“Connections that weave the past.” (Past Friends Arc | Chapter 1)

“Hot… So. Damn. Hot.” Emi cried, head practically stuffed in the fan.

“There, there,” I said, patting her head softly.

Summer was still blazing, and unfortunately, Emi and I were caught in the middle of it. Today, we didn’t really have any plans. It normally would’ve been park day, but the fact that Emi was practically melting spelled the end of that.

“M-Mei… P-pop…sicle.” The girl said to me, making a puppy dog face.

“Emi, we don’t have any Popsicles.”

“T-the store… It’s down…The…stre–”.

In the middle of her sentence, she fell over. I waited a few seconds for her to wake up, but after a while, I grew slightly worried.

“Emi?”

“...”

Pure silence. Could it be…? Had she actually died? No. I still could save her. I needed to go right now. The popsicles were the cure.

I put on my sandals, then made my way out the door. Before I could leave, I heard a brief “Thank you” come from the living room.

I kind of wish she had waited until I returned to thank me. The game wasn’t fun anymore. Now I was just going to get Popsicles to satisfy her needs, not to save her. Oh well, I thought.

The convenience store was down the street. By the time I exited our apartment, I was already practically there. That was one of the few things I admired about this area.

For lack of a better word, the area that Emi and I lived near was very… Japanese? The scenery looked straight out of an anime. It was beautiful. One of these days, Emi and I would have to find a good spot to stargaze, huh?

“I’ll let her know when I get back,” I thought aloud.

In case you were curious, I was currently waiting for the pedestrian symbol to turn green so I could cross the street, but like always, this took forever. I was surprised that my sandals hadn’t melted yet.

After one or two more cars passed by, the light finally changed. I walked across the street, then made my way inside the convenience store.

When I entered, the front of the store was rather empty. Thinking that I’d caught a strand of luck, I made my way to the ice cream section, only to see that everyone else had the same idea as me and Emi.

By the time everyone moved out of the way and I was free to scan the frozen treats, I noticed that most of the Popsicles were gone. The only remaining ones were chocolate and orange sherbet.

After living with Emi for a while, I pretty much knew that she’d hate both of these, so instead, I just grabbed a container of Neapolitan ice cream. That way, if she wanted vanilla, she could have it, or if she wanted strawberry, she could also have that. Thoughtful, I know.

I made my way to the front, then paid, but as I grabbed my bagged ice cream and walked en route to exiting the store, I heard an unfamiliar, yet nostalgic voice call my name:

“Hiruno-chan! Is that you?”

Hiruno…chan? Was that me? I thought.

Only one other person ever called me that, and from what I knew, she’d long since moved away. Maybe she had the wrong Hiruno. Yeah. That surely was it.

I averted my eyes and continued making my way to the door.

“WAAAAH! DON’T IGNORE ME, HIRU–”

“OKAY! I get it,” I interrupted before she could cause a scene.

I only knew one girl this expressive. It couldn’t have been. She moved away after graduating–she also never texted me…

I scanned my memory for her name, then:

“Uhhh. Chloe-chan, right?”

“Uwahhh, you remember!” She cried. How could I forget someone as expressive as this?

Just as I thought that maybe, just maybe I could head home, 3 more people emerged from the back rows. One boyish girl with short hair, another with long hair, and one with two springy pigtails. It couldn’t fucking be… right?

“Aren’t you happy she remembers you, Chloe?” The boyish-looking girl asked.

“Mmmm! Mmmm! I’m so happy! Hiruno, you remember Tomoe, right?”

I swallowed, then immediately after, felt sweat drip down my forehead. My college friends. How long has it been?

Chloe–the overly expressive short stack who scored a job overseas and left immediately after college, then Tomoe, a boyish girl, loved by men and women alike, who was en route to becoming pro after college, and lastly, Maria. The only one in our group, aside from me, who settled for an office job.

“I…I…” The words got stuck in my throat. This was all too much to process. Why were they here? Why were they standing in front of me?

Judging from the gradual sweat emerging on all of their foreheads, the past was still at the forefront of all our minds. None of us got over what happened.

We simply kept moving forward, believing that since we’d never see each other again, nothing needed to be resolved. Look where that got us.

Maria, especially, avoided gazing at me. But the times she did, I felt my heart skip a beat. FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK. No. No. Just walk away. Just walk away. Just walk awa–

“Listen… May. We need to talk. Won’t you talk to us? Or at the very least, me?”

Why was it that throughout the noisy store, and even through the generic background music playing, her voice felt like it spoke directly into my ears? And that nickname that only she’d ever called me… May. Her favorite month.

I stared at her blushing expression as she twiddled with her hair. Hahhh. She was cute. It seemed like that one thing about her remained a constant, even today.

I wasn’t sure why, but without looking, something told me that the ice cream had started melting. It wouldn’t be too long until I followed suit.

Such were the connotations that accompanied summer.

Reading the room, Tomoe and Chloe went ahead of us, leaving the two of us alone. Really? Right here? We couldn’t get somewhere more private to talk?

I took my gaze off her and directed it to the ice cream. 

Sorry. Don’t die, please!