Could You Stay Out of My Life?
“Yuuki-kun.”
Now then, what should he do?
Just like with Ayaka, it would be possible to tear into her and say whatever he wanted, but doing that brings back the memories of being bullied.
The situation is different, so even if Yuuki tried to use that as a reference, it probably wouldn’t help. Still, maybe because that memory is there, he holds himself back.
He could ignore her here, but Yuuki also understood that Saya probably wouldn’t move from this spot until he answered her.
There was also the option of doing nothing and running away, but based on what she had been doing these past few days, he knew she would just try to approach him again after school, and if that happened, he would end up causing trouble for Yume again.
He had been agonizing over this for days, and after thinking it over from every angle.
“What is it, Shinjou-san?”
Reacting to her voice, he turned in that direction.
She was someone he didn’t want to talk to, and if possible, someone he didn’t even want to see, but he reluctantly turned his face toward her.
When he did, Saya seemed to think he had finally decided to face her and talk, and though she smiled, she quickly pulled the smile back and showed him a serious expression.
“I said it back then too, but I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything to help.”
Yuuki turned a cold gaze on her and answered.
“I never counted on you from the start, so there’s no problem. And it’s already over, so could you not bring it up again?”
Yuuki had never had Saya in mind from the beginning, and the one he had relied on all along was Kyousuke. There had never been any place for Saya to step into the situation with Ayaka.
“There’s that, of course, but I’m also sorry for what happened in middle school. I couldn’t bring myself to trust you completely.”
Saya bowed her head to him again, but to Yuuki, that was something that had ended a long time ago, and he didn’t even want to speak of it anymore.
Before Ayaka destroyed him, Yuuki had been someone who was kind and forgiving of everything, just like with Arisa, and he had treated Saya gently as if nothing was wrong.
That was why Saya spent all that time misunderstanding him. She had simply assumed she had been forgiven.
They talked normally, and Saya had acted as if nothing had happened. Even though she never should have done that.
All the negative emotions that had been piling up spilled over from the vessel of Yuuki’s heart, and the vessel burst apart, unable to keep its shape.
The negative emotions had built up because of Arisa, Saya, and various other things piling together, and Ayaka had simply delivered the final blow.
Apologizing or trusting him was far too late now.
Yuuki considered, for a moment, unloading everything on Saya like he had with Ayaka and throwing all those negative emotions at her, but he suddenly calmed down.
If he forgave her with a condition, everything might settle down neatly.
If he said something like, “I’ll forgive you, so please stay out of my life from now on,” maybe she would back off.
If Saya wanted to apologize to Yuuki, then he could let her apologize, forgive her, and end it there. If he forgave her on the condition that she stayed away from him, she would stop involving herself with him.
If he unloaded everything like he did with Ayaka, and things blew up again like that time, he would only burden Kyousuke and the others even more.
“Shinjou-san.”
“Wh-what is it?”
He hesitated again and again, torn on whether to say it, and then he finally spoke.
“I forgive you.”
“…What?”
“So could you stay out of my life? From now on, for the rest of your life?”