Chapter 47 – Hold Out Your Hands

After that, we spent the rest of our days without ever mentioning our little drama again because we got unbelievably busy.

Even though they knew that we were busy with the festival preparation, the teachers still gave us a lot of assignments to do. Because of that we were cutting it close with our deadline.

***

Finally, the day of the festival arrived.

"…There!"

"Alright, it's done!"

Almost everyone in the class had to stay overnight working on the mosaic. Not only had we been busy with schoolwork, we also made several mistakes when we were arranging the threaded cans. On top of that, some dumbasses couldn't restrain themselves when messing around and crushed a portion of the cans.

I didn't know if it was because of divine intervention or because we were just that good, but we managed to finish by the deadline.

Lastly, we tied the strings tightly on the fence of the rooftop and hung the whole thing down. We tried our best to follow the sketch properly, but there were some mistakes here and there, nothing too noticeable though.

I hoped everything would go well… Rather, if it doesn't, that would be really lame.

We sacrificed enough time for this, some of us haven't even slept. If our hard work went unrewarded on the top of that… Ugh.

"How is it, Yuu?"

After hanging the mosaic, Asanagi called Amami-san over the phone to make sure that our art would be visible from a distance.

In response, she and the rest of the people who went to check, all made a gesture.

'OK'

Seeing that, all tension left my body.

It was currently 8 am., and the school gate would open at 9 am. We were really cutting it close.

"Phew… We barely made it…"

"Yeah…"

Both Asanagi and I tried to take turns sleeping, but in that kind of situation, there was no way that we would be able to sleep. Our anxiety and the pressure of the deadline kept us awake all night long.

Today's weather was a clear day in the autumn. The gentle morning sunlight enveloped the rooftop where I was at and stung my eyes as I turned my gaze up.

"Maehara."

"What?"

"In a few words, describe your feelings."

"I don't care about the festival anymore. I just want to sleep."

"Same… Well, we can't sleep just yet though…"

Yeah… We were part of the committee, so we had our committee related work to do. We had to supervise our class' project during the festival and clean everything up when the festival ended.

Of course, there was also one other thing for us to do.

"By the way, you're going to tell me everything today, right? When will you do it?"

"Mhm~ Well, I don't know exactly when… Maybe around noon?"

That means I'll be free all morning.

After all, our class' project was an exhibition, and our project was set up on the rooftop, which was off-limits to the outsiders. In other words, I wouldn't need to watch over it.

This festival was bigger than what we held back in middle school, so a part of me wanted to look around a bit, but I had no energy left to do that… I need sleep…

"Maehara, you look sleepy."

"Ahh… yeah. I'm sure if I close my eyelids now, I'll fall asleep in a matter of seconds…"

"Is that so? …Well, you've done your best, right?"

"Yeah. I did…"

Even I found it hard to believe that I managed to make it this far. Yeah, sure, Asanagi and Amami-san lent me their support, but the one who came up with ideas for the exhibit, attended the committee meetings, gathered the class' opinions, gave them precise instructions, negotiated with related parties and so on… were mostly me. You could dismiss our work as, 'it's just gathering some cans and putting them together with a string', but there were actually a lot of things to work on behind the scenes.

I've never involved myself with these kinds of activities, so when I found out how heavy my workload was, I almost screamed in frustration. In fact, I was still amazed that I didn't pass out in the middle of it.

"Asanagi…"

"…Mm?"

"I made it this far, huh?… A loner like me, did?…"

"Mhm."

Even a recluse like me, could pull off something like this when I put my mind to it.

Then, there's no reason for someone of Asanagi's caliber to be unable to do the same.

"If I can make a miracle like this, you should be able to as well, Asanagi. All you need to do is puff out your chest and stand strong. Remember the time when you brute forced your way through the class lottery? If you recall the feelings you had back then, you should be able to do this."

"…I know… I know that, but still…"

She looked down as she told me all her concerns.

It hasn't been long since we've met, but I did understand her, to an extent. This girl, even though she was normally brave and strong, had moments where her more cowardly, vulnerable side showed.

This was why she always desperately tried to read the mood of everyone around her, putting them at a distance where they wouldn't needlessly hate her, but she ended up worrying over it a lot anyway because of her anxiety.

That was the part of Asanagi Umi that I came to know recently.

"Maehara, what should I do? I'm seriously freaking out right now… I'm scared… What if you both come to hate me if I were to tell you everything? Seriously, I'm scared…"

Her clenched fists were trembling, but I knew that it wasn't caused by the chilly autumn air.

But still, this idiot. There was no way I would come to hate her, not after what we went through together. I'm sure she's also aware of that fact, but her mind was clouded by her anxiety, so it was hard for her to think positively at this moment.

I understood her feelings, though. After all, while we might live in different worlds, we were the same on the inside. The kind of people who got overly anxious over nothing, that was who we were.

I wonder, why did it take this long for us to meet and befriend each other?

Well, the fact that we were able to become friends as soon as we made contact kind of makes it even, huh?

"Asanagi, I have a favor to ask you, do you mind?"

"Eh?"

"…Well, if you do mind, it's fine, I'm just asking after all…"

I reached out my hand to Asanagi and said,

"Can you hold my hand?"

"Eh? Hold… hands…?"

It seemed like my words caught her off guard. Her eyes rapidly switched between her hand and mine.

"Uh, well, you see… Your hands looked cold, so I thought I'd warm them up for you."

"…Are you maybe trying to cheer me up? You're so cheeky."

"If you don't want to, fine. Jeez, and to think I was being nice."

"I-I didn't say that I don't want to!"

As I was about to retract my hand, Asanagi immediately grabbed it.

As expected, her hand felt really cold.

"…Hehe…"

"What?"

"Nothing… it's just… your hand feels so warm…"

"Well, your hands are just too cold. This is what happens when you're too nervous. Try to relax."

"…Yeah, right… I have to relax…"

Asanagi took a few deep breaths as she held my hands.

"Phew… I'm a little bit calmer now. Thank you, Maehara."

"I see. Then, everything should be fine from now on."

"Mhm."

Her hands already stopped trembling, so it should be time for her to let go of my hands.

"Asanagi, you can let go of my hands now…"

"M-Maehara, it's fine to let go now."

"…"

"…"

After a few moments of silence, I felt the difference between the temperature of our hands.

"…You know what, Asanagi?"

"W-what?"

"It feels surprisingly cold here. Can I hold your hands a little longer?"

"Y-yeah, sure… I-It's cold after all, right? B-besides, there's no one here other than us two…"

After we finished making excuses, we decided to stay as we were until we eventually had to let go to attend a meeting.