Takeoff

A Chance of Happiness Chapter 30: Takeoff

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Jin, Mina, and Kazuto left to head to their classes. Jin looked back at the door to the fitness center to see that neither of them had left as they all turned the corner. The waves of emotions Jin had been experiencing lately have been unlike anything he had ever felt. The one he was feeling in that moment was no different. Strange, foreign, and terrifying were the only ways to describe it. Not because it was a negative emotion, but rather, because he had expectations. The expectation of change and progress. This… is what people call, “hope”.

Jin entered his English class, but as the bell rang, he noticed Vernon still wasn’t there, and neither was Ayaka. Eric began to walk around the room, starting to take attendance before he came up to Jin.

“Excuse me, Rento-kun. You’re friends with Ichihara-kun and Fujimura-san, right? Are they absent today?”

“Oh, um… yes.”

“Alright, thank you.” Eric marked his sheet and continued to walk around.

Jin began unpacking his bag as his thoughts took over. “I don’t think Fujimura-san would ever want to be near me… but… that’s okay. As long as they can be together… that’s all… I could ask for…”

Back at the fitness center, Vernon and Ayaka sat side by side, Ayaka’s head leaning on Vernon’s shoulder.

“You know that was the bell right?” Vernon poked at Ayaka’s shoulder.

“I heard.”

“Quite the rebel, skipping class.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“That so? And they call Jin the delinquent.”

Ayaka shifted her position to sit straight up. “Speaking of…”

“Hm?”

“Rento-kun… he’s the one… that set us up. To meet like this…”

“He is pretty smart. Though, I don’t know how he tricked you into coming.”

“He didn’t. Midori was the one who told me to meet her here.”

“Sakurai-san?” Vernon placed his hand on his chin. “I wonder… how he convinced her to do it then…”

Jin and Midori met outside their Japanese class as students began to head into the classroom.

“Have you… heard anything from them yet?” Midori asked shyly.

“No… and neither of them showed up in the last class.”

“Do you think… everything’s okay?”

“I don’t know. But… I hope so.”

“Me too.”

“We should head in, class is going to start soon.” Jin began to walk towards the classroom.

“Right.” Midori began to follow as she noticed she got a text from Ayaka.

Jin and Midori walked back to their seats as Midori started to shrug up, clearly wanting to ask something.

“Is something wrong?”

“N-No I… it’s just… Ayaka just texted me.”

“What happened?”

“Well… actually… it’s about you.”

“Me?”

“She wants to know… how you convinced me to help you.”

Jin gave a thoughtful expression, rubbing the back of his neck. “You… can tell her. It’s fine.”

“But it’s very personal to you and I–”

“It’s okay. I think… she should know. I’m sure Vernon is there too, so you can tell him it’s okay to tell her whatever… he needs to.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am. If it helps her understand everything that’s been going on… then I’ll do what I can.”

Jin walked up to his bedroom after coming home from school, collapsing onto his bed. He turned slightly to see the dimmed afternoon grow shining through the shutters.

“It’s not late… so why am I… so tired.”

Jin turned and looked up at the ceiling, scratching at his chest.

“Why have I been feeling so anxious lately? This feeling… it’s so… strange.” Jin took a deep breath as he repositioned himself comfortably in his bed. “What… is it exactly…?”

As Jin’s thoughts began to wander in search of an answer, his eyelids became increasingly heavy. Mere moments later, he was already sound asleep.

Jin approached the campus, his heart still itching like it was yesterday. Lost in thought, unsure of what will be different than the day before. Students gradually made their way onto the campus, filtering into their groups and preparing for the school day to begin. As Jin walked into the quad, he got a text message from Vernon.

You on campus yet?

Yes.

Got a minute?

Sure.

At the fitness center.

Jin looked up from his phone and began to walk towards the fitness center. Walking through the crowds of students, the feeling continued to follow him.

As he approached the fitness center, he saw the door was already open. Jin walked through the door as a voice greeted him as he walked in.

“Hey.”

Jin turned to see Ayaka standing beside the doorway with her hands in the pockets of a colorful hoodie, one he recognized Vernon usually wears.

“Fujimura-san?”

“Not who you were expecting? Surprising right?”

Jin looked away. “Right… I’m sorry about how I tricked you the other day. I just couldn’t figure out–”

Ayaka crossed her arms. “You should be. Lying to your friend, bringing mine into this to get her to trick me, basically forcing us to talk to one another…”

“I’m sorry–”

“It was necessary.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t think… we would’ve been able to bring ourselves to talk to eachother… any other way…” Ayaka’s arms fell to her side as she lowered her head. “So, thank you.”

“You don’t need to–”

“I do!” Ayaka yelled as her voice partially broke for a moment. “You… went through so much… told Midori so much… just to make this happen. I never knew… about any of it… because I was too stubborn to ask or even reach out.” Ayaka raised her head, looking at Jin with a tearful expression. “I distanced myself, claiming not to know either of you because I was too afraid to find out that he hated me. But I… never considered that I wasn’t the only one feeling that way. It made things so much more difficult for you, Vernon, even Midori… and I’m just… so sorry! Vernon told me about how you don’t accept apologies or thanks often, but please, could you just… accept that you did… a really good thing.”

“... Sure…”

“Thank you.”

“But I–”

“Stop! What did I just say?!”

Jin cleared his throat. “You’re… welcome…”

“Better.”

“So… is everything… okay?”

“Yeah, I think so.” Ayaka scratched the back of her neck, adjusting the neckline of her hoodie.

“Thank you.”

“What are you thanking me for?”

“For giving him another chance.” Jin gave a slight smile. “For what it’s worth… I think he’s hopeless without you.”

“Don’t I know it.” Ayaka smiled. “But I think… it’s a two way street.” she whispered.

“What was that?”

“Nothing! Anyways… I said what I needed to say. Class is gonna start soon! Gotta go!”

Ayaka ran out of the fitness center as Jin walked out after her to find Vernon waiting across the walkway.

“I really am pretty lucky, aren’t I?”

“Guess so.”

Jin and Vernon began to walk towards their homeroom class.

“Now that we got all that figured out, what are we gonna do about you?” Vernon poked at Jin’s side.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, considering you got me and Ayaka back together, I feel like it’s only fair–”

“Don’t push your luck.” Jin scoffed sarcastically.

“Why not? Seems like I still have a lot of it to go around.”

As the two continued walking, Jin noticed the feeling he had had changed completely. The anxiety… had changed to relief, but there was also… something else.

“Today’s the day!” Okimi shouted as Jin walked into the classroom, setting off a confetti popper.

“Today's the day?” Jin took a step back.

“Today's the day! It’s time to set off your rockets!”

“Right…” Jin continued past Okimi as she threw the used popper away and replaced it with a new one from her stockpile.

“How’s your ears?” Kazuto asked as Jin took his seat.

“Fine, I feel like I’ve gotten used to it.”

“Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.”

“Is Yuriko-san not here?”

“Oh no, she is.” Kazuto pointed to the front row where Mina was examining all of the rockets on display. “She was just… very curious and couldn’t contain it anymore.”

“I see…” Jin smiled.

“I take it that it went well though?”

“Yeah, it did.”

“What did?” Aoyuki peered over her chair.

“It’s… a long story.” Kazuto scratched his head. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”

“I can tell you later if you want. I don’t mind.” Jin offered as he noticed Mina coming over, clearly excited.

“How did it go?!”

“They made up.”

They’re together now right?! Like together together?”

“I think… they’re still figuring things out…”

“But they’d be so cute together! And they clearly like eachother! I saw her walking earlier too! She’s wearing his hoodie and–”

“Mina…” Kazuto whispered, attempting to calm Mina down.

“Right… right… give them their space. Got it. But it’s just so exciting y’know? Childhood sweethearts finally getting together and–”

“Mina!”

“Sorry! Stopping now. In three… two… one… done! I’m done.”

“You seem really happy.” Jin smiled slightly.

“I guess so. I just… really like seeing people happy.”

Jin processed those words for a long while. Okimi called the class to get their rockets together as they began to head outside. The groups began setting up their individual rockets. Jin and Kazuto set up their rocket and began to look at all the other rockets. One of the rockets that stood out to them was made by a group of guys that had flames painted onto it as well as a few blades they had found in Okimi's material boxes taped to its side. As they finished setting up, the Principal came running over.

“Katsunori! What’s up?” Okimi waved energetically.

“I heard… you were setting off the rockets today…” Katsunori pushed up his glasses as he caught his breath. “I just came… to supervise to make sure… nothing goes…” Katsunori paused for a moment, examining the boys’ rocket. “Are those… blades?”

The argument, or rather, the reprimanding that ensued was muffled out as Jin saw Mina, Kazuto, Aoyuki, and the rest of the class all smiling and laughing. The feeling in his chest was still there, but all the anxiety was still missing.

Okimi walked away from Katsunori who appeared to be sighing in relief. “Sorry, boys, Katsunori has ordered us to remove the blades.”

Okimi helped their team safely remove the blades. After removing them, she returned to standing next to Katsunori.

“Better?” Okimi looked to Katsunori for confirmation.

“Yes…”

“Great! Here we go everyone! Get into positions!”

The students shuffled around, the launchers getting into positions to set off their rockets.

“Hey, Rento-kun.” Mina tapped on Jin’s shoulder.

“Yes?”

“You weren’t there for the first launch, so we figured, if you want to… would you launch the rocket for us?”

“Me?” Jin looked at the rest of his team as both Kazuto and Aoyuki gave him a thumbs up.

“Everyone ready?! Time for takeoff!” Okimi shouted, waving Katsunori’s hand in the air.

Jin stood next to the container he needed to step on to fire the rocket. As Okimi began to count down, Jin began to lose himself in his thoughts.

“Three!”

“Is this… really okay? This feeling…”

“Two!”

“Being around… my friends…”

“One!”

Jin stomped his foot down on the rocket as several loud popping sounds went off simultaneously. He looked up at the several rockets sent up into the air for a brief moment before looking around to see all the mixed expressions around him. Hopeful, determined, excited, and more of the boundless emotions and expressions he saw on all their faces reconciled within him in an instant. The foam rockets began to hit the ground one after the other, followed by the defeated cries of the losers and cheers of the victors.

“Rento-kun?”

Jin turned to his side to see Mina standing beside him, giving him a concerned expression.

“Are you alright?”

Jin searched for the right words to say to a question he’s been asked countless times, and for the first time in a long time, he didn’t have to search for long. He didn’t have to deflect. He didn’t have to lie.

“No, I…” Jin smiled, bigger than he maybe ever had before. His expression full of a light he originally thought unachievable for him. “I think… I’m just really happy right now.”

Mina’s expression shifted from concern to relief and surprise in an instant, suddenly finding herself entranced with the boy standing before her.

“That’s it! The winner is… Mina-san’s team!” Okimi clapped, followed by some defeated cries and supportive cheering.

“We won!” Kazuto yelled.

Jin turned to see Kazuto trying to contain his excitement while shaking Aoyuki all around, trying to get her excited. As Kazuto continued to shake Aoyuki, Mina’s gaze was still fixated on Jin, for a reason… she couldn’t possibly describe.