Chapter- 5 Coming Home to Someone Different

Winter had come and gone before I realized it.
Assignments replaced weekends.
Exams replaced sleep.
Days stopped having names.
Monday became Tuesday, Tuesday became Friday, and somehow Sunday was already waiting again.
For the first time in my life, I was busy enough to forget what day it was.
There was one thing, however, that I never forgot.
Sunday.
Nine o'clock.
My phone.
Every week, almost without fail, Yui called.
The first few times, I had watched the screen ring before answering.
Eventually, I stopped needing to.
The moment her name appeared, my hand reached for the phone on its own.
---
"You sound tired."
Her voice came through the speaker, soft beneath the faint noise of the room around her.
"I just finished an assignment."
"Another one?"
"Mhm."
There was a short pause.
"You've become boring."
I laughed.
"You said that before I left too."
"And I still mean it."
"...You're so mean."
"I prefer the word honest."
I smiled.
Some things really hadn't changed.
We still argued over nothing.
Still laughed at jokes that wouldn't have made sense to anyone else.
Sometimes, while talking to her, I forgot the distance entirely.
Then the call would end.
I'd look at the clock.
And remember.
Hundreds of kilometers.
A different city.
A different life.
---
College was everything I'd imagined it would be.
Loud.
Busy.
Unpredictable.
I made friends.
Joined a photography club.
Stayed up late studying before exams.
There were days when I laughed until my stomach hurt.
Days when I came back to my room too tired to do anything except fall onto my bed.
I was living more than I ever had before.
And yet...
Whenever something happened that made me genuinely happy, my first thought was almost always the same.
I need to tell Yui.
A good photograph.
A ridiculous professor.
A terrible meal.
A sunset outside the dorm.
It didn't matter.
My hand would reach for my phone before I'd even thought about it.
Eventually, my roommates noticed.
---
"Who are you texting?"
I looked up.
Kaito was leaning over the back of my chair, trying to see my screen.
"No one."
"You're smiling."
I locked my phone.
"...Am I?"
"You only smile like that when you're talking to one person."
I stared at him.
"It's just my childhood friend."
"Oh?"
His eyebrows rose.
"A girl?"
"...Yeah."
The grin appeared immediately.
"I knew it."
"You knew what?"
"You're in love."
I almost laughed.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm serious."
"We've known each other forever."
"So?"
"We're basically family."
Kaito folded his arms.
He looked at me for a moment before asking casually,
"If she started dating someone tomorrow..."
He paused.
"...would you be happy?"
The room hadn't changed.
The same desk.
The same books.
The same low hum from the air conditioner.
But suddenly I couldn't hear any of it.
My mind had already answered for me.
Yui.
Standing beside someone else.
Laughing.
The way she laughed when something genuinely amused her.
Walking beside him.
Listening to him talk about his day.
Maybe reaching for his hand without thinking.
My chest tightened.
I looked down.
"...Hayate?"
I blinked.
"...I don't know."
Kaito didn't say anything for a moment.
Then he smiled.
"You do know."
I hated that he was right.
---
That night, I couldn't sleep.
The room was dark except for the faint light from the street outside.
I turned onto my side.
Then onto my back.
Then toward the wall.
Nothing helped.
The same question kept returning.
If Yui fell in love with someone else...
I imagined the phone call.
Her voice.
The casual way she might tell me.
Hayate, there's someone I like.
I closed my eyes.
It shouldn't have bothered me.
She was my friend.
My oldest friend.
I should have wanted her to be happy.
So why did the thought feel like someone was slowly pulling something out of my chest?
I sat up.
"...No."
The word came out before I could stop it.
I stared at my hands.
"I wouldn't be happy."
The room didn't answer.
For once...
I didn't try to take the words back.
---
A week later, spring vacation finally arrived.
The campus changed almost overnight.
Students dragged suitcases through the halls.
Friends made plans.
The station filled with people going home.
I packed mine in less than fifteen minutes.
Kaito stood in the doorway watching me.
"I've never seen anyone pack that fast."
"I just want to get home."
He smiled.
"You mean..."
"I know what you mean."
"...You want to see Yui."
This time, I didn't bother denying it.
I zipped the suitcase shut.
"Yeah."
Kaito looked almost surprised.
I wasn't sure why.
Maybe I was too.
---
The train ride home felt shorter than before.
Outside the window, the city slowly gave way to countryside.
Buildings disappeared.
Fields returned.
Mountains appeared in the distance.
Tiny stations passed one after another.
Places I'd known before I knew what distance meant.
Every kilometer made my heartbeat a little faster.
I kept checking the time.
There was no reason to.
The train wasn't going any faster because I looked.
Still...
I checked again.
---
When the train finally stopped, I stepped onto the platform.
Home.
The air smelled different.
Maybe it didn't.
Maybe I had just been away long enough to notice.
I adjusted my bag and started toward the exit.
Then I saw her.
She stood beneath the cherry blossoms.
She wasn't looking at me.
She was watching the arriving passengers one by one.
A light pink cardigan moved gently in the spring breeze.
Her hair had grown a little longer.
She looked...
Different.
I couldn't explain how.
It wasn't simply that she'd become more beautiful.
It was something smaller.
Something that made me stop walking.
She wasn't the girl I remembered leaving behind.
She was Yui.
And somehow...
She was no longer just the Yui I'd known as a child.
She turned.
Our eyes met across the platform.
Neither of us moved.
For a second, it felt like we were both making sure the other was real.
Then she smiled.
The same smile.
The one I'd seen countless times.
The one I'd carried with me without realizing it.
I smiled back.
And just like that...
The distance between us disappeared.
---
"...You've gotten thinner."
Her eyes moved over me.
"Hm?"
"You've been skipping meals again."
"I haven't."
She looked at me.
Nothing else.
Just that look.
The one she'd perfected sometime during childhood.
"...Hayate."
I sighed.
"...Maybe a few."
"A few?"
"...More than a few."
She didn't argue.
She simply raised her hand and flicked my forehead.
"Ow."
"Serves you right."
"You haven't changed."
"I wasn't planning to."
She smiled.
I smiled back.
A year ago, I would've bumped her shoulder.
She would've pushed me away.
Neither of us would've thought twice about it.
Now...
My hands stayed in my pockets.
Because suddenly I was too aware of them.
Too aware of how close she was.
Too aware that I wanted to touch her.
And that wanting it felt different now.
---
That afternoon, we walked through the shopping street.
The town hadn't changed much.
Neither had the people.
Someone called my name from across the road.
"Oh, Hayate's back!"
"When did you arrive?"
Yui answered before I could.
"This afternoon."
Another voice followed.
"You two are together again already?"
We both laughed politely.
But every time someone casually placed our names beside each other...
Something inside me reacted before I could stop it.
I wondered if she noticed.
I hoped she didn't.
---
We stopped outside the old bookstore.
The faded sign was still hanging above the entrance.
The same bell waited above the door.
The same elderly owner looked up from behind the counter.
His face immediately brightened.
"I was wondering when I'd see you two again."
"It's been a while," Yui said.
He smiled.
Then looked between us.
"I always thought you'd end up together someday."
My body went completely still.
Beside me, Yui scratched her cheek.
"...People say strange things."
"...Yeah."
The old man had already gone back to arranging books.
Completely unaware of what he'd just done.
We stood there for another second.
Then Yui opened the door.
The bell rang.
Neither of us mentioned it again.
But the sentence followed us all the way home.
---
The following morning, Yui asked if I wanted to help clean the old hill.
It was something the town volunteers did every spring.
"Sure."
We spent the afternoon collecting branches and pulling weeds.
It wasn't particularly exciting.
My back hurt.
My hands were dirty.
The sun was warmer than I'd expected.
Yet somehow...
I didn't want the afternoon to end.
Yui suddenly laughed.
"What?"
She pointed at my face.
"You've got dirt."
"Oh."
I rubbed my cheek.
"...Still there."
"This side?"
"No."
"...Here?"
She sighed.
"You never learn."
She stepped closer.
I stopped moving.
She was close enough that I could smell the faint scent of shampoo in her hair.
Her fingers reached toward my cheek.
A tiny brush of warmth.
She wiped away the dirt.
Then stopped.
I looked at her.
She looked at me.
Neither of us moved.
For one second, I forgot what I was supposed to do.
Then she stepped back.
"...There."
"...Thanks."
My voice sounded strange.
Hers did too.
"...You're welcome."
She turned away.
I picked up another branch.
Neither of us spoke for almost ten minutes.
---
That evening, I stayed on the hill after Yui went home.
The sunset spread across the river.
Usually, this place made everything quieter.
Tonight, it did the opposite.
I touched my cheek without thinking.
The spot where her fingers had been.
I immediately pulled my hand away.
"...What's wrong with me?"
I'd known her almost my entire life.
She'd smiled at me thousands of times.
Touched my shoulder.
Fixed my hair.
Held my hand when we were younger.
None of it had ever made me feel like this.
So why now?
Had something changed?
Or had it been changing for years...
And I was simply too stupid to notice?
---
My phone vibrated.
Kaito.
Back home treating you well?
I smiled.
Yeah.
His reply came almost immediately.
Seen your childhood friend yet?
I looked toward the empty space beside me.
Every day.
A few seconds passed.
Then:
Then why do you sound lonely?
My fingers stopped above the keyboard.
Lonely?
I looked at the place where Yui had been sitting earlier.
She had only left an hour ago.
Yet the space beside me already felt strangely noticeable.
I locked my phone.
Maybe loneliness wasn't about having nobody around.
Maybe sometimes...
It was having one person you wanted to tell something to—
and still not knowing how.
---
The next day, rain began falling while Yui and I were walking home.
"Run!"
She grabbed my wrist.
We ran.
By the time we reached the bus shelter, we were both soaked.
Yui burst into laughter.
"You look terrible."
"You don't exactly look elegant either."
She wiped rain from her forehead.
Then she looked outside.
Rain hammered against the pavement.
"...You know..."
"What?"
"I've missed this."
I answered before thinking.
"So have I."
She looked at me.
The laughter disappeared from her face.
Not because she was upset.
Because neither of us seemed to know what to do with the truth sitting between us.
For a moment, I wanted to tell her everything.
The rain sound convincing me to say those things.
The late-night calls.
The photographs.
The sunsets.
The way every good thing made me reach for my phone.
The way seeing her again had made something inside me painfully clear.
I wanted to tell her that coming home no longer felt like returning to a place.
It felt like returning to her.
But the words stayed where they were.
"We should head back before it gets darker."
"...Yeah."
She smiled.
I smiled back.
Then we stepped into the rain.
Neither of us said what we'd almost said.
---
Three Days Later
My vacation ended too quickly.
The station was crowded.
My suitcase stood beside me.
Yui stood across from me.
The same station.
The same tracks.
Almost the same goodbye.
Almost.
The announcement echoed through the platform.
My train was ready.
I looked at her.
She smiled.
"You'll call Sunday?"
"Of course."
"Don't forget."
"I won't."
The train doors opened.
I picked up my suitcase.
For a second, neither of us moved.
Then I stepped inside.
I found a place by the window.
Yui remained on the platform.
The train began moving.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
I watched her through the glass.
She became smaller.
The platform stretched behind her.
The cherry blossoms disappeared.
Then the station disappeared.
I kept looking until there was nothing left to see.
---
Yui
I stayed on the platform long after the train had vanished.
I didn't cry.
Not because it didn't hurt.
I'd simply learned what goodbyes felt like.
The first time, I had thought the pain would eventually disappear.
It hadn't.
It had only become familiar.
I looked down at my hands.
Three years.
That was how long remained.
Three more years before Hayate finished university.
Three more years before he would return for good.
I didn't know why the thought came to me.
I didn't know why I whispered it.
Maybe because saying something made the empty platform feel less empty.
"...Three more years."
The wind moved through the cherry blossoms.
I closed my eyes.
"I'll wait."
The words were quiet.
Almost too quiet to hear.
And yet...
For the first time, I wondered why waiting for him felt less like a promise to a childhood friend...
And more like a promise to someone I couldn't imagine my future without.