[Split]

NOVEMBER
1st Year High School

Present

"What?! You broke up?!" Inoue with a blue-haired ponytail cried out with her hands slamming on Hayami's desk.

Standing on the left was their curvy friend, Kurosawa. "Yeah. I was the one who initiated it," she said matter-of-factly with her hand on her outthrust hip.

The blue-haired girl looked dumbfoundedly at the school's mature beauty. This was the girl who all the boys have been drooling over and who all the girls have been envying upon in silence. That is, all girls except for these two, Hayami and Inoue, with who she has been hanging out in class.

"B-But why? I thought he matched all of your standards?"

After heaving out a sigh, Kurosawa stated, "I'm getting tired with our relationship. It's a constant cycle of fighting, then making up. Then fighting and then making up again. Honestly, it's become a hassle."

Hayami flinched at the similarity of those words to her current situation, albeit not the fighting part.

"That's a shame," Inoue uttered before flicking her gaze to the emerald-eyed girl, who was sitting down in the middle with her orange waves resting on her shoulders, "Right, Hayami?"

Her thoughts interrupted, Hayami blinked at the blue hair's dark green orbs. She simply nodded in reply.

"You looked lost in your thoughts. Is something bothering you?" Kurosawa queried.

Hayami rose on her feet, pushing the chair behind her. "I'm sorry. I have to go to my club," she said, dismissing her friend's question.

Thinking that she probably needed some space, for now, the two let her be. As she shuffled out of the classroom, worried stares followed her back.

As she practiced her steps for the Jazz Dance Club, Hayami mulled over her relationship with him and what she was going to do about it. It's been bothering her for weeks and she couldn't tell if it was the same for him. Like what her friend had said earlier, she was also getting fed up.

Thankfully, the other members of the club noticed her glum expression and left her alone in peace. They knew better than to try meddling with her affairs.

After practice, Hayami rode the bus to Shibuya Station instead of walking straight to her house. Then she took the train to Meguro Station.

What if he was still in school?

She thought about sending him a message first, but- No. I've already made up my mind. I need to do this once and for all.

Walking on the street alone, she remembered the times when they would trek down the mountain after school in silence, which wasn't awkward at all. Their proximity already made the moment precious for both of them.

But that was back then.

Now, it has become hard for them to see each other with their club activities, schoolwork, exams, and her recent part-time job. Lately, Chiba, her boyfriend, looked weary or sickly. She would often take notice of this every time he walked her home and whenever they met on the weekends. She reckoned that juggling between his schooling and their relationship seemed to take a toll on his health.

At times she would wonder if there was even a point to their relationship; she would sometimes feel like they were going nowhere with it. Because of their long distance and restricted time, being with him has turned into a rare gem.

When the familiar three-story building had come into view, she halted her footsteps. Looking up, her eyes zeroed in on the third door of the second floor. Her clutch on her bag tightened before she started moving her feet towards the stairs.

Every step was heavy. In each breath, she reminded herself that it would be fine. That everything would work out.

When she had arrived in front of the dull-looking brown door, she lifted her finger to the doorbell.

Ding! Dong!

Sounds of languid footsteps resounded as the wooden floor creaked. When the door had swung open, she was greeted by a shocked expression of a tall lean boy with a black fringe covering his eyes.

Her unprecedented arrival brought a lag to his brain. She had done this twice in the past and for completely different reasons – the first one was for her personal reasons and the second one was due to the knavery of her former classmates.

Before he could draw out any conclusion or even say something, she had already beaten him to the punch. With this, her words brought his mind to a full stop.

"Let's break up," she said in a monotone voice.

His hand shook on the doorknob as he let her inside. Confusion and agony swallowed him whole while they sat down on the floor with the square table between them.

The seconds on the wall clock continued to tick, the silence unfaltering. With one fist on the table, he gulped, not knowing what to say.

"We can't continue like this, with the way we are," she said, breaking the icy air. "I think that we should focus more on important things for now, like our studies and our health."

'But you ARE important,' he yelled inside his mind. His head turned up at her.

Maintaining her gaze on him, she added, "We can still be friends. But to be honest, I don't think it won't make much difference anyway. We can't even manage to meet more often."

He understood what she was trying to convey underneath her cold brief speech. He admitted that their efforts were not enough to progress their relationship. They have been together since junior high for more than a year and they have been officially going out for seven months already. By now, they should have already taken a big leap to become closer as partners and not just in a romantic way.

Despite growing up as high school students, they remained as they were in Class 3-E. So close, yet so far away.

Korosensei would definitely have given them a scolding on romance and relationships if he were here right now.

Although he knew those things, it did not mean that he wanted to end things with her. Not like this. He thought about discussing this decision more with her, how they should resolve it, and not end things quickly – as healthy partners should do.

But for some reason, all that went out of his mouth were the words that he would regret saying that day.

"I agree, let's go back to being friends."