Hard to Move on

"Hey gram. Sorry I'm late, but…" The girl entered, apologizing to her grandmother, but stopped when she saw who was here.

"Yurime?!" Said Arata, his face visibly showing how awestruck he was to see this. "She's your grandmother?" He pointed to the old woman.

"Uh, yeah?" She replied, not really understanding the problem. Well, it wasn't a problem with Arata. "What are you doing here?"

"Here?" He recoiled back as if what she said was an attack. "This only happens to be the best place in this entire town! I never knew your uncle owned the place."

"I guess you could say I keep that under wraps." She nervously twirled her hair, chuckling a bit. She had hoped that this would stay a secret. Yurime also had another reason for acting so strange, she never expected to see Yuriko at a place like this.

"It's nice to see you already know each other." Asasuzu was excited over this development. "Come, we should all procure ourselves a table. I know you two have already eaten, but it'll be nice to catch up together." Arata didn't think it was all that strange that the elder folks he knew had grand kids in the same school as his. Though the fact that he apparently knew them as well was a bit of a funny coincidence to him.

Even if he wasn't certain how comfortable the girl would be. He didn't argue with her. Arata remembered that Yurime did want to attempt to befriend Yuriko once more, even after everything that had happened. At the same time, didn't she have something important to discuss with her grandmother? Surely they shouldn't be interrupting that.

Then again, she wasn't protesting either. There wasn't anything in her body language that would indicate that she took issue with this. Perhaps, she wanted to talk about her situation with Yuriko. This circumstance did pose a rather good excuse for trying to get closer again.

At least that's what he assumed would happen. But the more they talked, the more he noticed her lack of conversation directed towards the girl. The only time she ever talked to her, was when Yuriko pointed something her direction. Even then, it was short and simple responses.

"So how's the library committee going?" He asked, trying to lead the conversation now.

"It's going well." She answered. "Actually, I was going to talk to gram about it, but I can save it for later."

"Do you need help with something? You know that me and Yuriko are always happy to help if you need it."

"Pff, as long as it doesn't mean too much work. I'll help." He glared at her a little. Would it hurt to at least not sound like it killed her to do anything?

"Oh it's nothing like that." She waved them off. "We're just talking, that's all."

"Then we'll just leave you to it." Yuriko got up from her seat. "The two of us should really get going." He couldn't argue against that, but it was a shame not to get a better chance for the two girls here. They bid farewell to the other two, and left the store.

They were in there so long, that he forgot just how cold it was outside. You could even see their breaths sending out fog as they walked.

"That was a lot of fun." He didn't want to walk in silence with her. Things felt a bit off when it got quiet. "I hoped you two enjoyed yourselves."

"I'm always glad to spend more time with you Arata." The younger of the two responded.

"Yeah, it was cool." Yuriko had a much more muted response in comparison. "We should get the others next time we go back." The affirmation that she'd be back, betrayed how much she liked the place.

"Yep." He was in agreement with her. "Funny that Yurime's grandma was Asasuzu. Small world I guess." Arata commented. It was funny, that the childhood friend that Yuriko forgot was also the granddaughter of the old lady she met back during the Summer.

...Wait, how did she forget Yurime exactly? Now that he was thinking of it, she remembered Yogi just fine. How could she forget someone that she was actually close to at one point. Then again, she did forget Yuki, but that girl wasn't exactly someone who stood out.

"What do you think of Yurime?" He asked, trying to get some idea of where she stood with that girl right now.

"She's fine, she's your friend. So I'm sure she's cool." The way she was eyeing him, she had a questioning look on her face. "Why do you care what I think?"

"Oh no reason." He played it off, averting his gaze from her and pretended to focusing on walking forward. But his acting wasn't good enough to convince her, she already had her suspicions about him.

"You know, don't you?" She said, her tone becoming more down with each word she uttered. He continued to play dumb, but she wasn't going to fall for it. After knowing him for as long as she had, Yuriko could tell when he was attempting to set something up.

She knew the reason for him offering their help to Yurime. Why else would he bring something up like that? Arata was trying to get her to talk to that girl again.

"Fine, you caught me." He admitted, putting his hands into his pockets in defeat. "But, if you didn't forget her, then how come she said that-"

"I didn't remember her?" Yuriko completed the sentence. "It's not hard to pretend to forget things."

When she came back to this town again. Yuriko was torn as to how she was going to get a fresh start. Would everyone else be so accepting of her return? Or should she just pretend the past didn't happen, and move on.

That's why she chose to pretend not to remember Yurime. Because, she wanted to move on from her past. Take away all those connections to it, in a bid to move forward in her life.

But the truth was, there was more to it than just moving on. She just couldn't forgive herself for what she did all those years ago. Yuriko didn't think that she deserved forgiveness. Not to those she hurt back then.

Maybe that's why she was attracted to Yogi, he had that odd mix of both. It was a brand-new relationship, yet something familiar for her to attach to, even if she didn't mean to. It must've been some sub-conscious thing within her, that compel those actions. Maybe even those feelings she had for him.

"You really don't think you should be friends again?" He hung his head back, was that the best course of action? It's been years, but if Yurime wanted to give it a chance, then maybe it's at least worth trying. "You knew it too, Yurisa?"

"Sister doesn't like talking about back then that much with me."

"Yeah, she's too young for all that. She was like, two or something back then." But there was one thing that she did know. Something that Yuriko hoped would never get out.

"You guys!" A voice called to them. It was Yurime, running fast towards them. She had in her hand something that was difficult to discern from a distance. "I finally caught up to you…." Her breathing was heavy, this was a long run she had to make.

"What's wrong?" She held up to his face a wallet. His, in fact. Arata thanked her as he took it back to his possession. Yuriko eyed him hard, thinking that this might've been one of his tricks, but it really wasn't.

"Are you two just heading home?" She asked once she gained her breath. The two nodded in affirmation. "That's a shame…"

"You wanted to hang out?" He said, glancing over to Yuriko at this. Was this girl about to make her move?

"If you're going, then I won't bother either of you." She turned around, her head hung down. Yurime would've left too, but she was stopped by a voice.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Unfortunately, it was neither Arata's or Yuriko's voice that spoke up.