Reaching You: One Day

Chapter 3: Decision

"No," she thought, seeming really shocked at what was in the note. "This can't be happening…"

Sawako read the note again, hoping that this wasn't reality at all. However, it still read those exact same words.

"Kuronuma, I think we should break up...

From Shouta Kazehaya…"

Sawako was right at her shoe locker, kneeling on the ground crying into her hands. She was trying to control the amount of tears flowing out of her eyes, but they just wouldn't stop. She was too trying to control the sound that came as a result of her sobs, but they just became louder. Some of the people who were there left, mostly out of fear, as Sawako happened to look quite frightening as she cried.

"It's not possible…" Sawako repeated in her mind over and over. "It can't be true… It just can't…"

"Sawako!" she heard Chizuru say from behind. "You never answered my question! Do you want to go with Yano-chin and me to…"

"Sorry," Sawako stood up and immediately bowed towards Chizuru and quickly put on her shoes, grabbed her bag, and ran out of the building.

Chizuru just stood there, confused. She just saw Sawako crying by her shoe locker and then, she saw her running away after she came there.

"What was that about?" Chizuru said to herself.

Then, she noticed that piece of paper on the ground; probably the one that Ekko mentioned earlier. Out of curiosity, she reached for the paper and read the words written neatly on the lined piece of paper. After she scanned every word, she gasped a bit and held the note tightly in her hands.

"No way…" she said to herself, shocked that Kazehaya would write such a thing. She always thought that he really loved and cherished Sawako, but now that she found this letter, she began to think that it probably wasn't the case. She could understand why Sawako left the school in tears.

"Chizu," a voice said from behind. "What's that in your hand?"

Chizuru turned around, knowing perfectly well that it was Ayane, and answered, "What do you think? It's a piece of paper."

"Of course I know that!" she told her sternly. "But what's written on it?"

"Yano-chin," Chizuru told her, believing that it would be right for her to know about what happened to Sawako. She handed the paper to Ayane. "I think you should read this…"

After reading every word, she just looked at the note. She was also shocked at what was written on it. She knew very well that Shouta loved Sawako so much, so it didn't make any sense at all for him to write this to her. It simply didn't add up.

"This has to be some sort of joke…" Ayane muttered to Chizuru. "There's no way that Kazehaya would write this to Sawako."

"Yano-chin, I think you're right," Chizuru uttered. "There's got to be someone behind this…"

As soon as she began to feel tired, Sawako decided to just walk all the way home, hoping that nobody was following her. Not many tears were falling from her face, but it was still quite obvious that she was crying. Sawako never expected that her boyfriend would break up with her, so it was expected that she would react this way.

However, the more she thought about it, she started to remember what happened when Shouta came to apologize to her for forgetting to go to her date. After that moment, things just became awkward between the two of them, prompting Kazehaya to just leave.

As she thought more about, the more she began to blame herself for the break-up. The thoughts that were mainly running across her head mostly came along the lines of "D-Did K-Kazehaya-kun break up with me… because I was too awkward around him?"

Another fresh round of tears began to fall from her eyes once again, but she tried to wipe them off as fast as she can, as she was almost at her house.

"I've got to snap out of it…" she thought. "I shouldn't worry mom and dad by walking in like this…"

As she neared the house, she began to ponder whether she would move to America with her mom and dad, since they were leaving the next day. She really in the mood to see Kazehaya, and she wondered if she would ever be.

"Would it just be better if I just left?" she thought, not wanting things to become more awkward between her and Shouta, since he's her ex-boyfriend. She believed that they broke up because they were too awkward to the point where Shouta thought that they should just stop going out. "I can't take all of this pain in my heart… and if I just moved away, Kazehaya-kun wouldn't feel so awkward anymore… He can just go back to being that refreshing guy that captivated my heart…"

She was right at the front gate of her house and the last of her tears fell. As she was wiping them away, her mom popped out of the door and greeted her cheerfully.

"Sawako," her mother said. "You're back already? Come in!"

"Of course, mom," she said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

As she walked inside, she saw her father grabbing some boxes to the front of the house. When he noticed her, he almost instantly noticed that she just cried, due to the redness around her eyes. At that moment, he was really worried.

"What happened, Sawako?" he said, concerned about what happened to his daughter.

"N-nothing, dad," Sawako replied, unwilling to worry him even further. "Mom, dad, I think I should just pack now… We're leaving tomorrow, right?" She then ran straight up the stairs to her bedroom to pack her things.

"Wait a minute…" Sawako's mother said cheerily, albeit confusedly. "Did she just say that she's going to come with us, dear?"

"I think so…" her husband replied in relief. However, his concern for his daughter overtook the feeling of happiness he had when he knew that they would all move as a family. "…but there's something fishy about this… and I think that her boyfriend has something to do with it…"

Last day…

It was about 7:30 in the morning and Sawako, as usual, was walking to school. The sky was bright and the sun was shining. There were barely any clouds in sight. As she clutched her book bag tightly with both of her hands, she passed by that place where she met Shouta Kazehaya, that guy who made it possible for her to make friends, despite her appearance and her nickname, Sadako. She looked at the tree that was there, all filled with cherry blossoms or sakura, one of the signs of spring, and smiled, probably as a way to remember the good times.

It was not only going to be her last day as a second year at Kitahoro High School, but it's probably going to be her last class here, as it was going to be her last day in Japan for now.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, most likely because of what she's going to miss. She's going to miss her friends, her homeland, and especially him. As they were about to fall, she mentally reminded herself that not to, as it's going to be a new start for her.

"I shouldn't think like that…" she thought. "It's going to be a new start for me… Besides, I already said that I'm going…"

Then, she wiped that tears away and walked the rest of the way to her school for her last day of being one of the pupils there.

Then, after school, the school year ended and everyone in the class completed their second year. After the teacher left, everyone went up and about to go and chat with each other and do whatever they wanted to do before leaving, which probably consisted of chatting with classmates. Sawako heard Kazehaya say brightly, "Ryu! Let's go!" from somewhere behind her. She looked at both of them leaving the classroom before packing her things up. However, as she was about to, Kento Miura, that flamboyant guy with blond wavy hair who sat beside her, who also happened to be the class representative, tapped her shoulder.

"Sadako-chan!" he said animatedly. "A minute, please?" His hand gestured for her to walk towards him, which she did; unsure of what he was going to ask.

"Shisho, what is it?" she asked after being gestured.

"Are you going to the End of the School Year Party tonight?" he asked in his usual way; bright and cheery.

"Ah… I completely forgot about that! I-I only knew about it before everything happened…" Sawako thought, seeming worried about how she was going to tell him.

"Shisho…" she said slowly, yet nervously. "I-I have something to tell you… I-I…" She was still trying to think whether she should tell him quickly, in order to not draw so much attention.

"What is it?" he asked, seeming a tad curious about what she was going to say.

"I-I-I'm going to move to America in the evening…" she said softly, yet in a way that was clear enough for Kento to hear. "…so that's why I can't go…"

Then, there was a bit of silence between the two. Sawako was worried about how Kento was going to react, but Kento just seemed surprised about what Sawako said at that moment. Even though she said it quite softly, which caused many people not to hear it, knowing the nature of that cheerful and flamboyant class representative, one can predict on what was going to happen next.

"What?" Kento yelled loud enough for pretty much the entire class to hear, much to Sawako's unease. "Sadako-chan? You're moving to America tonight?"

Then, the entire class went to a standstill, as they just heard one of the loudest guys in the class say something truly unbelievable. Sawako then looked around the class, looking at the people staring at her.

First, she glanced at Joe and some of the other boys with him. They then started chattering quietly about what he said. She could even tell that they were talking about Shouta, since he was her boyfriend. Afterwards, she looked at Tomo and Ekko, who were just looking at her. They both seemed surprised to hear that one of their friends is moving away so suddenly, as it felt like only yesterday to them when she first befriended them.

She then glanced at Ayane and Chizuru, who just stood there, shocked about the news that came suddenly. Like Tomo and Ekko, it felt like only yesterday when they made friends with Sawako. It had just gone too quickly for them and now, they wouldn't be able to see her for such a long time.

They looked at her with worry in their eyes, wondering about how Sawako was feeling, especially about how she felt about moving, and how she felt about that note. As she looked at them, she could even hear them mutter her name quietly in confusion about what was going on.

Not wanting to see the pain on their faces, she just stood up and said, "Excuse me," before running out of the door in order to get away. As she ran out of the door, she noticed Kazehaya and Ryu walking back into the classroom, probably to get some of their friends to tag along with them. While she passed them, she muttered, "I'm sorry... everyone…" in a barely audible voice.

"What's wrong with Kuronuma? She's been acting weird these past few days..." Kazehaya thought as Sawako ran past him, feeling really concerned for her.

Then, all of a sudden, Ayane and Chizuru stood up and ran after Sawako running past all the other students in the classroom, including Shouta and Ryuu, who just looked at them confusedly.

After running out of the classroom, she sped through the hall and down the stairs before reaching her shoe locker. Even though she really wanted to spend time with her classmates before moving to America, she just wanted to get out of the school. As she quickly put on her outdoor shoes with one hand, she placed her school shoes back into the locker. When all of that was done, she was going to go out of the school doors for the last time, but then, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She slowly turned around and saw two of the people she didn't want to hurt.

They were her two best friends, Chizuru and Ayane, the girls she befriended during her first year, who became her best friends. She turned her face away, really not wanting to look at the pained look already on their faces. As she began to cry, both of them hugged her, trying to comfort her.

"Sawako," Ayane asked Sawako quietly. "Is it true? Are you really moving tonight?"

Sawako was only able to bring herself to nod her head up and down, not wanting to actually tell them that she was. While Ayane was about to cry, Chizuru was already crying like an overflowing dam.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Chizuru cried loudly. "If you told us sooner, we would've tried to do something for your last day!" She then yelled, "Why!" over and over to Sawako, who cried so much that she couldn't answer without gasping in the middle of the sentence. She was only able to softly and shakily say, "Sorry, Chizu-chan…"

After a few moments of crying together, Sawako managed to break the hug, as well as the silence by asking, "Ayane-chan, Chizu-chan, can you please not tell Kazehaya-kun… about me moving away?"

"Sawako…" Chizuru asked her in a serious manner right after Sawako asked that question. "Why don't you want Kazehaya to know?" Sawako didn't answer her.

Then, all of the feelings of sadness and frustration that were bottled up within Chizuru during that moment suddenly came out.

"Is it because of that letter?" Chizuru yelled at Sawako, causing her to flinch. "Is it?" While the tension in the air rose dramatically, Sawako just stayed silent. It was much like when Chizuru yelled at Sawako after she thought that she got rejected by Kazehaya earlier in the year.

"You know that letter is bogus, don't you? Both Yano-chin and I know that!" she yelled at her, more tears overflowing from her eyes. "Would you trust us or a piece of paper that was just left in your locker? You'd trust us, right?" Sawako didn't answer as she didn't know what to do about it, so she just sobbed.

"Does this mean that you actually believed that stupid letter?" Sawako was choking on her sobs, as she didn't want her last day to end this way.

"Chizu… Calm down…" Ayane told Chizuru, not wanting this to be like the last time she snapped at Sawako.

"Don't be stupid, Sawako!" Chizuru feelings were at greatest intensity as she cried at Sawako. "I-I-I hope you are going to do well in America!" She then stormed off, crying profusely as she ran through the halls. Sawako just stared at her, trying to wipe the tears that were constantly flowing through her face like a river.

"She snapped again…" Ayane said quietly as Sawako looked at her, teary-eyed. "She just had to cause such a commotion." Then, all of a sudden, she ran in the direction where Chizuru ran off to, most likely to go chase her. As Sawako looked at her, she quietly muttered, "Goodbye… Ayane-chan… Chizu-chan…" and ran out of the school doors, again, crying her heart out in the process.

A few minutes later, Sawako stopped crying, but she was still quite teary-eyed. She turned around to look at the school building one last time, watching the other departing students leave for spring break. As she looked at them, she remembered the times she spent there. There were many moments, some bad and some good, but since she would never step foot in there, she would obviously miss her friends, especially him.

She then turned right back towards the school gate and started walking out of the school grounds. She was nearing the gate. Step by step, she got closer and closer until she was just one step away from it. One more step and then, she would never pass it again. As she paused for a second, she took a deep breath. Then, she took one last step and finally, she was just outside the school grounds. Then, when she was about to resume walking to her house, she heard something… rather, someone.

The voice was painstakingly familiar. In fact, it was easily remembered by Sawako. Knowing exactly who it was, she turned around swiftly to see who it was, her long, smooth, black hair flying through the wind.

"Sawako-chan…"

TBC