xxddmm

Chapter 21 - The school festival begins. (Part 2)

Late September, on a Saturday.
The kind of evening where it feels like everything you've been desperately holding back might just burst out all at once.

"Attention from the student council: Heavy rain is forecasted to start within 30 minutes. Classes with outdoor exhibits, please end your displays early and begin packing up..."

The sky was getting darker.
Sure, it was already getting close to evening, but that wasn't the main reason. Massive clouds were rolling in from the west, spreading quickly and swallowing the sky.

Outdoor stalls and tents had started scrambling to pack up after the announcement.
Waves of visitors, who'd been wandering the campus all day, were now flowing out through the school gates. The campus had turned into a chaotic mess.

And in the middle of all this I was probably the most frantic-looking person here, running around the school grounds like my life depended on it.

[ I'm done here! Ta~kun, where are you right now? ]

No read receipt yet on the message I'd sent.
With all the noise around, my notification sound had probably been drowned out.

Our class's exhibit had wrapped up earlier than planned.
Not because of the rain forecast, but because we'd completely run out of the snacks we'd prepared thanks to way more visitors than we expected.

Which, honestly, was fine by me. Finally freed from my shift, I was now rushing around trying to meet back up with him.

Technically, there was still cleanup left to do in the classroom, but out of nowhere, Aya-chan had swooped in with a cheerful, Don't worry, I'll handle all the cleanup! Like some kind of savior.

...Okay, so maybe it wasn't completely selfless. She'd been slacking off for most of the shift and vanished who-knows-where, so everyone was more than happy to dump the entire cleanup duty on her and scatter.

Normally, I'd feel too guilty to just leave everything to her, and I'd have stayed behind to help. But today? Sorry, Aya-chan, I owe you one. I'll make it up to you later, I promise!

...Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

"He still hasn't read it yet..."

I haven't received any reply from him yet.

Could he have already gone home?
It's about to rain, after all. And I did keep him waiting for over an hour.

We hadn't even made a solid plan or confirmed anything properly.
My reply to him was just sent a little while ago.
Maybe he changed his mind in the meantime and is already relaxing at home by now.

But...

"To Hikari: Message me when your shift ends. I'll wait."

The message he'd written on a napkin. His kind, thoughtful words.
I can't imagine -- no, I don't want to imagine -- him breaking that promise so easily.

"Maybe I should just go back to the classroom..."

Yeah... If I can't reach him, wandering around aimlessly is just wasting time.

After all, this is his first time at my school.
The only place he knows where I might be is my classroom -- the one he visited earlier.

"Alright!"

Once I make a decision, I don't hesitate.
I turned on my heel, dashed to the lockers, swapped out my outdoor shoes for my indoor ones, and bolted down the hallway.

Teachers, visitors, please turn a blind eye to my blatant rule-breaking just this once!
I swear, it's an emergency!

On my way, I passed by the gym, where a bunch of students were sweating it out, packing up chairs and setting up decorations. They were busy flipping the live stage into a dance floor for the evening's afterparty.
It looked like they weren't going to let a little rain ruin the fun. The indoor festivities were still on track.

Alright, it seems my plan to declare my love during the afterparty isn't dead yet!

With that determination fueling me, I sprinted up the stairs -- second floor, third floor -- until I finally reached the fourth floor, where my classroom was. It had taken me about ten minutes, but I was here.

The hallway was eerily quiet.
Not just my class, but the neighboring ones had apparently wrapped up their activities too, leaving the floor almost entirely empty.

"...Huh?"

What is this weird feeling?
Is it the dim lighting making the hallway feel unsettling?
My steps felt strangely heavy. Is the heavy silence messing with my nerves?

But still... If he's not here, I won't be able to find him.

No. That's not it...
If I wait here, he'll surely come back.

With that thought in mind, I reached for the door to my classroom. But just as I was about to open it...

"Huh?"

A sharp slap sounded out from inside.

And it wasn't just the noise.
I saw it too, clear as day.

"H-Huh...?"

In the dimly lit classroom, there were two silhouettes.
A tall boy, and a girl with short hair.

The boy was holding his cheek, looking pained.
The girl stood frozen, her hand still mid-air, as if she'd just swung it.

The girl... had just slapped the boy.

Wait... that boy is...

"Yami-senpai, I...!"

That voice... is...

Ta~kun...?

The boy I'd been desperately searching for was here, in my classroom, alone with another girl.
The situation in front of me made no sense. It was so far removed from anything I could've imagined that my brain completely froze.

No, no, I can't just escape into denial like this.
Deep down, I already know who they are -- not just him, but her too.

That voice. That figure.
I see her all the time. Every day.
Maybe even more often than I see him.

"Shut up already, Yuu!"

The girl I knew so well moved.

She wrapped her hands around the boy's head -- the boy she'd just slapped -- and pulled him down.
Their faces, over ten centimeters apart in height, closed the distance, and her lips pressed against his.

"Ah... ahhh..."

Maybe this was just one of those moments -- awkward and private -- something I wasn't supposed to see. A coincidence that I stumbled upon it.

But their voices...
Both of their voices, voices I knew so well, were echoing in my mind, over and over.

Ta~kun...
And... and... Aya-chan?!

No, nonono, I'm wrong, this can't be right!
The boy might be Ta~kun, but the girl -- it's not Aya-chan. It can't be.

...But even if it's not her, what does that change?

That boy over there is definitely Ta~kun, no doubt about it.
So why am I so hung up on whether or not the girl is Aya-chan?

Would it be such a big deal if the other person was my best friend?
Wait, no, that's not it. It's not Aya-chan. It can't be.

Ta~kun even said it himself.
That's Yami-senpai, that's what he called her. It's someone else. A different person.

It's not Aya-chan...
It's not... Ayami-chan...... right?

............
............

See? I knew it.
Kissing is nothing special, just the taste of spit.

...Just the taste of Yuu.

Sigh. This is why I was hiding in the first place...

The moment he came to my school -- my classroom -- I slipped away, avoiding him entirely.

So why... why did he came back?

Why do you always manage to find me, Yuu?

A ringing sound fills my head, jumbling my thoughts.
No, wait -- it's not ringing.

It's the sound of heavy raindrops, pelting the classroom windows, blurring everything outside.

I'm Sudou Ayami, eighteen years old......

......and before I realized it, my ex-boyfriend became the boy my best friend is in love with.