"Don't get on that train. Please, don't get on that train."

"Yoshioka-san? W-what's the matter?" I asked, surprised.

Futaba squeezed tightly with a constricting grip of a hug around me. She was not going anywhere anytime soon. Why was she here? Just a while ago she was totally and utterly silent, as if she really didn't much care for me, and now here she is clinging on to me?

"U-um, Yoshioka. The train has already left...what's wrong?"

I wanted to get out of the middle of the platform, out of everyone's attention area, but the moment I tried to take a step towards the rear of the crowd towards the wall, Futaba hugged even tighter. I could feel tears through my blazer now. Her back also fluctuated and I realized she was crying. With one hand around her back, I held one of her hands to assure her I wasn't going anywhere without her at this point.

"Please...Kikuchi-kun, don't leave... Don't leave me... Not like Kou..."

"I'm not going anywhere, Yoshioka-san...but I'd like if we could move out of people's way towards the wall over there."

She grasped my hand, and nodded with approval.

Slowly I managed to waddle, with Yoshioka still clinging to me, over to the wall where no one cared about us anymore.

Stroking her hair and lightly rubbing her back was all I could really do right now. I don't know what's gotten into her, but she was not letting go any time soon.

I don't know what has gotten into her so suddenly. It thought she hated me at this point. Her sobbing had no end, the only thing I could do was to stroke her brown hair. The further I did this though, it seemed the harder she cried and the tighter she held on to me.

In the crowd leaving the station I caught sight of Shuuko-chan. She saw the situation and understood fully well probably what was wrong. We made a brief eye contact, but instead of coming to help, she smiled and gave me a wink before disappearing into the crowd. Just when I needed her guidance...

"Yoshioka-san..." I nudged her,"Yoshioka-san, what's wrong? What's the matter?"

"I don't...want you...*hic*...to leave me..."

"Yoshioka-san... I-I'm not leaving you!"

She clasped the two lapels of my blazer. "YES YOU WERE!" She screamed.

"Yoshioka, I wouldn't leave you! I-"

She yanked down on my blazer and neck tie. I was just beside her head.

"I never got the chance to tell Kou! He left me before I could hear! I never got to hear his response! He never got to say! I didn't take the opportunity to tell you! You left before I realized! I don't want you to leave me! Not like Kou!"

"Yoshioka, I-!"

She yanked down on my neck tie and blazer harder.

"Don't talk. Just listen."

Her screaming tuned down to a low calming sob.

"Kikuchi-kun...you have been there for me when no one else was. You sat pointlessly with me in the library.. You cared for me even when I told you to leave me alone. You were there for me. You were there...for me...always. Why?"

"Yoshioka-san, I-"

She tugged on my neck tie again without saying a word. I knew what she meant.

"Last time I was here, I made a deal with myself. You see, it wasn't just me that liked Kou, it was also Makita-san. I agreed, if he got off the train for me, I'd love him, or if he stayed on, I'd stop. He didn't get off."

I gasped a little.

"And," she hicced,"that was the day of the wreck... Now, here we are in the same station. You stayed with me all that time. You made me feel something inside, so much that I desperately tried to say something to you from my silence in the library, though my mouth wouldn't let me."

"Yoshioka-san," I whispered beneath my breath.

"Now here you are about to board a train, and leave me just like he did..without me telling you even one important thing."

Her grip on my neck tie and blazer lapel tightened.

"This one important thing..."

She began shaking.

"Kikuchi-kun...don't leave me...I...I...I-I..I love you. Stay with me, please keep caring for me, and please don't leave me..."

"Yoshioka-san..."

I hugged her tightly.

"I love you too! And I won't leave your side."

Finally, her eyes purged the tears she held back, flowing down her cheeks like a steady calm stream rather than a rainstorm of inconsistency. She buried her face in my blazer again, and gently sobbed the remainder of her tears.

"Let's walk home together then."

"I'd prefer that," she hicced.

Stay by my side...and don't leave me...