The weekend, with all its pleasant, easy, wonderful hours, slipped away in the blink of an eye.
Monday morning, Sakiko still walked to school together with Chiose, but she kept her head down the whole way and said nothing.
Well, girls were all like that. Too embarrassed to speak up.
And Chiose loved watching a girl wear that particular expression of shyness and regret. That expression was simply too delicious, too sweet.
"Little Chiose, why are you smacking your lips? Are you hungry? I have... some little penguin gummies."
Tomori carefully fished a slightly melted strawberry-flavored candy out of her pocket, and Chiose bit into it without a moment's hesitation.
"Tasty. A gummy that Little Tomo warmed up in her pocket is almost as tasty as Little Tomo herself."
More than the candy, Chiose was looking forward to Takamatsu Tomori's reaction.
Noshiro Chiose was certain that Takamatsu Tomori would give her a reaction a hundred times sweeter than any candy.
"Nnh!" Her pretty face flushed. Tomori simply couldn't handle being teased, and that innocence, that purity, was exactly the thing Noshiro Chiose needed to protect.
The chime marking the hour drifted through the building. By the time Tomori and Chiose came downstairs from the Astronomy Club, it was already three in the afternoon.
Taki was catching up on her notes today, so she would arrive a little later than usual. That was exactly why Chiose and Tomori had spent half an hour in the Astronomy Club sorting through the literary documents left behind by the seniors.
"One of the seniors wrote that if there are only two people in the Astronomy Club, you should remember to wear leggings. What do you think that means?"
"Eh? I-I don't know."
Tomori shook her head blankly while Chiose was still savoring her discovery.
"And another senior wrote that if four or five people are already inside the Astronomy Club conducting mysterious activities, it's best not to push the door open and go in, or you might get dragged into joining them... What's the meaning behind that?"
"Eh? I don't know that either."
It was the first time Tomori had realized just how barren her store of knowledge was.
She swore to herself that she would study every notebook the seniors had left behind and learn more, so she could answer Noshiro Chiose's questions!
"Takamatsu-san, excuse me. There's something I need to discuss with Noshiro-san alone."
A small blue-haired figure darted out at the turn of the stairwell. Out of the corner of her eye, Tomori made out who it was: Togawa Sakiko.
[Sakiko? Again...]
"Eh? Something came up? Then Little Tomo, you go ahead and find Taki outside the gate. I'll come once I've talked with Togawa-san for a bit."
"Mm-hm!"
Tomori, sensible as ever, asked nothing at all. She walked off obediently.
For a while the empty club building held no one but Sakiko and Chiose.
"Little Sakiko, did you come looking for me today because there's something you need?"
As usual Noshiro Chiose played the picture of harmlessness, hands clasped behind her back, circling around Sakiko like a butterfly drifting through flowers.
"L-Little Chiose... I..."
Clutching her own arm, at a loss, Togawa Sakiko agonized over it for a long time, and still had no idea how to apologize for her rudeness a few days ago.
[I rehearsed this so many times in my head these past few days. Why is it turning out like this?]
Could it be that she really was one of those super-soft, mushy losers?
The club building. The courtyard. The school gate. The street outside the gate.
Stammering and stumbling, Sakiko walked all the way out of Haneoka beside Chiose, and still didn't dare speak.
She was like a child who had done something wrong and, for reasons nobody else cared about, couldn't lay bare what she felt.
[If only someone could help me right now. If only someone would give me a push...]
Please! Anyone at all! Come and help me out!
"Hey! Over here, over here! Wait for me!"
Whose voice was that? So familiar. Was it a little angel sent down by God?
With a sinking feeling, Togawa Sakiko turned her head at the same moment Chiose did, and from start to finish the white-haired beauty at her side wore nothing but a serene smile.
She had Sakiko figured out, didn't she? What a... villain.
Sakiko was tangled up in a swarm of thoughts, and when she got a clear look at the person coming up behind them, her troubles only multiplied.
Long brown hair combed perfectly neat, blue eyes bright with a smile visible from a distance. The girl closing in on them step by step, you are-
"Nagasaki Soyo? I thought I'd already made myself clear to you last time, which is why I didn't bother repeating it online. I even had Mutsumi tell you. Please stop bothering me. Why are you still-"
Sakiko bristled at once. All that unease and irritation sent the sharp words flying out of her mouth before she could stop them, and yet...
Nagasaki Soyo walked right past her the moment she reached them and glued herself to Chiose, and Sakiko was left standing there in the wind, helpless, watching the two of them be close.
"I..."
Soyo still showed no intention of acknowledging her. She hadn't so much as glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, not once, not for a second.
This wasn't being ignored. This was being treated as though she didn't exist.
Frozen in place, Togawa Sakiko felt nothing but her own awkwardness.
"Hm? Togawa, you're here too? What a coincidence."
Only after Chiose gave her a look did Soyo grudgingly turn her head.
Honestly, by now the words "Togawa," "Sakiko" and "Togawa Sakiko" all set off a stress reaction in her.
In the dream, the one who kept her from caring for her daughter and made her carry this regret for the rest of her life was named Togawa. In the dream, the one who turned into a nightmare and tormented her for half a lifetime was Sakiko. In reality, the one who promised her friendship and then cast her aside was Togawa Sakiko...
Past suffering could be set aside for now. But if this creature intended to ruin the [forever] between her and Chiose, Soyo would never let Sakiko off so easily.
"I... I have somewhere to be. I'll go on ahead."
First Tomori, now Soyo... Sakiko realized that the friends she had once held dearest were drifting further and further away from her. And... every bit of it had been her own choice.
[Why does this hurt? It hurts so much. Have I done too many things wrong...?]
Escape. Run. Get out of here!
Those were the only options left in Sakiko's mind, and her legs had already started moving on their own long before she decided to.
Wind roaring past her ears. The scenery blurring in front of her. A uniform on her body that didn't belong to Tsukinomori...
In the end Sakiko ran off into the distance, leaving Soyo standing there with her arms wrapped around Chiose's.
"What's with her? She's in such a hurry."
Not a flicker of any extra emotion passed through Soyo's eyes. She looked at Chiose, and her eyes held only Chiose.
"She's probably off to take care of something she wants to do. Let's go, Soyo. Little Tomo and Taki are waiting up ahead. We can't keep them waiting too long."
"Okay~"
There were hardly any students left on the road home. Chiose and Soyo gradually disappeared past the school gate.
Only after they were completely gone did Togawa Sakiko poke her head out from the side of the building nearby.
She would have sworn that the state she was in right now was as wretched as it got.
And that was how it went.
____
________________________________________
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉