Together Forever?

 Spring took its time to arrive, on soft, small steps: but ultimately, it did replace winter. While it was still cold and dark most of the time, I could see the first flowers coming out of the soil, and sometimes, the sun even felt warm on my skin.

"Uwa... tonight won't be good..."

Pudding yawned.

"It's going to be great!" Erica crossed her arms. "Come on, you're the club leader!"

"Nooo..."

Erica tried as best as she could to get her friend excited for our meeting. We others exchanged a conspiratorial smile. She didn't know what we had in store for her. Or maybe she did...?

"Uwaaa..."

Pudding sighed, and shrugged.

"But we can't even see the stars..."

"Well," I tried to encourage her, "we had that happen plenty of times before, right? And it was still fun."

Erica gave me a small smile.

"I guess... you're right..." Pudding sighed.

With her finally convinced, we went to our club room. During our way there, we exchanged glances, trying not to giggle. Pudding must have sensed something, as she sighed multiple times, but didn't say anything. Maybe she's secretly excited for our surprise?, I thought. Or maybe she's just tired. You never know with her.

But whatever was going on inside her, soon it would be replaced by surprise about our cunning plan: we slowly stopped in front of the door to our club room, excited smiles on our face. Maria opened the door exactly at the same time Erica shoved Pudding inside.

"Surprise!"

"Uwaaahh..."

Pudding buried her head in her sweater, quite embarrassed by the display in front of her.

We really had given our best. Not only was the whole room decorated, with a neon pink cake that Maria had baked on the table, but there was a portrait of all of us, drawn by Erica, next to it.

"Thanks for everything you did," Erica said, "We'll miss you next year."

"But I..."

"Yeah!", Maria chimed in. "Thank you for being with us."

"I..."

"I know we don't have much longer together," I gently added, "so let's make more memories, okay?"

"I wanna eat the cake!"

Arisu was bascially jumping up and down, the most excited of us all.

"But I..."

Pudding was crying. Tears fell from her eyes, barely caught by her cardigan. The moment I noticed, we all crowded around her.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Is this too much?"

I didn't want to worry to much, but seeing her like this...

"You girls!" She was full on sobbing.

"Hey..." Erica softly patted her head.

That was enough for us to start a big group hug, with Pudding at the center. Only when she calmed down, we released her.

"Are you okay?" Maria gently asked.

"Mhmmm."

Pudding sniffled, wiping away the last of her tears.

"It's just... unexpected," she added.

"What, like we would let you get away without a party?"

Erica snorted.

"No way."

"It's just... I... uwaaa..."

She was close to tears again. But Erica still had a smile on her face, and slowly sat down at the table.

"It's all good. Let's enjoy this night together, okay?"

"Yes," Pudding answered, her voice still full of emotion.

Tonight was a wonderful way to welcome spring, and say goodbye to Pudding: with cake and snacks, playing games, and chatting about the year we spent together.

"I just can't believe it's going to end so soon."

Pudding nodded.

"It feels both close, and so far away."

Maria nodded. Just Arisu seemed confused.

"Wait, but we just celebrated the new year, right? How is it ending again so soon?"

"We mean the school year," I explained to her.

"So, another year?" She tilted her head. "You confuse me with your different calendars."

I nodded. This was probably confusing for someone who didn't grow up with it. So, I tried to explain it as best as I could

"Well, it just means... like, a different phase in our lives. New things to learn. Some people come, others go. Pudding... will go to college."

"Oh."

Arisu suddenly looked as sad as I felt.

"So Pudding will leave us?"

But Pudding shook her head.

"Don't worry. I won't really be away... at least, when it comes to club meetings."

She grinned at Erica.

"You just have to sneak me in here."

"I..."

Erica seemed surprised.

"Good!"

Arisu clapped her hands together. She seemed much happier now. While Pudding and Erica quietly discussed something, she fed PURIRIN a bit of cake. The sugar made the little thing spin around at high speed, its beeping so high-pitched we couldn't hear it anymore. All in all, it was a wonderful day, and we had a really good time. While we were chatting and eating, Erica made photos with her new Polaroid camera, one for each of us to keep. Arisu looked at it, before calling PURIRIN to her.

"I will keep it safe. Forever."

With that, she opened her companion's UFO, and put the photo inside of it. The jelly-like creature snuggled against the plastic film, but thankfully - magically - left not mark. Arisu grinned at us.

"But there's no way I would forget you girls, anyways!"

I smiled back at her.

"The same goes for me. But, I mean..." I looked at her sparkling eyes, "it's not like you're leaving us anytime soon, right? So we don't have to worry about that."

"Yeah! That's true."

She tilted her head.

"You don't need to throw a goodbye party for me. I'll just stay with you all forever." She thought about it for a moment. "But you can throw me a 'staying' party any time. I'll eat the cake."

I laughed.

"I'm so glad you feel this way."

But, deep down I knew that it wouldn't be like this forever. One day in the future, we will have to part ways, right?