CHAPTER 2 : After all…

A few hours had passed after Yuu had completely succumbed into slumber, Higabana knelt to level herself to the bed. 𝘏𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘦𝘱…. 𝘕𝘰, 𝘯𝘰, 𝘯𝘰. 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴! 𝘈𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩… Higabana, who was smiling, gave a troubled look as he stared at Yuu's face. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵. She thought, and didn't give any second thoughts. She poked his cheeks a bit, and a few seconds later, started feeling up his hair.

After a few minutes of poking him, Yuu's eyes twitched, but Higabana hadn't noticed it. In just a few seconds, he came in to.

"Uhm… Higabana…-san…. What's happening to me?"

"Eh?!— Uhm…." In a panic, Higabana jumped back to her chair and tried to go back to her usual composure.

"So you're gonna play like nothing happened at all, are you? Not like I mind someone poking my face and hair though…"

"T-That's, I wasn't poking you or anything at all!"

"And there you just admitted you were poking me." Yuu said with a grin on his face, while Higabana cupped her head with both of her delicate hands as she sat down on the ground, completely red and embarrassed to be found out.

"W-Well, I really didn't hate it though. So no need to feel that embarrassed…."

"Nnnn…" she let out a soft grumble as she slowly sat back down on her chair.

"A-Anyway, would you like to eat lunch? It's past 12 already."

"Eh?! Seriously? I slept that long?!"

"Yeah. Do you want me to peel you some apples?"

"Eh? Ah— then please…" he answered as he slowly sat up on his bed, preparing the table for the bed, only to be stopped….

"Ah—! Don't! Don't strain your body too much, just relax!"

"I can do at least this much…."

"No means no!" Higabana said as she took the table from him and set it up herself. Being so close to him, he immediately averted his gaze to the side, red on his cheeks.

"Here." Higabana placed the plate full of sliced and peeled apples, along with an orange, peeled as well.

"Thank you very much…." he gratefully expressed his gratitude and started eating the apples and oranges.

𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭…. He thought on the top of his head, not only to notice that his eyes slowly swelled up with tears.

"Eh?!— A-Awagami-kun?! Why are you crying?!"

"Eh?—" he seemed to have noticed it. "Ah— I wonder why…" he said as he kept sniffling and crying.

"W-Why?... Here—" she handed him a handkerchief she had on her bag.

"Thank you…." he thanked her while wiping the tears from his eyes, as he immediately realized as to why he suddenly cried.

𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘦…. 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴… 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦— 𝘯𝘰… 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦…. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐… 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵….

After a few minutes of non-stop crying, Yuu had finally stopped crying.

"Sorry to let you see me so pathetic like that…." he told her as he gave her a wry smile.

"Don't be, geez. Just suddenly crying made me panic, you know! But… why did you suddenly cry?... I mean, it's fine if you don't want to tell me, I don't mean to pry…"

"Ah— no. In fact, I would tell you anyways…." he said as he stared at the window by his right and started to talk. "Do you remember… that day in the classroom, a year ago?..."

"That was when you…" as to answer his question, she spoke up, only to be interjected.

"Yeah. The day I confessed." He took a glance at her face, only to show an apologetic one. "Don't make that face…. Anyways, even after that, I did my best to tell myself 'I'll completely cut ties with you, along with the memories and my feelings' but even so, I wondered to myself why I can't…. I kept trying and trying, until eventually… I gave up…. Well, until today… I still tried to act like I didn't have feelings for you, but… it just made me realize even more. That it wasn't even a matter of "like'' anymore, but instead, a feeling of "love". I realized that the more I tried to forget you, the more I realized... that I fell in love with you…." he took another glance at her, and gave a smile showing both pain, and innocence. "That's why I suddenly cried. As I am now, I thought that if I die, I wouldn't get to see you anymore. I… wanted to spend more time with you… be with you some more…"

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦… 𝘐 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵… 𝘣𝘶𝘵…. 𝘐… 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶. Yuu thought to himself and muttered, "That's why…" but before he could say it, Aoi interjected.

"I see…." Higabana said with a soft voice and followed with, "...then…. Can I be a little selfish and ask you something as well?"

Surprised by the sudden proclamation, he immediately replied "Eh?!— well, you put up with my selfishness earlier, I would gladly do so as well…."

"Then…. Will you face the other side for a bit?..."

"Eh?... That's…." confused at what she requested, he thought of 2 things,

¹ 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝

² 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐦𝐞

² 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘴 ¹?

He thought to himself, and followed what she wanted, and faced the other way, exposing his back to her. "So? What next?— Eh? Higabana-san?!" the moment he turned his back, he immediately felt a warmth all over his back.

She patted his head back and forth and kept embracing him tightly.

"Higabana-san… if you keep on doing that, I might cry again. So can you stop?"

"No. I want to spoil you, over and over again. That's why, feel free to lean on me more…." she said as she continued to pat his head.

"... shouldn't you be saying that when my head is really on your shoulder…. But… let me… stay like this for a while…."

𝘈𝘩𝘩— 𝘨𝘦𝘦𝘻! 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰…. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘦𝘭....

They could completely feel both their heartbeats, so while patting him, she slowly felt him calm down. In which they lasted for about 5 minutes.

"Thank you, Higabana-san. I'm fine now." he said as he forcefully, yet gently escaped from her arms, and faced her with an honest smile.

"Good. So next time, lean on me more. And I won't let you die. I'll carefully watch you here, everyday until you get better. That's why, don't ever think about dying."

"Yeah. Sorry. And thank you…" he sincerely apologized and thanked her for the comfort she gave him.

"...after all…." Higabana continued with her words.

"Hm?" Yuu stared at him in utter confusion.

"I've… always liked you… Awagami-kun." she said straight to his face with a calm expression, yet a lovely voice, enough to make his heart flutter.