Day26

In a couple of weeks, everything will be over. There will be no more studying for me, our class would graduate, and Miya will be leaving. This day was probably the last day I get to spend with her as she would be too busy afterwards.

She wasn’t exactly playing around when Yumi called her this morning. It took a while for Yumi to convince her to spend the day with us, though Yumi didn’t really tell her that I will be spending the day with them.

Since I was with her, Yumi was fine with Miya meeting her in the park. I hid in the bushes while Yumi was waiting under a lamp post. When Miya arrived, all dolled up, and was near Yumi, I sneaked behind her and grabbed her shoulder. Yumi and I laughed so hard when Miya jolted in surprise.

“Kyosei, you jerk!” she screamed at me when she saw me, whilst hitting me with her bag.

I shielded myself while laughing, unable to say anything in response.

“I forgot to mention that he was coming along, didn’t I?” Yumi asked, still laughing.

“I don’t think you really forgot,” Miya answered, glaring at the two of us.

She didn’t really stay angry at us for long. She knew we were only kidding, and she found it amusing later on. But it didn’t stop her from complaining.

“And here I was, looking forward to an all girls’ outing,” Miya complained, pouting.

“All girls?” I asked. “There’re only two of you…”

“What’s wrong with that? All could consist of a couple too,” Miya answered.

I knew better than to argue, so I remained quiet. We didn’t really aim to go directly anywhere, so we just wandered around the shopping district. Yumi pulled Miya to several clothing and accessories stores. I went with them in the first few, but stopped going into the stores later on, especially when they started entering lingerie stores. I kept myself occupied by looking around other stores like hobby and magic shops.

We went to a restaurant, well known for its desserts, after I received a call, which was around 1:30pm. Upon arriving, I opened and held the door for Miya to enter. When she did, everyone inside welcomed her by shouting, “Surprise!” Everyone from our class was there.

Hitori handled the reservation of the restaurant and was the one who spread the word about the surprise. Yumi and I were the ones to lead Miya to the place after Hitori gives us the signal, which was the call I received earlier. After I told Hitori that Yumi wanted to hold a surprise party for Miya, Hitori was determined to make it successful. He started off by telling some of the girls who usually ate with Miya, then the word was just passed around. I was surprised Miya wasn’t able to find out about it.

“W-what’s this for?” Miya asked, shocked of what she just saw.

I placed my hand on Miya’s head before whispering to her, “Though you always kept a low profile in class, everyone felt that you’re an important piece of the puzzle which is our class. Without you, our class wouldn’t be the same.” Turning to her, I continued, “When they found out you were going to leave after we graduate and we were planning on having a farewell party for you, everyone was willing to help out.”

“How could I be so important?” Miya asked, tears dripping down her cheeks. Everyone looked at her with concern, all silent. “I didn’t talk much. I kept myself in my own world, always refusing to go to outings and class get-togethers.”

“Hey, that’s who you are! We didn’t have to take that against you!” Ria, one of the girls Miya usually had lunch with before, exclaimed.

“That’s right! We love you for who you are!” some guy’s voice added. I didn’t know whom it came from. “Especially Izaki!” he laughed, followed by some others.

“You think you can just leave without a word? We won’t let you!” Hitori shouted.

Miya smiled, wiping away her tears. Yumi approached her and hugged her from behind. “You’re not alone, Miya-san. You might not notice it, but I believe that you’ve touched everyone here in some way. It might be in some little help you offered; maybe it was something you said. Or maybe it’s through a smile you showed them. I, for one, have had my life change by you. I was blessed to have you as my friend.” Yumi whispered, starting to cry herself.

Everything went by great after that. Aside from the great meal, some of our classmates prepared some presentations for everyone. Yumi sang Yuki no Kisetsu’s theme song, which Miya sang on our date before, and everyone praised her great performance afterwards. Yumi looked so happy, having so many friendly people around her. For the first time, I’ve witnessed how close our class has become after our three years together. Whenever we were in the classroom, we only saw each other as friends and classmates, but the scene I saw today portrayed a big family. The party ended with Miya thanking everyone for everything.

“… And finally, I’d like to thank Yumi who, as I was told, set this party up. I didn’t realize it until now. But I really, really, love everyone!” were her final remarks to everyone.

We were all speechless. Some were already in tears. I clapped my hands and everyone followed my lead. It was a grand memory.

After that, everyone went home. Hitori accompanied Yumi to her home. Yumi didn’t seem to mind. I remember the two of them conversing with each other a lot during the party. I offered to walk Miya home and she accepted.

We didn’t get very far from the restaurant when it started raining. Miya and I ran to the nearest shade we found, which was under an awning in a bus stop by the road. We sat down on a couple of seats there.

“Hey,” Miya whispered. “Thank you for doing all this for me.”

“It was my pleasure,” I whispered. “Besides, the credit belongs to Yumi. I hardly did anything.” I added.

Miya shook her head. “It wouldn’t be the same if you weren’t there,” she smiled.

Both of us didn’t say anything for a while after that. Miya rested her head on my shoulder and I placed my arms around her. I wished that moment would last forever.

“About the necklace,” Miya suddenly whispered. “You weren’t kidding, were you?”

“You believed it?” I asked, not really wanting her to think about that anymore.

“I can’t imagine you making a joke to me about that. Especially at the moment you said it,” she replied. “I was just too preoccupied with my thoughts then to really think about it.”

After she said that, I didn’t feel like keeping it from her anymore. “Hitori was the one who pointed it out to me. He suspected that you fell for him when you did. He told me everything.”

“So, do you think this relationship is a lie?” Miya asked.

“I really love you,” I whispered. “But your feelings might not be…” I paused to think of the word I wanted.

“…real?” Miya finished for me. “Do you even know why I love you?”

I turned to her, remembering what she said back on Valentines’ Day. “Because you love the you that is with me…” I answered.

“That’s right,” she whispered. “I admit that I was suddenly attracted to you at a time. And I caught myself thinking a lot about you. But it was the times I spent with you that I loved. The times when I really loved being in my shoes.” Looking at me, she asked, “Do you think my love is a lie?”

“No,” I answered, shaking my head.

The rain soon stopped and both of us stood up. “You know, if it really was true… that your necklace ignited my feelings for you, I’m still happy.” She walked outside and turned around to look at me. “It allowed me to fall in love with a person I could love for the rest of my life,” she smiled.

Memories of our past conversations returned to me. I couldn’t help but smile. But then my joy didn’t last very long. “But we can’t be together that long, can we?” I asked.

Miya shook her head and turned away. “If we were really meant to be together, then we’d be together in the end.”

I let out a small sigh. I wanted to believe that we’d end up together again in the future. But not knowing how long it would be before that time comes, it didn’t really seem realistic to me.