CHAPTER 2 : After allโ€ฆ
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A few hours had passed after Yuu had completely succumbed into slumber, Higabana knelt to level herself to the bed. ๐˜๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ'๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑโ€ฆ. ๐˜•๐˜ฐ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ, ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ. ๐˜ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด! ๐˜ˆ๐˜ญ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉโ€ฆ Higabana, who was smiling, gave a troubled look as he stared at Yuu's face. ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ต. She thought, and didn't give any second thoughts. She poked his cheeks a bit, and a few seconds later, started feeling up his hair.

After a few minutes of poking him, Yuu's eyes twitched, but Higabana hadn't noticed it. In just a few seconds, he came in to.

"Uhmโ€ฆ Higabanaโ€ฆ-sanโ€ฆ. What's happening to me?"

"Eh?!โ€” Uhmโ€ฆ." In a panic, Higabana jumped back to her chair and tried to go back to her usual composure.

"So you're gonna play like nothing happened at all, are you? Not like I mind someone poking my face and hair thoughโ€ฆ"

"T-That's, I wasn't poking you or anything at all!"

"And there you just admitted you were poking me." Yuu said with a grin on his face, while Higabana cupped her head with both of her delicate hands as she sat down on the ground, completely red and embarrassed to be found out.

"W-Well, I really didn't hate it though. So no need to feel that embarrassedโ€ฆ."

"Nnnnโ€ฆ" she let out a soft grumble as she slowly sat back down on her chair.

"A-Anyway, would you like to eat lunch? It's past 12 already."

"Eh?! Seriously? I slept that long?!"

"Yeah. Do you want me to peel you some apples?"

"Eh? Ahโ€” then pleaseโ€ฆ" he answered as he slowly sat up on his bed, preparing the table for the bed, only to be stoppedโ€ฆ.

"Ahโ€”! Don't! Don't strain your body too much, just relax!"

"I can do at least this muchโ€ฆ."

"No means no!" Higabana said as she took the table from him and set it up herself. Being so close to him, he immediately averted his gaze to the side, red on his cheeks.

"Here." Higabana placed the plate full of sliced and peeled apples, along with an orange, peeled as well.

"Thank you very muchโ€ฆ." he gratefully expressed his gratitude and started eating the apples and oranges.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜บ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ญโ€ฆ. He thought on the top of his head, not only to notice that his eyes slowly swelled up with tears.

"Eh?!โ€” A-Awagami-kun?! Why are you crying?!"ย 

"Eh?โ€”" he seemed to have noticed it. "Ahโ€” I wonder whyโ€ฆ" he said as he kept sniffling and crying.

"W-Why?... Hereโ€”" she handed him a handkerchief she had on her bag.

"Thank youโ€ฆ." he thanked her while wiping the tears from his eyes, as he immediately realized as to why he suddenly cried.

๐˜ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆโ€ฆ. ๐˜ ๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ดโ€ฆ ๐˜ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆโ€” ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐโ€ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต, ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ช๐˜ต'๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆโ€ฆ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ, ๐˜ ๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜โ€ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ป๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ช๐˜ตโ€ฆ.

After a few minutes of non-stop crying, Yuu had finally stopped crying.

"Sorry to let you see me so pathetic like thatโ€ฆ." he told her as he gave her a wry smile.

"Don't be, geez. Just suddenly crying made me panic, you know! Butโ€ฆ why did you suddenly cry?... I mean, it's fine if you don't want to tell me, I don't mean to pryโ€ฆ"

"Ahโ€” no. In fact, I would tell you anywaysโ€ฆ." he said as he stared at the window by his right and started to talk. "Do you rememberโ€ฆ that day in the classroom, a year ago?..."

"That was when youโ€ฆ" as to answer his question, she spoke up, only to be interjected.

"Yeah. The day I confessed." He took a glance at her face, only to show an apologetic one. "Don't make that faceโ€ฆ. Anyways, even after that, I did my best to tell myself 'I'll completely cut ties with you, along with the memories and my feelings' but even so, I wondered to myself why I can'tโ€ฆ. I kept trying and trying, until eventuallyโ€ฆ I gave upโ€ฆ. Well, until todayโ€ฆ I still tried to act like I didn't have feelings for you, butโ€ฆ it just made me realize even more. That it wasn't even a matter of "like'' anymore, but instead, a feeling of "love". I realized that the more I tried to forget you, the more I realized... that I fell in love with youโ€ฆ." he took another glance at her, and gave a smile showing both pain, and innocence. "That's why I suddenly cried. As I am now, I thought that if I die, I wouldn't get to see you anymore. Iโ€ฆ wanted to spend more time with youโ€ฆ be with you some moreโ€ฆ"

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆโ€ฆ ๐˜ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ตโ€ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ตโ€ฆ. ๐˜โ€ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง๐˜ง ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ. Yuu thought to himself and muttered, "That's whyโ€ฆ" but before he could say it, Aoi interjected.

"I seeโ€ฆ." Higabana said with a soft voice and followed with, "...thenโ€ฆ. Can I be a little selfish and ask you something as well?"

Surprised by the sudden proclamation, he immediately replied "Eh?!โ€” well, you put up with my selfishness earlier, I would gladly do so as wellโ€ฆ."

"Thenโ€ฆ. Will you face the other side for a bit?..."

"Eh?... That'sโ€ฆ." confused at what she requested, he thought of 2 things,

ยน ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ง'๐ญ ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐›๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ž๐ฆ๐›๐š๐ซ๐ซ๐š๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ย 

ยฒ ๐ฌ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž

ยฒ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ ๐˜จ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ยน?

He thought to himself, and followed what she wanted, and faced the other way, exposing his back to her. "So? What next?โ€” Eh? Higabana-san?!" the moment he turned his back, he immediately felt a warmth all over his back.ย 

She patted his head back and forth and kept embracing him tightly.

"Higabana-sanโ€ฆ if you keep on doing that, I might cry again. So can you stop?"

"No. I want to spoil you, over and over again. That's why, feel free to lean on me moreโ€ฆ." she said as she continued to pat his head.

"... shouldn't you be saying that when my head is really on your shoulderโ€ฆ. Butโ€ฆ let meโ€ฆ stay like this for a whileโ€ฆ."

๐˜ˆ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฉโ€” ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ป! ๐˜ ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐโ€ฆ. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ....

They could completely feel both their heartbeats, so while patting him, she slowly felt him calm down. In which they lasted for about 5 minutes.

"Thank you, Higabana-san. I'm fine now." he said as he forcefully, yet gently escaped from her arms, and faced her with an honest smile.

"Good. So next time, lean on me more. And I won't let you die. I'll carefully watch you here, everyday until you get better. That's why, don't ever think about dying."

"Yeah. Sorry. And thank youโ€ฆ" he sincerely apologized and thanked her for the comfort she gave him.

"...after allโ€ฆ." Higabana continued with her words.

"Hm?" Yuu stared at him in utter confusion.

"I'veโ€ฆ always liked youโ€ฆ Awagami-kun." she said straight to his face with a calm expression, yet a lovely voice, enough to make his heart flutter.

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