Together Forever

Chapter 12

Steps Along the Way

That night was a sleepless one for me. Without even thinking about it, I confessed to Umi-chan. She was the one who did most of the confessing, but I returned her feelings and that's pretty much the same thing. Now that I think about it, I don't really know why I couldn't fall asleep. I think it was just the thought that Umi-chan cared about me that much. She's been with me from the start and now, she's truly by my side.

When I woke up the next morning, I quickly got ready and headed for school. Right as I left my house, Umi-chan was waiting for me just outside the gate to my house. She gave me a warm smile as well as a good morning which made me feel good. I returned the gesture and the two of us headed off to school.

On the way there, we didn't really talk that much, but it didn't feel awkward at all. Umi-chan knew me and I knew her so I guess the both of us just felt that silence would have been the best course of action.

When I reached the school ground, the first person I saw Honoka. Like all of the past times I've seen her, she was flirting with another girl and that girl was enjoying it. All I could do was revert my eyes, but as I did, Umi-chan held my hand in hers and continued to act like she did the entire trip here. At that moment, I couldn't help but look at her. She didn't say anything. She just looked at me and smiled. That's when all of the girls who saw us started to squeal and cry in jealousy. I didn't know how to react to this so I just avoided eye contact from everyone around as best as I could. Once we made it into the shoe locker, that's where we were forced to go our separate ways.

"I'll meet you for lunch, okay."

"Okay."

She kissed me on the cheek and walked off. As I watched her leave, I could feel the numbers of eyes quickly look my way. That's when I booked it to my classroom and simply waited for lunch to come around.

When it did, so much weight was lifted off my shoulders as Umi-chan walked into the classroom and pulled up a desk next to mine. That's when I was able to finally breathe. There was just something about Umi-chan that made me feel comfortable. As we finished up our lunch, Umi-chan brought up a topic that totally escaped my mind.

"So are you coming back to the archery club today?"

"Huh?"

"Archery. You know you're still a part of the club."

"Oh right. I totally forgot about that. I guess I could. You're going to be there, right?"

"Of course I am. I am the captain of the team. It wouldn't look very good if I skipped a practice. Besides, we need to get you back into the groove of things. If I remember correctly, you were having a pretty hard time when you first time."

"Hmph! You don't have to remind me."

"Haha, I'm sorry."

Even though I was forced to think back about how bad I was at archery, the sound of Umi-chan's laugh made it all better. I knew that she was trying to make me feel bad. If I wanted to take this seriously, I had to make sure that I was ready for the worst of whatever was to come.

The rest of the day was pretty boring. I managed to get through the rest of my classes without any more unwanted attention. Once they were over, I packed up my things and headed to dojo towards the back of the school. As I slid the door, I was hoping to see Umi-chan waiting for me, but instead, it was the rest of the club. They all turned their heads and gave me scary looks that froze me dead in my tracks. I stood there motionless for a few seconds before I knew that I had to do something. I slowly walked into the large room and placed my stuff on the ground. I then went to the changing room where my uniform was. To my surprise, it was perfectly intact. I grabbed it off of the hangar and started to change. Unfortunately, I was stopped short of finishing the process. The door slammed opened and turned around half naked to see the entire club looking right at me.

"Um… Was I not supposed to change in here?"

They didn't answer. They simply walked in and surrounded me.

"You think you're special, stealing our beloved prince from us."

"Huh?"

"Don't act innocent. We all know you've taken her from us and now, Sonoda-senpai won't even look our way."

At that moment, one of the girls pushed me and forced me to fall back. Thankfully, one of the girls was there to stop. The bad thing about that was that she wasn't there to save me. She pushed back the other way until I couldn't pinpoint what direction I was facing. This went on for a few seconds until they back away and let me crash into the ground. I knew the tears were coming, but I couldn't let that show to them or else they would get the idea that they had won. However, it wasn't like I was trying to win anything. I didn't even know why this was happening to me again.

"Hey!"

I knew that voice.

"What's going on in here?"

The crowd of girls started to break apart as Umi-chan stood above me in concern.

"Kotori." She took off her blazer and placed around me. "What is the matter with you girls?!"

"Sonoda-san, we can ex…"

"I don't want to hear. You're all suspended from this dojo for a week! Get out!"

"But Sonoda-san, we…"

"NOW!"

All of the girls cowered in fear as Umi-chan raised her voice. Even I was scared at what I just heard. This was yet another side of Umi-chan that I have never seen. Once everyone had left, she turned around to face me with a look of sadness.

"Kotori, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"How is it your fault? That doesn't make any sense. You can't blame yourself."

"No I have to. If I was smarter and addressed before having you return, you wouldn't be in this situation."

"Umi-chan, it's…"

"You know what… Let's just cancel practice today. It'll be hard for you to concentrate after something like that." She started to stand up, but I stuck my hand and grabbed hers before she could get away.

"No, I can p… I want to practice today."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded my head and tried to give her the greatest look of determination. For a second, she just stood there, but eventually, she decided to go along with it. After that, I got changed and the two of us managed to have a private lesson together.

Once that was over, we headed home for the day. On the way there, Umi-chan couldn't help but talk about why her club members threatened me like that. She didn't really know the full extent of the situation, but she did know that she couldn't let this kind of behavior slide. On the other hand, I tried telling her that it was okay, but she wouldn't have it either. However, once she was done with her little rant, she took my hand and smiled at me. It was probably just me, but I was becoming weaker every time she smiled at me like that. Her hand was so warm that it only made it harder for me to act normal around her. When we made it to my house, we went through the normal procedure. She walked me to the door and kissed me on the cheek.

"Kotori, I'm really sorry about what happened today. I promise it'll never happen again."

"Umi-chan, I keep telling you that it's okay."

"You can't be okay with this. Every girl at our school has been out for you and it's because of me. This is all my fault so it's my responsibility to fix it."

At that moment, I put my hand on her cheek which made her look right at me with a confused face.

"You can't carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. It's only going to hurt you in the long run."

"I know. I just… I made a promise to myself that I would never see you sad again."

My heart skipped a beat. This girl was something else that I just couldn't understand. I couldn't help myself anymore. I jumped at her with my arms wide open and hugged as tight as I could.

"Umi-chan, I don't deserve you at all."

"You've got it all wrong. I don't deserve you. I love you."

"I… I love you too." Those words sent a tickle through my entire body. All of this time, I've always been the affectionate type to Honoka-chan, but now, I've been put in my place. Umi-chan is the one who's showing all of the affection and I'm just along for the ride. But to be completely honest, I didn't care and neither did Umi-chan. She was a genuine person who cared about me. I just wanted to return the favor as best as I could.

End of Chapter 12