Kick The Tragedy

There were the sounds of wires buzzing and birds singing as Yai and Tetsudo slowly walked along the rails on this hot Thursday evening. The sun would go down soon so they started to go back home. It was another one of those silent walks they would take together, but the no-talking thing made Tetsudo feel closer to Yai. He felt like he understood her a bit more since she arrived. When she walked along the railway, she was unusually quiet, unlike when she would talk with Tetsudo. Maybe she really did enjoy going around this railroad. The real question was ‘Why?’, but Tetsudo didn’t have an answer and he couldn’t pry it out of her.

The little black spots on the street pavement under the trees were too many to count, but Yai still tried as hard as she always does.

“54, 55, 56, 57…” Yai counted in her head for a few minutes. Her eyes were getting tired however, and so she decided to stop. She looked up and saw the twilight fading away – the moon was slowly devouring what little of the sunset was left.

On Saturday, two days from now, she would have to leave, leave for her hometown. What was she going to do there? Couldn’t she just stay here? As forceful as she had been, she knew she couldn’t abuse Tetsu’s and Fuuka’s hospitality. If she went back, would she never see Tetsudo or Fuuka, or Hiraya again? She wanted to make more memories, but knew that she would have to do it in a semi-fair way.

They got home and ate some leftovers together. While eating they talked about their day – Tetsudo told Yai his entire day, without Hiraya’s confession, because he felt like he shouldn’t talk about it just yet and let it sink in. Yai told him about how she went around town “sightseeing” for a while and got lost. But luckily, she found the café she always waits at, and then went to the railway to relax for a while. It was a pretty normal conversation for the evening.

They both went to sleep after that. After his mom went on a business trip, her room was free, so Tetsudo allowed Yai to go and sleep there. She accepted, although she was a bit reluctant for some reason, unknown to Tetsudo. He was left alone in his room. Only his thoughts kept him company, although sometimes he would hear the wind whooshing outside his window. It was dark, Yai had probably fallen asleep already.

Tetsudo was still thinking about Hiraya’s words, it’s not easy to forget such a confession after all. But “I love you.” weren’t the only words to come out of Hiraya’s playful mouth, that were circling his mind.

“What did she mean by ‘I wasn’t talking about myself.’ And ‘I wouldn’t be so sure…’? Does she know something I don’t? No way, she hasn’t even met with Yai... Wait…” Tetsudo started to think and suddenly the realization hit him: “If Hiraya liked me, then that story she told Yamada, it was about someone else liking me and her not having a chance… So did she meet with...?”

For Tetsudo it was certain that Hiraya was talking about Yai in both stories, but did Yai tell her something or did she just come to that conclusion? Even though the answer was probably in front of him, he couldn’t dwell on it – tomorrow is the last day, so he had to wake up early. He couldn’t spend a night overthinking every possibility. And so, Tetsudo turned around and tried to cool his mind down and get some sleep. Tomorrow is a big day after all…

*

Friday morning. Despite Tetsudo trying his hardest, he still didn’t sleep a lot and woke up late even. He quickly got up and showered, put on his uniform and entered Yai’s room. She was sleeping like a rock. He decided not to wake her up, but he left her a little note. Then he went out and started sprinting to the school.

It was a warm morning, not too hot for July. You could hear beneath the sounds of cars going by the low hum of bees caressing flowers. The soft clouds above acted as a cool blanket, maybe there was going to be light rain even. The sun still shined however, this time with a more pleasant light than usual. Or maybe this was all in Tetsudo’s mind, because he was excited for the end of school.

He made his way to school, and thankfully he wasn’t late. The class had an activity, and despite participating, Tetsudo didn’t really care. He just wanted to go home and not go to school for a month. That’d be great. But even then, the thoughts about Hiraya’s words resurged back into his mind and he started repeating them in his head, again and again:

"’I wasn't talking about myself’, ‘I wouldn't be so sure…’" These words just kept bothering him still.

School today was passing faster than usual. Or maybe once again, that was just a trick of his mind. Still, Tetsudo hung out with Yamada and Hiraya for a bit during the recess. He didn’t actually know how to act in front of Hiraya since her confession, but she gave him a sign with her hand to play it cool and relax. It was nice to see that she actually meant what she said about ruining their friendship with Yamada. 

At least today was an easy-going day with almost no real classes and just goodbyes and talks with the teachers. It was a nice change of pace, even if it was ever so brief.

After school was finished, Tetsudo and Hiraya walked together home in silence. He really wanted to ask what her words meant, but felt like now it wasn’t the time – just after the crazy encounter and confession yesterday, maybe Hiraya wouldn’t be so comfortable. He had asked Yamada about it again, but he was sure she hadn’t said any names. Maybe during the weekend, they would go out the three of them and she would tell them.

She agreed to meet, and they parted ways. After a bit of walking up the quiet street, Tetsudo eventually got home.

“I’m home!” he said as he took off his shoes.

He heard a door opening from the upper floor and Yai came down.

“How was the last day?” she asked with a smile.

“Pretty nice, actually. Didn’t think I’d like it that much. But now I’m free!” And Tetsudo jumped on the sofa.

“Today was your last day, tomorrow is mine…” Yai said somberly as she sat next to him.

“Yeah…” Tetsu didn’t know what to say. “Are we going to the railway today?”

“Mhm. One last time.” Yai smiled again.

But first they ate and played games until it wasn’t scorching hot.

*

The time was 6PM and Yai and Tetsudo went out. They started to slowly climb the street and walk towards the railroad. The bushes up ahead were shining and the roofs of the houses surrounding them were golden. Eventually they reached the warm electric poles, the simmering wires and the empty and scary forest. And the glowing, but rusting rails.

They walked towards the station like every other time. And like every other time, both of them were quiet. The silence seemed to help them take in their surroundings and get lost in their thoughts that usually bothered them.

Once they reached the station, they stood by the end of the steep hill the station was on, and were watching the sun as it slowly went down, collapsing and fading away. It was a breathtaking view that they loved. Today’s sunset looked like last Friday, when Tetsudo first met Yai here. It was bittersweet and a little sad for it to be this way.

Tetsudo started to walk towards the station. He wanted to climb onto the platform. But then he realized he was walking alone. He looked back and saw that Yei was still on the edge of the hill.

“You coming?” He asked. There was a moment of silence before Yai’s words.

“Tetsu, remember our pinky promise?”

“Now she’s going to tell me?”

“I do.”

…

“So, I’ll go back Niigata, if…”

“If what?”

…

“If you come with me.”