Hara Kaede - I

It was almost dark when Kazuyuki arrived at the park he used to play at when he was a child. He remembered how he and Kaede would run around with the other little children and play different games like tag. Their favourite thing about the park was the swings; Kaede and he would always see who could swing the highest. It was their favourite activity, so it made sense why Kaede chose that spot while waiting for him to arrive.

“Sorry to make you wait.”

“It’s fine. I’m surprised you even came.”

“Of course I would. Anyway, why did you ask me to meet you here?”

“Do you remember when we used to run around this place, interacting with every single attraction?”

“Those were fun times.”

“Yeah, they were. Then we entered middle school, and we couldn’t play as much. And as soon as we joined high school, we were too big to be playing in the park. We were already grown up, and I was happy about it. It meant we could do grown-up stuff. I was so excited to try new things. I even got a boyfriend who loved and cared about me. I was so happy back then, but now everything is changing so fast, and I don’t like it.”

“Kaede, is everything okay with you and Tachibana?”

Kaede stayed silent. It was quite awkward for Kazuyuki, especially with the cold air biting at his skin like it was encouraging him to question her further.

“Kaede?”

“I’m going to break up with Ichiro.”

“What?”

“I think Ichiro’s been cheating on me.”

“How do you know?”

“The girl he’s cheating on me with told me herself. She kept boasting about how they did it every day and how he would say he loved her. I got so angry I almost punched her in the face, but I resisted the urge in the end.”

“I don’t believe Ichiro would do this to you. He loves you a lot.”

“That’s what I thought as well. I thought if I asked him about it, he would tell me the truth. But when I asked Ichiro if he knew her, he denied it. I knew he was lying, and my suspicion was confirmed when I saw them exiting a motel together.”

“Kaede…”

“I’m going to confront him after school tomorrow.”

“I see. If there’s anything you need from me, I’ll do my best.”

“Then I’ll take you up on that offer. When it’s all over, can you look for me? I’ll probably be hurting a lot.”

“Okay.”

He wanted to say more than that, but the revelation of his friend’s boyfriend’s infidelity had taken him by surprise. He might not have known Ichiro too well, but he believed him to be a reasonable and trustworthy person. He felt helpless. His friend was in pain, although she was clearly hiding it, but he couldn’t say the words he wanted to say.

An overwhelming sense of gloom overshadowed him during dinner time. His mother inquired about his depressed state, but he simply lied to her, not wanting to expose his friend’s problems. His despair continued onto the next day; it was so visible that even the people around him were affected by it. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of Kaede and Ichiro, who sat next to each other, but today they hadn’t spoken a single word to one another. All of it disappeared when he was approached by Fuyumi, who questioned him about the deadline for their homework. Despite feeling better after speaking with Fuyumi, there was still a shade of grey across his face, which she took notice of. When the bell rang, Fuyumi strode towards him with a sense of determination.

“Sano-san, would you come with me?”

With no choice but to follow her, Kazuyuki was dragged up the multitude of stairs and out of the door to the roof. She pulled out two bento boxes and handed one to the confused Kazuyuki. It was already odd that she had dragged them onto the roof, but it was even more surprising that she had prepared a packed lunch for them. She signalled for him to sit down next to her, to which he complied. They did not speak a word to one another as they munched on their food, but once they had finished and Kazuyuki had thanked her for the food, she stood up and stared aggressively into his eyes. He wasn’t sure if she was mad at him or if she was trying to have a staring contest.

“Um… Satō-san? What’s wrong?”

“You’ve had a sad look on your face since this morning.”

“Oh. You noticed.”

“Of course I did. We’ve been friends for a while now.”

“You say that, but I still barely know anything about you.”

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“I can’t really go into the specifics, but let’s just say it might change the whole dynamic of our friend group.”

“What do you mean?”

“Things are changing. Part of me is okay with it, especially due to the reason, but part of me doesn’t want things to change. But you probably wouldn’t understand.” As soon as he said that, he realised how rude it was. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No, you’re right. I haven’t been a part of this group for that long. I’m still becoming accustomed to being with you all.”

“Satō-san…”

“I’ve been very ill since I was born, so I barely went to school. I missed the first half of my first year in this school because of it, so by the time I came to school, everyone had already made friend groups with one another. I was left alone, but I was okay with that. But then you approached me, and you introduced me to people I never thought I would interact with. I’m still very anxious being around you all, but you all welcomed me despite my awkwardness. If there’s anything I can do to help you all, I’d like to try.”

“Sorry, Satō-san, but there’s nothing you or I can do right now. The thing that’s happening in our group is between them, so they are the only ones who can fix it.”

“I see. Then, is there anything I can do for you?”

“No. I can’t think of anything.”

“Then, when you do think of something, let me know.”

“I wish I could see her smile one day.”

It was the end of the school day. Kazuyuki watched as Kaede approached her boyfriend and asked him to come with her. Now all he could do was wait for it to all be over.