Volume 2 - CH 4.3

“Who knows. Both of us are not who we used to be. If we want to be friends based on that, then we can be, and if not, then we can keep our distance.”

Silently, I shook off the illusion I just had.

“You’re so indifferent.” Hina wryly laughed. 

“Sorry, but this is how my sense of distance is nowadays. But still…”

“Yes, still, that doesn’t take away from the time we were friends,” Hina was one step ahead of me. She verbalised the same feelings as I had. 

We folded cranes together. We practised with the basketball team. We had casual chats. Nothing would ever disappear, not that fact, not the feelings we gained from those times. 

“Yeah, exactly.”

Cinderella was already on her way to the ball. There was no need for the fairy godmother. 

However, that didn’t mean we had a bad ending. At least, if both Cinderella and the fairy godmother were happy after they parted, then it must be a happy ending. Surely one day, somewhere, when Cinderella and the fairy godmother met again, they would be able to laugh and talk.  

“Yamato, it’s okay now over here. You have somewhere you want to go, don’t you?” Before long, Hina changed the subject with a bright smile, as if she had put this matter behind her. 

“What do you mean okay? There’s still a lot to clean up here.”

When I swept my gaze around the area, Hina showed me her phone.

“It’s alright. I’ll call for help. Yamato isn’t the only one I can rely on right now.”

“…Is that so?”

I accepted her words with some sadness and a greater chunk of joy.

“If so, I’ll be happy to oblige.”

“Yes. Do your best!”

And so I walked away from below the stage with my former best friend seeing me off.

.

I found myself running randomly down the school corridor.

—I wanna see her.

That feeling was the only thing that kept me on the move.

—I wanna see her, I just wanna see her. I wanna look at her, properly touch her and confirm her presence. 

Was this possibly because I had settled things with Hina? The urge to meet her was overflowing as though all restraints had been removed.

Alas, she was nowhere to be found, as if she was eluding me. 

“Just where has she gone…?”

Out of breath, I scanned the crowd in the corridor. Naturally, I couldn’t connect to her phone. Just like Hina, her phone must’ve remained off. 

“Why…”

—Why won’t she see me?

Unlike Hina, Yuzu probably didn’t leave the power switched off by mistake. She didn’t turn it on of her own volition, just so that she wouldn’t see me. 

“…Damn it!” I gnashed my teeth and moved my feet again. 

“Somehow, it made me think… Like, is it okay for me to keep that you to myself?”

Like hell I would let her end things by saying such lonely words. Like hell I would make her smile so sullenly like that. 

Yuzu was always like that. Despite being a narcissist, she was not self-centred and was always out to amuse someone else; in the end, she would close things out by her getting the short end of the stick. Yet, she would smile and deemed it to be all right. 

In truth, it was never all right. She’d only cry inside, but she’d still put on that smile.   

—I’ll never accept such a thing!

“I definitely am gonna find that narcissist…!”

Determination pushed me to go out onto the school field. Before long, I spotted the back of a figure dressed as a witch with the same cloak as the one Yuzu was wearing. 

“Is that her…?!”

I cut through the crowd and as soon as I caught up with that girl, I made my way around to her front.

“Eh, Izumi?”

Alas, that wasn’t Yuzu. It was Kotani, who was wearing the same set of costumes. 

“Indeed, it’s you, Izumi.”

“You seemed to be in a bit of a rush, what’s going on?”

Next to her were Namase, who had apparently taken a break and had returned to his plain clothes, and Sakuraba, who was dragging his feet. Apparently, the three of them were wandering around the festival together.

“No, sorry. I got the wrong person.” My head, which had been buzzing, finally cooled down. I took a deep breath and looked at Namase. “Namase, thank you for your help earlier.”

“Hmm? Oh, no sweat. That was a piece of cake,” Namase replied to my thanks by waving his hand in a friendly manner. 

“Hey, you said you had the wrong person. Who are you looking for?” Kotani, who I had mistaken for another person, knitted her eyebrows in puzzlement. 

“Oh, I’m looking for Yuzu… Is she not with you guys?”

When I asked them this, the three of them had a blank look.

“No, we don’t know where she is. After I greeted the others at the dressing room just now, I met up with Aki right afterwards.” When Sakuraba turned to Kotani, she nodded her head.

“Yeah. I was going to invite her, but I couldn’t even connect to her phone… Right?” Kotani then sent a glance to Namase.

In turn, Namase looked at me with a strange expression. It was as if he was having difficulty saying something.

“Yup. Since it’s the cultural festival, I thought she intentionally kept her phone off to not be disturbed when she was wandering around the festival with Izumi, so I simply didn’t bother her.”

I see. From their point of view, that would be the obvious decision.

“…I got it. Thanks!”

I thanked the three of them and turned on my heel.

“Izumi, do you need any help?” Sakuraba called out with concern from behind me. 

I only turned my face back to him and gave him a wry smile. “No, you can’t do that with those legs. I’ll just accept your thoughts. Besides…” I took my gaze off them and looked ahead of me. “I already know where to find her.” 

After parting with these three, I returned to the school building and slowly made my way up the stairs. 

The third floor, which was open to the public, was bustling with activity, but once I entered the fourth floor, it instantly became quiet. There was a hint of noise from the distance, but the space was empty. 

As I was walking and feeling as if I had wandered into another world, someone appeared in my view.