I hope you guys like the cover photo I got! It's from Pinterest. Although if you guys do like it, don't get too attached because I'll be changing it every now and then. Eh, it's just a cover anyways...

Chapter 5: The rain won't stop by complaining

Yuigahama and I walk in silence along the street. Although there were occasional passerby and vehicles that passed us by we were pretty much alone.

Walking alone with a cute girl at night is a situation most guys would want to be in. I am not most guys, I understand the situation completely. I know that this is not romantic at all. Only the naïve and the wishful dreamers would think of a situation like this as romantic.

Just because the girl you're walking with is nice to you, smiles at you, and talks to you, doesn't mean they actually like you. Some could believe that there is that slight possibility of romantic intention but then again, one shouldn't simply cling onto something as hypothetical as that. In the end, if nothing happens, you're only going to get yourself hurt. Besides, isn't it better anyways to doubt everything? That way if something does happen, it's a complete surprise that makes you incredibly happy? Believing in all these what-ifs and possibilities lull people into a state of hopefulness, and this state is an unstable one that turns people into either optimists or pessimists.

Oh, but then there are the extreme optimists. The ones who believe that if a "window of opportunity" opens itself, you should take it. You will hear stories of people who took a leap of faith and got to where they were now, in situations of "love" these shouldn't be taken into account. How do you know this is a "window of opportunity" not a "door of death"? If you never get together with your "significant other" just because you didn't take a leap of faith or a lucky shot, you should be thankful. If you have to take a leap of faith, a blind shot, just to get someone you "like" to "like" you back, that person shouldn't be worthy of you. Let the universe handle your romance and use your brain power on more important things.

In conclusion, one should deal with whatever is in front of him. Think of all the possibilities but do not assume that these will turn into reality. Once you find yourself in a situation where you thought of what-ifs and possibilities of romance, you should remember this and you won't regret a thing.

I feel a drop of water splash on my hand. Then another lands on my shoulder. Suddenly the drops become more occasional, with less intervals between them. Yuigahama and I rush to the closest shelter, the outside of a café. It had some extra roofing to shelter those customers that chose to eat outside, so that was pretty lucky.

Yuigahama turns to me and says "Looks like it's really coming down, huh?"

Yeah, it sure did.

"It all came so suddenly!" she continues.

Yeah, it sure did.

"Hey, Hikki, should we wait a bit? So that the rain stops?"

"Yeah, we should. If we go now we'll be soaked. The café's closed now but we could still lean on the walls or sit on the ground."

"Eww! Hikki! The ground's dirty!"

Yeah, it probably is, but like hell I'm going to stand here for too long! Besides, only my pants would get dirty, Komachi can wash them for me, so I'm really not losing anything by sitting down on the pavement.

"Right, well, you can stand, I'll sit down."

I put the bags down and slump on the ground in cross-leg position. Just when I thought this night couldn't get any longer. Yuigahama paces around a bit before deciding to sit down as well. She sits down beside me, pulls her feet in and places her head on her knees.

"I thought you said the ground was dirty?"

"It is, but I'm really tired. I feel like I can sleep here."

"Right. Well, if that's the case, then I'll just leave you here."

Immediately her head shoots up and she stares at me with a surprised and angry expression.

"Eh!? Hikki!? You're going to leave me here!?"

"Oh, how I wish. Sadly, Komachi already ordered me to take you home. Also, if something were to happen to you I would be blamed."

Yuigahama looks away. "Hikki, you're so cruel."

"Heh, don't I know it."

"If you're so cruel, how come you had a girlfriend back then?"

Oh, bringing her up now, are you? What is it so interesting about a loner like me having a friend? Ah, I guess I answered my own question now, did I?

Yuigahama looks back at me. "Girls are emotional people, Hikki. If you say stuff like that to them it really hurts."

"Yeah, and so?"

"Don't you care about other people?"

"Sure." If you were a part of my family then I would care more though.

"Hey, Hikki. What's she like?"

I'd like to know that myself, Yuigahama.

"I don't remember her at all."

"Really? Not one bit?"

"My mind's blank."

Yuigahama looks at me with a worried expression. "If you could… Would you like to meet her again?"

What's with that worried expression? Are you jealous? Damn it, Hachiman. Remember what you said about what-ifs and possibilities? Put them in the back of your head!

"If such a person exists? Then yes, I'd like to meet this person."

"Would you be friends with her?"

That hits me off guard.

"Huh? Uh, I don't know."

"They say if you loved someone before, you could love them again."

"Woah, what's this talk about love? That's putting me and a stranger mighty close."

The street's deserted, not one vehicle or person was in sight, except for me and Yuigahama, that is. In the background I can hear the rain getting weaker. If we had an umbrella, we could leave in a while…

"Orimoto-san said you two were close."

"Yeah? Well, like I said. I don't remember her. So, whatever relationship we had, must be reset."

Yuigahama sadly laughs at that.

"It would reset for you, Hikki. Not for her."

Oh? I guess that makes sense.

"Yeah, well… We'll see. If she and I ever meet again."

"If you do… can you introduce me?"

Sigh, I guess there wouldn't be a point not to introduce you. Another extra friend for your circle of friends.

"You got it."

For some reason, Yuigahama smiles at this. "Great! I can't wait to meet her!"

Really, Yuigahama. You make it sound like we're already in contact.

Yuigahama pipes up again. "So! While waiting for the rain to stop I want to look at my gifts!"

Yeah, whatever. I hand her the bags containing her gifts.

She begins to unwrap her gifts one by one.

"Wow! A Teddy Bear! Thanks Ooka!"

It's a pretty big stuffed toy, it took up an entire bag by itself. It was a brown bear with hearts for eyes.

"Wow! It's a phone strap! Omg it's so cute!"

This goes on for a while until…

"A cook book from Yukinon?" Yuigahama says as she takes a peek into its contents.

"Yeah, Yukinoshita wrote that cook book herself. She told me about it during dinner and told me to keep quiet about it."

"So that's what you guys were talking about!"

Huh? She knew?

"Huh? You knew?"

"C'mon Hikki, I know you two. I can tell when either of you are lying."

Really? If so that's pretty scary!

"Yeah? Sorry about lying to you then."

"It's okay! You guys wanted to surprise me, right? This has got to be one of the best gifts I've gotten this year!"

As I expected. Good job, Yukinoshita.

Yuigahama finishes opening up the rest of her gifts and returns them into the bags.

"Hey, Hikki. Umm… I didn't see your gift here."

Oh crap. I almost forgot to give her my gift!

"Uh, oh yeah. It's here." I pull out a small, brown, fancy wooden box and hand it to her.

She takes it onto her hands and examines it.

"Eh? What is it, Hikki?"

"Definitely not a dog collar."

Yuigahama blushes furiously at this.

"Dummy, Hikki! You're not supposed to remind a girl of an embarrassing moment like that!" she yells as she punches me multiple times on the shoulder.

Ow ow ow! Damn, woman! Calm yourself!

"Relax, relax! I was only teasing! Just open it already!"

Frankly, I have no idea what's in the box myself. Komachi bought it and told me to give the box to Yuigahama and say it was my present. Really, Komachi, were you so doubtful of my gift giving skills ever since that dog collar incident that you had to buy my gift for me? It's strange why she even told me not to open the box. I mean, this is really suspicious. I suspected so from the start. Even so, I couldn't go against my sister, especially when she promised to wash all my clothes for me for the next two months! What a great sister I have.

Yuigahama opens the box and her eyes widen and she blushes furiously.

"Eh!? Hikki!?" she says as she stares at the thing inside.

"What?"

I crane my neck and peer into the box.

Inside the box was a ring. A silver ring. Holy shit. Komachi! What have you gotten me into!?

I immediately try to convince her otherwise. "It's not what you think! That's Komachi's present! She told me to give it to you but say that it came from me! I didn't even know what was inside that until now!"

Hearing my declaration Yuigahama blushes even more furiously.

"Idiot, Hikki! Idiot, Hikki! Idiot, Hikki!" she says as she punches me again, with more force.

"Ouch, it hurts! Calm down!"

Yuigahama slowly stops and stares at the ring in the box.

"I thought… I thought…" she whispers.

Oh, damn. I've gone and done it now, haven't I? What do I do? I doubt she'll wear it. I should just return it to wherever Komachi bought if from and get Yuigahama something else.

"Sorry. Give it to me, I'll return it."

Yuigahama looks at me with a somewhat angry, serious expression.

"No!"

"What? Why not?"

"Because… Because… This is a gift! I can't not accept it!"

I guess that makes sense. Out of respect people keep all the gifts given to them, right? No matter how useless it may be. At least I believe that's how people like Yuigahama are.

"Right. Okay. Fine. Keep it then."

We sit there quietly. Yuigahama staring at the ring and me staring at the road, filled with puddles of rainwater. The rain still hasn't stopped but at least it's a lot weaker now. It's merely drizzling now. We should probably go, before it gets stronger. We have been stuck here for quite some time, Yuigamomma might get worried.

Yuigahama breaks the silence.

"Hey… Hikki… Put it on me."

Hah?

"Put what on you?"

Yuigahama looks at me. "The ring…"

"Uh... Do I have to?"

"O-of course! It's my birthday! Y-you should do what I say!"

Sheesh. It's weird that people actually think they should be treated really special on their birthdays. I mean on all my birthdays none of my classmates treated me specially. Well, they did treat me with special displeasure and contempt but I'm not sure whether that was my coincidence or not.

"Fine. Hand it over."

Yuigahama looks away from me as she hands me the box.

I take out the ring and put it in my hand. Rings are peculiar things, aren't they? What's the point of giving someone a ring during their wedding or their engagement? It's nothing but for show. It's just to say "look at me, I have someone I love!" or "It's great that I'm in this together with my love!" Completely useless if you don't care about what other people think. But then again, it is a fashion statement, isn't it.

I should get this over with.

"Yuigahama. Hand."

"Eh? R-right."

She hands me her right hand. I pick up the ring with my left hand and with my right I take hold of Yuigahama's.

I feel myself blushing. Yes, thank you, body. It's a perfect time to blush. Look, even Yuigahama's giving me a weird look.

"Which finger do you want it on?"

"Isn't that obvious?" she whispers

No it's not. I see people in movies wearing rings on all their fingers.

"Just tell me."

"T-the r-ring finger." She blurts out.

"Okay."

I slowly, gently slide the ring onto her ring finger. It's only now that I can actually feel her hand. It's soft and small, the hand of a girl. I think. Do girls really have such small hands? As I put the ring on her finger she whispers something, though I couldn't hear it properly.

"There. All done. How is it?"

Yuigahama stares at her hand and nods.

"Okay. Now that that's over we should get going. Your mom might be getting worried."

"Y-yeah. But it's still raining a bit. Isshiki got me an umbrella for my birthday, we should share that."

I easily find the pink umbrella from the bags since it's the longest item in them. Yuigahama splits the bags with me so that I can hold a couple of bags in one hand and the umbrella in the other.

"Let's go, Hikki."

"Right."

And so we resume our walk. This time we are sharing the same umbrella and walking ever closer to one another. Our arms grazing each other's every once in a while. Yuigahama hums softly as we walk while I am left to my thoughts.

Come to think of it, did she say something along the lines of "I do"?

That's that for our time with HikkixYui! I hope you HikkixYui fans like this chapter, not too much romance but it's kinda implied, I guess.

Thank you for taking the time to read this chapter. If you have any extra time, please leave a review!

Fun Fact: I couldn't think of a good chapter name so I just got this title from lyrics from the song "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" by B. J. Thomas.

It's a great song I listen to whenever I'm down in the dumps.

This is Veltus, signing off.