[Bittersweet]

Raining. We were cold but it didn t matter; we could keep each other warm. Standing out there with those transparent bullets pelting us, we ignored it. What was important was before us, each mirroring the other. Or so I d like to think.

Farewell. Such a sad word, one I particularly hate right now. Saying good-bye has always been a sore spot for me. I liken the word to abandonment, as what happened to me before. I was found by a very nice man and he adopted me, I never felt so happy. Well, there is one thing that surpasses that but

The first time we met, I thought of how disgusting the work she did was. How even in a place for families she she Never mind that now. Its all in the past now, right? All my wrong assumptions about her have really been totally and ignorantly wrong. I had to be harsh. Had to or was I just protecting myself from pain? Certainly I had to be wary of anyone who tried to get close to me. More so for Sayaka. But she never did anything that was even remotely hurtful or treacherous. She most definitely is weird, that was what made me guard myself against her.

Still...

Now that I know who and what she is I don t even care. All I know is that I want to help her anyway I can. She even showed me that bottle of hers, where broken hearts go when they are fixed. If she has told me this a couple of months ago I would have laughed in her face and called her a loony bin. I was that guarded from her.

But...

She broke through my shell, just like through the hundred others that she has.

In that gloomy Monday morning, we stood in the rain.

Facing her and looking earnestly within those eyes I could have died then and not regret a single thing.

I love you, Kobato Hanato.

Just as I said those words, a pea-like thing with spikes tumbled onto the bottle that she was holding. The last one, it seemed.
She stares at me as if I had slapped her. Then...

Then the bottle shatters in her hand. The pea-like things with spikes slip from her hands like water, tumbling onto the ground.

It hit me, the realization, and left me paralyzed: Kobato Hanato was not allowed to love a person she has healed of a broken heart.