Goodbye, Hikari

Yui is watching television when she hears the rattling of keys at the door. The door is pushed open and her sister enters.

"I am home," Fusae says quietly. 

Yui looks at the clock. It's few minutes to eleven. 

"Welcome," Takara says. "I made dinner."

Fusae zombies into the living room. "I'm feeling very sleepy." She lets out a yawn and notices Yui on the sofa. "Uhh? Yui, you are awake?"

Yui's nostrils flare up as her sister lowers herself on the sofa opposite her. "Don't you have school tomorrow? You should sleep early-"

Yui waits for her to keep talking but she doesn't. Fusae's eyes close and she falls asleep almost immediately.

"After staying awake till she got home, she's sleeping?" Yui grumbles and angrily turns off the television.

"You should let her sleep," Takara says.

"And you should return to your house," Yui replies rudely. 

Takara sighs and gives Yui a smile that barely reaches her eyes. "I'll be next door if you need me."

The next morning, Yui is awakened by the sound of her alarm clock. She gets up and is surprised to see herself in her bedroom. She is sure she dozed off in the living room and she did that intentionally because she hoped that she could see her sister before she went to work. 

Yui jumps off her bed and starts to search the house but finds that it's empty. There's a tray of dishes on the dining table. Yui goes over and spots a handwritten note left by her sister.

'Takara said you didn't want to write your finals. No worries! There are other skills you can acquire and other things you'll be good at.'

Yui crumples the note in her hand. Did Takara lie to her? Or was it Fusae just feigning ignorance?

Her eyes drift to the wall clock and she suddenly remembers that her school bag is still by the bridge.

She sits down and starts uncovering the dishes one after the other. 

"Thanks for the food!" And she begins to eat.

Asahi walks into the office kitchen. There's a load of dirty dishes in the sink. He sighs and goes to open the fridge. He really needed something to drink. But it's only beer that's in the fridge. He shuts the fridge close in disappointment.

He then heads out to get something from a nearby mall. The office is silent. His crew members were probably still sleeping and the other group was out for morning duty.

Asahi is on his way back from the store. He is still disturbed by the fact that he saw Yui the previous day. 

"Coming through!" Asahi moves sideways on reflex as he sees someone on a skateboard dash towards him.

"Sorry!" 

He is able to catch a glimpse of Yui as she turns to apologize while still keeping to her pace.

Asahi is shocked for a moment. Why was she here again? He scratches his head and continues to walk back to the office.

Yui hurries as fast as she can. The school bell is going to ring in thirty minutes and no student will be allowed in after. Her bag is still where she kept it the day before. Yui takes a look at the bridge and shudders as she recalls what happened. She skates away quickly after she grabs her bag.

Yui arrives five minutes late but the teacher at the gate is a kind one and allows her and other students to go in. Yui goes to her class and is surprised to see Hikari's father speaking with her class teacher in front of the class. She turns around before they see her and continues to walk aimlessly along the corridor. She spots a teacher pasting something on the notice board. Once the teacher walks away, she goes to take a look.

It is a notice regarding her suspension and disqualification to write her final papers. She wouldn't be allowed to write it until two years later. Yui snatches the paper from the board and dashes to the library knowing fully well that it would still be empty at this time.

"Students are not allowed until reading hours," the librarian says without looking up when she hears someone walk in. She then hears a sniffle and automatically looks up. Yui's eyes are brimming with tears.

"Oh! Poor you," the librarian rises from her seat. "Come on in, you have some explanation to do," she leads Yui to a seat and consoles her when she bursts into tears. Yui spills everything to her including bullying Hikari and the fact that she won't be able to write her exams.

"You should never take out your anger on someone else, no matter what you are going through," the librarian advises. "You would have to apologize to your classmate and others you might have hurt intentionally or not."

Yui nods, having no choice but to accept. 

"Do you want me to come with you?" 

Yui gives it a thought but declines. "Thank you, miss Maki, but I will have to do this myself." Maki gives her a smile and pats her shoulder reassuringly.

When Yui returns to class, Hikari's father is no longer there. For the first time, Yui sees scorn in the eyes of her classmates rather than fear or indifference. Gulping nervously, she walks to Hikari's desk.

"What are you going to do this time?" Hikari groans. "Make me write your note for you or break my glasses?"

Yui ignores her. "I came to apologize." The whole class becomes silent and Hikari's jaw almost falls to the ground.

"I won't be disturbing you anymore. Also, I want to apologize to everyone. I'm sorry." She bows her head slightly and begins to walk away not waiting for any reply.

"What? You call this an apology. You think you can fix this with an apology," Hikari scoffs but Yui doesn't pay attention to her. She continues walking until she leaves the classroom.

She goes to the football field and takes a

seat in the bleachers. She sighs and stares at the cloud with a blank face.