Chapter 10 – The Spaces Between

The whole school is extra lively today, why?
School festival prep.

After class, desks were dragged into corners, Paintbrushes were dipped into half dried trays.
Strips of colored paper hung from windows like banners, half taped and curled at the edges.

Haruki stood near the back of his classroom, holding a small roll of masking tape that someone had tossed into his hands.
He wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to do with it.

Across the room, Akari Yamada was knee deep in a cardboard stage prop, gesturing wildly about where the fake cherry tree should go.
Two other classmates argued about whether the booth should use real lanterns or the cheap LED ones from the store.

In the middle of it all, Reina was folding colored paper at a low table.
Aoi knelt beside her, stringing decorations onto a line. Reina’s braid was looped loosely today, strands slipping out.

She hadn’t looked Haruki’s way once.

“Yo.” Mitsuki leaned against the desk beside him, balancing a roll of string on his palm. “You still stuck on tape duty?”

Haruki shrugged.

“She’s been quiet lately,” Mitsuki added, not bothering to specify who. “Not in the usual way, It’s like she’s halfway here.”

Haruki didn’t respond.

Mitsuki smirked and tilted his head. “Still circling each other, huh?”

Haruki exhaled slowly through his nose. “Do you always narrate other people’s lives?”

“Only when they’re this confusing.”

Haruki didn’t argue.
Instead, he peeled a strip of tape and helped stick a banner onto the window.

They took a break sometime after four, Haruki stepped outside into the courtyard with a half finished juice box in hand.
The air had cooled since lunch. The gray clouds were still hanging around.

Reina was already there.

She sat at the usual bench, legs crossed at her ankles, a paper bag beside her.
When she noticed him, her eyes didn’t flick away. She just... shifted slightly, just enough to leave room on the bench.

Haruki took the hint.

He sat down next to her, Not too close, Not too far.

She opened the paper bag and pulled out two small sweet potatoes wrapped in foil.
Steam coming out from it as she split it in half and handed him a piece.

“You probably forgot to eat again,” she said.

Haruki accepted it with a nod. “Thanks.”

They ate in silence for a while,

“The tree’s losing its leaves,” Reina said suddenly.

Haruki glanced up at the courtyard tree. “Yeah?”

“It looks thinner than last year,” she said. “More empty.”

He wasn’t sure if she was talking about the tree.

She didn’t add anything after that, and neither did he.
But she stayed beside him, slowly finishing her sweet potato. He noticed her sleeve brushing his coat once as she shifted.

It didn’t feel accidental.

The literature club was quieter than usual.
Only a few members showed up Aoi, still humming under her breath while arranging flyers, and one second year dozing off in the corner with a volume of short stories on his lap.

Reina sat near the window, flipping through a book.

Haruki waited until the others left.

He walked over as she began packing her things, There was a small pause when she noticed him, but she didn’t seem surprised.

He took the wrapped object from his bag and held it out in both hands.

Reina accepted it carefully, She peeled the paper open.

Inside, the resin leaf glowed faintly under the overhead light.
The golden lines were still visible, suspended in clear, imperfect resin. With a tiny bubble at the edge.

Reina didn’t speak right away.

Then, softly :
“You made this for me?”

Haruki looked down, “I found it near the tree a while ago. I just… kept it.”

Reina studied the shape again, turning it in her fingers. “It’s pretty.”

She didn’t say anything more, but she didn’t let go of it, either.

She slipped it carefully into the side pocket of her bag, then looked up.

“I haven’t sat with you at lunch lately,” she said.

Haruki nodded once. “I noticed.”

“I want to,” she said.

A moment passed.

“Do you want to eat together next week?” she asked.

He could’ve made a joke, Asked if she meant the same bench, same tree, same silence.

Instead, he just said, “Yeah.”

They left the clubroom together, The hallway was quieter now, lit by ceiling lights and the fading sunlight outside.

Ahead of them, Aoi waved briefly from the stairs, a roll of poster paper under her arm.
Akari’s laugh can be heard from somewhere upstairs, followed by the sound of cardboard collapsing.
Someone shouted that they needed more tape.

Reina walked at his side, close enough that her sleeve brushed his again.

She didn’t say anything, Haruki didn’t say much either.

But he noticed the resin leaf pressing lightly against her bag as she walked.

She hadn’t put it away completely.