The String of Fate (Part 2)

When I saw the both of them standing so close to one another, a sudden tightness surged on my chest. It felt as though I couldn't breathe.

Worst thing was when our eyes met, I could literally feel my heart stop for a split moment. I knew what was happening to me, but I didn't want it to be true... At the very least, I didn't want to feel like that over something so trivial as that.

But the thing that broke me was the fact that she looked so happy being next to him... I didn't know if he knew that or not, but regardless, as a girl in love, I could tell that she was still in love with him, not as much as back then, but at the very least, a little bit of the love she held for him was still present.

"Hey there, Yuki" 

When he called out my name, I wanted to greet him like I would any other moment in time, but the words wouldn't come out of my mouth, instead, the sudden feeling of pain welled up within me.

I knew for a fact that If I spoke up, my real feelings would come out and that was something that I was still not ready to confront. I needed time to make my decision, but if I took too long, the possibility of him being taken away from me would most likely happen.

"..."

Without stopping to think about my next action, I simply decided to do one thing and one thing only. Run away from the situation at hand.

I ran away from the area they were in, left the things I had in hand on a random rack and exited the store as quickly as I could. Upon arriving at the main section of the mall, I sat down on one of the nearby benches and simply let out a sigh.

"Why...? Why did I do that...?"

The entire thing played back in my head and when it did, I felt even worse about what I had done, but it had to be done for my own wellbeing.

I took in a few deep breaths, exhaled and then proceeded to simply stare at the open roof of the building.

"I really shouldn't have done that... At the very least, I could have waved back and then made my way towards the register"

Even though that would've been the most logical course of action, it hadn't crossed my mind for a second, the only thing that I could even do was flee from the place.

After relaxing downstairs for a few minutes, I got up from where I sat and instead of heading back, I made my way towards the exit of the mall walked around the city to relax.

As I was doing so, out of nowhere, a voice called out to me. A voice that I was already familiar with.

"Hey there, Yuki"

Of course, the source of the voice was none other than Reiko's who was my very good friend whom I appreciated from the bottom of my heart.

"Hey..."

"Hmm? You look to be in a bit of a depressed mood today"

"Yeah... Some things happened"

I trusted Reiko from the bottom of my heart and on top of that, she was the only person with whom I would be able to talk about such personal things with.

We both sat down on a nearby bench and thus I started venting out everything that had happened. Even though they were both siblings, I knew that she wouldn't go ahead and say a thing to him about what I would say.

"So you bumped into them as you were enjoying the city yourself, huh?"

"Yeah..."

"Haaa... What am I going to do...?"

"W-What?"

"With you"

"M-Me?!"

"Well yeah, you're in love with my brother and yet you get like this just because he's on an outing with his ex" "If that's the case, you'll never be able to move forward"

"W-W-Who said about me liking him?!"

"Girl, one can tell that you're in love with him. You don't have to be a mathematician to put two and two together"

"W-W-Was it that obvious?"

"To me, it was, but for my brother I know that it isn't, he's kind of dense after everything that happened with Akemi"

"I see..."

"That's why I think you should tell him how you feel about him"

"...!"

"If you don't do that, the possibility of him taking away is very possible" "Besides, even though I say that it's an outing, I have the feeling that this is something else to her"

"You think that... she's still in love with him?"

"It could be that or the fact that she feels sorry for everything that she did to him during that one year of high school, I really wouldn't be able to give you a concrete answer about it"

"I see..."

"But if you want my honest opinion about all of this, I don't think it would be a good idea to simply wait it out, you should just try and go for it and deal with the answer that he gives you"

"..."

"But that's just my opinion on the matter"

She got up from where she sat and started walking away, but for just a moment, she stopped in place and looked over at me "Whatever happens, just know that you have me to back you up and console you if need be"

I let out a small giggle and smiled at her "Yeah, I'll hold you that"

"I'll see you in school"

"Take care"

"You too"

With that, it was just me sitting there wondering about everything that had just happened. I knew that I couldn't let things end like that, I knew what my feelings were on the matter, and I didn't want my relationship with him to be simply of junior and senpai... I wanted it to be something more.

"I'll ask him out on a date... That's what I'll do, and I'll confirm my feelings for him there"

I was determined to make my dream true, but at the same time, I wanted him to know about my feelings regardless of what Akemi wanted with him.

"I've loved you for a long time now... And its finally time for me to declare them to you, Tadao"