The Farewell (Part 2)

The sun had gone down, although there were still pieces of its red remnants scattered across the sky. The town looked a lot more vibrant from the window of a car. Passing down cluttered streets, full of tired faces, you could see the lights of a city that never falls asleep. Maybe it would dream, but never sleep.

A ray of blinding lights came down Tetsudo’s eyes. He had never seen such nightlife, even Nagano wasn’t as bright. Considering his other night was spent in a café, hiding away from a rain that made everything impenetrable, it was certainly a different experience. For a boy that lived in a secluded suburb, it was all a bit too overwhelming.

“You okay?” He heard Yai’s voice next to him. He turned around and saw her worried eyes.

“Oh, yeah, it’s just… You know, I’m from the suburbs and these city lights are all a bit too much for me,” he chuckled nervously. Yai smiled.

“Yeah, I get you.”

The car stopped in a parking lot next to the train station. Nagoya turned around.

“Alright, Tetsu,” he reached inside of his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “The train leaves in 20 minutes, here’s the money.”

“Thank you so much,” he bowed down. Nagoya chuckled.

“Please, if anyone should be thanking someone, it’s me,” he looked at Yai who was smiling the whole time. “I’ll leave you two to say goodbye to one another.”

He took Tetsudo’s hand and smiled as well.

“Thank you once again Tetsu, I hope to see you again one day.”

“I hope so too! Goodbye!”

“Goodbye and safe travels. Oh, and Yai?”

"Hm, yes?" Yai turned to him.

"After you come back, you're grounded for a month."

"Ehhhhhh?!"

*

After buying the tickets, Yai and Tetsudo went to the platform and sat on a bench to wait for the train. Yai looked down at her feet, thinking about what had happened so far. Deep in her thoughts, however selfish it was, she didn’t want Tetsudo to leave just like that. There was no way to even keep in contact with him – she threw away her phone, when she ran away. She had no idea where it was.

“What are you thinking, dummy?” Tetsudo poked her in the ribs jokingly. She turned to him embarrassed.

“Don’t scare me like that,” she exclaimed. “I was just… thinking about the time we had together.”

“Oh…” Tetsudo fell silent.

“And I was thinking ‘how are we gonna find each other without communicating? ‘”

“Hmm…” he thought for a second and then turned to Yai with a smile. “Well, what is one thing that connects us?”

“Uhhh…” Yai thought for a moment and suddenly all came to her. “Oh, the first place we met!”

“There you go,” Tetsudo chuckled. “Once you can, meaning you’ve finished school or university, hopefully, you go to that old train station. You know me, I’ll go there every day anyway, so we’ll definitely meet!”

Yai stood expressionless. Her heart warmed up, but tears still rolled down her eyes against her will. She didn’t want to cry in the last moments she was with Tetsudo.

“Yai, you okay?” he said worried and reached inside his backpack for a tissue. He wiped a few tears off her face.

“I’m sorry I just… thought about how you could get a girlfriend and forget about me…” she muttered quietly. “Even for a second I thought about that, and my mind erupted with sadness…”

Tetsudo hugged her tightly. He could hear his train coming from afar. But he did not let go for half a minute. Under the train roar, he could hear Yai’s soft sobs. Gently he let go – her face was red, and her eyes were wet like an ocean. Her look was a mix of sadness and happiness. He smiled at the sight of her.

“Yai, won’t you understand,” he grabbed her hand and held it tight in his. “All I ever wanted, all I ever needed is here, in my arms?”

Yai stood breathless, holding his sweaty hand, her mind unable to form a single thought except…

She lunged forward and kissed Tetsudo. Her lips, hot and soft, gave away her love for him. His breath – shaken and warm - slowly calmed down as the two sat together, arms around the other. No words could describe what either was feeling in this very moment. Words felt unnecessary. So, they just got closer together and waited until the train stopped. Even when their lips were finally torn apart, his and hers eyes were still interlocked – their feelings were too real. But they knew what was coming next.

Tetsudo hugged Yai for the last time.

“Farewell,” he whispered softly in her ear.

Tears overflew her face, but Yai managed to mutter quietly:

“Farewell, I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Tetsudo got up and started walking towards the doors. As Yai watched him leaving, the last two weeks flashed before her eyes. Every moment with him was about to fade away. Until the moment she remembered what she wanted to show him.

“Tetsu!” She ran as he was getting on the train. “Wait!”

He turned around.

“Remember how I said you could be a great guitarist?” She shouted.

“I do.” Tetsudo looked confused. Yai pulled out the small notepad sheet he gave her to scrobble on.

“Learn to play the guitar,” she gave it to him, with almost no air left in her lungs. “And sing this! So you’ll never forget about me!”

Tetsudo took the small note and smiled.

“How could I ever forget about you?”

And as the doors closed, he saw her teary-eyed smile for the last time. The train started moving and Yai disappeared from his view. The train jumped up and down the tracks. Tetsudo watched for a while how the train station and the city moved faster than the speed of light. He sighed and sat down alone. There was no one around him. He looked at the small note, tucked in his fist. He opened it and started to read. His eyes quickly were filled with heavy tears at the little scrobbled words. After reading it, Tetsudo laid his head back and screamed. The shriek filled the whole empty carriage for a second before dispersing in the air.

He looked back at the note – he kept reading it over and over again, his eyes kept overflowing with tears. For over twenty minutes he kept just looking at the small piece of paper and sobbed his heart away. He had already soaked the note so much, you could barely see what was written on it. He started breathing more calmly and finally his tears stopped dropping. Only his red face and eyes remained. When he had calmed down fully, he read the note once again. This is time by the end of the read, he didn’t break out into tears. He smiled and decided to follow Yai’s words.

“I’ll learn guitar for you, and I’ll make this into a song, and play it for you when we see each other again!” he thought as his eyes brightened up.

He looked one last time at the small paper with renewed hope of seeing Yai once again. His hands, sweating and trembling, clo-