Hello! Sorry again for my unexpected prolonged absence. I had a lot going on back in December and couldn't find the time to write given online classes and the business of the holidays. Sorry this took a while! But thank you for your kind support and approval. You make me feel very appreciated for the work I put into this little passion project so thank you SO MUCH!
Anyway, today's 'summarized chapter' is sort of me making up for that hehe. It isn't really that much of a summary and more of the last of what was planned in detail. Really summarized version of the rest of the story will come after this. So this is how it's gonna go:
This post is the last (pseudo) chapter, next will be just summaries of the rest of this arc, then the next few arcs. All arcs will be posted in separate 'chapters' in hopes of it not being too overwhelming to read :))
Feel free to reread the fanfic before proceeding! But if you don't think you have the time, my recommended reread is The cultural fiesta arc. There might be a stark difference from reading the chapters I posted years ago then jumping into this though, so I would understand if you think it's uncomfortable since the quality of my writing back then was…oof. Let's just say I'm not proud of it looking back haha. So you can probably just get down and read this and go back to some chapters if you feel like you need to recall something.
I'll be honest in saying I've probably lost my touch with the characters, so they turn out OOC. It's really hard for me to pick up from where I left off and that's why I just have to have everything summarized from hereon out. I apologize but I tried my best even if it's been almost six years :"). Anyways, thank you so much for your support! I hope you enjoy the last bits of To Reach You even if it's nothing like you used to know it. I'm just really grateful a lot of you stuck around this long.
Without further ado, here you go! Note that these were already planned events from years ago I just tried my best to really write it out as I can now, but I know I can't write the same as before :(( I hope it still makes for an okay reading experience though!
Chapter 28: Laws of physics and the three types of falling - out, apart, and in love
Manami breathed out in relief.
After having just finished band practice they decided to take a break. Manami talked with them about the practice for the next day, but they told her that it seemed they didn't need to push through. It seemed she'd gotten the hang of it quicker than expected.
Manami shyly accepted their praise, saying, "I think it's because I've learned to let people count on me."
Just as they exchanged a few reminders, a member of the student council production team got caught in an accident in the backstage. Though he luckily came out with just a gash on his shin, Manami was quick to volunteer to call for aid in the nurse's office.
"Don't worry! I know exactly where it is so I'll be back in no time!"
Meanwhile, Chiba and Rinka enjoyed their very first 'leisure time' alone in months (they refuse to ever call them dates). They talked of being on the same page when it came to rowdy events – they'd simply rather not. Now that Chiba was done with what Rinka called 'charity work,' he thought to talk about Rinka's own version of charity when it came to others. Rinka, mildly offended, had to ask what the hell he meant by that, all Chiba did was snicker.
They shared a moment together where the two of them for once did something a couple would do – Rinka put her head on his shoulder. But then they were caught Isogai, Maehara, Kanzaki, Kayano, Kataoka, and Nagisa as that group was going home.
Maehara shouted, "Aha! So you are dating!"
Rinka's scream was louder than the whole fest.
Manami arrived at the nurse's office and tried calling for the substitute, but couldn't find her. She decided to just get the first aid kit and try to work with the little knowledge she knew (which might be illegal, but duty calls).
But she found something else scattered all over the floor when she arrived. It was the case she brought home from Hashimoto, and everything inside it.
Any questions of the why's and how's of it flew right out of her mind. Thoughts became blank. All actions froze. And like her weight suddenly doubled, Manami just stared.
In front of her feet were pictures of a stranger – a young high-school girl with a guitar, and the name Yamazaki Inari.
Her eyes roamed. There were papers everywhere – some yellowed, some with blotches and stains. Photographs of houses, old cafés in their prime, and the once young men and women who filled their spaces. In many of them, the younger Inari – a happier Inari – had a big, big grin Manami had never seen, and it shined brighter when she was with two familiar people – one of them never really met, and the other…someone who left her with an apology, and absolutely nothing else.
Manami shuddered, chin tilting up on its own accord. His was a memory she dumped to the pits of her mind a long time ago. One whose face she erased to convince herself he, and the numbness he left her with, never happened.
So her eyes stayed on the shelf beyond the clutter. The first aid kit is in there.
There was a decision to be made: just take it and leave, or pick up the mess on the floor. It would be an easy decision, wouldn't it?
Because that was the mess on the floor she once refused to look at. The mess on the floor that holds the secrets of the things she can't change. The mess on the floor that has nothing and everything to do with her at the same time.
Manami's lips pressed together to a thin line.
She tiptoed over the items, arms stretched sideways, treating it like a minefield and a tightrope at the same time, because she did not dare to look down.
T-Third law of physics…! she tried to tell herself to keep her eyes away, practically whimpering. One action one reaction. One decision means only one consequence.
Swinging the cabinet open, she smiled to herself and leisurely took the kit. For a moment, everything was back to normal.
Her attempt to keep it that way failed when her feet stopped at the doorway, and her head turned back.
Manami looked around. There was no one here and it would be dark soon.
"Someone…has to pick that up…" she mumbled. Facing forward again, Manami forced herself to smile. The substitute nurse would be back to close the place properly. She'd clean it up and then Manami could pass this off as her being a clean freak. She hummed to herself, nodding profusely. Yes. She can let it end that way.
Only one foot made it out of the door.
Body rigid and hand trembling where it gripped at the doorway on its own, Manami shut her eyes tight.
"Oh, you really were fast."
"Thanks, Okuda!"
"No worries!"
One of the council members blinked – the president, she recalled from her bullying incident.
"What's the rush?" he asked, eyes on Manami as if he were watching a scurrying hamster.
Manami made up an excuse about needing to check on a mysterious pet bear-pig. No more questions were asked.
Manami came back after, knees falling to the marble floor, hands shaking as they hovered over scattered pieces of a story that hid under tired eyes, packed lunches, and a wrinkled smile telling her good morning every day. The question in her mind she'd had for a while now played: How did we end up this way?
The first truth she learned was that two decisions meant double the consequences.
Yet her body seemed to detest her mind as she went on to find more, and more, and more, until there was no longer a voice telling her it was enough.
Oh no. Murphy's law slipped her mind.
In the clubroom, Karma, Rio, and Sugino were having none of the festive cheer. This was a serious matter, and gravely so.
With the little they saw, Rio and Sugino had already put some pieces together, and it had to be enough for them so get the big picture.
Karma had to explain to them what the situation was – assured them that Inari was planning to tell her everything at the right time, and that they were not to get involved any more than this.
Rio was puzzled. She had to ask why he knew about all this, and what purpose he served by it. Karma mulled it over.
He recalled an empty office, the firm gaze of an adult that decided to trust him, and a promise to celebrate his birthday – hanging in suspense.
It was a complex issue, he said. Whether Inari did it out of paranoia or some other motive, it was the way things were now. What they can do is work at what's happening now, so nothing bad has to happen later.
Though skeptical at first, Rio and Sugino acknowledged that they got carried away and dove in. It seemed they shared the sentiment of wanting Manami to be okay and it led them to take action.
Karma wanted to find ease in that, but this situation kept him on edge. His gut told him this was a catastrophe in the making, and he would not find peace until he made sure it won't happen. So he decided he'd keep vigilant for a while before things got out of hand.
"We see that look on your face, Karma." His eyes shooting back to them at Sugino's voice, Karma met their sympathetic smiles.
"We get it. Really. It's not our first time keeping secrets after all." Sugino chuckled.
"Geez," Rio rubbed sweat off her forehead. "Can you believe the massive size of this bullet we just dodged though? Just imagine what could've gone wrong if you didn't tell us to shut up about it! I was this close to just waltzing up to her face to ask if she ever went through family therapy or something!"
"Oi, Nakamura!" Sugino chided.
"Hey, you don't just happen upon things like these and not want to know the spicy drama behind it!" Before Karma could say anything, Rio crossed her arms and said, "Don't worry, Karamba juice. Already promised these lips are sealed, sheesh. This is a juicy story I'm willing to put under the rug without a shred of regret."
Rio was almost terrified of how much something like this could've broken everything Manami's ever become. How she would've started wallowing in the darkness of her mind again, and how troublesome it would be for the rest of them to get her out this time. They shared her sentiment and joked about it in good nature.
Laughter got cut short by a heavy slam from the club's doorway. The eyes that darted to it went as wide as saucers to find a person standing beyond it.
Karma felt his body go numb when his gaze went from Manami's pale face of disbelief, to the wretched case from the clinic that fell in front of her feet.
"Ma…" Rio's voice broke, hands trembling at her sides, a harsh, nail-biting wrenching in her chest. Sugino went stiff, his breath catching in his throat as the realization dawned upon him too.
The first thing Karma did as a semblance of sense came back to him, he lifted himself from the wall. "Mana - !"
That very same moment, Manami ran away.
Karma weaved through masses of people, desperate not to lose sight of her. But each time he could catch a glimpse, he would lose her again and again. Her small stature made it easy for her to slip inside crowds, but it was like she did it on purpose.
"Hey, Ka –" a voice that might have been Chiba's was heard, but he couldn't bother.
He knew he had no right. He felt disgusted by the situation, but there was a pounding in his heart that drove his muscles forward – pushing through groups, over stalls, under tables, and kicking down every obstruction – with one thought: if he lost her now, he might just lose her forever.
Back in the clubroom, right after Karma ran after her, Sugino yelled for he and Rio to go after. He saw her ready to follow, but he was stopped by the sound of another slam.
Rio had fallen to her knees after taking one step forward. Her knees seemed to have buckled, yet she wasn't trying to get up. Eyes wide, her hands came up to her mouth, as if to stifle her incoherent whimpers. The sight of this Nakamura Rio made Sugino freeze where he stood.
Manami must have stayed long enough to hear what Rio said – and could not believe or forgive herself for the word she used that must have cut her dear friend severely.
Troublesome.
Someone caught Manami's shoulders as she was running. It was Mikagura-sensei. She asked her what's wrong but Manami couldn't respond when all she could focus on was the faint reflection on the teacher's glasses of her the pitiful, pale-faced horror of the abandoned child she once was.
She heard Karma call her name. Without thinking, Manami threw herself into her teacher's chest and held her tight. Whatever she wanted to accomplish, however it is she felt towards him now, she had no idea – she just wouldn't be able to bear it if she saw herself through his eyes.
Though that made a million more questions zoom through Mikagura's mind, by the clutch of trembling fingers on her back and the absence of any other movement, Mikagura chose to do the only thing that felt right, and wrapped her arms around Manami. A teacher to both students, however, Mikagura kept her hard gaze on Karma, through them demanding an explanation. He got the message.
The cultural festival resumed all around them, coming to its close for the day, but in that very moment where Karma had no idea what to do next, the world as he knew it had crumbled.
Having no idea what they just witnessed, the rest of the combat club members gathered in the clubroom the next day, all plans canceled. They heard what happened from Sugino and Rio after. Karma and Manami were nowhere to be found.
Rio and Sugino continued to explain how they didn't mean for any of it to happen. How it all unfolded was a blur – mistakes were made but they tried to do what they could. They were just caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. The explanation did little to make this situation better. And after, only silence followed.
The clubroom never had an atmosphere like this – hollow yet all at once so fragile, with every second passing as another weight to the tension slowly breaking everything apart.
In the story they told, there seemed to be only one name for Rinka to hang all fault on. Her mind swirled around the details that had to do with that name, filling her with ire, until they stuck out like the shards of broken glass that wounded them now – the broken window pieces that a crass child broke in a game that went too far.
"Is this your idea of getting back at her?"
Rio's eyes widened. She recalled a night she got tricked at the bottom of the hill, a memory of laughter with a dear friend she just hurt, and the words suddenly stung less and made her blood boil.
Yuzuki drew in a sharp breath. "Wait, Rinka —"
"What?" Rio glared. "Are you saying this is my fault?"
Rinka met her eyes with a cold stare. "Then, whose is it?"
Sugino tried to step between them. "Guys, don't—"
"Are you trying to pick a fight?" Rio stepped towards her, stopping him.
Yuzuki tried again. "Stop this right now –"
"You were always that way. You always had a knack for sticking your nose in places it didn't belong to. It didn't matter who it was, you always got in the way."
Rio gritted, "Hey—"
"I'm well aware of your easily bored nature, Nakamura. But does it take this much just to satisfy you?"
Rio flung her arm back and charged at her. Rinka's eyes narrowed as they sharply followed the movement, but she stood her ground. Chiba took a step forward.
"Oi, stop it!" Sugino held Rio back before she could land any blow.
Although Rio didn't struggle, she continued to glare. Rinka's gaze was as icy as her voice when she said, "There's a fine line between wanting to act dumb, and doing something that's actually stupid."
Rio thrashed and forced Sugino to let go. "Do you think I wanted this to happen?!"
Yuzuki finally rose from her seat and slammed the table. "This isn't the time to point fingers!"
"Quiet, all of you. Now." All students turned to the doorway to find Mikagura standing by the doorway. her arms were crossed and a deep frown on her face.
"This is…the worst possible situation already."
He doesn't recall how it all happened yesterday. What Karma remembered most clearly was that he had to watch Mikagura-sensei bring Manami home, while he was left there standing by the school gates seeing them off – being of use to no one.
He had no idea now why in this glum morning, he sat alone on their bench after downing a can of some cheap soda he didn't even like. Karma knew she would not want to see him today, but he would try to make things right before he couldn't. He will figure out how to make this better. He will look for a solution. After all, he always could. First, however, he had to be clear a few things with himself.
Failing tests, losing to Nagisa – all other failures in his life had never made him feel as stuck as he felt now.
Because he didn't understand why he made the decisions he did – why he made those promises. Did not understand most of all why, against all his better judgment, all the smarts he once boasted about, he ended up in the position he was in now – feeling lower than he'd ever been all his life.
'At all costs, I don't want to lose her to anyone,' he remembered he once said, gritted his teeth, and clenched his fist around the empty soda in his hand, uncaring if its metal made his fingers bleed. His frustration with himself was short-lived, however – letting go of the can, his shoulders slumped – when the only thing that became clear to him then just turned into another question.
Is this the consequence of falling in love?
END
Hello so I'm so sorry to end it that way. I hope you were still able to enjoy that though! I'll be posting the rest soon so in the meantime don't hesitate to leave a review but I implore you to please be nice and constructive! Internet culture has really changed the last few years and now I'm afraid of mean people on the internet wahaaa. Anyways, I wish all of you a good day/night wherever you are and really hope things get better for the world :( thanks again and best wishes!
~TheFlowerWeSawThatDay