1 year later

The unbearable heat has been getting worse this past month. To my luck, it’s summer break. I don’t have to worry about feeling excruciating heat. I was in a video call with Akane-chan.

I wonder how Koto-chan’s doing right now…

“That dress looked so cute”! I wanted to get it so bad, but they ran out of stock for my— uhhh Fuyuki-chan?”

My lips couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Koto-chan.

“Fuyuki-chan?”

My thoughts were disrupted by the soft voice calling out for me.

“O-oh, sorry, what were you saying?”

She averted her gaze and played with her hair. “You’ve been daydreaming pretty often lately…”

My cheeks instantly reddened from embarrassment.

She had a smirk on her face. “Don’t tell me you have a boyfriend, Fuyuki-chan.”

I quickly denied the allegation. “W-What! I don’t have a boyfriend!”

Just then, Akane-chan moved from her table to her bed, revealing a Yuki Hanasato nui.

My heart jumped from excitement. “You know the manga!?”

Her soul left her body. “It’s n-not what—”

“I love that manga too!”

The tension in her voice disappeared. She weakly said, “R-Really…?”

“Yes!”

She had a shy smile. “I finally have someone to talk about manga with, without getting laughed at…”

My protective instincts kicked in. “Why would I laugh at you for reading manga? There’s nothing wrong with it. Those bullies are just insecure. Just tell me if they did it again, and I’ll confront them!”

She chuckled.

“I’m not joking, Akane-chan!”

“I know, thanks, Fuyuki-chan…”

“Seriously though, I won’t let anyone hurt you, Akane-chan!”

Her shy smile turned into a grin. “So, Fuyuki-chan, you haven’t told me the reason why you’ve been daydreaming a lot.”

My cheeks turned red. “W-Well, basically, I make manga. There’s this girl that DM’ed me and said how much she loved my work. I was skeptical at first, but we then got to know each other, and she’s like the sweetest girl I’ve ever met…”

Her smile slightly widened. “Are you perhaps in love with her?”

“N-No! She’s just a dear friend, and besides, girls can’t fall in love with each other.”

She gave me a skeptical look. “Your dilated eyes are saying something else, but that’s for you to figure out, Fuyuki-chan. Just remember that I’ll support whoever you choose, not unless they’re sketchy.”

I was starting to feel emotional, but I didn’t know why. I laughed it off and said, “You’re making me cry now, Akane-chan!”

She laughed. “Anyways, you haven’t told me her name!” She fake pouted, which made me laugh even harder.

“Her name is Kotone, but her username is Kotoneko. I was surprised to know that she also makes manga.”

“I’m rooting for the two of you!”

My cheeks were now as red as a tomato. “H-hey! What do you mean by that? Like I said, I don’t like Koto-chan!”

She burst into laughter. “If you say so~”

We continued chatting for hours, just like how we usually do it. I couldn’t help but talk about Koto-chan, though.

•••

I stared at the empty ceiling in front of me.

Koto-chan got mercilessly bullied today, just because she makes manga!? This is just so unfair! Buy Kaede-chan and the other laughed at her too. What’s so funny about making manga? But Akane-chan…. She… She laughed along with them… I… I… Akane-chan too? Why… is it really that pathetic to make manga? And why did I just watch her and not do anything? I… I should’ve saved her! But the thought of Akane-chan and the others leaving me…

My heart was palpitating so fast. It felt like my entire world was getting destroyed.

No, please, don’t leave me! I don’t wanna be alone again! I’m such a terrible person! I… I should of… I… I DON’T KNOW ANYMORE!

Just then, my phone vibrated. It was a LINE notification from Akane-chan.

Akane: I’m sorry for laughing at Yuki-san. I got scared. I’m really sorry.

I sighed.

Fuyuki: “It’s okay, Akane-chan. We know how Kaede-chan gets when someone disagrees with her.”

I guess Akane-chan didn’t truly mean it. She just didn’t want to get teased. I mean, I don’t want her to experience what Koto-chan experienced. Nobody deserves to be treated like that. We should probably leave Kaede-chan and Haruka-chan.

I felt like I was being choked.

No, please don’t leave me!

Tears flowed uncontrollably.

Why am I being like this? Why can’t I bear the thought of them leaving me? What’s wrong with me! I’m so sorry for being like this, Koto-chan!

I continued sobbing all night, without getting any sleep.

•••

It was another day at my school. I opened my shoe locker and was surprised to find love letters all over the place. It didn’t take a while for me to hear the call of a certain brunette.

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“Fuyuki-chan, over here.”

I looked at the voice’s direction and saw Kaede-chab and the others.

“Are those love letters, Fuyuku-chan?” Kaede-chan looked like she was holding back.

I sighed. “Yeah… I’m not really sure what to do with them, though…”

Kaede-chan’s eyes were twitching. “I wonder how many love letters I get~”

She hurriedly opened her shoe locker and saw nothing but her shoes.

Haruka-chan smirked. “If you want the boys to like you, you should change that melodramatic attitude of yours.”

Kaede-chan looked like she was ready to pounce at Haruka-chan. “You! You’re not helping!”

There were boys waving at me with a shy look on their face. Kaede-chan was fuming with anger.

Akane-chan went up to me and said, “So, what are you going to do with all those love letters?”

I sighed. “I don’t have time to read all of this…”

“I can help you.”

“Thanks, Akane-chan. These are way too much to read in one day.”

Kaede-chan glared at me.

“Does this mean that I’m dead, Akane-chan?”

She nodded.

What did I get myself into?

“Well, it’s fine. I’m sure she’ll cool down eventually, r-right? ehe…”

There was another set of guys waving at me.

Kaede-chan’s knuckles were so white.

Ever since that moment, things were not the same anymore.

•••

We were now in our second year of middle school. As usual, I was welcomed with hundreds of love letters waiting to be read. If it weren’t for Akane-chan, I probably would’ve stood someone up on accident. Unsurprisingly, a group of girls was picking at an innocent girl. The innocent girl was pinned against the shoe lockers.

“Hey, lesbian. Did you snitch on the teachers?”

She stared at them indifferently. “I didn’t.”

The leader’s grip on the girl’s collar got tighter. “Don’t lie to me. I’ll let you off the hook if you just tell me the truth.”

She just stared at them blankly. “I’m not lying.”

Fuyuki, this is your chance to defend her. Stop caring about being abandoned by Kaede-chan and the others. Koto-chan is being bullied right now.

My body was frozen. I couldn’t make myself move a single finger.

Fuyuki, your precious friend is getting bullied right now. Look at how dead her eyes are! But I don’t want to be alone… I…

I blurted something out on impulse. “I’m the one who reported you!”

Everyone went silent. All eyes were on my. Koto-chan’s eyes were wide open.

Gosh, I could stare at her all day an never get bored. Fuyuki, snap out of it!

“Uhh, cheating is bad, y-you know!” I placed my hands around my waist. I also tried to make my voice sound stern.

The leader’s eyes were twitching. “Why yes, Furukawa-sama. We’ll never do it e-ever again!”

“No need to use the honorific “sama”. Just make sure that this will never happen ever again, or else.”

“Y-Yes, Furukawa-san!”

With that, the bullies left Koto-chan alone but gave her a glare.

Kaede-chan and Haruka-chan rolled their eyes.

Ah, I guess I really did it now…

Akane-chan gave me a reassuring smile.

“Ugh, what’s with that high and mighty act there, Fuyuki-chan?”

I looked down. “I don’t know…”

Akane-chan gently squeezed my hand.

“Are you siding with her now, Akane-chan?”

She immediately let go of her hold.

“Good.” Her voice was firm.

My heart was palpitating so fast that I couldn’t breathe anymore. I ran as fast as I could to the toilet.

I… I can’t take this anymore! Kaede-chan, Koto-chan, manga… What should I do… Wait, manga??? Oh right, that pathetic craft. I’m really continuing the thing that ruined Koto-chan’s life? Seeing her get pushed around and get treated like trash… Why did I even start doing it… What’s the point of manga creation? All you’ll ever experience is pain and suffering…

I eventually arrived at the toilet. After running for quite a while, I felt like I was being choked. I could barely breathe. I hurriedly looked for my inhaler. I was then interrupted by a soft voice.

Ah, even after everything she’s been through. Her voice is still as sweet as honey…

“Are you okay?”

“Inhaler…” That was the only word that I could mutter.

She took the inhaler from my hand and helped me.

“Feel better?”

I’m gonna melt…

“Yeah…”

The choking sensation eased up a little bit.

She smiled at me. It was the first time I’d ever seen her smile in a long time, but it was still as beautiful as I could remember.

“Thanks for saving me there… They would’ve beaten me up if it weren’t for you…”

Tears were threatening to fall. “I should’ve done something a long time ago…”

“It’s not your fault. Besides, it doesn’t matter anymore…”

“W-what do you mean?” Her words send shivers down my spine.

I have a bad feeling about this…

“Thanks for everything, Fuyuki.”

“K-Koto-chan?”

I felt soft arms around my body. I then hugged her back.

“I need a favor from you. Is it okay?”

“Yeah…”

I felt a soft sensation in my lips. I was shocked but quickly melted into it. It was the best thing I’ve ever felt. After several seconds, she broke away. Her cheeks were flushed. I probably look the same, but it doesn’t matter. She buried her face in my chest and held onto me tightly, to which I returned the gesture.

“Can we stay like- Actually, can we skip school today?”

I didn’t hesitate to agree.

“So, how do we sneak out of the school?” Koto-chan asked.

“Hmmm, it’s either we fake being sick, act like spies, or I use my dad’s position, which isn’t exactly the most morally right thing to do, but uhh, yeah…”

“I guess we can use your dad privileges. They might call our parents if we fake being sick to get caught by the nurse. We can’t risk your asthma flaring up too.”

“Well then, using his position, it is… I guess… This will be the first time that I’m doing this, but it’s fine. It’s not like I’m gonna do it every time.”

Koto-chan didn’t seem to care, and we went to the gate.

This is it! I never thought of doing this, but if it’s for Koto-chan, it will be worth it. Yeah, I’m definitely not doing this ever again. Koto-chan, I’m doing this for you!

“Uhh, Ito-san, can you please let me and my friend skip school just this once? I promise that we won’t do this ever again.”

His face was stern. “Why yes, Furukawa-sama. You and your friend may go, but you have to be here by dismissal. Otherwise, Kobayashi-san will not be too happy.”

I was so relieved. “Thank you so much, Ito-san! Let’s go, Koto-chan!”

We then went to the nearest shopping mall.

I looked at her, not knowing what to do next. “So, uhh, what should we do now?”

She looked at me blankly and said, “How about we go to the arcade?”

“Sure!”

We then went inside the arcade. There was a section that caught both of our attention. It was the rhythm game section. We went there as soon as we could. I was amazed with the amount of rhythm games. This was the first time that I’ve ever been to one.

I’ve never seen this many rhythm games in my life! This is everything that I could ever ask for!

We played for hours. We had so much fun that we didn’t realize that it’s been that long.

“We should totally come here again! I wanna play some more next time, but I’m pretty hungry.”

She had a very subtle smile. “We should probably look for somewhere to eat.”

I played with my hair. “Yeah, we definitely should. It’s way past lunchtime.”

We looked around for restaurants until we found one that suited our taste. It wasn’t anything fancy. It was your typical home restaurant.

“Woah, I’ve never been to anything like this. Kaede-chan would usually bring us to fancy restaurants.”

“Well, sometimes, nothing tastes better than home…”

Home… I guess my private chef’s cooking counts, right?

“Uhh, definitely!”

Koto-chan’s eyes widened in realization. We then sat there in awkward silence until the waiter came to take our order.

She had a warm smile on her face. “May I take your order?”

Koto-chan said, “I’ll have this bento set.”

“What about you, miss?”

“I’d like to get this ramen!” I was so excited to try it.

“That will take around 5-10 minutes!”

It didn’t take too long for the food to arrive. It was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.

I guess this is what “home” is supposed to taste like…

“It’s so good, Koto-chan!”

She had the faintest smile on her face. “I’m glad you liked it.”

It didn’t take us a while to finish eating.

We should definitely come back here.

“So, where should we go next?”

“Hmm, why not the bookstore?”

My eyes lit up. “Maybe they finally have it in stock!”

Her smile slightly widened. “Maybe…”

We then payed for the bill and went to the bookstore. As soon as we entered, I immediately looked for the latest volume of my favorite manga. After minutes of looking, I wasn’t able to find it. I sighed in defeat. “Why is it so hard to find! Did you find anything that you like, Koto-chan?”

She averted her gaze. “Uhh, not really…”

I sighed in defeat. “I guess we should go now…”

Right after we exited the building, she got something out of her bag and handed me something. I was confused. “Huh, what’s this?”

Her voice could barely be heard. “Open it…”

Inside the paper bag was the volume that I’ve been looking for. My heart warmed at the thought. “I… how were you able to find it?”

She averted her gaze. “I know that you’ve been looking for it for quite a while, so I decided to look online and got lucky that this branch still had a copy, so I reserved it, and yeah…”

“I… Thanks, Koto-chan”

I really don’t deserve you, Koto-chan. You’re way too thoughtful and sweet. I don’t deserve this much after everything I’ve done…

She smiled again. “I just wanted to make you happy for the last time…”

I checked my watch, and we only had 15 minutes left until school ended.

I didn’t want this to end, but we had a deal with Ito-san. ”We better head back now…”

“Yeah...” She had a pained smile on her face…

We got back to school just in time.

I haven’t had this much fun in my entire life!

I never would’ve expected that this would be her last day.