[Confession]
JUNE
2nd Year High School
Six months after the breakup…
Ever since the start of the second year, Okajima would wait for Hayami in her school every now and then. Given that his school was just around the corner with his house on the way to hers, he had decided to keep her company.
Hayami would try to drive him away at the start, asserting that she wanted to be left alone. That did not stop him, continuing to walk with her until she grew numb to his presence. Her friends had even thought that the semi-bald pervert was her new boyfriend; Kurosawa was highly skeptical since the guy was a total opposite of Chiba and was reeking with a corrupted aura.
Although Okajima knew he did not stand a chance with Hayami, he still wanted to confess his feelings for her so that he could finally lift the weight off his chest and move on after all this time.
And so, in one Friday after school, he asked her if they could talk someplace else with no one else around – in the park.
Rubbing the back of his head, he began to say, "I want to tell you that –" he gave the blank-faced Hayami a glance "– I've liked you since our third year in junior high."
When she had parted her lips for her reply, he quickly intervened. "I know that you don't and won't ever feel the same way. I just want to say it to get it over with," he said.
Then a doleful smile formed across his face. "That's why you should also tell what you want to say to Chiba."
Her forehead wrinkled, taken aback by his advice. "I-I don't –" she blurted.
"Don't go tsundere mode on me. Everyone knows that you are still not over each other," he said with a chuckle.
She nibbled on her lip as her left hand touched her opposite elbow. After taking in a breath, she told him, "Thank you for your feelings."
With a small blush, he placed both of his hands on his waist as a grin broke on his face. "Now I can pursue my perverted desires without worries from now on!" he declared.
In turn, he received a wry look from her right before she slipped on a smile.
With just a single confession, Hayami was now feeling drained for today. Little she did know that another one was waiting for her by the gate of her abode.
She stopped short in a daze. It seemed like ages since she last saw him.
Upon noticing her familiar presence, Chiba's head wheeled towards her direction. Then he faced her with his expression dead set on something – on her.
Without beating around the bush, he said, "Hayami, I want to be together with you again."
"What about your girlfriend?"
"It's you that I have always wanted."
Just like that, everything that he wanted to say was conveyed to her. They were so in tune that they did not need to lay out every single thing verbally. That was how they knew that they were right for each other.
She took steps forward, closing in their distance, as her mouth curved up. For half a year, she yearned for this moment. For the other half of her heart to be whole again. For her to be with him as before.
"What took you so long?" she asked although she was the one who had given up first.
"I'm sorry," he said. It was because he had to find the perfect timing and the right words to say amidst his full-packed schedule.
"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have broken up with you."
She was a fool for ending their relationship on her own. They should have talked about their problem beforehand and overcame it together as partners – like they always did in the assassination classroom. As what Korosensei taught them to be.
Raising her arm, she said, "Partners?" to which he returned with the bump of his arm.
"Partners."
They knew that this wasn't a romantic thing to do, but they couldn't care less. This was their thing and how Hayami wanted to reunite with him.