Chapter 4 Part II

At midnight, while slightly worried about Sakura's response tomorrow, I made preparations to go to bed. My phone vibrated once. 

"Are you awake?".

A modest, short sentence. It was from Sakura. I stared at the screen of my phone for a while without touching it, but a continuation of that sentence doesn't seem to be coming. She probably assumed I was asleep and is being considerate. I opened up the chat screen and marked it as read. And when I did, another brief message was sent. 

"Did I wake you.....?".

"Sorry, I had some laundry to wash. It's fine".

I answered with a small lie like that. As I did, perhaps she felt relieved, as next came a slightly longer sentence. 

"Tomorrow at 5 o'clock I'll have to meet Yamauchi-kun...can I meet you before that.....?".

That sort of message came in. I could have refused but for Sakura, there's no one else she could rely on. 

"Where are you meeting him?".

"The same place behind the school building as yesterday".

I did know that, but on top of confirming that again I made a promise to meet with Sakura. Since I did not want to trouble Sakura, I decided to meet with her in the same place behind that school building. 

Now, time to sleep. Promptly finishing off the remaining chores, I turned off the power and laid down. 

And, my phone vibrated again.

"Umm...sorry for bothering you so many times. Is it ok if I call you?".

Anxiety that was transmitted to me through the mail. It's better if I don't just go to sleep and leave Sakura hanging. And when I called her, Sakura answered with a low voice.

"You can't sleep?".

"Yeah.....thinking about tomorrow, I just got nervous.....haaaaa".

It was a depressing sigh. Her anxiety is also being transmitted through the call. She's probably thinking about an answer to the confession. 

"I---I don't know anything about Yamauchi-kun.....and that's a bit scary.....".

"I see.....".

"Liking someone, or hating someone. I just realized it comes with a huge responsibility".

For Sakura, who has not paid much attention to the distance between her and her surroundings up until now, this event must have been too much of a stimulus. But the extent to which an outsider can interfere and help out is limited. 

The one who decides everything will be Sakura, and the one receiving it will be Yamauchi. This pattern alone cannot be broken. That's something even a beginner in romance like myself understands. I don't have the right to advise Sakura to either reject him or accept him. I can do nothing but quietly listen to what she has to say.

"Yamauchi-kun's done nothing wrong, but I'm just...thinking I don't want it. But I also feel bad for him, who noticed even someone like me.....".

I keenly realized that love is definitely something complicated. 

".....when I kept on thinking, I just don't know what I should do.....".

That's understandable, even through the phone I could understand how she must have been constantly feeling confused. 

"Why me.....I thought. Why do I have to suffer like this, I end up thinking". 

Rather than being happy, on the contrary, it seems as though she dislikes or at least is troubled by it. 

"Ayanokouji-kun, you, umm.....ahh, you might hear something unnecessary but....".

"Please ask me anything. If it's something I can answer I will answer".

"Umm.....right now, are you dating someone.....like that?".

For some reason she asked me that in a formal tone. 

"No, absolutely not. Right now and of course, up until now too".

"R-really!?".

"If you sound so happy it makes me feel like you're being sarcastic".

It does unusually hurt when she's so happy about a man who's never dated before. 

"Waahh....no, I don't mean to make fun of you! I was just happy, because you're just like me".

"I'm just kidding" I told her.

"Mou.....!".

It was just a light joke, but it seems to have unravelled Sakura's hardened heart. 

"Then umm, have you ever been confessed to by someone, or confessed to someone, something like that?".

She seems to be stepping it up quite a bit. But I have nothing to hide so it's fine though. 

"Same as you. Confession experience 0". 

But in Sakura's case, this would be her commemorative first time though. 

"So that's how it is!".

She sounded happy again. And just like that, Sakura and I talked aimlessly about random topics excitedly for a while. After a while, I felt Sakura getting drowsy and ended the call. I hope she slowly falls asleep just like that. Thinking that, I too decided to sleep.