Chapter 23: Words Wishing for Reunion (Yukiya’s Point of View)
All of a sudden, in front of the shoe lockers where we’d just witnessed a childhood friend’s heartbreak scene, the commotion among the students who’d arrived at school refused to die down.
“Th-that was kind of intense.”
Beside me, Kanae, my childhood friend who’d become my girlfriend, muttered in a daze.
Yeah. I couldn’t agree more. I had no idea what was even going on anymore.
After finishing morning practice and extra training with the soccer club, I met up with Kanae near the school gate as she arrived. Just as we started walking toward our classroom, we ended up witnessing our childhood friend’s very public heartbreak scene.
And in the end, Souta stormed off, shoulders stiff, taking long strides as he left.
I was worried.
“Sorry, Kanae. I’m gonna go check on Souta for a bit. I think he probably went home.”
Ever since we were kids, whenever Souta failed at something, he’d barricade himself in his room.
He was good at studying and sports, won awards over and over in things like painting and calligraphy, and even cooked food at home that was good enough to sell. That kind of perfect-at-everything Souta was weak when it came to failure itself.
Because he almost never failed, he often charged ahead with his own ideas and messed things up. Maybe because he had so much talent, the scale of his screwups was huge too.
On top of that, since he had so little experience with failure, his spur-of-the-moment responses often made things worse, and it took time to recover.
He probably had thoughts and inner conflicts on a level an average person couldn’t understand. Still, right now, I was just worried about Souta’s safety.
“I-I’m coming too!”
The grip as Kanae clung to my arm tightened.
“We’ll be skipping school though…”
“I don’t care at all! I’m worried too. Ah, Chris-chan!”
Kanae immediately called out to Souta’s little sister.
In the end, the four of us chased after Souta all the way to his house.
Walking down the long hallway of Souta’s home, which you could easily call a mansion, Kanae, Rinka the junior, Souta’s sister, and I stood in front of the closed door to Souta’s room and called out to him.
“Niisan, are you okay? Please answer me!”
“Uu, Souta-senpai, I’m sorry. I really was planning to tell you quietly later…”
His sister spoke desperately, and Rinka spoke sadly.
“Hey, Souta, Azaka-senpai’s handling things at school right now, so it’s okay.”
Honestly, I had my doubts about how effective that damage control would be.
“Hey, Souta-kun, at least let us hear your voice…”
Kanae spoke in a weakened voice too.
Then a rattling sound came from the other side of the door, and a sheet of paper slid out from under it.
[Y-Yukiya!? Kanae!? Why are you guys here too…!?]
It was a handwritten note that expressed emotion vividly through stammering, exclamation points, and ellipses.
Another one followed right away.
[I’ve no intention of seeing anyone right now. You should all hurry back to school.]
Polite wording with a condescending tone. At least he seemed fine. That was a relief.
“Niisan, please open the door!”
“Souta-senpai, I’m so sorry…”
After that, there was no response, and it turned into one-sided calling, until suddenly his sister snapped.
“Niisan! That’s enough already!”
Maybe because she was so worked up, her intonation came out a little strange.
“Aren’t you ashamed to make only Rinka-san apologize? In the first place, it was you who started all of that in a place like that!”
Kanae let out a small yelp of “Hyeh…” and Rinka panicked on her own.
“Answering confessions on the spot means turning one or both of them down! How do you think someone feels being rejected in front of that many people? What you’re feeling right now is exactly what you were about to make someone else feel!”
Her sister’s voice made the air tremble.
After a while, another piece of paper slid out.
[I had no intention of hurting anyone. I was simply trying to do what I should as my character, as a gloomy loner. But if an apology is needed, then I’ll apologize. I never thought I’d be understood from the start. Lonely, you ask? I’m used to being alone…]
His sister crushed the note in her hand.
“What is this supposed to be? Character? Gloomy loner? I even read books to understand your hobbies, but doing stuff like that in real life is even more disgusting and just makes people back away!”
A rattling sound came from the other side of the door. After a brief silence, a surprisingly long reply came out.
[Just like it’s written in countless light novels, I’m convinced that this gloomy loner style is the strongest style for conquering student life! I don’t care if children cry, women scream, or parents die. I’m determined to stick to this gloomy loner style! I’ll never quit! This is my absolute rule!]
Even though it was written communication, hearing such passionate words from Souta was something I hadn’t experienced since elementary school, and it made me feel nostalgic. Come to think of it, back then, Souta was a pretty hot-blooded kid.
Of course, it didn’t strike a chord with his sister at all, and she let out an enraged scream.
“Apologize to Rinka-san and Azaka-senpai! Come out right now and apologize properly! If you don’t come out, I’ll smash this door down and drag you out!”
When she picked up a vase-like ornament sitting in the hallway and raised it, I hurriedly stopped her.
“Nya! Yukiya-sa… ahn, let go… let go, ple… nghh!”
She might be slender, but her strength wasn’t weak. She was genuinely intent on throwing it, twisting her body to shake off my restraint. Contrary to her looks, she was probably the fiery type.
Before long, the rim of the vase dug into my neck.
“Gweh!?”
I writhed in agony and let go. It hurt like crazy. Kanae, half in tears, leapt onto me yelling, “Yukiyaa!”
At that moment, the door right in front of us flew open, and the Souta we’d been desperate to see appeared, completely furious.
“Yukiyaaa! You! What’re you doing to my sister!!”
Apparently, today was cursed with bad timing. Souta burst out with that momentum, and at the same time, the vase swung down with force after my restraint broke, and both sides collided.
The vase shattered. Souta collapsed. The three girls screamed. I stood there, dumbfounded.
And with that, things finally escalated to the point where adults had to intervene.
A few days later, after receiving word from his sister, Souta’s parents flew back from overseas. With Souta’s strong wishes taken into account, they came to greet us and told us they’d decided to send him to a school overseas for a short-term study abroad.
I had no idea how they’d wrapped everything up. I was just a dumb high school kid. Apparently, Souta wouldn’t be back for at least half a year.
On top of that, it seemed he’d be heading overseas that very day to where his parents worked, and Souta was already sitting and waiting in the car parked outside.
“You’re really leaving, Souta?”
While our parents exchanged greetings, I spoke to Souta through the open car window.
“Hah, all of you saying the same things with the same faces. To me, farewells are just everyday life, you know. Good grief.”
Saying that, Souta opened the window wider.
“Souta, at least stay in touch with one of us regularly. And make sure you come back, okay…!”
At this point, saying things like why are you going or don’t go would be meaningless, so I just pressed him not to cut off our connection.
Maybe I put too much force into it, because Souta nodded a little stiffly.
“Y-yeah, I get it…
“Hah, good grief… but you don’t really have room to be worrying about me, do you? You’d better not break up with Kanae before I get back.”
There was still some schadenfreude in his voice as he flashed a fearless grin.
Just then, Souta’s parents returned, greeted me as well, and got into the car.
“Oh, and Yukiya, don’t skip school tomorrow, okay…?”
Then the car started moving, and Souta left.
Like Kanae, Souta is a childhood friend I’ve spent long years with, from kindergarten through high school.
That’s why my chest aches with regret and loneliness, thinking I should’ve been more involved, should’ve played more, should’ve talked more.
“See you, Souta…”
The murmured words wishing for our reunion melted into the darkness of the night and disappeared.