Afternoon at the school construction grounds caught a little dust blowing out with the wind. The noise echoed through the blocks breaking the otherwise calm atmosphere. Construction on the school came along smoothly with debris moved. They converted rubble back into new supplies to rebuild the broken parts of the school. Nearly half of the school was forced to be knocked down according to the engineering intelligence that Yuki and Ayumi created.

It was coming close to the end of the week and the progress on the school had everyone very hopeful. There were still several classrooms that needed walls, being only beams and supports. Most of the classrooms further away from the damage had been repaired first. They were being finished up by smaller worker machines that Ayumi controlled.

A couple days of work still remained on it until the school could be returned to working order, though the mayor still insisted on a city inspector to ensure the safety of the building before classes could resume. Which was certainly an understandable request given the unbelievable nature of their powers.

Since the clean up outside had been completed that reduced the number of volunteers. Those that remained helped out in the opposite wing of the school that had already been fixed. There remained a large mess still left by the earthquake that needed cleaning or organizing.

Yumi helped out, though against her brother’s will. He had wanted her to stay in bed and rest after the fainting spell. She insisted on returning though after a day of staying at home. Yumi helped with cleaning and sometimes moving the odd broken item to the trash outside.

Chapter 86 – Longing Thoughts and Heavy Thoughts

She turned back around from the dumpster holding the box gently in front of her and looked over to the tent. After the first few days someone donated a tent for the food and a place to rest. Since lunch already finished all that was left was snacks and cups with canisters of tea, juice and water. “I haven’t had anything to drink for a while and brother might want something. He’s been working so hard.”

There were three girls and two boys running things helping to serve those that rested. They were unable to help with the work so they offered their aid in what ways they could to repay those working so hard. Kaede was one of the girls helping out and Yumi went up to her. She waved out to Yumi calling her over. “Hey Yumi! Are you busy?”

It caught her a little off guard, but Yumi hastened her pace. “I’m free. Did you need something?”

“Oh thank you, Yumi! It’s been a while since we sent some water for Ayumi and Yuki and I’ve been trying to find someone.” Kaede looked exhausted and flustered from running around unable to find someone to help her. “You know someone that could…”

“I’ll do it!” She spoke up quickly, but then guarded herself in embarrassment. ‘Oh why did I just say that out loud so fast without thinking?!’

Kaede bounced up pleased. “Oh thank you so much Yumi!” She grabbed a hold of her hands thanking her. “You’re a life saver!” After a quick round of gratitude, she handed over the bottles that she needed delivered.

Yumi took them a little too delicately trying to overcompensate for her embarrassment early and tried to appear more natural. Unfortunately, one of the bottles didn’t make it fully to her hands as a result and dropped on the ground. “Oh no! I’m so sorry Kaede!” She bent down picking up the bottle that was dent and dirtied from the fall. “What am I going to do!?” She showed Kaede the bottle’s damage.

“It’s okay, we have plenty more!” Kaede swapped out the bottle and made sure that she had a good hold of it. “Thanks again!” She waved Yumi off and smiled a little to herself. There had been a little bit of an excited glow in Yumi’s cheeks that she had caught, making her sigh a little.

“That’s pretty sneaky of you,” one of the other girls said, coming up behind Kaede having watched the scene unfold.

Kaede returned her a mischievous grin. “Sneaky?! I was just having my best friend deliver water. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The female student stopped to stand next to Kaede watching Yumi very eagerly heading off to Yuki, who sat in front of the school concentrating. “You accepted him pretty quickly.”

“He’s different from before. I can trust him with her now.”

“You do realize she could not be interested.”

“It’s possible. She needs more friends than just Katsumi and myself. But if it’s something more, no sense not giving a nudge.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“As long as you’re being realistic.”

Yumi was rushing along towards the school until Yuki started to become very near and she suddenly became more self-conscious about her actions. She stopped herself immediately and tried to calm herself down before approaching him. ‘He’s right there! No! I need to calm down! I don’t want to be out of breath and unable to speak to him! Can I speak to him? What should I say?’ Her mind spun thoughts as quickly as they came to her. The only thing that saved her was Yuki noticing her. ‘Oh no! He can see me and I’m just standing here not saying anything! I must look so strange to him right now! I should just leave before I embarrass myself anymore!’

Yuki had his eyes closed, but felt something behind him. He had turned his head over his shoulder staring at Yumi expectantly waiting for her to talk. The longer that he stared the more it seemed that she shook and looked like she wanted something. Eventually curiosity managed to save Yumi from self destruction. “Were you needing something?”

“N-needing? Some-something?” The more that she stuttered the deeper she fell into regret for saying anything. ‘I’m talking to him, but I can’t even say anything! What should I do!? What he must think…’ Yumi fumbled over her hands with the bottles becoming increasingly nervous. One of the bottles of water slipped out of her hand and slid down her leg. She quickly scrambled to catch it before it hit the ground.

Each second that passed for Yumi felt like an eternity of being the absolute center of attention of everyone in the world with them only possibly thinking how stupid she looked at that moment. She had completely frozen up.

Yuki wasn’t sure what happened, but got up to try to help her out. “Are you okay?”

‘I decided… What do I do!? What do I do?!’ Yumi was looking down at her hands trying to decide her action. It was then that the bottle in her hand suddenly reminded her of what she was supposed to be doing. She quickly jerked her hand forward not even looking at what she was doing, so nervous still, trying to hand off the bottle. “W-water…bottle! I-I…”

The attempt to hand it over failed a little as it bumped into his hand and went to the side out of reach. “Thanks a lot, Yumi!”

“N-no-no! I’m fine!” She was shifting and fidgeting on the spot. “I’m sorry for interrupting your work!”

“No it’s quite alright!”

“I-I’ll be going then!”

“Thanks, Yumi!”

“You’re welcome!” Yumi hustled off quickly fearing that she had overstayed her welcome. She turned her head a little back to look at Yuki one last time. He had already started to focus back on his work with the school. ‘He seemed so distant when he wasn’t talking to me…’ Her mind began to dwell on the matter even more as she lost focus on the world around her.

She could remember the last couple of days seeing Yuki. Each of the images that she could recall from memory had Yuki with a similar appearing distant look. It looked like he had a heavy weight on him always somewhere else in his mind. Calling it pensive didn’t seem to cover how deep it seemed at times. The more that Yumi thought about it the more it bothered her. ‘Should I ask him if I can help? But if he wanted help he would have asked me, right? Yeah, I shouldn’t intrude! But…’

There was a different image of Yuki that came to her suddenly. ‘He’s usually happy and expressive, but he seemed even more than normal…I think… What’s he hiding?’ She was trying to think about how would be with her friends. ‘…but would he talk to me? Doesn’t he talk to Saki all the time?’

Yumi caught out of the corner of her eye Ayumi walking out to meet with Yuki. ‘Ayumi! I’ve got her water! I can’t believe I forgot it! I’m so stupid…’ She was beginning to walk over to meet her, but could see her already standing next to Yuki. When she had seen them talking it made her hesitate not wanting to interrupt them. However, she could not turn herself away.

‘I wonder what they’re talking about…’ The longer that she was watching the more she could see that Ayumi looked like she had a brighter glow around her than she remembered. ‘Did she always look that happy?’ Yumi had suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest that forced her hand up to press against the pain to comfort and relieve it. ‘What’s this feeling…why does it hurt so much all of a sudden?’

The pain was growing stronger for her as Ayumi’s expression grew while talking to him. She thought that she could see Yuki look like he was starting to respond with a natural smile not pressed down by the thoughts that clung to him. It was reaching a point that Yumi’s hand was tightening around the water bottle for Ayumi, warping the plastic where her fingers pressed.

Eventually, they separated and it felt like she had just been released from shackles. All the strength in her legs drained out of her and dropped her to her knees. The pain that had been stabbing at her chest seemed to have faded. ‘Why do I feel this way?!’

Yuki returned to concentrating on his work to keep it stable. From what Ayumi explained to him before, their powers were not meant to be used for extended periods due to the fatigue that would be caused to the mind. An individual would simply become so exhausted that they would no longer be able to stay conscious. So it had been a struggle for him to keep it going for hours at a time. He saw it as further training for him as he had realized that there was still a lot of refinement that he needed.

Late afternoon arrived for Yuki quickly, giving him the end to his work day. He released his Field and began walking out to the tent to get a cloth to wipe away the sweat. It might not have been physical labor, but his body still seemed to get worked out as though he was doing exercise. Yuki looked around the school grounds taking note that most of the students were heading out as well.

The first he met with was Saki, which frequently seemed to be the case lately. Yuki started to notice that she finished faster than others and typically out-pacing everyone else. Enough clues dropped for him to put together a good theory.

“Ready to leave?” Ayumi called out as she arrived a few minutes later. Saki and Yuki turned to meet her.

“Yup!”

The walk back remained fairly quiet between them as Ayumi and Yuki didn’t have much energy to hold a lengthy conversation. Saki became accustomed to the pattern and simply walked, not saying anything until the intersection brought her to where she had to leave them. Yuki broke from Ayumi at his house watching her walk away. As he stared his mind started up with his hesitations and fears that had been endlessly replaying for him.

‘They aren’t your real family!’ shouted Ayumi’s voice in his mind, recalled from the past.

Yuki’s hand tightened as he felt his chest squeeze in pain. He turned away from watching Ayumi hoping that he could forget what he had heard. His house was before him, but hesitation became too strong for him. Yuki forced himself to walk to the door and enter. Jun and Ken greeted them cheerfully. He accepted their insistence to drag him out into the living room. There were some cards spread out across the table from something that they had been playing.

“Let’s play!” Ken said, speaking up for Jun. Jun gave Yuki an affirming nod and matched Ken’s anticipating eyes.

“Alright, but I won’t go easy on you!”

“Yay!”

Momoko came into the room a few minutes later, having been watching from the kitchen threshold. She stared across the table down at Yuki. A few avoiding glances between them dragged out the silence. It reached a point for her that she could no longer ignore it. “Yuki…we need to talk…”