A new day has come, and with it, my resolution to solve this mess once for all.

At least, that's how things should have been, however, right now I’m deep down in my bed, holding my blankets with no intentions of going out.

“Come on, Eriko! Sotoka is arriving here to pick you up any minute now!”

“Nooooo! I’m not ready to face her!”

“Weren't you going to ask her if she was going out with someone!?”

She is right, that was what I was going to do, however, a long night of sleep and hours of talking with the pillow made all my courage go away, now, once again, I’m afraid of what her answer could be.

“B-But! What if she really is going out with someone?!”

“I’ve already told you! There's no way something like that happens. Now, get out of bed!”

All the bed sheets were pulled at the same time and thrown to the floor, of course, I was also included in that move.

“Now, put some clothes on and get ready to go to school!”

My mother slammed the door as she went out, leaving me alone half naked on the ground of my room. She was clearly angry, but I couldn't totally get why.

Once I finished dressing up and before I could start eating my breakfast, Sotoka arrived. As my mother says, it is bad manners to put to wait the one that came to pick you up, so she ended up making me a sandwich and sent me off.

“Hey Eriko! Did you sleep well? Fufu~!”

“Y-Yeah… How about you?”

“I sleep like a stone! I was really tired from everything we did yesterday, it was so fun~!”

“Y-Yeah…”

“Mhmm…”

We continued our way to school the same way as usual, or should I say that we took the same way that we usually took, but, contrary to our everyday routine, we weren't talking about anything. The same happened while we were travelling in the bus and during clases. Even more, we barely talked during lunch, so at the end of the day, we had hardly talked to each other.

Right now, we were the only ones left in an empty classroom that was covered in the dim orange light of the time before the sunset. Sotoka was sitting on her chair and I was doing the same, but with a closed book leaned on my desk and my eyes fixed in it.

“It seems that we didn't went to the club today, right?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“You barely read anything yet, right?”

“Y-Yeah…”

Suddenly, Sotoka slammed her desk and stood up. She walked towards me and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt.

“You should at least look at me while we are talking, you know?”

“Y-Yeah…”

I answered with a low voice while still looking away. It's not as if I don't want to look at her, it's just that I don't know how to do that.

“Y-You, brat!”

She shouted at me and threw me back at my chair, then, she grabbed her bag and started talking before walking to the classroom's door.

“You know? I didn't hate being here with you, I liked it… However, right now you are being really annoying. You are not talking to me nor even looking at me, and I don’t know why… I don't get it!... You know, Eriko? I… I… It doesn't matter…”

She said with a voice that was about to break. This is it? Is it really over? No, this can't end just like that, I know that, I know her, I know us. But even if I know everything about us, this unsettling feeling makes me want to do something.

Before I could get back to my senses, I caught myself running towards Sotoka and hugging her from her back.

“D-Don’t go! I want you to stay here with me, Sotoka!”

“You are really spoiled, right Eriko?”

“Y-Yeah…”

I was burying my face on her back so I could feel Sotoka's warmth and scent. I could also feel her soft hands touching mine, it was so relaxing that I stopped thinking about everything. And since I stopped thinking, my mouth started talking by itself.

“A-Are you going out with someone, Sotoka?”

“W-What?! O-Of course not! There's no way I'll do that!”

“Is that so? That's so comforting…”

“Uh…? What are you talking about?”

But I didn't answer her. I was finally at peace, as mom said, there was no way for Sotoka to be going out with someone besides me, it was all settled down.

However, things can't be so easy, so my brain started talking by itself once more.

“Do you want to go out with me?”