CHAPTER FOURTEEN – MAKING MEMORIES (SayoHiro)

The sun was still high up by the time Sayori left with Akihiro, but the coldness of the day kept the afternoon heat at bay. More people were out and about in the residential quarter, either in groups or all alone. Sayori began to notice that Akihiro was leading her towards downtown again, which was more or less a ten-minute walk away from the neighborhood where their apartments were. She began imagining just exactly where in downtown Akihiro had planned to take her for such a rousing surprise.

Akihiro led the way a short distance in front of her, and while Sayori had expected him to get dressed as if they were going to the mall or something similar, he wore only a functional pair of clothes for his surprise trip: a blue shirt under his jacket, a pair of cargo shorts, and the black sneakers he usually wore for Physical Education at school. He had instructed Sayori to do the same, though she only needed to replace the blue shorts and fluffy slippers she had been wearing with a more casual pair of jean shorts and white sneakers.

The number of people on the streets and sidewalks soon swelled gradually as they walked deeper into downtown. Had it been a weekday, there would be even more people and vehicles about, even this early in the afternoon. Along the way, Sayori ran into some of her classmates and friends, a few of whom seemed to be having dates inside cafes or taking a stroll around certain venues such as the park. Akihiro, however, bypassed all of these locations with a grin. "We'll get there, don't worry," he remarked.

To Sayori's even greater surprise and confusion, Akihiro actually passed through most of downtown without stopping. Soon, the urban landscape comprised of various office buildings, shops and other such structures receded back into a residential area, though Sayori had never been in that part of town much. Her puzzlement only continued to grow until she slowly realized that they were getting nearer and nearer-

"Akihiro," said Sayori, her eyes widening slightly. "A-Are we heading where I think we're heading?"

Akihiro only grinned once more.

When Sayori began to see the familiar landmarks – a playground sitting atop a patch of dirt on a vacant lot, a small roundabout with a single tree in the middle surrounded by flowers, and a few houses that looked familiar – her inkling slowly began to grow. Even Akihiro seemed to know that she was close to guessing everything as he picked up speed. Sayori hurried after him.

And there it was: a small recreational area where there were a few tall trees, bushes and stone benches about on a spacious patch of grass that sat directly next to a creek, which cut through the town like the stroke of a calligraphy brush. The grass had small patches of dirt every few places, like little brown islands on a sea of green, and there were a few shrubs with flowers here and there. Everything was enclosed inside iron railing, with an open gate that invited passersby and visitors in. It was a place that Sayori remembered all too well upon sight, even if she had not visited it for years and years now.

"It's . . . I-It's still here!" Sayori breathed.

"Yeah," said Akihiro, laughing. "Surprise, I guess?"

Sayori looked around and took in every little detail that the clearing had. So far, the only changes she saw were the flowery shrubs and the iron railing that fenced everything in. Everything else though, from the trees to the benches to the bushes, was the same way she remembered them to be back when she and Akihiro were both seven years old.

Overwhelmed by nostalgia, Sayori turned to Akihiro. "How d-did you get the idea of c-coming here?"

Akihiro shrugged as he put his hands inside his jacket's pockets. "It just . . . came to me when we were eating lunch. Remember when I said I was thinking about a few things? Well, I was going over what we talked about when we were at your place, and then it just sort of hit me."

Sayori smiled. "This is really incredible, Akihiro," she said. "I didn't even expect this place to still be here."

"To be honest, I also thought they tore down this place and built something over it after all these years," said Akihiro as he looked around. "But a couple of weeks ago, I had a group presentation to take care of with a few of my classmates, and our group leader's house was near here, so I decided to take a look after we worked and here it was. I was gonna ask you to come with me here once, but . . . well, schoolwork and games caught up to me," he added apologetically. "If we hadn't had that talk earlier, I wouldn't have remembered."

"Yeah, I forgot about this place as well." Sayori looked around rather wistfully. "It's been . . . what, eight years now? Ten?"

"Yeah, I guess," replied Akihiro. "Pretty long time, indeed!"

As she walked through the clearing's fences, memories flooded back inside Sayori's head. She remembered how their parents had brought the two of them here for the first time ever, and the fun they experienced then had made them want to return here every day after school. Soon, they learned not to ask for permission from their parents, and they would simply meet each other halfway and run all the way, eagerly anticipating how many trees they would climb and how long they would be playing tag or hide-and-seek.

All of a sudden, she heard Akihiro move right next to her. "Sayori . . ." he muttered.

In Sayori's ears, his voice seemed to have gone softer than it usually was all of a sudden. It made her heart skip a beat for some reason. She broke her gaze from the clearing and looked at him. "Y-Yes?"

"I have . . . um, something to tell you."

To her astonishment, Akihiro drew in very close to her, leaning forward as if to whisper something in her ear. Sayori swallowed nervously as she began to tremble, her knees in danger of giving way beneath her. Akihiro was now so close that she could almost smell his fragrance emanating from his jacket. Somehow, she vaguely remembered seeing a scene like this in a movie before – a romance, to be exact.

"Yes, A-Akihiro?" she murmured breathlessly, wondering just what Akihiro wanted to say, and why he seemed so serious, misty-eyed even. But before her thoughts reached a crescendo, she felt a small tap on her shoulder. Almost at the same time, Akihiro spoke, and his voice was laced with mirth.

"We're playing tag . . . and you're it."

It took Sayori a few seconds to calm herself enough to understand Akihiro's words. When she finally figured everything out, Akihiro was already running towards the other side of the clearing, laughing all the way. She stamped her foot on the ground. "No fair! I w-wasn't ready, meanie!"

"Had to have an early advantage, right?" Akihiro called out. "Besides, they fenced off the entire place, so there's no way you can use the creek as a safe zone now, Sayori!"

"I'll get you for this!" Sayori cried back as she started running towards him. "Get b-back here!"

It was almost as if they were back to being seven-year-olds. As they played tag, Sayori was without a care in the world. She laughed and ran, occasionally tagging Akihiro and darting behind some of the bushes and benches to avoid him in return. Akihiro looked to be having as much fun as she was, laughing and joking as he ran after her and from her. Several times, they tripped and jumped and shouted gleefully. They no longer cared just how many people passed by to look at them curiously as they played like little kids; the nostalgia was just too much. Soon, Sayori was starting to sweat and pant more frequently, and the soles of her white sneakers were already starting to turn brown from the dirt.

Once more, Akihiro was it, and now Sayori was thinking of a way to elude him one more time. Akihiro had her cornered near the end of the clearing with no benches or shrubs nearby to help her sidestep him. Even Akihiro sensed this.

"Nowhere to run, Sayori!" he called out.

Thinking on her feet, Sayori looked at the fencing surrounding them and saw that they were low enough for her to jump over. Grinning, she quickly climbed over them and made her way down the creek before Akihiro could react. Hastily, she trotted down towards the banks of the creek and, without thinking twice, waded out into the cold water.

The creek felt cool and refreshing, a relief from the heat and sweat that Sayori had built up from running around. Though she knew her sneakers were now waterlogged, she didn't mind too much. When the water reached just below her knees, she looked back at the bank and saw Akihiro leaning over the fencing, an indignant look on his face.

"Oh, come on, Sayori!" he yelled. "Really? The creek?"

Sayori laughed. "Are you gonna stand there and watch me here, or are you finally brave enough to get your shoes wet?" she teased. "Looks like after all these years, you're still afraid of the water, Akihiro!"

"Oh, really?" Akihiro retorted. "We'll see about . . . that!"

With that, he swung his feet over the railing and slid down the creek bank towards her. Sayori laughed even louder and waded out further into the creek as Akihiro trudged into the water with loud splashes.

"Come here, Sayori!" Akihiro grunted, laughing. "I'm gonna make you pay for getting my shoes wet!"

"Ah! No! Get away!" Sayori half-screamed and half-giggled as Akihiro began easily closing the distance between them. "Stay away, you meanie! I'll swim around here if I h-have to!"

"Still got longer legs than you do, Sayori!" said Akihiro. Sayori squealed and laughed even louder as she heard that he was just right behind her. In her excitement, she tried darting forward to escape, but she only ended up stepping awkwardly against a stone underwater. Her foot wobbled against it, throwing her off course.

"A-Ah!" Sayori swayed as she tried keeping her balance, but it was no use. Her feet merely scrambled up beneath her the more she tried to move, and soon she found herself falling backwards – but instead of falling into the water, she fell back straight into Akihiro's arms and chest.

"I got you!" said Akihiro. Thankfully for Sayori, his feet were planted more firmly on the creek floor, and his frame held out well as she toppled backwards into him. Quickly, Akihiro held her by the arms to steady her, pulling her into a sort of hug as she slowly regained her balance. She looked at Akihiro, and Akihiro looked back at her. After a few moments of silence, both of them began laughing nervously.

"I g-guess I'm it again?" Sayori asked guiltily.

"Technically, yes." Akihiro chuckled. "But we're gonna stop right there before we both go on an unplanned swim, alright?"

Walking hand in hand just in case someone slipped again, the two of them made their way slowly back towards the creek bed, kicking and wiggling their feet to drain the water from their sneakers. When they felt that they had dried up enough, they clambered back over the railing and into the enclosure to sit down on one of the stone benches there. Akihiro wiped the sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his jacket, while Sayori just rested her back and looked up at the sky. The fluffy clouds that hovered slowly above them in the sky seemed to match her current mood: serene and content.

All of a sudden, Akihiro stood up and walked towards one of the trees in the clearing. Sayori sat up straighter and watched him go, frowning curiously. For a few moments, Akihiro did nothing but look up at the tree, prompting Sayori to call out after him. "What are you doing?"

Akihiro looked back with a smirk. "I'm checking to see if I can still climb up there."

Sayori raised her eyebrows in wonder. "Are you gonna actually do that?" she asked.

Akihiro shrugged. "Haven't climbed up a tree in years," he replied. "I was a lot lighter back then, though I have longer arms and legs now. Should be easy."

Sayori felt rather apprehensive. "It could be different now, you know?" she stated. "Besides, the trees were a lot larger back then, when we were still small. They don't look as large as they did now."

"Yeah, you're right about that," said Akihiro. "But maybe I can . . . just . . ."

Without finishing his sentence, Akihiro suddenly jumped with his arms high up. Sayori gasped in surprise as she saw him grab onto one of the tree's low branches. His legs flailing a bit, Akihiro quickly planted his feet against the tree's trunk to steady the lower half of his body. Once he had supported himself in this way, he inched his forearms up to wrap them around the branch, trying to get a better grip overall.

"B-Be careful, Akihiro!" Sayori called out. She looked around to check if there were any passersby who would see Akihiro's antics, or if there was anyone who would tell them off. When there was no one in sight, she stood up and jogged towards the tree.

Akihiro was grunting as he scrambled up the tree. "If I can j-just . . ."

The sight of Akihiro's feet slipping and sliding away from the trunk worried Sayori further. "I think you should g-get down from there now, Akihiro!"

"N-Not yet!" Akihiro yelled. "I'm . . . a-almost-!"

"Almost" didn't cut it, however, as Akihiro's arms slid off the tree. His feet, useless now that he had nothing to hold on to, dragged themselves across the tree trunk futilely as he fell.

"Akihiro!" Sayori's horrified scream rang through the enclosure. She tried to rush forward in her agitation – to catch him or not, she did not know – but Akihiro had already landed on the grass. Though he managed to somehow direct his legs downwards in the split-second of his fall so that he would land on his feet, he still crumpled almost back-first into a heap with a dull thud.

Sayori swiftly knelt down next to him, her heart beating faster than it had ever done before. "Akihiro!" she exhaled. "Akihiro, look at me! Are you a-alright?" Even amid her panic, Sayori knew how futile her words sounded. Of course he's not alright, stupid! Her hands trembling, she held Akihiro's shoulders gently and desperately began checking his countenance for any visible injuries. Mercifully, in spite of the pained look on his face, Akihiro looked to have fared better than his fall had shown, though Sayori saw a bloody scrape on his left hand.

Slowly, wincing a little, Akihiro put his weight on his elbows and pulled himself up into a reclining position.

"Okay . . . that one hurt," he groaned.

Relief and indignation coursed over Sayori, overwhelming her as she let out a huge sigh. "I told you that was a bad idea, dummy!" she said exasperatedly. "You could've gotten hurt far worse, do you know that?"

"I know, I know," Akihiro muttered as he shook his head woozily. "That seemed a lot easier when I was seven."

"Why on earth did you even try that?" Sayori could not help but slap him a little on his shoulder.

Akihiro recoiled some more as he tried sitting upright. "I guess I just wanted . . . ugh, w-wanted to show off. . . R-Remember when I used to dangle upside d-down and make faces at you from up there?"

That riled Sayori up a bit further. "You could've b-broken some bones or . . . o-or hurt your back or s-something, Akihiro!"

Indeed, as she spoke and stared at the wound on Akihiro's hand, several worst-case scenarios popped up in Sayori's head: Akihiro getting paralyzed, Akihiro breaking an arm or a leg, Akihiro ending up in a coma for landing on his head. Perhaps she was overreacting now, but the terror that gripped her as she saw Akihiro fall was too much, and it led her to believe that at that moment, she could have lost her best friend. Sayori's heart was pounding so much that her ears began ringing, and her breaths became shallower by the second.

As always, Akihiro was quick to notice; perhaps the look on her face said it all. "H-Hey, it's alright, Sayori," he soothed in spite of the strain in his voice. "Ugh, crap . . . I'm fine, alright? Just got shook up bad, but I don't think I – ugh – b-broke anything . . ."

"B-But your hand . . ." Sayori pointed to his wound, her lip quivering a little.

"Oh, t-this?" Akihiro tried to shrug things off with a laugh. "It's j-just a scratch. Must've scraped myself when I slipped from the branch . . ."

"We're g-gonna take care of that as soon as possible, a-alright?"

"Yeah, of c-course," Akihiro assured her. With a grunt and a sigh, he began to stand up. Sayori hurriedly stood up and helped him stand by holding onto his arm. She guided him over to the bench where they been sitting on just a few minutes ago. Almost as soon as he sat down, Akihiro shook his head rapidly again and stretched his arms slowly. When he had done so, he took off his jacket and began patting it free of dust and dirt.

"Heh, it's pretty funny . . ." said Akihiro after a stretch of silence.

"W-What? Don't t-tell me you found your fall to be f-funny!" said Sayori incredulously.

"N-No, no, not that, dummy! It's just that . . . I remembered all the times when you would fall from a tree like I did back then, and I would be there in a flash to check on you. Fast forward years later and here I am, the first one to fall from a tree, and then . . . you're now the one rushing to help me."

Sayori pouted. "I kept falling because I wasn't a good climber," she remarked. "You fell because you were trying to s-show off!"

"Yeah, bit of a mistake on my part," Akihiro muttered ashamedly. "I'm really sorry if that . . . if I scared you."

Sayori let out a sigh. "It's a-alright," she conceded huffily. "J-Just pro-"

"Yeah, I promise," said Akihiro with a shamefaced smile before she could continue.

A bump to the head from a real accident seemed light compared to a heavy fall and a scratch on the hand from showing off. In his mind, Akihiro still felt guilty for causing Sayori to worry just because he got carried away. It had looked so simple and so easy in his mind back at the clearing, and the fun he had experienced had lifted his spirits to nostalgic heights. Then again, like they had said earlier, Akihiro had been lithe and agile when he was still a seven-year-old master tree-climber with a lot of credentials when it came to games like tag and hide-and-seek. Now that he was eighteen years old, his only athletic credentials included Physical Education classes and hours of exercise that involved computer games.

Sayori pulled him wordlessly into the nearest convenience store as soon as they had returned downtown. With worry never leaving her face, she immediately bought a small pack of tissue papers and a tiny bottle of isopropyl alcohol. Again, without talking, she dragged him over towards the nearest table, sat down, and began treating the scrape on his hand. They had washed the wound beforehand on a small working water tap that was installed in the enclosure, but Sayori insisted that it still needed disinfecting as soon as possible. Overcome by his guilt over the accident, Akihiro yielded to everything without hesitation or complaints.

The wound stung smartly as Sayori kept dabbing alcohol onto it. Akihiro hissed under his breath from the pain, though he didn't draw his hand away. He shifted his gaze towards Sayori, who looked just as focused as she had been when she was cooking earlier. Her brow was furrowed, and she was biting her lip a little as she concentrated.

He sighed. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I really am, Sayori."

When Sayori merely glowered at him and said nothing, Akihiro went on. "Y'know, it really is something else to see you like this."

"Like w-what?" Sayori muttered.

"Serious, concerned, focused," replied Akihiro. "It gives you a very different aura, Sayori, a change from your usual demeanor. It's really amazing."

Sayori fell quiet again, though color crept into her cheeks. Akihiro continued, "So many people tend to overlook that, you know? They always think you're just simply happy-go-lucky or naïve. Some might even think you're fragile or juvenile because of that. But if they ever saw you like this, or like how you were when you were cooking earlier, they'd be really surprised."

The flush on Sayori's face grew, and her hands softened the way they were applying alcohol on his wound. Akihiro smiled. "You never let me explain a few reasons why you'd make a good girlfriend to any boy, Sayori. Well . . . this is one of those reasons."

That did it. Sayori stopped moving, and her hands began trembling slightly. She turned her head and looked away, her cheeks taking on a rosy tint now. She put the cap back on the bottle of alcohol she had bought and crumpled up all the tissue papers she had used into a ball. She looked around at everything – the store's windows, the shelves filled with snacks and food, the vending machines and refrigerators – basically everything except him. Now, in the relative quietness of the convenience store, where only the ambient sounds of air conditioning and glass doors opening could be heard, Akihiro found that he could start observing Sayori thoughtfully again like he did back at his apartment.

In all honesty, Akihiro had never looked at Sayori in order to seriously scrutinize her looks. Ever since they were kids, he had simply treated her as his very best friend regardless of any quirks in attitude, let alone her physical qualities. Now, though, Akihiro found himself slowly marveling at Sayori's looks. In his mind – there being no other word for it at the moment – Sayori was cute. The way her blue eyes easily reflected her innocent personality outwards, the way her apricot-colored hair framed her face just right, the way her eyebrows would easily furrow whenever she felt upset or pressured, and the way her lips looked so soft whenever she pouted or smiled . . . all these were facets that Akihiro liked about her. Indeed, in his eyes and mind, Sayori was a mixture of innocent, gentle, uncomplicated and youthful all rolled into one, stuck at the fine line between young and matured, very different from other girls who had a more developed and refined aura of beauty around them.

And to Akihiro, that was just fine.

As if a door slowly opened itself in Akihiro's mind, there it was. A thought, an underlying thought that seemed to have been buried beneath years and years of fun and friendship. It started out small at first, and then it suddenly began growing, growing in Akihiro's consciousness until the realization kicked him in the gut.

He reached out and grasped her hand softly, the same way he had done back at her apartment. Sayori twitched in surprise as she looked at him, though she didn't seem keen on reciprocating the gesture at the moment. Akihiro looked deep into her brilliantly blue eyes. He could feel heat creep up his neck and ears, but he remained firm in his resolve.

Softly, bit by bit, he wound his hand underneath Sayori's palm and unfolded her fingers. Sayori wasn't resisting, nor did she pull her hand back; she simply looked at Akihiro as her cheeks turned even redder. Encouraged by this, Akihiro carefully intertwined his fingers with Sayori's until he was practically holding her hand in full. Once he had done so, he smiled at her, though he wondered for a moment if Sayori would turn away and extricate her hand from his. Was she hesitating out of frustration from earlier, or was she simply too overwhelmed by what Akihiro had said and was doing? More moments passed. It was beginning to turn into an awkward scenario, and yet Akihiro knew that he must not let go.

And then it happened. A twitch at first, and then a few hesitant curls of her fingers. Little by little, Sayori's hand wrapped itself around his hand, and she smiled softly back.

"Sayori? Akihiro?"

A female voice knocked both of them out of their reveries. In a flash, the two of them pulled back their hands. Akihiro quickly looked up, his eyes widening in surprise as he recognized the girl who had called out to them: Monika Steinbeck, Sayori's friend and classmate, and the most popular girl in their year.

Monika was tall – though not quite as tall as Akihiro was – and strikingly pretty, with very long brown hair tied up in a ponytail that was held together by a large white ribbon. Her face had a confident, good-natured disposition about it, and her eyes were of a more vibrant green shade compared to Akihiro's. Her svelte and well-formed figure was clad in a brown wool sweater and black skinny jeans, capped off with a pair of white slip-on shoes. She held a dark brown handbag in one hand and a plastic bag containing some newly-bought goods in the other.

"Moni!" said Sayori in surprise. Her eyes darted for a moment towards Akihiro, as if asking: did she see us? "H-How nice to see you here!"

Monika beamed. "Same here. Hello, Akihiro!"

Akihiro knew Monika rather well compared to other people in their year; he had been classmates with her only last year, and even then Monika was easy to recognize given how she was quite possibly the most versatile and gifted girl in their entire batch, proficient in academics and sports alike. Such a combination of beauty and talent gave her a very popular reputation both in and out of school. "Hi, Monika," he replied with a nervous smile.

"What brings you downtown, Moni?" asked Sayori.

"I'm meeting Kenta over at the mall in a moment. He's a friend from 3-C," she replied. She held up her plastic bag. "Just stopped by here to buy some snacks, was getting hungry and all. How about you guys?"

As Monika looked at the two of them, Akihiro swallowed anxiously. There seemed to be a knowing air behind Monika's smile, as if she knew exactly what they had been doing before she saw them. Sayori giggled a little, but she said nothing immediately. Akihiro decided to fill in for her. "W-We just got back from somewhere," he replied. "Hurt my hand a bit, so Sayori dragged me in here so that she could buy some stuff to clean it with. Wouldn't let me go home unless she did."

Monika tutted as she looked at the wound on his hand. "Well, Sayori's right in that sense, especially when it comes to her best friend," she stated. "She keeps talking about you in our class, you know?"

Sayori fidgeted timidly as Akihiro looked at her. "Really?" he asked Monika with a smirk.

Monika laughed. "Yep! She does that a lot of times – lunchtime, during our free periods, or when we have group activities. It's always a running commentary on stuff she thinks you'd enjoy, or how she needs to leave the classroom pronto at four so that you two can go home together."

"M-Monika!" Sayori exclaimed as she blushed.

Monika patted her on the shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with that, Sayori. Besides, I think it's all very sweet!" She turned back to Akihiro. "I always see you two walking home after school. It's really a charming sight. Sayori gets teased about it sometimes, but she always tells us it's alright."

Now Sayori buried her face in her hands from embarrassment. Akihiro couldn't blame her. It was as if Monika was an elder sister who was spilling the beans on her little sister's blunders to a friend. Akihiro resisted the urge to burst out laughing from the sight of her melting from mortification. "I didn't know that," he admitted in an amused tone.

"Oh, trust me, Sayori only says nice and sweet things about you!" said Monika. "She always tells us how you keep helping her with all kinds of things, like at school, and the stuff you do sometimes after school. If I didn't know she was talking about you, I'd have assumed she was talking about someone else, like a boyfriend!"

"Well, I thought she was telling you guys something worse about me," Akihiro joked. "Like me being a slacker or a future candidate for NEET."

"Y-You two are both meanies!" Sayori cried out, her lip quivering a little. Both Akihiro and Monika laughed, and Monika once again patted her reassuringly on the shoulder.

"I mean that in a good way, Sayori," she said kindly. "Besides, I'm rather jealous of you two, you know?"

"Don't you have, like, a ton of friends?" asked Akihiro.

"Yeah, inside and o-outside of class!" Sayori added quickly.

Monika gave them what appeared to be a sad smile. "Well, s-sure. But . . . I don't know. Sometimes I just imagine what it feels like to have a really close friend all the time. Kenta's an awesome guy to be with, but we don't always have time to meet. Everything's always so formal and strict and . . ." She shook her head. "Ah, I'm just droning on a bit now. Anyway, are you two going anywhere else?"

At that moment, Akihiro remembered the rest of what he had planned; everything had been temporarily forgotten after his fall. "Actually, yes," he replied. "We'll go get a snack someplace else."

Sayori's eyes lit up instantly. "We are?!" she exclaimed.

Monika and Akihiro laughed at her reaction; apparently, Monika also knew of Sayori's love for food. "Yeah, I was thinking of having us eat somewhere we haven't gone before," he told Sayori.

"Ooh, I have a suggestion if you guys want it!" said Monika. "There's a really good place not far from here. Ever heard of the Cocoa Connection?"

Akihiro shook his head. Sayori did so as well. "Well, it's this really cozy bistro that I usually go to during weekends. It's just down the road from here, to the left," Monika continued. "If you guys like coffee, tea and pastries, that's a good place to try, trust me."

"Sounds good," said Akihiro. "I mean, we don't always eat downtown so I'm not really familiar with some places here, but as long as it has enough cakes, Sayori's totally fine with it."

"Mmm . . . Cake . . . I mean, y-yeah, whatever's good!" said Sayori, who snapped out of her food-induced trance. "Do you go there often with your friends, Monika?"

"Ah, well . . ." Monika laughed nervously. "To be honest, I usually go there alone, though I did go there with Kenta a couple of times before. The ambience is really good if you wanna read or relax or just be by your lonesome, but it's a perfect place for couples."

"Couples?" Akihiro looked anxiously at Sayori, whose face reddened.

"Yep!" Monika, who had checked her cellphone at that moment, didn't seem to have noticed their reactions. "Oops, Kenta's already at the mall. I have to go. Have fun, you two! See you around!"

And just like that, the two of them were alone again. Sayori was once again avoiding Akihiro's eyes, and Akihiro himself felt rather discomfited after Monika's words. Of course, he should've expected sooner or later that he wasn't the only person Sayori talked to, or that she would talk about him with her classmates and friends. Akihiro had grown so used to being only with Sayori for many years that he didn't immediately realize such things, much like how he had never taken the time to observe Sayori as, indeed, a possible girlfriend. In spite of the embarrassment that both of them undoubtedly felt from Monika assuming that they were officially a couple, Akihiro was moved by how often Sayori spoke of him when she was with her friends, and how highly she did so. It shed into light thoughts that he had never entertained consciously, thoughts such as how much he did like Sayori, both as a friend and possibly as someone more than that.

"Well," said Akihiro. "D'you wanna check out that place Monika suggested?"

Sayori gulped. "B-But . . . it might be embarrassing," she stammered.

Though Akihiro knew exactly what Sayori meant, he asked nonetheless, "How?"

"Monika said it's a p-place for couples. . . Maybe some people will see us and think we're . . . a couple or something. . ."

Akihiro stared at her for a moment. "You say that like it's a bad thing, Sayori," he said softly.

"N-No!" Sayori cried out. "No, I didn't mean it like t-that! I j-just meant . . . it might be embarrassing for you, for people to t-think that I'm . . . I'm y-your . . ."

Her voice trailed off, and yet the silence that followed spoke volumes for Akihiro. He could almost see the conflict warring behind her pretty blue eyes. In the span of a few days, everything seemed to have changed between them, as Sayori turned into someone who was both his closest and dearest friend . . . and someone who wanted to be more. Akihiro understood now what Sayori was afraid of, and why she kept directing him towards other possibilities – and away from her figuratively.

In silence, he reached out and held Sayori's hand again, picking up where they had left off before Monika had arrived. Sayori jerked a bit in surprise, but Akihiro held on to her tightly. His heart beating madly in his chest, he took a deep breath. The thought that he had minutes before resurfaced in the form of a question – a question because Akihiro somehow wanted to see how his self would react or answer to it.

Do I like Sayori, my best friend, as someone more?

In his mind, the thought pulsed, and the answer to that question became crystal clear.

"Well, if it's you . . . it's fine."

And then, without hesitation, without repulsion or distress, Akihiro gently pulled Sayori's hand towards his face. He closed his eyes, decided for a split-second, and pressed his lips gently on it.

In Akihiro's mind and hearing, the world seemed to stand still at that moment. It was all a new experience, a different kind of rapture. Everything that the two of them had over the many years that they had been friends, every little memory that he had with Sayori, it all just seemed to replay inside his head, both fast and slow at the same time. Somehow, he knew that when he opened his eyes once more, he would be looking at someone who was more than his best friend now, more than the sweet, innocent and caring girl that he had grown up with.

Akihiro opened his eyes slowly and looked up. Sayori wasn't moving. She just sat where she was, trembling a little. Her cheeks were in danger of bypassing pink and turning red. Her eyes were wide and misty, and her mouth was slightly open. Don't break the gaze, came a voice inside Akihiro's head. Don't break the gaze.

Tears trickled and fell from Sayori's eyes, and for a moment, Akihiro's heart sank. Were those tears of joy or sorrow? Had he gone too far? Had he made everything more complicated and convoluted than it needed to be? Did he just doom his friendship with Sayori? Did-

Sayori stood up from her seat, hurried over next to him, and pulled him in a tight embrace. She nudged her head against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. In between the small sobs she was now making, Akihiro could hear her whispering:

"Thank you, A-Akihiro. T-Thank you. . ."