"Say, Hicchan, it's not too late to join up. There's a lot of post-festival paperwork for us to complete..." Misha says, making her way to me with Shizune in tow. I smile goodnaturedly. They conspicuously ignore my reddened eyes and my escape from the classroom, something I'm thankful for.

"If you come to me at a later date, I wouldn't mind helping, but I've got plans right now." I say, truthfully. I may as well do something useful, right?

As if sensing this, Hanako comes up from behind me, holding a small bag while apparently trying to avoid eye contact with everyone. Misha's eyes widens before she bursts into giggles.

"You move fast, don't you, Hicchan? We won't disturb your date any further!" I blink, sighing. I probably should have expected that; the joke feels off considering what happened between Hanako and I this morning. But I can't blame Misha; she didn't know that, of course.

Hanako seems to be trying to ignore them altogether, tugging on my shirt with her eyes firmly fixed to the floor, a blush raging across her face.

"L...let's..." Misha's comment must have really rattled Hanako. I nod.

"Alright. I'll see you two later." I say, referencing the duo. Misha grins and waves goodbye, Shizune looking on somewhat indifferently, before both retreat into the hallway, some conversation going on between them.

"Do you have all your things?" I ask, somewhat rhetorically. She nods. "Let's head off, then."

The silence between us feels somewhat stilted, and I hate it. But once again there's nothing I can really do about it. I find it ironic that I'm probably more conscious of this than she is.

Here, as students flood through the gates, I note that no one is alone. And despite walking with Hanako, I feel this sense of emptiness, despair threatening to shut me down again. I can't, though...I have to resist.

As Hanako and I pass through the gates, I notice that she closes the distance between us slightly, as if deriving comfort from my presence. This walk is one that she has probably taken dozens of times, yet her hands clutch the leather straps of her bag tight enough to whiten her knuckles. I don't know how to reassure her with this emotional distance between us, so I don't say anything.

Surprisingly enough, she breaks the silence herself.

"Your leg..." I glance at her to find her eyes off the road for once, peeking quickly into mine before flitting away.

"Mm. It's better now. I can go back to running tomorrow. Just a light sprain." The words feel rather shallow to my ears, though I don't know if she picks up on it.

Her next words take me by surprise.

"I'm...sorry." She says, haltingly. I start, almost tripping in my shock. What is she thinking? What is she blaming herself for? I don't understand what she's trying to say sorry for.

"My...leg? You didn't have anything to do with that?" I reply, thrown off by the non-sequitur.

"N-No...I mean...ah." She says, anxiously. I can tell that this apology isn't coming easily to her, though I'm not sure why.

"This morning..." This appears to be as much as she's willing to elaborate, as she clams up and refuses to speak another word. She looks genuinely sorry, but...I don't understand what she means.

I contemplate this for a long while, but don't come up with anything.

"Um, well...I don't actually know how you made me sad, so...I guess you're forgiven...?" I respond, tentatively. The answer seems to frustrate her, though, but she doesn't appear to be annoyed at me.

"Y-You were hurt...b-because...I brought up s-something private, didn't I...?" Hanako asks.

"Um, no." I reply. "Actually, I was sad because I thought the same thing about you, so..." Hanako blushes, smiling slightly, even though she looks a little uncomfortable.

"N-No." She shakes her head, as if to drive the point into my mind further. "No, you...d-didn't." Glancing at her minutely more relaxed posture, I think it's okay to assume that she's telling the truth. I doubt she'd be talking to me so easily had I actually offended her.

"Ah..." The silence continues as I digest this, though blissfully lighter.

"So we both messed up, then." I say, sighing. She seems happy to accept her share of the blame, oddly enough, and we consider this in relative peace.

I don't know what she's thinking, but this was probably the best outcome of them all. Neither of us were truly bothered but what I said, though we thought the other had been.

The feeling of relief that surges through me is almost enough to bring me to tears, but I quickly shake it off, focusing on walking into town instead.

...

We reach the store without further trouble, though I note that Hanako drifts closer as we encounter more and more people. She doesn't quite shut down as much as she drifts off, mentally. When she squeaks, mortified, after unintentionally bumping into my shoulder, I know I have to do something.

What that is, I don't know. Her fears in regards to her scars are quite valid; the occasionally passerby flinching whenever they catch wind of her face. Mine too, but not so much, seeing as how much more hidden mine are. With my long-sleeved uniform shirt and green slacks, the only visible scars are those on my hands.

"Here, Hanako. This way." I say, as she almost walks past the store in question. Unthinkingly, she follows; though she seems to liven just a little once inside. Using me as a shield between her and the register, we navigate into the stalls with relative ease.

I watch, rather intrigued, as she collects what she needs, taking the time to make my own purchases.

"Thyme? Rosemary? Do you cook?" I ask, as she wanders into the spice aisle. She nods, meekly.

"A...little." She replies quietly, still somewhat subdued, but less so than earlier. It's nice to see her coming alive, again.

"Oh? Could you show me sometime?" I cook too, but only for basic sustenance. Certainly nothing requiring spices. I'm very curious to see how good she is at it.

"Ah...o-okay." This offer seems to please her, to my interest. I had assumed that she cooked most of the food for our last lunch but I wasn't particularly sure; moreover, I am extremely curious to see what she will make for me considering she knows nearly nothing of my tastes.

"Where did you learn how to cook?" I ask.

"I...taught myself." I nod. Now this is fascinating. I wonder if her cooking skills were born out of necessity, like mine; but, no, you wouldn't use spices unless you cooked for the taste.

Or perhaps she's a picky eater, though I don't think that's the case. Musing, I slip over to the bakery section and pick up several presumably warm baked goods. Hanako politely refuses when I offer to buy her one and we head down to the convenience store to ring up our purchases.

I note how the attendant seems to just ignore Hanako's scars. I guess they're used to students like us, considering how reasonably close the school and the store are to each other. It's always interesting, to see how people react. I've long since stopped caring, but I'm well aware that not everyone is like this.

Hanako, for one, actively hides away from everyone else. Then again, her disability is the most visually shocking one. I don't mind her scars, though.

I'm covered with them too. Just in less obvious areas, though my hands are fairly visibly damaged.

After we pay for our respective purchases, we step back out onto the street. Since Hanako has purchased the bulk of our things, I offer to carry some of her bags. It only takes a moment of reluctance for her to give in; clearly they're quite heavy.

It leaves me in no position to readily eat the food I've purchased, which is a shame. I feel quite hungry right about now, and the smell is delightful. Judging from Hanako's occasional sniffs, I think she agrees with me, but I don't think she has any interest in actually eating.

Or maybe...

The walk back up the hill is primarily filled with a comfortable silence. There are less people on the road, too, which means Hanako is less tense. The occasional car sees her shifting slightly behind me, but she seems quite a bit more relaxed since we started.

Soon we're at the courtyard outside the dorms, and I take a chance.

"Hey, Hanako, have you eaten?" I ask, as I give her back her bags.

"Um...n-no." She replies, hesitantly, as if she can see where the conversation is going.

"Would you like to eat here with me?" I ask, sitting down on the nearest bench. "I have enough for the both of us..."

I honestly hadn't planned this. It only occurred to me when I figured that she might very well be hungry, but too shy to ask for one. So what if I offer to her?

"I...ah..." She seems terribly uncertain, shifting slightly in her spot.

"It's payback for when you cooked for lunch in the tea room. The least I can do is offer something back, right?"

"I...okay..." Hanako finally agrees, and I move over on the bench to make room for her as I pull up the bag with the food.

"Erm, can you tell whether or not it's still warm?" I ask, awkwardly. She blushes slightly, reminded of my condition.

"Y-Yes, it still is."

"Oh, good. Here, which one do you want?" There's quite a few different varieties. I had intended for this to last me at least a day, but it may all be gone within tonight.

"N-No, you can pick first..." She doesn't seem to want to place any extra stress on me. I can't understand why.

"Thanks." Rather than go against the flow, I simply select a package and tear it open. It's bread with some kind of cheese filling, I think. There's a copy of it; this way, if she wanted that one, there's still another.

After some deliberation, Hanako picks a chocolate cream pastry, of which there are also two. I internally sigh, knowing that she picked hers the same way I chose mine. Again, though, I don't want to create any stress.

This is nice. The sun sets over our shoulders as we sit together on the bench, a bag of cooling bread between us, chewing on our respective selections. She seems to enjoy hers greatly.

"Do you have any favorites?" I ask, indicating the pastries. "I'm happy to eat anything, so..."

She swallows her food before answering. "Ah...This one is good." She holds up the remains of her chocolate pastry before promptly executing the leftovers.

"Oh? Take the other one too, then." I say, as I pick up a ham-and-cheese bread roll.

"But..."

"There's plenty of different options for me. You don't have to hold back on my account." I say, grinning as I steal Lilly's phrase. Hanako seems to recognize it, if her quiet giggle is of any indication.

"If you say so..." She takes the second one too, much to my delight. I keep it in mind, to buy for her again later at some point.

Caught by the breeze, a cherry blossom petal makes its way into her hair. I stifle a giggle at the sight.

"W-What's the matter...?" Hanako asks, noticing my gaze. I reach up to pick it out of her violet strands, holding it in front of her blushing face.

I shrug, smiling, before I release it, a breeze catching it and pulling it away from us. We watch, silently, as it glides out of view.

She finishes off her pastry and I hand her a napkin to wipe the chocolate off of her fingers before doing the same for my own. There's a contemplative look on her face as her eyes studiously remain affixed to their task, and I realize with a small shock that she's stopped trying to actively hide her scars from me. That certainly doesn't mean that she's giving me a clear view of them, but she isn't angling away from me anymore, or carefully keeping her hand faced just so...

That isn't new, actually. It's been like this for the whole day, now that I think about it. I hadn't realized, maybe because I don't look at her scars out of respect for her.

"Ah...I should go b-back. Lilly might be..." Hanako says suddenly, and I realize the problem. Lilly doesn't exactly know where Hanako is...

"Oh, yeah. Okay, then." I wrap up the bag neatly, throwing away the trash in a nearby bin.

"T-Thank you. For the food. A-And for the shopping." Hanako says, smiling at me before reaching for her bags.

"Ah, no problem. Do you need help with those?" I ask. She seems to deliberate for a moment before coming to her conclusion.

"N-No, I'm fine. It's just a short walk..." I nod.

"Okay, Hanako. Thank you for today, too. Good night." She seems to blush slightly at this.

"Good night."

We head our respective ways. I find myself asleep in my room not long after, dreaming of something violet.


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