Chapter Thirty-Seven.

I'd like to apologize some more for leaving all behind.

The night is still young, yet she is already feeling weary physically, mentally, and emotionally. Her back and butt sink on the couch as Yume waits for her date to return. There is always something about these social gatherings that make her stomach churn inside. Not that she generally hates socializing with people, but the girl can never shrug the feeling of being out of place among the glamorous, high-class crowd.

That night is a celebration of something she has no idea. Kudo, her father, usually takes her to these kinds of gatherings but never tells her what of those. Yume rarely spends time with her father since her parents got divorced, so she never really understood why Kudo always comes to these social gatherings and why she has to come along. Among his father's friends is Ootori Sakaki, a practicing lawyer in Tokyo. Her date for tonight is Sakaki's son, Ootori Choutarou.

She stares at the glass of wine that the waiter previously handed her. She is not yet old enough to drink the alcoholic drinks that most adults are drinking. And yet, she has been unknowingly handed a glass of wine by the waiter. Choutarou then decided earlier to get some non-alcoholic juice for both of them.

"Senpai, are you sure you're alright?"

She looks up and sees Choutarou, who has just arrived holding two glasses of juice as he promised. Yume smiles as she shakes her head. "Nothing." She stands up from the couch.

Choutarou hands her drink. He notices how pale her face has become. "Do you want to go out to the terrace? Let's get some fresh air." He looks around the ballroom and there are indeed a lot of people. "I think the crowd here is making you quite uncomfortable. After all, we're already done with our dance, so we can finally disappear from our parents' sights."

She nods. "Please," she softly utters.

The tall gentleman leads the girl to the terrace. There are less than five people outside. The skies are clear; the moon and the stars are showing off brightly this evening. The wind blows on their faces. Choutarou walks ahead farther away from the ballroom as he heads towards the edge of the terrace. He smiles as he gazes at the sky. His eyes are sparkling at the sight of the pretty stars.

She follows and glances at his face before looking at the sky as well. "You seem happy."

He turns red. "I- uhm, a-actually… I think I am… in love with someone," Choutarou replies softly.

Yume blinks. "That's… amazing!" She chuckles.

"I know." He scratches the back of his head. "It's really weird, y'know. It feels really weird. I don't know how it happened. I just… realized how much she means to me. She is very special to me. I… want to hold her hand and talk to her every day and know what makes her happy and tell everyone how much I'd love to be with her, and… uhm, all that."

She smiles. "Have you told her?"

Choutarou shakes his head. "I haven't... I don't know how to." He looks up at the sky. "But I really wish she could be here. This is a good sight. I want to share this view with her. I want to feel this beautiful night with her." He sighs.

"You like her that much?"

He nods. "I mean, she can always look at the sky, but I want to look at the sky with her." Choutarou pauses and laughs. "I'm sorry for being a little cheesy for a minute there."

"No, I don't mind." She shakes her head as her eyes gaze at the ground. "I-I think it's pretty sweet to hear those kinds of things from men once in a while." Yume bitterly smiles, which the other male fails to notice. "I think she'd blush if you tell all that to her right now."

"S-should I go and c-confess?"

She blinks. "If you really like her that much, why not?" Yume glances at a couple flirting nearby.

"I-I do like her." He blushes. "I want to introduce her to my parents. I just…" Choutarou covers his face with both his hands. "I don't know. I just… like her."

She laughs. Choutarou turns even redder. "Have you consulted some people on how you'll confess? Her friends? Your friends?" She raises her shoulders.

"I-I asked Shishido-san."

Yume raises a brow. "And what did your friend say?"

"H-he t-told me to just, uhm," Choutarou begins fidgeting his fingers. "uhh, j-just k-kiss her."

"NO!" she immediately screamed.

Startled, Choutarou looks at her and steps backward. "S-senpai?" He can see how red the other female's face has become. "A-are you s-sure you're alright?"

"I-I'm sorry. I-I just…" She shakes her head. Yume places a hand on his shoulder. "Just… don't do that. That's-" She sighs. "If you just kissed the girl without telling her b-beforehand, then she might- you might be… violating her boundaries."

"Oh, I-I see."

She takes a deep breath. "Asking permission. That one thing is very important in relationships. Don't let anyone – not even a single soul – think of you as someone who can't respect boundaries."

The taller male nods. "I understand, Senpai." He scratches on the back of his head. "Sorry. I don't really know anything much about relationships. This is a first for me, so I'm really embarrassed to just admit it."

"N-nothing to be embarrassed about it."

Choutarou smiles. "How about you, Senpai? Do you have someone you like?"

Yume stops for a minute, with the corners of her lips falling into a frown. "I..." She sighs. At that very second, how much of a hypocrite she has been for imparting some wisdom on relationships despite not actually being in one.

"Senpai…?"

She chuckles as she shakes her head. "Sorry, I just spaced out there."

The male frowns, looking at her worriedly. "Do you want to sit down or something?"

"No need. You're really thoughtful, Choutarou-san. I think any girl would be lucky to have you." She watches as a tint of red gradually appears across the male's cheeks. "You know, I don't really know much about love and liking somebody." Yume looks at the sky once again as a soft wind brushes across her lips. She instinctively touches them lightly. "To be honest, I kinda ran away before I even get to the point of actually loving someone."

'That's right. I ran away even before I get to the best part.'

"Thank you so much, Kazuyoshi-san! Please support me for Kenya-san!" Miyoko's voice rang inside her head. She promised, but it felt wrong.

Yume took a deep breath. She already knew that this was coming. She convinced herself that she knew what to do and that the choice was clear. 'Even if I reject him right there and then, we'd still be friends, right?"

"Here! Come here, Yume-chan!"

She dragged her feet towards the park while Kenya sprinted towards her upon sight. He was waving a hand in excitement as if he was greedy for her attention.

'His smile. How could I even think of destroying that smile?' Her feet stopped moving and suddenly froze in place.

"What are you standing there for? Let's sit there!" Kenya pointed to a bench.

"I… have something to say," she said in a low voice.

The coffee-haired boy blinked, growingly realizing the glum on her words. "What is it?" He looked at her with concern. "Is something the matter?"

"Actually I…" she took a folded piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to him. "… someone asked me to give you this."

Kenya slowly unfolded the paper and frowned.

"I-I'm sorry to just read it." She chuckled nervously as her fingers fidgeted. "I know that it's a bit rude to read some letter that isn't actually meant for me, but… aren't you happy that you have someone who likes you."

"That's a lie, isn't it?"

Yume bit her lower lip. "It isn't." Her eyes focused on the ground as she was scared to look at him. 'I actually don't want this confrontation.' Even before she came up with the plan of pretending to deliver a confession letter from someone else like Miyoko, she somehow believed that there was no way to fool the boy. Yume was too afraid to look at him because she imagined how enraged he would be that she lied to him.

"Oh. Is that so?" he confirmed once again, in a low voice.

She nodded.

"I see." Kenya scratched the back of his head. He sighed.

Yume looked up and saw his expression. An awkward, forced smile was on his lips while his eyes were looking away. He was nowhere near to getting mad; Kenya just seemed dejected. A sting of pain crossed her chest as her guts tumbled inside her stomach in shame. She was already aware of his plan to confess to her, yet she decided to crush him right before then. She regretted the very moment that idea crossed her mind. "Kenya-san, I-" 'I'm sorry! I was just kidding!' she thought of blurting it out loud in hopes of reversing the damage that she had already done, but she could not. There was no way she could.

"Well, I called you out here because I… just wanted to see you." Kenya responded, forcing his face muscles into a smile. He began to fear that she would see through his awkward smile. But there was no more point to drag his plans into action after knowing the response. For the past days, he was anxious and worried over the possibility of getting rejected even though everyone in the tennis club team encouraged him to go through with the confession anyway. 'I experienced getting rejected before anyway, so…' his thought trailed off.

The coffee-haired male turned around. "I-I'm sorry for calling you out here all of sudden, you must think I'm weird." He bit his lip as his face distorted into a frown.

Yume pursed her lips as she shook her head. She could hear the faint sound of his sniffing.

'… I thought I was prepared for this, but…' Kenya stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Kenya… I-"

He could still hear her faintly saying something, but he just saw the first tear drop on the ground. And there was no way to stop them falling anymore.

"I-I think we can talk about it more or-"

A flood of tears began to blur out his vision. "Sorry, but I'm going on ahead," Kenya's voice broke before he sprinted away from her.

Her face turned to a frown as she watched his figure grew smaller and more distant.

"… If you really like Oshitari-san, then that doesn't give you any reason to stop pursuing him, right?" It was something she muttered to Miyoko. Yume thought that it was ironic how she tried to encourage the other girl to pursue the guy she liked, but she could not even stick up to her own advice. Her knees gave out and she just hugged herself close, sobbing.

~ End Chapter ~