Together Forever

Chapter 7

Learning

"You want to join the archery club?" She had a lot of confusion in her voice so I needed to make sure that I clarified myself.

"I want to be in the archery. If I can find something to occupy my time, I'm sure I'll be able to recover."

"Well, if you want to occupy your time, I'm sure there are a lot of other clubs that you can do."

For some reason, her words hit me hard.

"But… But I want to be in a club with you."

"I-I didn't mean it like that. I'm just not sure if the girls will like something else joining the club. For some reason, they're very against outside people joining us. I guess it's all about the close-knit group that they already have… But who cares? If you want to join the archery club, I'll take you with me tomorrow. Does that sound like a plan?"

I nodded my head and said my goodbye to her. After that, I walked into my house and headed up to my room. Compared to yesterday, I felt a lot better about everything. I was able to smile. I was able to forget about the things that have been troubling me all of this time. Of course, they're still in my head, but I feel that they are less of burden now than before.

The next day was a chipper one for me. I got ready quickly and headed out the door only to meet up with Sonoda-san who was waiting for me. I still couldn't get over how generous she was to wait for me and walk with me. On our way to school, we were able to talk about more normal things. I couldn't help talking about how easy it was to sleep. All she mentioned was that I was starting to seem like a different person than when we first met. That's when I remembered our first encounter. I was standing all alone in the hallway when she approached with the brightest smile I've ever seen. However, that made me wonder why she picked me.

"Sonoda-san, why did you do it?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you say hi to me of all people? There were so many other girls who were vying for your attention, but you chose to talk to me. Why?"

"I try to be friendly to everyone I meet and since I didn't know you, I thought it be best to make your acquaintance. And I'm glad I did."

I suddenly looked at her and she was smiling at me. At this point, it still seemed like a dream that there was a person in this world this pure and genuine, but here she was. She was walking right next to me as if she wasn't aware of anything at all. Her last comment pretty much ended our conversation, but we arrived in the front of the school at the same time so that's where we split up for the time being.

During the day, I couldn't stop thinking about my request. I was going to join the archery club. This was so uncharacteristic of me because I'm not athletic. Ever since I could remember, sports were never my thing. However, I couldn't this bother me. I promised myself that I would change and this would be the best thing for me. Do something that I'm not normally accustomed to doing. Also, I'll have Sonoda-san by my side so it'll be easy.

When school was over, I grabbed my stuff and headed down to the shoe lockers where Sonoda-san was waiting for me. The two of us grabbed the rest of our things and headed to the dojo. On the way there, I was actually pretty nervous, but whenever I looked at Sonoda-san, I saw that she was super calm. I needed to learn from her so I took some nice deep breaths and focused on the task at hand.

The first thing that happened was her handing me the uniform. I quickly got changed and prepared my first lesson. She handed me a bow and started teaching me from there. To my surprise, I had no idea how much technique there was in this sport. The positioning of my hand on the bow as well as where I put the bow when I'm about to shoot was so particular that I really had to focus. Once I got that, Sonoda-san then moved me on to using the actual arrow. Turns out that I don't really touch the arrow when I'm doing the whole thing. After I understood that, we tried the real thing.

Unfortunately, I was having such a hard time. The weight of the string that I was pulling was really heavy. Sonoda-san actually had to stand behind me and pull it for me, but that was it. Once she asked me if I was ready, we let go of them string and watched the arrow soar.

It missed completely.

"Ah man, I thought I did it perfectly."

"You did do it perfectly. I just let go a little too late which threw off the trajectory of the shot. I'm so sorry."

"Sonoda-san, I know for a fact that that was not the case."

"You can't be so hard on yourself. Everyone always has a rough start when trying something new."

"But I just don't think I'm really cut out for this. I just thought it could get my mind off things that have been troubling me. It's kind of working… I guess."

"Well, is there something that you really like to do?"

"Um, I guess there is, but it's not really something that we could do together."

"Well, what is it? I might be able to help."

"You're gonna think I'm such a granny. I like to knit and sew and make clothes." I waited for a response and when I got one, it was Sonoda-san laughing to herself. "Please don't laugh at me."

"I'm not laughing at you. I just think it's so cute. When you think about it, it's a very useful skill. I'd love to see what you can make."

"Um, would it be too much trouble for you to actually try them on?"

"Huh?"

I could tell that my question threw her off so I did my best to try and clarify the whole thing.

"I mean… Could you model my clothes that I've made already?" I looked at her and could see her face turning red. I didn't know her all that much, but I could tell that this was going to be a hard decision for her. It took her about a minute to say yes, but when she did, I was so thankful. I've never shown my clothes to anyone, not even my parents. If this girl could approve of my talent, it would mean the world to me.

Once practice was over, we packed up our things and headed home. As we headed home, I couldn't help, but rub my arm and shoulders. The strain of pulling back the string was a little too much for me. Also, my technique of releasing the string caused it to slap my forearm on multiple occasions. When Sonoda-san saw this, she told me to drink lots of water and ice the hurting parts. She knew what she was talking about so I didn't question her. After a few minutes, we finally made it to my house. She walked me to the front door and the two of us looked at each other with smiles on our faces.

"Well, thank you for walking back Sonoda-san."

"You're welcome. Also… You know I've told you to call me by my first name. Hearing my last name just sounds weird."

"I know. It's just… It's embarrassing."

"How is it embarrassing?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'm just being weird."

"Try it right now."

She was threatening in any way, but for some reason, it was so hard to bring myself to speak her first name. I went through it as quickly as I could in my head, but as I tried speaking it, it just wouldn't come out.

"U-mi. Just like that."

The way she said her own name just sounded to smooth. As I thought about it, her first name did have a lot more flow than her last name. That's when I tightened up everything in my body and spoke her name.

"U-Umi-chan."

"There you go. It wasn't so hard, right?"

I couldn't respond to her. I was too filled with feelings I couldn't understand.

"Well, I gotta head home. I'll see you tomorrow Kotori. Bye."

She waved goodbye to me and I did the same thing to her. In my head, all I could think about was the two of us. Another day went by and I was starting to feel even more comfortable being around her.

"See you tomorrow… Umi-chan."

End of Chapter 7