5.3
Our meeting time was four in the afternoon. I showed up ten minutes early to find Sakura already waiting, with a pained, complicated look on her face. She was probably juggling several preoccupations, since her expression kept shifting. She looked crestfallen, then nervous, then worried. I wondered what she was thinking about.
“Did I keep you waiting?” I asked.
“Oh!”
Sakura approached me hesitantly. I hoped I could ease her burdens a bit.
“Thank you for coming here, Ayanokouji-kun.”
“Nah, it’s nothing. So, what’s the matter?”
“Well, it’s about the letter you gave me yesterday.”.
“Did something happen?”
Maybe Sakura was still hesitant to talk about it. She didn’t seem able to get the words out. I was about to tell her not to hold back when I saw several people walking our way down the path. They must’ve been doing club activities, since they wore jerseys.
“Sorry. How about we walk around a little?” I asked Sakura.
“Huh? Oh, okay,” she replied.
It wasn’t a good idea to let someone see us right then. We headed toward the tree-lined spot at the back of the school building. This was a hidden spot where most people didn’t come, but it looked well-kept.
It’d be a huge pain in the butt if Yamauchi happened to come early and spot us there, so I knew we should wrap things up quickly. Sakura tilted her head, extended her right arm, and looked toward the sky.
“What’s the—”
A single water droplet landed on my cheek. If it didn’t come from a sprinkler, then—
“It’s raining,” said Sakura.
The skies had been clear just a moment ago, but now, it was pouring rain. It would probably pass soon, but the downpour was intense. Our clothes were soaking wet in minutes.
“Let’s head back to the path!” I shouted.
Sakura nodded. I led her back the way we came, and we took shelter behind the school building. We were only in the rain for a bit, but it came down so hard that it completely soaked Sakura’s clothes. Even her hair was drenched.
“Man, talk about unlucky. Are you okay, Sakura?”
“I-I’m fine. What about you, Ayanokouji-kun?”
“I’m all right.”
I let out a little sigh while I watched the rain, which grew even more intense. What bad timing.
“Here, you can use this.” Sakura meekly handed me a handkerchief. It was the same one I’d borrowed back on the island.
“I’m fine. Use that yourself. You’ll catch a cold,” I replied.
I couldn’t dry myself off when a girl was absolutely soaked. Even so, Sakura stood on her tiptoes and wiped the excess water from my hair. Her scent, carried by the rain, tickled my nose.
“I’m surprisingly tough, you know,” she said. She mopped the water from my face, then my cheeks and neck.
“…………”
I looked over at Sakura, who stood beside me in silence. I felt as though I could understand what Yamauchi was after now. Sudden rain. The two of us panicked, sheltering under the roof. It would have been even more magical if Sakura and I had been in our school uniforms, rather than casual clothes, since it was the middle of summer vacation.
There’d be nothing to hide from each other. We’d talk until we ran out of things to say. Then, our eyes would meet. We’d each hear the other person breathing deeply. It was the kind of scenario boys dreamed about. For some reason, I could picture it very clearly. Maybe what Yamauchi desired was something like this.
“I wonder if it’ll pass?”
“I looked up the weather on my phone just now. Sounds like this is just a passing shower. It should stop soon,” I told her.
“I see.”
“Sorry. I let you get soaked, even though you had something important to do after this,” I said.
“Oh no, it’s fine. It’s really not important,” Sakura replied.
In other words, that meant…
“I…I wonder what I should do…” she continued.
“Just answer based on how you feel. You can accept Yamauchi, or reject him, or you can start by being friends,” I said. What she wanted was up to her, not me. “Of course, you can always hold off on answering, too. And if it’s too embarrassing, I can tell Yamauchi for you.”
Yamauchi wouldn’t want that, but if Sakura asked, I’d do it.
“No, I’ll do it myself. I think I probably have to,” she replied.
“I see. I suppose you should, for Yamauchi’s sake.”
“Yes. I know. I’m going to turn him down.”
“I see.” I’d already guessed as much. It was important that she tell him herself, though.
“It’s just… Well, I don’t think I’m qualified to reject someone. I think it might be presumptuous of me, but…but…”
Sakura appeared overwhelmed by guilt, for some reason.
“You have nothing to apologize for. When you get down to it, this crush is one-sided. There’s nothing strange about turning someone down if you don’t feel the same way. In this situation, there’s no such thing as being unqualified.” I spoke with some force, not wanting her to misunderstand.
The rain was still coming down hard. I thought it should stop soon, but there was no telling when Yamauchi would show up.
“It’s best if I head back now, I think,” I said.
“N-no! If you’re not here, Ayanokouji-kun, I won’t be able to say anything. So, please…”
Sakura grabbed my sleeve tight.
“Please don’t leave me alone,” she pleaded.
“If that’s your preference,” I replied. Sakura had helped me many times before, after all. I decided I should return the favor.
About fifteen minutes later, Yamauchi arrived, his expression much stiffer than I had ever seen.
“Wh-why are you here, Ayanokouji?” he asked.
“Sorry. Sakura said she didn’t have the courage to talk to you alone, so she asked me to stay. Don’t mind me.”
I’m sure Yamauchi didn’t feel comfortable having me there. However, he had no choice except to deal with it. He looked suspicious, but then, focused his attention on Sakura.
“S-sorry to have kept you waiting. So, did you read my letter?”
“Yes. Um. Please, let me ask you one thing.”
“Sure, anything.”
Sakura grabbed her skirt and spoke as though she was squeezing her voice out of her throat. “Wh-why do you like…me? Plenty of people are cuter than me.”
“I like you, Sakura!” Yamauchi shouted. Sakura flinched in response. “S-sorry. I didn’t mean to shout. S-so, what’s your answer?”
Listening in, I could see a number of potential ways to handle the situation. But Yamauchi was so incredibly nervous, his heart about to leap out of his chest, that he probably couldn’t think of any of them, let alone pick the best option.
“I…I’m sorry!” sputtered Sakura, bowing deeply, her eyes slightly red. An awkward answer for an awkward confession. Yamauchi’s last spark of hope crumbled to dust and blew away.
“I, it’s just, w-well, I can’t, um, return your feelings,” Sakura added. It must have taken her a lot of courage to unleash those words. I was witnessing a form of romance for the very first time, albeit from uncomfortably close up. Yamauchi probably didn’t want to be rejected in front of a third-party, either.
“I see,” Yamauchi replied.
It sounded as though he was desperately trying to digest what had happened. His voice shook, just like Sakura’s. I couldn’t bring myself to laugh at him.
“Thank you, Sakura. For coming all the way here, um, to tell me in person,” he added.
“G-goodbye!” Sakura, no longer able to bear the situation, bowed and ran away.
“Ah,” sighed Yamauchi.
He extended his arm weakly, as if to try to catch Sakura as she left. I couldn’t do anything but stand there quietly, watching the first romance I ever saw in person break down. Yamauchi endured the frustration in silence for a few minutes, but eventually, he lifted his head and looked at me. Maybe he was about to shout at me, shower me with abuse, just because I was there and in his way? Take his anger out on me, instead?
“M-man, talk about embarrassing. Getting rejected by a girl in front of your buddy. I feel like my face is on fire.” Yamauchi sighed, not blaming me at all. I still saw the shock of rejection on his face, but that wasn’t all. “Whew. It’s like… How do I even put it? I almost feel relieved, you know?”
Yamauchi sounded nearly cheerful now.
“Like, I was a real idiot. I was just causing Sakura trouble. She tried so carefully not to hurt me, a guy she didn’t like. I feel incredibly guilty. I mean, I’m free to like her and all, but I’ve learned that conveying your feelings to someone comes with responsibility.”
I realized that Yamauchi’s clothes were wet. Clearly, he’d been standing outside well before he and Sakura had arranged to meet. Perhaps he’d been contemplating the confession nervously.
“You’re not as upset as I thought you’d be,” I said.
“Well, it’s a shock, but it’s not all that bad. Sakura’s cute, and I wanted her to be my girlfriend. But I was just looking at her face and her body, you know? That’s a cheap thing to do. I think, like, I didn’t really love her. If I really liked her, I would’ve felt worse when she rejected me.”
I didn’t dare say anything. I just listened quietly.
“That’s why I’m moving on. I’ll find a girl that I really like.” Apparently, Yamauchi had matured a bit after Sakura rejected him. In record time, too. “I’m grateful to you, Ayanokouji. Sorry for involving you in something so weird.”
“It’s okay, because…we’re friends,” I replied.
“Here, I’ll lend you this. You said you wanted to borrow a phone, right?”
“Didn’t you say it depended on your confession being successful?”
“I’m making an exception. But you better return it right away,” he added.
With that, Yamauchi ran off after Sakura. That was when I noticed rays of sunlight shining down through the spaces between the rainclouds.
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