A Heartbreaking Truth

 The beach day of the vacation was arriving. Mitori and Hayako had already planned on buying the necessary equipments and swimming clothes for their beach day beforehand. Hirugami, Mitori, Hayako, Ichiko, Ada and Kitomi all went together before the designated beach day to buy their beach equipment and clothes. Kitomi and her friends went to the women’s section and the rest of the boys went to the boy’s section. “There are a large number of people in the beach clothes and equipment section of the store. Many people are heading to the beach. The beach tomorrow is going to be busy guys. Mitori come here”, called out Hayako. After Mitori came to talk with him, Hirugami witnessed Hayako whispering something into Mitori’s ear. Hayako said something to Mitori which got him excited. They put their shopping items in Hirugami’s care and told him that they had some research to be taken care of. Hirugami, knowing his friends were about to do, advised them to stop, but they didn’t listen to him and headed towards the direction of the women’s section. Hirugami felt embarrassed of his friends’ perverted behaviour.

Sometime Hirugami noticed Mitori and Hayako getting back from the women’s section, with Kitomi, Ada and Ichiko behind them; a look of despair on their faces. When asked the reason by Hirugami, Mitori and Hayako showed him their faces, half of which had been imprinted red by a hand. On seeing that, Hirugami thought that it must be Ada’s, as she had a short temper and easily resorted on taking action rather than talking it out. Hirugami felt that he had thought the right thing as there was a look of anger and wrath on Ada’s face, which scared Hirugami a bit. He felt sorry for his friends and their condition.

Suddenly, Hirugami felt a peck at his elbow and noticed that Kitomi was trying to grab his attention by tugging at his shirt. When Hirugami asked her what was she tugging at him about, she held his hands and told him to follow her. She must be trying to show her something. He called out to his friends, who were being scolded by Ada and told them that Kitomi was taking him to show him something and they should wait for them at the cashier counter. After he completed his talk with his friends, he followed Kitomi who took his hand and took him to the women’s section. Hirugami wondered where she was taking him, when she took him to the women’s dressing room and told him to wait outside.

Realization hit him and he understood that she was going to ask him about her dress. He knew that girls are always picky about their choices and that he should tell her that she looked good, but he shouldn’t make it too obvious. After waiting for a minute thinking about his answer to her, when he heard the curtain of the dressing room being removed and Kitomi came out wearing out a cute red stripped bikini swimsuit. She looked as beautiful as an angel. When Hirugami looked at her, he thought that she looked perfect and without him realizing, he smiled by looking at her, a colourful and bright smile. Before Kitomi could ask him about the dress, Hirugami told her, “It looks good on you. You look beautiful”, and when she saw his vibrant smile, she knew that he had liked it and that made her happy and relieved herself, as she was confused about which swimsuit to choose and if everyone would have liked it. Hirugami’s smile increased her confidence in herself. Besides the compliment, Hirugami’s smile made her happy and she felt herself blush and she hid her face from Hirugami’s view. On seeing Kitomi hide her face, Hirugami thought that if his compliment made her angry and if he had said something wrong. Looking anguished, he asked Kitomi if he had said something wrong. When Kitomi saw the look on Hirugami’s face, she laughed out, thinking that he cared for her but didn’t show it outwards. Seeing her laughing, Hirugami felt relieved. They packed the swimsuit and went towards the cashier counter where their friends were waiting for them.

They bought everything that they needed and made their way to a cafe as it was a tiring day for all of them. Together they made their way to a nearby cafe. The hot atmosphere created between Mitori, Hayako and Ada also cooled down a bit as they conversed with each other while having their ice creams and other consumables. After having their evening snack, each of them made their separate ways home. Hirugami, Mitori, Hayako, Ada and Ichiko were all excited for tomorrow’s day to be spent at the beach. But, Kitomi was more excited to finish the manga and promised to herself to finish the manga quickly and she decided to express the feelings hidden deep inside her heart to a certain someone.

Two hours prior to everybody’s designated time to arrive at the beach, Kitomi was talking to Ichiko, who lived near her house and they had decided to leave together. While packing her bag, Kitomi asked Ichiko whether it was inappropriate to confess to someone whom one had just met and knew too little about. Ichiko replied by saying that, “It depends on you whether you could hold those feelings in your heart and wait until you have known the person better or the hidden feelings ache you and you blurt out your own feelings suddenly and unexpectedly. Ichiko asked whom it was that Kitomi was talking about but she changed the topic to her favourite TV series and wouldn’t talk about her question anymore. Ichiko had a slight hint of about whom Kitomi was talking about. Although, it seems like that they were talking alone with each other, there was someone unintentionally eavesdropping on them, Hayako. He lived in the neighbourhood and he headed to Kitomi’s house, after preparing himself to call her and found himself intrigued by their conversation with each other. Although, he couldn’t make any head or tail out of their conversation, he was very shocked when he heard that Kitomi had a crush on a certain someone. Before being exposed and caught by the other girls, Hayako got out of their as fast as he possibly could.

On the beach day, Mitori called up everybody and informed them that they were going to the beach by car and they were to meet at the cafe, where they were the day before. Everybody except Hayako arrived on time, Mitori being the first. Hayako arrived late with their hired car. He was above eighteen, so he could drive and had his own driver’s license. Everyone got in the car and they left for the beach. The roads were filled with people and their families and many of them were heading to the beach at this time of the year, as Hayako had predicted previously. This created a road blockage and caused them to be two hours past their supposed arrival time at the destination.

Upon reaching the beach, everybody jumped out of the car and the boys went directly to the sea to swim and enjoy while the girls headed to the changing rooms near the beach. The girls got into their swimsuits and came out of the changing rooms and unlike the boys, they went into the car, took out their umbrellas and other beach equipment and made a picnic site ready near the shore. They didn’t go in the water just yet. The boys were having fun in the water, but when they saw that the girls were sitting on the beach applying sunscreen on their bodies, they couldn’t take their eyes off of them. Later, everybody decided to play volleyball at the beach. It was going to be boys versus girls match. There too, due to the boys’ ‘distraction’, they were losing to the girls.

After playing volleyball, Hirugami decided to bring watermelons for everybody to eat, while Kitomi told them about a temple near the beach, which was of the Japanese god of love, Benzaiten. When Hirugami came back with the watermelons, Kitomi also told him about the temple. So, everyone decided, to eat the watermelons and search for the temple of Benzaiten. After eating the watermelons and searching for the temple for thirty minutes straight, they found the temple, covered in vines and moss, as it was located in an isolated and jungle area. They were all amazed after seeing a temple filled with greenery, inside and outside it, so much isolated from normal human civilization. The whole temple was surrounded by tree and vines, which had beautiful flowers growing on them and there were birds chirping in the area. The temple had a deity in it and it also had a pond, with crystal clear water in it, attached with the temple. The pond was supposedly a wishing pond where coins were used to be thrown. All of them, made their way to the pond and they all threw a coin in the pond and wished for something and they made their way back to the beach.

During the afternoon, they made their way to a nearby camping spot, which Hayako had already booked beforehand. He was early on this these things. They lit a small bonfire and sat around it and talked with each other and during the evening, they played cards with each other. But between all of this, Hirugami didn’t feel like sitting there and playing with everybody else. His mind was in a different place than his body. By the time of nightfall, everyone built their own tents and fell asleep, supposedly. But, in the middle of the night, Kitomi heard a rustling noise, as if something or someone was moving and she peeked from her tent, to find Hirugami leaving his tent and heading towards the jungle. A sudden urge came into her mind to follow him and she jerked up and followed him, until they reached at the temple of Benzaiten.

On reaching the temple, Hirugami went to the wishing pond and stared blankly at the cold crystal clear water with the moon’s reflection on it. To see what Hirugami was doing near the pond, Kitomi moved a bit right to Hirugami, when she put her foot on a stick, which broke into two pieces making a noise. The whole silent and beautiful atmosphere at the temple was destroyed and Hirugami also hearing the sound, looked behind him to find Kitomi standing there. When Hirugami looked at her, Kitomi saw that Hirugami’s face had no expression. He should have been surprised at her by thinking that she had suddenly materialized out of thin air behind him. He looked towards her blankly for a moment and then started staring at the clear pond once more. After a few minutes passed in awkward silence between them, Kitomi asked Hirugami about what he was doing at the temple’s pond at this late in the night. Some more minutes passed in eerie silence, when Hirugami replied in a dull voice, “I want to be alone for a moment. Leave me alone, Kitomi.” Hearing such a rude and depressing reply, Kitomi went silent for a while.

Some more minutes passed and seeing her perseverance to hear his situation out, Hirugami gave in and told her that he had a dark and depressing past, which he hadn’t talked about with anyone except with his oldest and closest friends, Mitori and Hayako and he didn’t plan on sharing his pain and suffering with someone who he had recently met and didn’t know that well. Hirugami told her that as he had a hard childhood and that his passion and ambitions were marred by his parents after his mother’s death. He found no support from his family in any matter whatsoever, which made him come to lose the feeling of loving someone or being loved by somebody as it would only break the hearts of the people who love him. He can’t and wouldn’t open his heart up to anyone. He ended his story with a sigh; like a weight was lifted off his chest and he held his chest lightly, as if his heart was paining after telling the story.

Hearing his sad back story, made Kitomi burst out in tears in front of him and she felt shameful, thinking that if she had managed to catch Hirugami off guard, she would have confessed her pent up feelings to him. She tried to hide her tears from Hirugami and ran towards the path leading to their camping grounds. He called out to her, but she ran out of there with the speed of light. Hirugami thought that she must have gone to the camping site, but when after ten more minutes of wandering near the temple he came back to the camping site, to his surprise he found that Kitomi was not in her tent. He started feeling guilty about telling her his life story unexpectedly out of the blue, which might have made her depressed on hearing it and she know wants to stay as far from him as possible. After over thinking about this matter, he called out to the others. Everybody else woke up and seeing Hirugami getting tensed over for something asked him about why was he waking all of them up. He straight up told them that Kitomi was missing and was not to be found in her tent.

On hearing this dreadful news, everybody started to panic and amidst the confusion, Hayako asked Hirugami about what he was doing waking up in the middle of the night to check up on others. Hirugami told Hayako about the incident with Kitomi around the temple and told him his views on the disappearance of Kitomi. On hearing his theory on this matter, Hayako understood that Hirugami couldn’t interpret Kitomi’s signals and signs towards him. He decided to search for Kitomi in the area near the temple and that she must not have gone too far. Hayako shares his plan with the others and somehow manages to make them agree on the search near the temple. They all took their torches and flashlights and head towards the temple and started searching from there. Hayako and Hirugami split up from the group and went searching on their own.

After thirty minutes of continuous and tireless searching, Hayako saw a black shadow near the base of a tree near the backside of the temple. He ignored it at first, thinking it must be some wild animal, but when he noticed that it was shaking convulsively, he went towards it to find a weeping Kitomi. When he noticed her, he became happy and called out to her and went towards her. Kitomi thought that the call must be a wild animal, so she tries to jump up and make it out of there as her friends might be panicked if they find her absent in the morning, but her leg gets entangled to a nearby vine and she falls down clumsily, bruising herself badly at the kneecap. It hurt badly and she sat down clutching at her bleeding knee. But, when she found out that she was being called out by Hayako, she felt relieved. Hayako came up to her and seeing her bruised knee, took out a handkerchief from his pocket and tied her wound, before it could get dirty and infected. He told her that everyone was searching for her and she was making them worry. On hearing this, Kitomi felt sorry for her friends and she tried to get up, but her legs gave out under he and she fell down once again. On seeing her wounded condition, Hayako thought of carrying back Kitomi to his friends at the camping site and wait for them there. He offered her a ride on his back and Kitomi agreed. When Kitomi got on his back, Hayako held her legs and they went towards the camping site.

On the way there, Hayako confessed to Kitomi that he knows that she likes Hirugami and she wants to be with him. Kitomi felt surprised and shocked and surprised on hearing this from Hayako. Moreover, Hayako tells Kitomi, “Hirugami had a tragic past and that you might already have heard about. It blocks him from getting into love with someone. I and Mitori had known him from high school and in those days, he would neither talk with anybody nor socialize with anyone. Due to his lonely and introverted behaviour, no one would want to be friends with him. But I and Mitori went up to him and put out the hand of friendship. Hirugami accepted it and one day, he told us about his tragic life story. Our friendship bond grew deeper that day. I and Mitori helped him recover from his gloominess and sadness. He shared everything with us, but one fact’s reason was oblivious to our knowledge and that was why he would gaze at the mistletoe tree near our school at the beginning of the Christmas holidays.”

Lastly, Hayako asks Kitomi to keep trying to grab the attention and love of Hirugami and share her feeling with him, but she shouldn’t break his already broken and fragile heart. He told Kitomi that he and Mitori had treated Hirugami as their own brother and they didn’t want to see him in that miserable situation again. On hearing this whole story, Kitomi felt her eyes stinging and tears coming out of them. She was crying. She wished she knew more about Hirugami, to know him better, to understand him, to feel his pain and help him go through with it. She wished that she wouldn’t be so selfish and needy. As they came out of the forest, they found everyone waiting for them at the camping site. They had been waiting there for Hayako’s return and how would they initiate the next part of their search. When they saw, Hayako returning with Kitomi on his back, they ran over to them, a look of relief in their eyes. Hayako put Kitomi down his back and whispered to her that he will keep her crush on Hirugami a secret. On seeing Kitomi safe and sound, her friends Ada and Ichiko came to her and they cried together and they all headed to the camping site together. The adventurous day of Hirugami and his friends ended with relief and much drama.