Chapter 11: Increasing Distance

Kazuki began his morning as usual, having his breakfast and going to school. It looked like it was a day like the others, but the gray-haired boy sensed that it wasn't the case. The dream from the night before troubled him.

The boy attended the lessons as usual, doing his best to keep himself focused despite the thoughts running in his head. Then lunch time came. After buying his lunch, Kazuki headed to the school courtyard while eating it. As he walked, he glanced at a window, from which he could see a room from a distance. It was the origami room, used by the club. From the half-open door, he could catch a glimpse of the works in preparation for the awaited origami school festival hitting next week. However, a girl, another member of the club, came over and quickly closed the door, in order to prevent anyone from spoiling the surprise. Fortunately for her, the gray-eyed boy had barely seen anything.

"Kazuki-kun?" A girl asked shyly, right behind his back. Kazuki gasped as he quickly turned around. He saw that she was none other than Sayaka.

"It's you, Kazuki-kun!" Sayaka smiled, then, she greeted him with a small bow "Good morning."

"G-Good morning, Sayaka." the boy replied, inwardly sighing of relief, trying his best to hide his former startle. However, Sayaka took notice of it.

"What's the matter? Is something wrong?" she asked, with a slightly worried expression on her face, much to his dismay.

"Sorry, I had a weird dream last night..." he replied honestly, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, and what kind of dream was that?" she asked, out of curiosity.

"Eyes, eyes everywhere, staring at me. That's all I can remember..." he explained. If he could, he would have avoided the matter, but he felt obliged because of the circumstance, and answered in a way he felt safe enough with.

"I see..." Sayaka replied. "Well, if it can be of any help, I've read something on dreams about eyes in one of my dad's books… It could possibly mean that you feel watched, or burdened in some way..."

Kazuki felt that the meaning Sayaka had given him was true, and he had his reasons to believe it, even though that wasn't what he wanted to know. What he didn't know was why he had that dream then, of all times…

"Yeah, that might be the case… If that's it, I'll have to find out why… Thanks, Sayaka!" he told her, with a grateful gaze. Sayaka slightly blushed.

"W-Well, I thought that could be helpful, plus my dad always chooses the best books..." she said.

"Yeah, I know..." Kazuki replied "I think I might need one of those books, one of these days..." The statement made the redhead giggle sweetly.

"I'm sure he wouldn't hesitate to help you out, in case you ever need it!" she said. It was then that she remembered something she had to tell him "Oh, speaking of which..."

"Huh?" Kazuki stood at attention, ready to hear the girl out. Sayaka lowered her eyes.

"I'll be visiting Akiha-san this afternoon..." she finally said.

"Is something wrong?" Kazuki asked, an expression of concern appearing on his face. Sayaka was taken aback by her friend's reaction, and quickly shook her head in refusal.

"No, Kazuki-kun! It's nothing serious!" she said. She then stopped her head and looked back at the boy "It's just that my mom thinks it's time to pay a visit..."

"I hope everything is going well..." the gray-haired boy murmured, thinking back to their conversation two days earlier. "I hope Tohno-san and Kohaku-san are fine..."

"I'm sure they are." Sayaka replied, with a bright smile. "They've gone along very well for a long time, after all!"

"Yeah, that's true..." Kazuki stated, some relief making its way in him. He turned to the window from which he had seen the origami room. His mind was cast in thoughts as his eyes roamed on the trees and the grass surrounding the room.

Sayaka found herself staring at him, her eyes were fixated on the boy's thoughtful, troubled face. She found him… Distant. Unreadable… Unreachable. She felt the need to reach him. She slightly extended her hand, without touching him.

"What about you, Kazuki-kun?" she asked "Do you have any idea of why you had that dream?" She was trying to return on that subject. Kazuki felt uneasiness well up inside of him, but he hid it and simply shook his head in refusal.

"Do you want me to he-?" She was interrupted by the sound of her alarm bracelet.

"Ah!" she said "Sorry, I must hurry back to my class...".

"D-Don't worry..." he replied "See you, Sayaka!"

"See you later, Kazuki-kun!" she waved at him as she hurried away. Kazuki inwardly sighed of relief. She was trying to delve deeper into him.

"Who delves within me might put himself in danger..."

He had to keep her safe, to protect her from what he was experiencing. He had to hide it from her.

"It pains me to no end, but..."

With these thoughts, the gray-haired boy headed back to class.

Sayaka was already in her classroom. She made her way to her desk and sat on her chair. She cupped her cheek with her hand, her elbow on her desk. She was in pensive mood.

"Kazuki-kun..."

Chiyoko noticed that her classmate had something on her mind.

"Hey, Sayaka-chan!" she called "Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes." she said as she noticed her friend "It's okay, Chiyoko-chan..."

"Thinking about Aokage-kun, are we?" she teased, causing the redhead to blush wildly.

"Chiyoko-chan!" she said "Why do you always have to do this? We're just friends!"

"Yes, yes..." Chiyoko replied "But, you've been friends for a long time!"

"Y-Yeah..." the black-haired girl's statement made Sayaka's mood shift back from embarrassed to thoughtful.

"Is something wrong between you two?" she asked her friend.

"Well..." Sayaka answered "Not really, it's just that… I think we're not as close as we used to be anymore..."

"Hmm? What do you mean by that?"

"Umm..." Sayaka lowered her gaze. "When he thinks of something, I can't read him. I've seen him with a troubled expression, most of the time, but I can't grasp why… We've known each other since we were children, and we were really close back then… But now I can feel the distance between us build up with each passing day…"

"Then why don't you try to close that distance?" Chiyoko suggested. "You should try spending more time with him until he opens up to you." The red-haired girl rose her head to her friend as she talked.

"Since you've known each other for so long, it shouldn't be that difficult, right?" Chiyoko continued "Just make sure you don't bring up this feeling of yours directly. It'll be solved by itself."

"Yeah… It might work..."

This thought made a smile slowly bloom on her face.

"Thank you, Chiyoko-chan! I'll definitely try it!" she thanked her friend.

"Don't mention it!" Chiyoko smiled back "Just tell me how it goes with your White Knight!"

"S-Stop it!" the redhead blushed uncontrollably once again.

After the classes of the day were done, Sayaka exited the school. She was walking in the street when she saw two children playing with a ball. At that sight, she couldn't help but think of past times…

Two children were playing in Misaki park, They were running around without a care. The air trembled with their joyful laughters.

"Catch me if you can!" said one of them, with gray hair and eyes. The other one, a little girl with long red hair and teal eyes, was chasing him.

Eventually, the boy hid behind a tree, hoping to hide from her vision. Unluckily for him, the little girl took notice of some gray hair sticking out from behind the trunk, and silently approached him, occasionally hiding behind nearby trees herself. Eventually, she caught him.

"Tag! You're it!" she said as she touched him.

"Dang it..." he murmured as he cowered on the trunk, closing his eyes.

"K-Kazuki?" the girl asked, surprised by the boy's move. He was laying on the trunk.

"Kazuki?" she was confused and slightly worried. She approached him.

Suddenly, the boy tried to grab her as she was approaching, but the girl managed to leap back in time.

"Hey! No fair!" she complained.

"I tried, but it didn't work..." the boy murmured, unsatisfied.

"You didn't get me!" she chimed as she resumed running and the boy came after her.

They used to spend many days like that in Misaki park…

"Heeeey!"

Suddenly, Sayaka's reminiscence was interrupted by the cry of complaint of one of the children.

"What have you done? The ball's on the tree!" he complained, with a frown, his index finger pointed towards the ball, who ended up on some branches of a nearby tree...

"S-Sorry!" the other child apologized.

"Now how do we get it down?" the child still frowned.

"Maybe I can help." Sayaka decided to intervene. She got closer to the two kids.

"Missy?" one of them exclaimed in surprise.

"How will you? It's really high..." the other one commented in slight disbelief.

"Don't worry. I can do it." Sayaka replied, with a warm smile. She approached the tree on which the ball ended up and, after checking if there wasn't anyone else who could witness, put her hand on it. As she did so, the branches slightly moved, just enough to make the ball fall back from the tree, Sayaka caught it in her arms before it reached the ground and gave it back to the kids.

"Wow! How did you do it?" one of the children asked in bewilderment. In response, Sayaka smiled and put her index finger in front of her mouth, like a silence sign.

"It's a secret." she said "Don't tell anyone about this, okay?"

"Okay." the child nodded happily, receiving the ball from the young lady's hands.

"Thank you, missy!" the other child thanked, as happily as his friend. Sayaka waved happily to the two children and went off on her way, humming merrily.

Kazuki was on his way back home as well, his eyes staring at the sky, his mind lost in the maze of his thoughts, as always.

"That sun… Sayaka and I used to play under such a sun time ago..."

He muttered to himself, reminiscing past times. The image of Sayaka's beaming smile, just as pure and sweet as it was back then, crossed his mind insistently, to the point of taking roots in him.

"Even the moon has seen that smile..."

Two children were looking at the night sky in Misaki Park, one dazzling summer night. A woman with red hair and teal eyes was with them. She was the mother of one of the two children.

"Wow!"

That was the only sound the two speechless children could utter at the sight of the myriad stars above them.

Suddenly, some falling stars appeared on the sky, as if little brushes were stroking the infinite blue canvas.

"Ahhh!" they both exclaimed happily "Shooting stars!"

"Why don't you make a wish?" the woman gently told them. They clasped their hands, as if in prayer, and silently made their wish on the shooting stars. They then opened their eyes and enjoyed the marvel while it continued.

When the magic ended, the two children looked at each other. The girl had a smile of genuine happiness on her face.

"It was great!" she said, merrily.

"Yeah, it was!" the boy replied, smiling back "I'm looking forward to the next one."

"And I want to be there to see it with you, when it will come!" the girl earnestly stated. The boy was impressed by those words, then his smile returned.

"Well then, let's go back home..." the woman told the two children "Kazuki-kun's grandfather is waiting for us."

The two children got up with a whimper of disappointment and went away with the woman, watched over by the gentle light of the moon...

These thoughts were running in Kazuki's mind as he was walking.

"We used to spend so much time like that since we were put in the same class in elementary school..."