Interlude

Fuyuki and Sora had known each other since they were children. They were the very essence of childhood friends.

For starters, both of their dads were like married to each other. They were friends from their high school days to adulthood. They even had the wonderful idea of living close to each other. That was just how great friends they were. And this was essentially the reason why they became childhood friends.

Ever since she was a kid, Fuyuki found herself becoming daddy’s girl. This wasn’t without reason, though. He would often play dolls with her, buy her many clothes, and only the best things in life. Her father simply just adored his little princess. When asked why he spoils her so much, in his words, “My daughter is just a mini version of me and my wife. And I spoil my wife. Why shouldn’t I do the same for her?” A very sound logic.

The Ayako family was well acquainted with the Takata family and vice versa. Whenever there was a celebration, one would invite the other over. And it wasn’t just celebrations, even simple hangouts, they’d come together. It was like the two families were one big whole family.

Due to this, Fuyuki and Sora came to know each other. Kids being kids, they played a lot with each other. Since Fuyuki was six months older than Sora, she took the lead on whatever they wanted to do. She was also a lot taller than him, so she assumed the role of being an older sister. Sora, being a shy kid at the time, followed her wherever she went.

They'd spent days playing in the park, running around by the riverside, and sometimes even playing with other kids. They’d go home with dirty clothes and a grumbling stomach. Even in school, they’d seat together and go home together. It was truly a fun childhood.

Even in middle school, they went to the same school. But as time’s long partner, change would not sit idly by.

The first thing that change was Sora had a growth spurt. In a year, he outgrew Fuyuki by a large margin but this didn't came as a surprised as Sora’s father was tall. 

He also became more handsome as he focused on making himself look cleaner and healthier. He also wore fashionable clothes and even his hair looked stylish. His personality also went from being a bit timid to being full-blown confident. 

It's like he was going for a middle school debut.

And with those, Sora easily became popular. But due to this, they spent less time together as he had always other things to do. But it was fine. That was just how things were. Even Fuyuki started to become popular, too, because of her looks.

One day, in middle school, a boy confessed to Fuyuki. He was her classmate and that boy was her very first rejection. She didn’t know why she rejected him as that boy was popular, well-mannered and good looking. They also had a rapport The rejection became known, and it spread like wildfire. And Fuyuki was caught in the middle of it.

It turned out the boy she rejected was her classmate’s crush, and she was accused of getting close to him to spite the girl. Of course, all these were nothing but rubbish accusations, but her classmates were convinced that Fuyuki was the bad guy, or girl in this case. Even the boy who confessed to her turned against her.

She was bullied, harassed and ostracized. Those who associated with her also got the same treatment. Thus, she didn’t interact with anyone, not even her closest friends. Fuyuki considered this as one of the most depressing things she had experienced.

But throughout all this, there was one person who stayed by her side.

Sora Takata.

Sora used his popularity to stay by her side. Since he was at the top of the school hierarchy, nobody could touch him. He gathered evidence that Fuyuki was innocent and got to prove the boy Fuyuki rejected that it was all a lie.

Sora Takata was Fuyuki’s hero.

That little boy she used to protect from the barking dog, that little boy whose pants were always on the wrong side. The boy who he used to think of as his little brother.

She fell in love with him.

It was during the night of Christmas Eve that Fuyuki planned to confess. She invited him to go out and watch a firework show. But their friends had caught a wind of their plans and what could have been a date turned to be a group event. She immediately let go of the idea, but she had resolved herself many times as her time was running out. If she didn't do it now, she might lose the courage she built up and never confessed. 

They met around six o'clock and enjoyed the variety of stalls as winter snow quietly fell. The Christmas Festival the community had setup was truly amazing—full of vibrant lights and feelings. 

But as the night deepened, the crowd grew larger that Sora and her got separated to their friends.

Wait, isn't this my chance!? 

She figured this was a sign. The god of love smiled upon her and given her a chance to take a step forward. And she sure wasn't going to waste it.

They went into a surprisingly deserted park to escape from the crowds. There, a fountain was frozen in place, devoid of its any relaxing features. 

"I'm in love with you!

It was there where Fuyuki confessed. She poured out everything she wanted to say—not from the script she had practiced before, no, she had already forgotten it all as her emotions swelled inside her. Instead, she calmed herself down and spoke from her heart. 

"I'm sorry, Fuyuki..."

But this was also where she got rejected. 

She couldn't believe it. They had been together since childhood and everyone basically looked at them like they were already a couple. 

"Then do you like someone else...?"

"I think you might have an idea who she is..."

It was true. She did have an inkling that he liked someone. It was the reason why she confessed in the first place.

After telling him to leave her alone for a while, Fuyuki sat on the cold, wooden bench. There were many thoughts running on her mind and before she knew it, tears suddenly came sliding down.

As she sat in a bench, motionless, she was approached by two men. She could easily smell the alcohol in them and the way their clothes were unkempt led Fuyuki to believe they weren’t up to any good.

As if the night couldn't get any worse.

Just as she had expected, one of the men put his arms around her shoulder while the other one blocked the other path. She was sandwiched between two men without any way out.

She tried to resist them, but her arms couldn’t push them away. She tried to run, but her body trembled, not knowing whether it was from fear or the cold. Things were quickly escalating. 

With wide, malicious grins, the men slowly moved their arms to touch her.

Save me, Sora! She internally shouted as she closed her eyes.

“Let go of her!”

She heard a shout reverberating in the quiet park.

Someone came to help her.

But the voice wasn’t from the person she expected. Standing there wasn’t Sora but a stranger.

A familiar looking stranger…

Wait, this is Shiraishi from class! She thought, her eyes wide. Instead of Sora, her white knight in shining armor was the loner in class and it truly came out of nowhere.

She didn't know much about him as they'd never really talked before. All she knew was that he had been alone at the start of the school year. 

Fuyuki couldn’t help but feel doomed. Of course, she was thankful that someone was there, but this looked like a battle between two hogs and a cat. There was no way Shiraishi could win this battle.

If only he was Sora…The battle then would look like between a tiger and two hogs. He would punch these two unsightly men in the face with a smile on his handsome face.

But Shiraishi surprised her as he showed a cat on his palm. He didn’t use his own strength but instead used the power of cat to scare the two men. It worked, and Fuyuki was dragged away in amazing speed.

This feels nice…

As she got dragged away, Shiraishi held her hand. Normally, Fuyuki wouldn’t be holding hands with someone who wasn’t close to her but she was afraid something would happened again if she were ever to let go. She had enough of being hurt for today. Besides, the warm heat coming from his hands felt like wearing heated gloves. And it truly felt nice.

After contacting her friends, they stopped by a convenience store to take rest. She wanted to buy food that would heat her up but unfortunately, her bag wasn’t with her.

Shiraishi, sitting beside her, continued to held her hand. Her body felt so sluggish that he wanted to lean to him but that would be asking too much.

“It’ll be just for a minute but would you please let go of my hand.” With Fuyuki’s head hang low, she held his hand even more. For some reason, if she let go of his hand, she felt like she would be surrounded by the cold darkness again. But moments later, she released his hands as she realized she couldn’t force him to not do what he wanted to do.

But Shiraishi did came back in a minute with food in tow.

“I’ll give it to you. You must be freezing right now, waiting in that bench for almost an hour and considering what happened to you.”

Fuyuki was speechless. Someone had witness her confession and rejection.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone in school. It’s not like they talk to me, anyway.”

Fuyuki exhaled in relief. She doubted about not telling anyone in school but it was true that almost nobody talked to him. And even if he did spread her rejection, nobody would believe him anyway.

Although the food was nothing special, it tasted great. So great that she ate it in span of a minute. It truly warmed her body, and she vowed not to freeze herself again.

Things only had gotten worse for Fuyuki.

After her rejection, Fuyuki hadn’t been herself. She stayed in her room the entire day. Even when her friends invited her to go out, she'd refused, making all kinds of excuses. It wasn't that she didn't want to go out with them, it was more of she didn't have the energy to do anything. Besides, she currently had no idea how to face one of her friends. 

She ate less food and no longer enjoyed eating her favorite foods. She did still try her best to eat what her parents prepared as she didn't want to raise any suspicions and be asked question she didn't want to answer.  

The worse of it all was how Sora looked unaffected by their situation.

She hadn’t seen him all winter break but whenever her mother would go to the Takata household, she’d always say how he was doing fine. She also saw that whenever Sora would update his social media or send a message in their group chat, he looked like he was doing alright.

This rift could potentially end their friendship, but Sora wasn’t affected by it. Fuyuki felt she was like nothing to him. It was so painful that she’d cry just thinking about it.

And as winter break came to an end, Fuyuki knew she had to face him again in the school. And this alone caused her not wanting to go to school again. But if she did, her mother would drag her to school.

What should I do...?