Chapter 5 (1/2)

A little more angst to go. Nothing but a light breeze, right? Thank 9 and our editors for getting this out quickly as possible.

Just Loving You

JLY05

rawr:

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Risa PoV – Anxiety and Antic.i.p.ation

My tears began to flow as if they were hiding my face. I felt disgusted at myself, disgusted that I froze up and didn't at least say「sorry」. As I approached her, I felt scared. While I enjoyed Yumi's company, I thought that our relations.h.i.+p may have broken if I pushed it any further, but in the end, we missed each other. I love Yumi, and I'm sure she loves me too, but not having confronted that, our paths separated. My mind had just been full of Yumi; during cla.s.s and even in club, nothing else entered my mind. I was told to go home early since a spiked ball hit my face making my nose swell and even bleed. I deceived my cla.s.smates and teachers by saying「I was s.p.a.cing out due to the heat」, but my mind was truthfully just full of Yumi. It was painful being unable to meet Yumi.

It was lonely.

As more days pa.s.sed, further and further, thoughts of Yumi swelled up inside of me. Cracks began to form and a cold draft leaked out. Even though it was the middle of summer, inside my heart, it was midwinter. The only way that I could ever warm up again was Yumi herself.

I could see Yumi's silhouette from far away. Yet no matter how hard I chased, I couldn't catch up with her. On the contrary, the silhouette only got smaller and before I noticed it, I was inside a deep, dark forest. As I watched Yumi's appearance disappear between the gaps of the leaves, I tried to run towards her, but my legs got caught on the tree roots and I fell over. I couldn't see Yumi's figure anywhere and didn't know the way back.

「Yumiiiiii!!」

With all my might I shouted. There was no response, only the swaying of the leaves on the trees and the chirps from small birds. I could never mistake the sound of Yumi's voice, but that was nowhere to be heard.

And now, I'm alone. My heart was crushed and tears, overflowing -- unable to stop. It took me until now to realize that my knees hurt from falling over. That important place in my heart felt sore. Lost as I was, I could only continue down the current path.

--My eyelids were heavy. The alarm's ring annoyingly resounded inside my ears despite me not having any club activities today. I curiously thought about it and looked at the date. That's right, we had to go to school today. There should be an orientation about the field trip happening this September.

It was sweltering inside my room, but I shook off the heat and went to school. It grew hotter as the sun's rays. .h.i.t me, but finally, after such a long time, I could meet Yumi. As I thought about that, the heat became secondary.