She's Got a Way

彼女は私が落ち込んでいるときに私に来て,音なしで私を刺激します.

"I was being cathartic when I said that I wasn't fine with Sakurajima-senpai around. God, she is truly a beautiful being that cannot be ignored." Sakuta Azusagawa said to himself as he patiently waits for his train at Shichiragahama, on his way to school.

For a while, Sakuta and Mai have been dating, and have gone throughout tough times. When Sakuta got traumatized when he saw Mai killed in a car accident that did not happen in the altered timeline, he was determined to protect her to prevent that event from ever happening again in the apparent future. She even bought him a phone so that she can contact him for something, though her number is the only thing that is registered in Sakuta's phone.

As Sakuta waited longer for his train to arrive, he received a phone call from a stranger. "Huh? That's weird, I never gave my number to anyone. Maybe Mai-san did. But hey, if it means it's her in a different number, then I'm all for it." He then pressed the call button...

"Hello?" Sakuta said. A familiar voice somehow was heard from his speaker. "S- Sakuta-kun? I- It's me. Your old pal" "Uh... maybe you got the wrong number. I'm sorry." he said then he hung up.

The voice was familiar to Sakuta's head, but he couldn't make up who it was. He kept thinking about it, but his train soon arrived, and he had to board it.

A few minutes later, he finally got into the school. He got another call again, with the same voice from earlier. "Moshi-moshi.." He said. "S- Sakuta-kun? Don't you remember me...?" He kept trying to make up the missing piece of that familiar voice but he just doesn't seem to get it. "Uh... who is this again?" Sakuta had no other choice but to ask her who she is, to finally solve the mystery. "H- Haru, Mizumi Haru..."

His eyes widened, and it felt like his scar somehow worsened. He fell down at the entrance of the school, with blood on his chest. "Ack... is... this... another attack?" He closed his eyes and lost consciousness.

From there, the voice started to make sense. The forgotten memories came flooding back again, mostly composed of nightmares from his previous time.

Everyone around him took him to the clinic to plaster his wound, but it kept bleeding. Fearing that he might get hemorrhagic shock, they had no other choice but to take him to the hospital. Luckily, when he was brought there, the bleeding stopped. He was stable again, resting on the emergency room bed.

Mai-san, who was around that time to shoot for her shampoo commercial, rushed to the ER, and saw Sakuta peacefully sleeping. She picked up his phone, and saw his call history wiped out. The call history from that unknown person was nowhere to be found. Afterwards, Sakuta's eyes slowly opened, and the first thing he saw was her. "W- What..? What happened..?"

"You're bleeding again. It was long gone, but now it's back. Maybe it's because of that phone call." Sakuta said. "Huh? What phone call? You deleted your call history, I saw it." Mai responded, showing him his phone with no traces from the unknown person. "What? But there was a phone call this morning, I don't know who it was but her voice is familiar." Sakuta said, while holding his chest wound.

"Really?" Mai asked him to tell the truth. "Would I lie to you, Mai-san?" Sakuta threw back the question. "N- no..." Mai said as she looked away blushing. "Then you know I'm telling the truth. I think I caught her name... Mizumi Haru." As he said that, his wound gets painful. "A- are you alright, Sakuta-kun?" Mai said. Sakuta then get up and put his foot down to the floor. "Let's go home. I'll go figure it out."

"No." Mai said. "I think this is my time to pay back what good things you've done for me. Even though I'm busy, I'll try and help you." Sakuta smiled right in front of her. "You know I'll be fine. It's just a scratch. I've been through this. You need to take care of yourself. Do not overwork yourself, and add me to your problem, Mai-san." Sakuta said happily, knowing that it's going to be his fault again for trying to keep people away from solving the problems he's facing.

Mai was moved into tears. "Why do you always have to handle this all by yourself? Why won't you let me help you? Sakuta-kun..." "Do not worry. It's been like this ever since we've met. I don't want you looking for too much pressure, Mai-san. It's okay."

"T- This is not right. I- It's unfair, Sakuta. If that's what you want... I'll still help you no matter what. Hate me or not, but just being together with you, helping in times of problems is what makes me happy. Please.... just let me." Mai kept begging for his approval, even though she knew it will just end up being a grand waste of time.

Sakuta smiled at her, with a small drop of tear going down his left eye. "Alright. You're a good person, after all. I just don't want you getting tired too much."

Later that night, Sakuta went home with Mai. The unknown person called again, but this time through their apartment's telephone. Mai answered instead, because it might trigger another shock for Sakuta.

"Moshi-moshi?" She said. "Hello... i- is Sakuta-kun there? Can you please tell him this is Mizumi Haru?" The unknown person said. Mai said the name to Sakuta, on which he finally recalled the memories. But that doesn't somehow made him hurt anymore.

Sakuta took and phone and answered her. "This is Sakuta." "Sakuta-kun! I'm very sorry for what happened with us that morning. How rude of me to not introduce myself right away."

"It's alright, Mizumi-san. W- What you said earlier was that you're my old friend? I- I don't ever remember you being my friend... to be honest... but I know your name." Sakuta said to Mizumi.

"Do not worry, Sakuta-kun. I know people don't ever notice me immediately. I've been like this for almost a year now. But I'm sorry again for inflicting too much wound into you." Mizumi responded.

"It's okay. I've been used to this feeling, so I'm just gonna leave it as it is." He said back, while his right is on his chest.

"C- Can I go there to your place? You wouldn't mind, Sakuta-kun?" Mizumi said. Sakuta then looked at Mai, then back at the telephone.

"Sure."

TO BE CONTINUED.

Originally created on: Dec. 24, 2020