The starry night sky.

Because of what?" He pressed further, but Sakiko weirdly laughed at him.

"I wished I had time to tell you about it, but I am very sorry." Now she was smiling, leaning over in a submissive way. "I have a part-time work to do now."

She jumped out of the swing and hopped away. "I will tell you later when I have time, okay? Let's chat by text until then!" She waved before disappearing from his sight.

Kanako just stood there, confused by what just happened here. His mind was lingering with even more questions. What was Sakiko doing here? How did she meet with him? What did she mean by 'that'? Was Ayane hiding something from him? He didn't know.

All he did know is, Sakiko has the key to answering some of those questions. It might help him solve what was wrong.

"Wait a second... why was I not sad at Ayane-chan back then?" Kanako mumbled, standing under the setting sun. "Wouldn't someone feel that way? But when I saw her, I knew something was wrong. And it's not her..."

He stood as the sun sets under the horizon. His heart felt like someone was squeezing it with full force. It felt pain. He finally realised why.

"Her eyes... Ayane's eyes that I saw just now... were the same eyes that I saw on that day... those very dead eyes with tears..." It was fear. Kanako felt fear. What if she tries the same thing again? He doesn't want that. Just imagining it now is bringing him to tears.

"What can I do... so save someone this close to me... while they try to push me away? I cannot approach her... nor help her during her distress..." his bottled emotions finally got out.

"I gotta be fast." Slapping himself, he firmed his emotions. "I gotta save her as fast as possible... there might be some lingering trauma of hers that is affecting her till this day... I know because I saw her face like that on those occasions. But this time it was even more severe... my time is limited..."

As dusk covered the skies, revealing the bright stars, Kanako started to head home.

"Ayane-chan is such a brave girl..." he looked at the stars, mumbling to himself. "To be able to hold herself while experiencing such harsh traumas... and not to mention facing something even harder now... she is a superhuman, surviving all odds of life... thats the reason why I-"

Kanako blushed as he realised what he was going to blurt out. But this time, he didn't shoo it away. He was becoming tired of the same thing, not recognising his emotions. It was draining his energy. He wouldn't lie to himself now.

"I... I fell hard... for her..." he hid his face under his elbow, feeling funny down his heart. But what will he do with this emotion? He didn't know.

But he did know that before his emotions, Ayane's emotions came first. He first have to help her overcome her difficulty. He didn't want the one he liked go further away from him.