Remembrance

A Chance of Happiness Chapter 23: Remembrance

Jin and Mai stood face to face with one another, neither one of them capable of finding the right words. Before either of them could speak, Aoyuki came bolting down the stairs after cleaning herself up.

“S–Sorry… about that…” Aoyuki apologized, slightly out of breath.

“It’s fine…” Jin replied, shaking his head and looking away from Mai.

“Y-You can put your stuff down on the table over there.”

Jin nodded, hesitantly entering the house and walking over to the table.

“I don’t think… I should’ve come…” Jin thought to himself as he turned to see Mai closing the door with an expression he couldn’t quite make out.

“Are… you alright?”

“Y-Yes… sorry.”

Aoyuki gave him a worried look. “Did you want anything to drink?”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

Jin began searching through his bag as Aoyuki turned back to the doorway to see that her sister was no longer there. Around the corner on the staircase, Mai sat on the stairs with a regretful expression on her face.

“It’s him…”

Jin and Aoyuki walked out into her garage, opening it up and preparing the space to build their rocket. Jin grabbed the assignment sheet from his bag, taking a moment to examine it.

“We need some kind of poster to show what we used in the rocket. Do you have any ideas for that? I’m not… really an artist.”

“They’re bringing the poster paper Hirata-sensei gave us… and… I could try to draw it once it’s finished.”

“Do you draw a lot?”

“A little.” she responded, showing a slightly depressed expression.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Jin apologized, noticing her slight change in expression.

“No… sorry, that’s not it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Why… are you so sure you did something?”

“It’s just… something I’m used to. Sorry. I could tell your sister knew who I was and it made her uncomfortable. And I’m sure you probably feel the same because you probably know too. While we were planning in class I let myself get carried away and didn’t think about what would happen if I showed up today… so I thought maybe I shouldn’t have.”

“Why?”

Jin turned to see Aoyuki turned to him, instead of the discomfort he expected, what he saw was frustration.

“Why are you so hard on yourself?”

“What?”

“You’re going so far out of your way… to accommodate for others… and yet… you still think you’re the problem?”

“But the things they say–”

“I don’t believe what they say about you! I know they aren’t true!”

Jin’s expression quickly turned to surprise at the sudden change in her tone.

“You shouldn’t… have to hide away…”

“Hey! The hell are you doing to my sister?!” a familiar voice called, snapping her back to reality.

“Mai?”

Before she had the chance to continue the thought, Mai had run over and pushed the boy who had helped her aside, starting to berate and tell him off.

“Wait…” she wanted to speak, but no words came out. “He didn’t…”

Aoyuki began tugging on her sister's shirt, but she was too focused on the boy that she didn’t notice. The boy walked away, upon him leaving their sight, Mai finally noticed her tugging.

“I think… you’re actually a nice person.”

Surprise and shock didn’t even begin to describe the emotions Jin began to feel in that moment. Before he even got the chance to process what he was feeling a voice called from behind them.

“Yo! Rento-kun! Kashiwa-san!”

The two turned to see Kazuto waving at them with Mina following close behind.

“You two all set?”

Jin nodded and refocused himself on the project. “... Yeah, I brought some tools.”

The two walked into the garage and began to set up as Mina noticed something off with Aoyuki.

“Are you ok?”

“What? Oh… um… yes…”

Behind them, inside the house, Mai was sitting beside the door, listening to their conversations.

Jin began to cut the pipes based on the measurements given to him by Mina and Kazuto. Meanwhile, Aoyuki began to draw diagrams on the poster paper. After cutting the pipes, Jin and Kazuto began to assemble them according to the structure they planned in class while Mina crafted the rocket out of plastic and foam.

Kazuto finished putting the last fastener on the mechanism and looked over at the poster Aoyuki was working on. “Wow! That’s amazing!”

Aoyuki jumped to the side in surprise, nearly dropping the marker she was holding. “T-Thank you…”

“Let me see!” Mina looked over at the poster excitedly. “It’s so cool! You’re so talented!”

Aoyuki shrugged up shyly, slightly red in the face, unable to give a proper response.

Jin got up off the ground and walked over to them to see the poster. “It looks good.”

“The rocket is done too!” Mina yelled, holding up her makeshift rocket and handing it to Kazuto.

“Looks good. The launchpad is done too, so how about we test it?”

“Yes! Let’s do it! How did we wanna launch it? Did you guys decide?” Mina asked, grabbing the rocket back from Kazuto.

“Before you guys test it, would anyone like a drink?” Mai walked into the garage, carrying a few drinks.

The group turned to her, with Mina and Kazuto being caught slightly off guard.

“Oh… thank you…” Mina began to fumble her words.

“You can call me Mai-san, my sisters over there.” Mai pointed to Aoyuki. “Sorry I haven’t had the chance to say hi. Been busy with schoolwork myself.”

“Wow, you look just like her too! Do you go to the same school as us?”

“I do, I’m a third year though.”

Mina examined her for a moment, noticing a light pink highlight in her hair, and then quickly turning to Aoyuki who had a matching highlight.

“You have matching highlights too! That’s so cute!”

Aoyuki turned bright red as she shrugged up.

“Thank you.” Mai laughed.

“Mina… manners…” Kazuto whispered, tapping on her shoulder.

“Oh right! Sorry, um…”

“Thank you for having us!” Mina and Kazuto quickly bowed in unison.

“No need for that, please, any friends of Aoyuki are welcome here any time.”

“Friends…” Mina thought to herself, forgetting how worried she was earlier.

The group finished their drinks and began setting up their rocket to launch. Mai went around collecting everyone's empty glasses, taking quick glances over at Jin.

“Excuse me… Rento-kun…”

“... Yes?” Jin turned to see Mai standing beside him.

“Could I… talk to you for a moment…”

“Sure.” Jin nodded, already having a vague idea about what it was about.

Mina glanced over, noticing Mai leading Jin back into the house. As Jin followed Mai to the kitchen he’d already thought about the conclusion to the conversation.

“I’m surprised… it took her this long…”

Mai put down the glasses on the table as she took a deep breath.

“... to tell me to get lost–”

“I’m sorry!” Mai yelled, completely interrupting Jin’s thought.

Earlier, Jin thought he found himself before someone who knew exactly who he was. But at the time… he didn’t realize how right he truly was. Mai’s expression was tearful as she lowered her head to bow.

“Really… I am… so… sorry…”

“What is it? Are you alright? What happened? Did he hurt you?”

Mai quickly turned around, kneeling down to examine her.

“When I said I wanted you to make friends this is not what I meant!”

Aoyuki shook her head, still trying to speak.

“What happened?”

“Nothing…” she finally spoke. “He protected me… from those boys…”

“He… protected you…” Mai got up from her knees, quickly turning around, but the boy she berated was already long gone.