Chapter 8 (1/2)
Serizawa Haruki
Birthday: April 5
Horoscope Sign: Ram
Blood Type: A
Natsuki’s childhood friend In the Film Club The mischievous older brother type Makes movies in excellent taste
—–
practice 8
Patience, don’t rush
Muttering the words under her breath like a spell, Natsuki was intent on keeping her hand
Finally, together with the sound of the o of the tone cutter in her hand
“I-I finished~!”
Done with all the work at last, she collapsed on her bed
Her shoulders and arms ached from the overuse over these consecutive days, but now that she was finally able to give theue felt like relief to her
Moving only her neck, she looked over at the clock on top of her desk
It felt like it was around ht, but to her surprise, it was about two hours later than she’d thought
‘Ack, when did it get this late…’
She was shocked at how fast tione by, and also impressed on how focused she’d been
She’d do what she really wanted to do, and find confidence in herself
That hat she’d promised herself, but it had been a lot more work than she’d expected
In any case, she’d had Koyuki read her a, all of his advice had been a great help And , he cared like it was his oork, and she felt that it was thanks to his encourage
‘Once it’s , first I’ll send a text to the three of them…’
As she thought about how she’d announce it to them, another face popped up in the back of her mind
‘Maybe I should tell Haruki too, since we’ve both done confession rehearsals’
It had been the day before the contest results had been announced that Natsuki had done the confession rehearsal with Haruki in the classroom after school, so that would make it teeks since then
Even though there were only a few days left in October now, it still didn’t look like Haruki had confessed to anyone
‘Knowing hih’
Re how surprised her childhood friend had been about how , it was very possible that he hadn’t been able to take that final step
‘If I’ive Haruki that push he needs?’
And then he’d be thankful to her, anda little nicer to her?
No, he’d probably just scoff at her and say that it was none of her business
Unable to cool down at all, whi up one after another in her head
Natsuki rolled on top of her sheets, flipping over from stomach to lie on her back
“…I wonder if Yuu’s already asleep”
Suddenly curious, she quietly rushed over to the
Careful not to make a sound, she opened the curtains to look at the house next door
Seeing a faint light from theof the corner room of the second floor, it appeared that Yuu was still up studying
“Wow, you’re at it all night tonight, too…”
Before, she would have texted him to tell him that, but now, she only mumbled it to herself Ever since what had happened over the summer, the invisible wall that had formed still towered between them
‘But, once tomorrow comes…’
She’d knock down that invisible wall and go to see him
And this time, it wouldn’t be a rehearsal; she would confess to him for real
“You’d better be ready for me, Yuu!”
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
“Nacchan, there’s a bunny in your bento!”
Akari’s eyes sparkled when she looked at the apple in Natsuki’s bento box that was spread out across the long table in the art preparation room
“Today’s the decisive battle, so I begged my mom to make it for me!”
Natsuki raised a tightly clenched fist and nodded proudly
Hearing the words “decisive battle,” Miou paused in theher sandwich
“C-come to think of it, you would always have one whenever there was an exaht…?”
“Ahaha! Miou, how co so nervous?”
Natsuki burst out laughing, and before long, Akari and Miou started laughing along with her
During the lunch break, Natsuki had asked their advisor, Matsukawa-sensei, if they could check out the preparation room
Since she had to teach the art elective class during fifth and sixth period, Matsukawa-sensei had quickly unlocked the room for her
‘Sorry, Eri-chan-sensei! I just really wanted to prepare myself for this!’
Friday afternoons were electives, and naturally, Natsuki and the others chose art
Yuu usually chose to go home early on Fridays, but due to the deadlines for the film club, lately, he would often stay until the last school bell
But Natsuki had still sent hi each other
“Honestly, I was so shocked when I saw your text”
“Saying so today,’ right?”
Seeing Akari and Miou nod in agreement, Natsuki tilted her head
“Huh? How couys that I’d confess for real once I finished it?”
“Geez, Nacchan!”
“Yes?”
Akari, as sitting in front of her, suddenly called Natsuki’s name with a stern look on her face and leaned forward
She then pointed directly below Natsuki’s eyes
“You haven’t been sleeping enough, have you? So I was thinking it ht be better if you put off the confession to another day…”
“Both Akari and I can only cheer you on from the sidelines, so we’re worried, you know?”
Before she’d noticed, Miou, as sitting beside her, was looking at her with a serious expression, as well
Her vision started to blur fro up at the two’s kindness
“…Akari, Miou, thank you so much I’ll… I’ll do my best!”
“Nacchan, we’ll be rooting for you!”
Akari grabbed her hand and started s
Seeing this, Miou also extended her hand, and said with a determined expression that she rarely ever used
“I also looked up ith help with nerves, so if you’re worried, just tell me”
“Miou-chan, prepared as always! It’d be a real disaster if she confessed to the wrong person because she was so nervous!”
“…I don’t think you can bla careless”
Miou made a sharp retort to Akari’s airheaded joke
It was just a silly exchange, but Natsuki felt her shoulders easing up
‘It’s like they’re tellingright now’
It was great that she was puotten a little too worked up over it
Feeling more thankful towards her friends than any words could possibly express, Natsuki posed with her forefinger and thu out
“It’ll be fine! After all, today’s horoscope said that Cancer was the n!”
While Natsuki had a wide grin on her face, as if to show her confidence in choosing this day in particular, the others showed no reaction whatsoever
After a short silence, Akari and Miou gingerly asked,
“So, could it be, the reason that you chose to confess today…”
“Was because your sign was the …?”
“Yep, that’s right!”
The horoscope on the “Morning Neas usually always right For Natsuki, there was nothing more dependable than that
‘Huh? They’re still not showing any reaction…’
Were they worried because it see on the horoscope?
‘Well, in that case…’
Natsuki pulled out a plu
“Naturally, I made sure to have a counter-plan for my lack of sleep, too Tada!”
When she opened the pouch, things likeout And just in case the coss that she’d secretly borrowed from her mom, as well
“I can hide ood to go!”
As Natsuki hurriedly pulled the cap off of the mascara, the two seemed to break free from their paralysis and shouted,
“Hold on! You have to wash your face first!”
“And don’t forget the foundation, too! Actually, you’ll be fine with just using powder!!”
As Akari and Miou’s shouts echoed around, sadly, the bell signaling the end of the lunch break chimed
As the promised hour drew closer by the second, all Natsuki could hear was the pounding of her own heart
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
In the hushed classroom, Yuu sat alone with a stack of documents
The sunlight strea it seem like the first day of winter was still far off, instead of just around the corner
‘Guess one of the few good things about our classroouess’
The Filaoka High School’s newest club
The only empty classroohest floor,it a little difficult to access And on top of it all, it was currently being used as a storeroom
After a bit of work, which Natsuki had lent a hand with, they’d ed to shape it into the club room that it was now
‘…Coain today’
For the past few days, it seeh sleep, and there’d often be dark circles under her eyes
He’d assuhters to prepare for recommendations and entrance exa for the acceptance letters now, the bags under her eyes showed no signs of fading in the slightest
‘I could find out right away if I just asked her in person, but…’
Ever since he’d heard from Souta that Haruki had confessed to Natsuki, he’d done all he could to put distance between them Whether it was because of jealousy or out of spite, this was just so that he’d decided to do until he felt confident with himself
‘Still, I can’t help but be curious about how Haruki’s confession went’
Anyone would be curious about whether the person they liked had gotten together with someone or not
However, even with the confession, he’d been surprised at how little Haruki and Natsuki’s behavior around each other had changed They did seem a little closer than before, but only as childhood friends and nothing more
‘And I got some weird text from Natsuki, too’
Picking up his smart phone from the desk, he opened up Natsuki’s text
There was no title, and body of the text was brief
“Could I ask you for a favor tomorrow?
Wait for me in the classroom at 6:20 PM”
The time that she’d appointed was five minutes before the last school bell
He couldn’t iine what she could have planned for him there, at that time, at that place
‘Does she want to do one last confession rehearsal before the real thing…?’
Was that why she’d picked out the specific time and place, to set the mood for it?
‘…There’s still souess I’ll clean up a bit’
It didn’t oing to come to him so easily
Going back to glaring at the work schedule that he’d made at ho the bridge of his nose in frustration
It’d been one week since the Student Council had heard about their new raduation, and offered to hold a screening for it the day before the ceremony
‘I was surprised that Haruki agreed to it to easily’
At first, Yuu and the rest of the Filainst it
They’d rather the audience be people that were personally interested in seeing the ed by the Student Council, the progra
Thethe offer, Haruki hadn’t bothered with beating around the bush, and had sharply turned them down
“If we have it screened the day before the cereh chance that there will be a bias with the viewers, right? Since we’d like it to be vieith an open mind, that’d be a problem for us”
Still, the Student Council President wouldn’t back down, and passionately insisted,
“But I’m a fan of the Film Club!”
“What, really? Wow, thanks!”
The first one to be won over was Souta
He was the rinning at the Student Council President after that comment
‘Geez, Souta fell for that way too easily’
Despite what he’d said, it was obvious that Haruki was on the fence about it
Yuu had been keeping quiet the entire time to hold his position, but he hadn’t been able to keep up see like a really stubborn tsundere
The president, seee in behavior, started speaking even more heatedly than before
“We really respect you, and all ant is your movie to be watched by as many people as possible!”
In the end, those words had been the winning raduation commemoration film would now be screened for the whole school
‘Well, it’s great that we accepted the offer and all, but this schedule is insane…!’
To make matters worse, since it was an event sponsored by the Student Council, they had to have regular staff s to ensure the movie would be finished on time
In the worst case situation, even if they didn’tbreak to finish it
And that was how Yuu and the others, who had previously been taking it easy, were now running around like their pants were on fire
“But if there’s one thing for sure, it’s that Mochita doesn’t have the s of a director at all”
Yuu let out a weak laugh
The next moment, as if on cue, the door shook
Lately, the door was in worse shape than ever, and as it opened with a groaning sound, Haruki peeked in, panting with his shoulders heaving
“H-Hey… Sorry to keep you waiting”
“Aheood work”
He was going to have a quick ith Haruki once he showed up, but he realized that noasn’t the time for that
Yuu cleared his throat and fought back the words bubbling up in the back of his throat
“Took you a while What kind of detour did you take today?”
“Uhh, yeah… Anyhere’s Mochita?”
Although curious about Haruki dodging the question, soe of topic
“At the briefing session for those who passed the entrance exams”
Proving that his confidence hadn’t been just for show, Mochita had been the first out of the three of them to pass the recommendation entrance exams
“…You just took the exaht, Yuu?”
At the sudden question, he wondered whether or not he should ask the reason for it this time
However, he remembered what he’d heard from Souta and paused
“I heard that Harukiat a university in America”