A/N: Holy crap, it's been a long time since I updated... Well, hopefully I can finish now!
Chapter Eight – Coming Days
The morning after the festival was, to put it lightly, frantic.
Suzu and Akio were the first to awaken, embarrassed that they were so close to each other... Luckily, their focus instantly turned towards Natsume and Hisao, who were laying on her bed beside each other, their hands entwined.
"You two work fast," Suzu said, crawling over the bed and peering over it at them. She poked Natsume's side. "Hey hey, I woke up, so that's a sign you should wake up already."
Natsume's eyes slowly opened. She let out a groan rubbing her eyes and looking down at Suzu at the edge of the bed. "What...?" She then looked to her left, seeing Hisao laying beside her. Her face instantly flushed a bright red, her mouth agape in shock.
"At least your clothes are still on," Suzu whispered teasingly.
To anyone outside of the room, all they heard was a loud bang and several clanks as Natsume jumped up and chased Suzu around the room, knocking things over in an attempt to make her pay for her comment.
"N-Nothing happened! I-It's a misunderstanding," Natsume insisted. She stopped and flicked a look over to Akio. "Right?"
Akio grabbed his crutches and stood, shrugging. "I'm innocent in this," he insisted.
"Unlike the succubus that is Natsume," Suzu tossed in there from behind Natsume, making the bespectacled-girl spin around, raising her hand in anger-
But she stopped as a sudden, hard knock came from the door.
"What's going on in there? There better not be any boys in there," a woman's voice rang out.
Natsume and Suzu both looked at each other in shock. They quickly sprang into action, grabbing Akio and throwing him onto the bed, practically rolling him and Hisao up into a bundle with the covers, then sitting on them innocently as the door busted open, an angry-looking teacher stepping inside.
"Well?" The teacher looked around the room, eventually settling her eyes on Natsume and Suzu, who was suddenly asleep on Natsume's shoulder. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I-I..." Natsume chuckled nervously, trying to find the words to say. From below, one of the boys wiggled around, and she blushed. "We stayed up too late, and um-"
Suddenly, Suzu sat up, seemingly springing back to life. She gave the teacher a thumbs-up. "We weren't drinking," she stated with confidence.
Natsume's face became pale. S-Suzu! The girl glanced over at the empty bottles of alcohol that were underneath her desk, easy to spot from inside the room.
However, the teacher scratched her head and looked one last time around the room, then shrugged. "I don't know what the hell you're doing in here, but keep it down," she said, exiting the room and closing the door behind her.
From below the two girls, the boys sprung out from the blankets, making them stumbled off of the bed. They sat up, taking heavy breaths of air.
"What... Why..." Hisao looked around, confused. "Why was I in a blanket?!"
"I think... it's best... we forget about it," Akio told him, shaking his head.
Suzu opened her mouth to comment, but Natsume quickly blocked her mouth with her hand.
"A-Agreed!" She smiled nervously at the confused Hisao.
In the following weeks, life at Yamaku were a lot brighter for Hisao, and, unbeknownst to him, Natsume as well.
Every day, the four would hang out wherever they felt like- Natsume often wanted to visit the library, Akio liked to go to his father's restaurant, whereas Suzu and Hisao generally wanted to wander around town.
Hisao and Natsume were getting used to showing their affection, though they limited it to holding hands and sitting close to one-another, still a bit embarrassed about the whole ordeal... Mainly because of Suzu's teasing.
"You know, you two are the talk of the class," Suzu stated one day as they walked through the town, leaning in between them from behind. They instantly flushed and moved away from one another. Suzu let out a satisfactory chuckle.
"You're really too much, Suzu," Akio commented with a grin. "Are you jealous of them?"
Suzu let out a yawn. "I don't need love, all I need is a soft bed and a cool pillow," she stated.
"Some people could take that the wrong way..." Akio chuckled.
The group spent a lot of time out and about, until the sky turned a reddish-orange, the Sun disappearing over the hill Yamaku sat upon. As they trudged up the road back to the school, Natsume suddenly tripped forward, luckily getting caught by Hisao who was beside her.
"T-Thanks," she said, pushing her glasses back up.
"If your condition is acting up, we should wait for a bus," Hisao told her. She nodded in agreement.
"Well, I'm tired, so I'll be going on ahead," Suzu stated, continuing on, waving over her shoulder.
"I'm quite tired as well, but I don't think she'll make it back to school by herself," Akio stated with a sigh. He nodded to Hisao and Natsume. "See you tomorrow!"
Hisao waved after Akio, who moved as quickly as he could on his crutches to catch up to Suzu.
The two, now alone, sat at the road-side together. As the sky began to darken, a street light nearby popped on, and Natsume winced. Seeing Hisao's concern, she smiled and waved it off.
"My right eye is really sensitive, even if it can't see well," Natsume explained.
"Sorry... I'll try not to act so worried," Hisao told her.
"I-It's okay," Natsume said, inching closer so their knees were touching, blushing a bit. "I'm glad that you care..."
Hisao glanced over at Natsume, looking her over for a moment. He hesitantly raised his left arm, putting it around her and bringing her closer to him. Natsume let out a small yelp in surprise, but bit her lip to cut it off, leaning her head onto Hisao's shoulder.
"You didn't have to stay here with me... I can find my way back," Natsume whispered, her hand sliding across Hisao towards his right hand, entwining with it.
Thud... Thud...
Hisao closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.
"I know you can... But I don't know if my heart could handle it," Hisao stated solemnly.
Natsume smiled.
"Then you can stay, for your health~"
It wasn't long before a bus arrived, and Hisao and Natsume arrived back at Yamaku. After helping her to her room, Hisao kissed her goodbye and headed back to his own room.
With a yawn, Hisao opened the door to his room, stepping inside. As he did, he kicked a letter that must have been slipped under his door while he was gone.
He picked the letter up, examining it. It was a pinkish-white envelop, and felt a bit thick as though multiple pieces of paper were within it. Hisao turned on his desk lamp and sat down, opening it up...
Inside were multiple pages folded in half, all stapled together. He unfolded them and examined it. On the first page, along with several paragraphs of writing, were the doodles of the Sun in the top-left, and a field down at the bottom...
Hisao's hands began to tremble slightly. The doodles, the pink pen that the letter was written in... He recognized it instantly, and dread filled him as he started to read.
Dear Hisao,
How are you? I hope you are well
and happy at your new school.
Everyone here misses you. Almost
all of our second-year class got
put together in class 3-1 for the
final year, so we are pretty
comfortable right from the
beginning of the year. I'm sure you
would've been assigned to this
class as well.
Hisao stopped, closing his eyes. Images of Iwanako, the girl whose confession had caused his first run-in with his condition, began to flash into his mind.
Why now? He thought. It's been so long...
He continued on.
The mood among third-years
seems to be very anxious about
the final exams, even though they
are so far away. The teachers are
badgering us about it all the time -
even old Mr. Tachibana who is, by
the way, out homeroom teacher this
year. Would you believe it? I was
sure that he'd retire after our
second year, but here he is, nagging
everyone about studying for exams-
The letters went on and on, and Hisao kept reading them, Iwanako filling his vision, her voice filling his ears, as though she were reading the letter to him...
Doubt began to fill Hisao. Had he done wrong, not contacting her?...
The truth is, the times when I
visited you at the hospital made me
worried about you. I am not talking
about your health. You seemed to
become more and more distant and
disheartened. It was natural after
something like that happened, I'm
sure, but somehow I got the
feeling that you had given up on
something back then. Happiness,
maybe?
This made Hisao's eyes open wide. The thought that he had left something behind after the incident, lost a piece of himself... Was it true? Was he just a jigsaw puzzle, strewn about a room, impossible to put back together?...
The feeling of something on his left shoulder made Hisao jump and look over. It was nothing. However, the feeling was all-too familiar to him... It clicked instantly.
It was the feeling of Natsume's head resting on his shoulder.
No... There's no way I gave up on happiness, Hisao thought, shaking his head. Even if I did... I've found something to be happy about, people to be happy with.
Now that the distance between us is
also physical, it also feels more
final, somehow. I wonder if we will
meet again. Perhaps it's for the
best if we don't? Still, if you would
like to correspond with me, by all
means write me back. I'd very much
like to hear about your new school
and how you are doing. I wish you all
the best.
Hisao smiled, dropping the letter and wiping the tears from his eyes.
Of course... I'm just overthinking it, he thought. I'll send her a letter back-
And that'll be the end of it.
A week passed after Hisao sent his reply letter to Iwanako. Since then, he felt a large weight had been lifted from his shoulders, one that not even Natsume could have removed.
It was Thursday, and Yamaku had Friday and the weekend off. As he stood and picked up his bag, he glanced over at Natsume, who was at the front of the class, trying to wake up Suzu, and he smiled.
"Hicchan!~" Hisao turned to see Misha approaching him, her usual large grin and obnoxious waving. She clasped her hands together pleadingly. "Can you help us with some work today?~ Shicchan and I would really appreciate it!"
Hisao looked past Misha at Shizune, who pushed up on her glasses and nodded to him.
"Er, I..." Hisao looked over at the barely-awake Suzu and Natsume, who were looking his way. I really don't have any plans, but-
Suddenly, Akio joined them, patting Hisao's shoulder and grinning at Misha. "We've already got some plans with two lovely ladies," he stated. "Sorry!" He pushed Hisao along.
"Thanks," Hisao muttered to Akio.
"Don't mention it," the boy stated.
Misha and Shizune looked on in silent anger as they joined up with Suzu and Natsume and left. Though, they calmed as they noticed something... different.
Hisao's hand was tightly entwined with Natsume's.
To Be Continued...
Next Chapter: A Restless Night
