Sakuno Ryuzaki desperately ran through the colorless airport. She willed her 15-year-old legs to go faster, frantically searching for the right gate, or a glimpse of his trademark white hat in the sea of grey. The crowded airport seemed to be against her; it sent waves of faceless travelers into her path, bumping and shoving her gracelessly, tripping her with bulky baggage. But finally, from the corner of her eye, she saw it: the hat. He was alone, walking toward the tunnel, about to board his plane to America, possibly never to return. She turned, sprinted, and shouted his name.
"Ryoma!"
He stopped. He casually turned his handsome face over his shoulder. When she reached him, she was clutching the wall, gasping for breath. Her hair had fallen from her signature pigtails. Her face was red from the merciless airport's heat. Her shirt collar, sticky with sweat, chocked her. In her pitiful form, she looked up into his cool gaze.
At the sight of his glossy hair, his sharp nose, and his big eyes, her head ached with thoughts she wanted to share with him. Don't go, stay with me! I'll miss you so much! She instinctively summed all her complex feelings into a simple, clichéd line.
"I love you!"
He did nothing. He only held his stare into her begging eyes. He did not even turn to face her properly. His face was motionless, impossible to read. Then, his lips opened.
"This will be the last time I see you."
At this moment, she forgot everything. Her senses shut off. She had forgotten the airport's heat, the rude crowd, the hum of the intercom. All she saw was him with his back to her, and all she felt was a mortifyingly wrenching twist in her chest. She fell to her knees as her tears fell to the floor. But she was unaware that she was crying when he opened his mouth one more time. What he was about to say, she never heard; he closed his mouth, lowered the brim of his hat over his eyes, and took off. However, his final unspoken message was still brutally clear.
Mada mada dane.