeding words, carried by the wind—innocent yet with untapped influence—would be a dull shock to Kyou’s heart. The thunder boomed softly in the distance.
He let his arms fall at his sides. “If that’s fine with you, do you want to give dating a try?”
“W-wha—?” Kyou’s twin sister let out a questioning sound, her mellow cyan-blue eyes meeting Toyomo’s silent, gentle gaze.
“We’re both going to get to know each other a bit at a time, right? Then it’s not so bad to spend that time as boyfriend and girlfriend—not just friends.”
“Then…”
He sheepishly scratched his cheek as his cheeks coloured. “You’re my girlfriend starting now. Sounds good?”
Much to his surprise, a sob reached Tomoya's ear. Ryou’s shoulders were wracking with suppressed hiccups. Tears streamed down her face like a pearl river.
His brows furrowed with concern. “Hey…” he whispered gently.
He looked at her—lost, his eyes vaguely sad.
“I’m sorry... I can’t stop my tears…” Her voice delicately broke. “It’s as if I’m dreaming.” She covered her mouth. “I’m so happy… It’s unbelievable.”
Kyou had heard it all, her back pressed against the biting cold wall just outside the classroom, its chill crawling down her spine—coldness spreading through her—a sharp contrast to the warmth she had sacrificed. She set this all up—for her sister's sake—crafted the moment so that Ryou’s heart might have a chance to speak.
But now, as it unfolded, something inside her had gone silent. She sat alone in the increasingly darkening classroom, numbness spreading through her and her body eerily weightless, her head lolled limp in her arms, like golden leaves in fall.
The walls of the classroom receded into the blue depths of the void.
･ﾟ✧ :･ﾟ✩༺✧༻･ﾟ✩༺ ･ﾟ✧༻✩ :･ﾟ✧༺*ﾟ✩✧:･
Tomoya thought—no, he firmly believed—that being in a relationship was a fool's dream. Like a bug drawn to the sun, he knew he’d only get scorched if he ever dared to reach for it. It was not just unrealistic; it would also be unfair to anyone unfortunate enough to fall for him.
He had wasted much of his school life, drifting without a future in mind—a limp corpse tossed by the ocean’s currents. Like a wave striving to reach the distant moon, he could never touch the heights of life—forever dragged back into the depths of his hopeless reality.
A small, naive part of him still clung to the notion of going with the flow, but deep down, he knew better.
Yet he offered to date Ryou. Maybe it was her earnest confession, her stark innocence in contrast to his bleak depths, or simply a desire to be needed. Perhaps his heart was too weak and afraid to say no. He suggested spending more time together, hoping everything would work out fine. Nobody knows how, though.
Forming bonds and witnessing the smiles and laughter of others were among the few pleasures that kept him from being numbed by the chains of detachment; he never found the answer to this. Being with people put his heart at ease.
Hanging out with friends helped him forget the darkness.
And maybe now he could give this to Ryou.
They would stroll around the city and eat lunch together. Ryou would greet him shyly in the morning, chat with him during free periods, and wait until evening to walk home together. He would crack a joke now and then, and she would stifle a laugh.
Her eyes gleamed like reflections in a pond when Tomoya invited her to hang out. Her cheeks flushed softly when he complimented her.
“Ah, you’re trying to go to nursing school?” he asked, awed.
“Yes,” she affirmed happily, “it’s been my dream since I was little.”
The evening dyed the park a warm orange as they sat eating the bento prepared by Ryou—an after-school ritual started by Kyou. If he thought about it now, she had started the ritual to bring him and Ryou closer together.
“I haven’t thought about my future at all,” Tomoya said humorously.
“I don’t think you need to rush.”
“I think I do.” He gently patted Ryou’s head, ruffling her hair and bringing a blush to her cheeks. “If I sit around doing nothing, even you might get fed up with me.”
She locked her eyes with his and firmly said, “That’s impossible!”
Her sudden outburst took him aback, and his eyebrows shot up.
“No matter what happens, I won’t get fed up with you!”
His words caught in his throat. “T-thanks.”
Ryou tilted her head at Tomoya, questioning.
“Nobody’s ever said anything like that to me before.” He offered a small, sheepish smile. “So I’m a little touched,” he added, turning his head away.
“...It’s nothing,” she mumbled, embarrassed.
They fell in a companionable silence.
Tomoya’s gaze drifted to where Kyou used to sit. The picnic mat felt bigger and almost hollow without her presence. He could not shake the feeling. The quiet between him and Ryou was not uncomfortable. Yet he could not help but feel a tug in his heart at the absence of Kyou tossing her sharp jabs and mischievous smile, yet her equally compassionate eyes.