CHAPTER EIGHT

The day was already about to end and almost every student is prepared to go home. Aside from the student council members, Hana decides to stay beyond school hours.

Hana looks outside of the window next to her, and admiringly watched the trees sway its branches. Out of nowhere, she felt a sudden urge to take her feet somewhere. She stood up from her seat, and walked to the school garden which was located behind the structure. A few moments later, she got there and decided to sit on one of the benches. "This place is so pretty..." She mutters to herself while staring at the flowers planted by the members of the gardening club. "I think it's safe to vibe here." She says. She looks around to see if anybody was there. A few seconds after checking her surroundings, she takes her phone out and decided to play some music. As she listened to music, she started thinking to herself again. "Hm... I wonder how Nago-san's doing right now... I hope she got the rest she needed a while ago.". Hana closes her eyes, letting the wind touch her face as she dug deeper into her thoughts. "I also wonder how Hachiro's doing... I wasn't able to see him ever since." She thought as she started to remember the picture that she saw in the student council room. "That picture..."

As time passed by, Rin decided to take a break and walk for a little bit. As he walked, he notices a shape of a woman that seemed pretty familiar. He decided to approach it. As he got closer, he then noticed that it was Hana. "What's she doing here?" He thought to himself as he continued to walk towards her direction.

Hana decides to open her eyes and noticed that someone was walking towards her way. She was startled by the suddenness and immediately turned the music off. As the figure got closer to her, she instinctively turns her body to the side (Due to Her traumatic past, she reacts to things subconsciously and instinctively). Hana started to fidget. And a few moments later, she started to shake unbearably.

Rin was alarmed and immediately brought himself to sit next to her. "Hey there, hey there... Don't be scared it's just me. It's Rin. I won't hurt you, I promise." He says reassuringly while patting her back.

"No. No. No." She shakes her head while trembling in fear. "Y-you d-don't understand..." she adds while stuttering. She intuitively clutches her fist while crouching down to her knees. "Stop lying... mom said the same thing." She mumbled.

Rin sighs and crouches down to his knees as he looks over to her. "Shhh it's okay..." he mumbles. Hana couldn't take it anymore and hugs him out of nowhere. "I don't care anymore. Everyone's a liar. I hate everyone, I hate everything. I think I'm starting to hate myself too..." she says as she goes through another episode of an emotional and mental breakdown. Rin hugs her back, and acknowledged every single thing that she blurted out without saying anything. As he comforted her, he starts to get flashbacks. "Hold up... isn't she the daughter of... no... no way..." He thought to himself as he started to remember repulsive memories. "I finally understand why her name was so familiar... I have an answer to my question now..." He states to himself in his mind. A few minutes later, Hana finally gives in and starts to cry "I know... I barely know you but... I felt the need to let it all out..." she whispers. Despite the flashbacks that Rin was getting at that moment, he continued to comfort her – he rubs her back "It's okay. I understand, we all need to let it all out at some point in our lives anyway." He says in a soft yet reassuring tone.

Yuki finally finished his work. "Ah... Rin! I'm done!" He exclaimed. He gets no response. "Huh. Where is he?" he says while looking around the room. "Meh. I guess I'll just go check the school garden out besides, I still need to add fertilizers to the newly planted flowers anyway" He says while letting out a sigh. He gets up, and walks to the garden.

As he walked, he noticed two familiar figures from afar. He got closer and noticed Rin and Hana exchanging warm embraces to each other. "Oh..." he mumbles. He decides to approach them. "Ahaha. Rin... There you are...!" Yuki says, slightly disappointed with what he saw. Rin breaks the hug and looks at him. "Oh. You were looking for me?" Rin asks. Yuki nods back in acknowledgement. Hana stands up "I'm sorry for intruding, I'll go now..." She says while taking her stuff. Yuki slightly smiles and nods, and Rin waves goodbye to her.

Hana leaves and walked home on her own. A few moments later, Rin noticed Yuki's iffy vibe and decided to ask him about it. "Are you okay? You're acting a bit weird.". Yuki shrugs while placing the fertilizer on the plant. "Oi you have mouth do you? Why won't you speak up?" Rin says in a quite aggressive tone. Yuki lost it and accidentally slipped triggering words out of his mouth "Mhm. And you have plenty of dates to go to but decided to ghost every single girl you made plans with. Am I right?". Yuki snapped back to his senses and covered his mouth. "I didn't... mean to...". Rin clicked and a part of him was triggered. "Excuse me?" Rin asks. Yuki remained silent, and tried shrugging it off by focusing on his work. "Oh so you're trying to pick a fight with me now? Haven't I made it clear for you to never bring that topic up again?" Rin says as he starts to raise his voice. Yuki finally gives in and raises an eyebrow. "Stop raising your voice at me. I can hear you, you dumbass. Stop treating me as if I were a child who stole candy from a store. And no I'm not picking a fight with you." He says as he tried walking away since he's finished with his job. Rin stops Yuki from going anywhere and violently grabs him by the collar. "Yeah. And if you dare to bring that topic up again, I'll literally break your ankles." Rin says threateningly. "Mhm. Yeah. You definitely will." Yuki says sarcastically as he moves Rin's arm away, signaling him to let go. "Oh yeah also, if you dare and try to involve Hana with your nasty business... Then, I'll have to break your ankles too." He adds while smiling sarcastically. Rin was surprised with Yuki's set of words. "Did he see us a while ago...?" He questions to himself. Later on, Yuki decided to head back inside of the school, leaving Rin all alone in the garden.

Rin recalled what just had happened and was heated with Yuki's responses. He punches a wall to release his anger. "Damn it... If the school finds out, my reputation will sink..." He thinks to himself. "I can't trust him... But I can't hide it from him either... He found my secret out on his own, there's no way he'll forget. What the heck should I do now?" Rin adds, feeling doomed and hopeless. A few minutes later, he thought of something "Oh. I have an idea.".

[To be continued...]