I opened the door to see Aina standing a few steps away from me in her nightwear.I closed the door and stood there, facing her.It has been quite a long time since I last met Aina, face-to-face. After that incident in the class, after that slap that shattered the hopes that I didn’t have from the very beginning, we haven’t talked to each other. For me, I didn’t care. As for Aina, she cared to a certain extent that was why she was ignoring me. She was trying to avoid me. You don’t have to try or force yourself to ignore someone you don’t give a damn about after all.“Oh, Aina. It’s surprising. What brought you here?” I asked.She didn’t speak.I waited but she showed no signs of opening her mouth.Did she come here for no reason at all? I ended up thinking. If she did have something she wanted to say, then why was she staring at me silently? Does that mean what she has in mind is something heavy and hard for her to ask of me casually? If so, then she should have done some practice. Sh
Aina was surprised.She hadn’t expected anyone to be out here on the rooftop at this time of the night.But as she inched closer, with the help of the dim moonlight, she was able to see the silhouette of a person. Of a woman to be exact.“Oya, who do we have here?” The girl turned her head towards Aina, noticing her presence.When Aina saw her face illuminated by the moonlight, one word crossed her mind: beautiful.She had black hair with eyes the shade of mysterious purple. On the right side was a small reddish clip while a long tuft of hair cascaded down to her ample bosom on the left.As she stood there, entranced, the girl raised her eyebrows and started scrutinizing her.Then, after a while, as if finally, something had dawned on her, she spoke, “You are the girl from Kageyama’s school, no?”The word she just mentioned caused Aina to fluster for a moment. She had just now returned from Kageyama's room and she was trying to forget the conversation she had had with him. But hearing
I watched as Aina ran desperately and climbed the stairs.She was running away.I could see that. She had been running away for so long. I had noticed it a long time back. When she used to watch me with those eyes, with yearning. When she was with Miyamoto, she would gaze at him, longingly. Her gaze said that she wanted something more from him. Something that she wasn’t able to find in him. And that something was…me. In the first place, I think the reason she started dating Miyamoto was also me. Although I don’t know how exactly or why, but I believe I am not un-related to that matter.Shizuku Aina. A headstrong girl who doesn’t shy away from being brutally honest and telling them what needs to be said. Long brown hair and those eyes filled with determination.When I first saw her and started knowing her better, I had subconsciously started comparing her to Kaya. They were a lot similar. That was why I wanted to know just how similar they were. So, I showed her the dark side of me. Th
It has been four days since my late-night encounter with Aina. Ever since that day, she has been avoiding me constantly and there were dark circles under her eyes probably the result of thinking about things too deep till late at night. I have had a few conversations with Nakamura and Ito and spent most of my time in class with Yamamoto. Other than that, I have kept myself holed up inside my room listening to ‘Starting Over’ by John Lennon. Somehow I have found this song to my liking and for the past few days, I have been listening to this on repeat. I am now just waiting for another song to take over.Today is the fifth day of our study camp plus tour meaning the second and first-year students could be coming any time now. Or so I thought while going down for breakfast with Yamamoto and others in tow when we saw that they had already arrived.They were the same as us, looking around the hotel with glittering eyes. The only exception was Miyamoto. He was acting calm and was following
I ran towards where Miyamoto was like a madman and grabbed him by his collar. His eyes widened in surprise. The other guys appeared equally shocked.Before Miyamoto could say anything, with my hands still on his collar, I dragged him.The other boys who were standing there still, recovered from their shock, and the guy who was talking enviously about Miyamoto screamed at me.“Hey, you. What do you think you are-“ His sentence abruptly and unnaturally ended then and there as I turned around to look at him.With a murderous and threatening aura in my already cold-looking eyes, I gave a passing glance at each one of the boys present there.“Don’t butt in,” I said. Hearing my voice laced with clear animosity, the boys gulped in terror. One of them even ran away like a scared rabbit. The remaining stood there, motionless, without even drawing their breath.This much must be more than enough.After determining that, I led Miyamoto to the empty area behind the dining hall. There was no one h
Miyamoto Sota.I had completely read him wrong.The fact that he hated me; it wasn’t because I had committed such a horrible act. It was because he thought that I was framed by those girls; I was accused of something I hadn’t done. And instead of fighting back, I accepted and admitted it. I also left them all without saying anything and without any clarification.For Miyamoto who admired and idolized me, it must have been the greatest form of betrayal. That was why he hated me. He believed that I couldn’t commit such a horrible act. It was all a lie.But, now, he has finally learned the truth. What he had believed all these years was a big, fat lie. What he had idolized was a fake; it was someone that didn’t even exist in the first place. That realization crippled him. The only goal he had set for himself in his life was just an illusion. That goal suddenly disappeared and it was akin to the world ending for him.“Really, I do nothing but break people.”How many does it make now? I ha
The sky outside was getting a bit darker and I could see dark clouds approaching from the eastern side.“It’s going to rain pretty heavily.”The time was around 4 pm.The classes for the day were over long ago and starting today we won’t have any classes no more. Tomorrow – that is the sixth day – and the day after tomorrow will be packed with nothing but trips to different places in Kyoto. The third-year students had a relieved face. Now they could finally get to enjoy the vacation in its truest sense.I was alone and I walked at my own pace scanning the places around me and committing every detail I saw to my memory. Today, I was once again out in search of Hayami. Even though the past two days had seen no result, I wasn’t going to give up yet. And today, I hadn’t sneaked from the hotel. There was no need to. The school had allowed us, students, to go on a stroll around Kyoto to our liking. We could go anyplace we want to as long as it wasn’t someplace shady. As a rule, we had to ke
I was angry. But I didn’t feel my blood boil. Instead, I felt calm. Looking at my face, nobody will ever think that I was furious. As if to let the world know the anger raging inside me, from the heavens came a thunderous roar so loud it shook the very ground. Along with the lightning and the thunder came the drops of rain pouring.Every drop of rain felt like bullets and with each drop that hit me I felt as if wounds were opening up everywhere in my body; both old and new.As the downpour got heavy, people around me started running around trying to find a place to shelter themselves from this heavy rain.I, on the other hand, continued to run, all the while being hit by the numerous raining bullets.As I ran, the sounds of water being splashed reached my ears. Along with water, mud was being splashed everywhere including my clothes.When I no longer was able to run anymore, I stopped. Then I suddenly opened my mouth as wide as I could, gasping for air. Seems like I had stopped brea