Disclaimer: I do not own Slamdunk. I know that. This is just for formalities.. hehe.. Libre naman ang mangarap diba?


Coffeemaverick: hehehe… this is the last update for part one! Hehehe… and well, it's not the end! Because I have a coughsequelcough hehehe… in this chapter, there's another mystery to unfold… hehehe.. I like mysteries… hehe..

Magenta blues: hello! Thank you for reading and reviewing my fic! Heheh.. I think they (mitxaya) look good together too… though of course I wouldn't mind at all if it was (miyxaya) but in my fic it's mitxaya… and about Mitsui being like that in Chap 31. it's because things aren't that easy for the two of them right now… you know… you don't want to hurt your friends but then, you also have these feelings to deal with… and sometimes, things like that are hard to compromise.. and that's why I wanted his understanding, caring, even vulnerable side, to sort of show… and if you have some dialogues you would wish me to clarify… don't hesitate to ask..

Simmic: well… there's more… actually, there's one more… hehe.. not funny… I know… but! It's good… well to me it is… hehehe…


A/N: chapter 30 edited… I forgot to include one little thing in chapter 30… and that is the time when Miyagi refused to help Ayako and said she doesn't need it… it was because Mitsui had already arrived, and so he felt he wasn't really needed… and if your wondering still about haruko, if she knows what's going on, but is not the only that mitsui likes, sends him messages, then she must be the bridge... sorta...


Do You See Me?

It was there in the presence of the falling cherry blossoms, the cool air that brushed against my cheek, of the last warmth's of the retreating sun, that we first treaded the path that would become a path that we would cross for days, months, and years after that. Then we ourselves are lost in it.

"Let's go." I don't think, this time, I'll go with you. We walked through the same road at a snail's pace, taking in everything, just to make it last. Though nothing lasts forever. Now here we are, at the end of our road, its end forked. Right or left. It became inevitable.

A decade of friendship has both been an awfully yet joyful, short yet long time. It started with a second: a turn. A minute: a glance. An hour: a look. It started with a day, that gradually yet instantaneously became days, weeks, months, years, a decade. Our footsteps one after the other, out of synchrony, but at the same time creating a melody of an irregular beat of drums. As you lead, and I followed, your pace a step ahead of me, I became aware that every step I took behind you was another step you took away from me.

Yet we still walked, walking along the path that became a merge of lives, though I never realized when I let go of yours and when you released mine. Though you did, you left it there, hanging. I released my hold on you, the crowd filling in the space that grew between us, and soon, we would be lost, lost alone. It is hard to see you, and soon I see you not at all, and so I walk, walk alone.

It is time for me to let go of these masks – the masks that stayed with me every single hour, minute, second, millisecond of the day. They were neither beginning nor end. They were neither truth nor lies. They were neither reality nor fantasy. They were that good. Even you cannot see past them. Even I find it hard to.

Everything was organized, I knew what you were to me, I knew the feelings I held for you, and now, the puzzle became new to me. I had to put the pieces together with not a single clue as to what it might be.

5 minutes late. I was late. 10 minutes late. I am too late. 15 minutes late. The fact still remains. I am already late. It was already too late.

I cried. I cried in front of you because I knew I couldn't love you. Here I am, beside you, yet I cannot embrace you. Because I was there, standing in front of you, yet you never saw me. Tell me, am I stupid for saying 'I love you?'

I wished I could put ice in my heart, to numb it, so I wouldn't be hurt. So I wouldn't feel the hurt. So I could avoid the hurt. So I could ignore it. So I could pretend it didn't hurt. So I could run away. So I wouldn't have to care. So I could forget, for even just a moment.

Maybe that is all I will ever be, a friend. No, that is what I always had been, a friend. I will not be seen as anything else, even If I wait today, tomorrow, a lifetime. And if that is as close as I can get to your heart, I will smile, for it is better to have met and befriended you, than have not met you altogether.

I set the paper ablaze. Watched as the fire ate along its edges. Watched it slowly disintegrate. Watched the writings painstakingly vanish. Watched the smoke carry it, watched the ashes become of it - where only the heavens would know, and the earth, keep.

I sat, waited for the sun to rise. I wanted to cry, one last time, but I couldn't, so the rain cried for me. I could feel it dampen my clothing, soak my skin, trickle to my soul. But soon, I could no longer feel the tears, though I could still see them. I did not move. "Hey, are you blind?" A hand waved in front of me. A jolt travelled to my head. "Ok, so you're not." I longed to be alone, and yet, I cannot be. I turned to fully look at him. I could only hear the raindrops tapping on his umbrella. And soon I was all alone, alone with you. "Hey, quit staring at me like I can't see you. "'Cause I can." Funny, that was the answer I longed to hear from you.

He was the reason I stopped crying. He was the something, the anything, and the everything that made me forget. He was.


Owari…. Owari ja nai yo! Hehehe.. Um… familiar words? Hehehe… yes, their almost like a collection of quotations that I picked out… but some of the quotations actually take on a different meaning… Hehe… um… the other question now is… who helped her? That is another story to tell.. hehehe.. guess though! Hehehe..