Work Text:
Fumie was waiting on the school rooftop. The view from it was amazing: seeing the city in the distance, lots of trees, mostly pink because of Spring, can see the petals blowing in the wind, and the skyview had few clouds and rest was blue. The view was also perfect for what she wanted to do: Finally confess her love to her friend, Goro.
She choose today, Graduation Day, to finally confess. She felt nervous and anxious about it all; Worried about messing it all up. For years, she wanted to finally build up the courage to confess her love to her friend, Goro. If she screws this up, she feels like Goro would hate her forever.
The brunette texted Goro earlier about meeting her here after he gets his diploma. Did he get it? Did he ignore the text? Does he think it’s a waste of time? This anxiety is going to be the death of her. Just then, she heard something, definitely footsteps, coming up to here; It must be him!
It was Goro, arriving at the door, catching his breath from the flight of stairs he took to get here. Looking up, he sees Fumie a meter or so away. Meanwhile, Fumie stared frozen in place. He actually came! She knew he would, but there was always a chance he wouldn’t.
Goro then walked towards the bunned brunette. Fumie keeps forgetting how tall Goro was when they’re next to each other; Her head just reaches his shoulders and her buns reaching his chin.
“Fumie?” Goro finally asked. She was blushing hard. “Is there something you wanna talk about?”
She was blushing so hard, she was anxious again. All she has to do is say “I love you” to him and hope for the best; This task was so simple, but why so complex to her? “I…!” Fumie was fidgeting with her hands, a neverending habit. “I…” Just say it! “I...want...I...want...you...to look at the view from here!” That wasn’t it.
“Really?” Goro questioned. He seemed so confused. “Your text implied it was something more...meaty?” He was not the best at describing moods. “But, okay.” He walked out of Fumie’s view and to the fenced wall behind her, looking at the scenery.
Meanwhile, Fumie was thinking to herself that she fumbled like a buffoon. “It was supposed be ‘I want you’,” Fumie thought, “Damn it, Fumie, just say that!” While hating herself, she looked at Goro again. He was looking at the high view, with one hand on the fence, and in awe. His slightly unkempt black hair was being blown by the soft Spring breeze, as well as his school uniform. She then walked next to him and looked at the view too.
“So, um,” the brunette began speaking. “How is it?”
“It’s amazing!” he answered. He then took out his phone. “Need to take a pic of this, my mom and Yusuke would love it!” He placed his phone against the fence, aligning the camera to one of the open parts of it. He pressed a button on the phone’s touchscreen and a sound went off, signaling the photo was taken. The frizzy-haired boy then looked at the screen and started doing finger gestures on the touchscreen, doing what he said.
“And...sent!” he concluded, putting his phone away. “Sorry, Fumie, for ruining the moment. It was, just, so beautiful, I had to!”
“I know.” she was quiet, clasping her hands in front of herself.
“Well, uh...if there’s nothing else, I should prolly get back to Mom and Dad. May be wondering what’s taking me so long.”
“Oh no! Goro’s gonna leave!” Fumie screamed in her thoughts. “You’re gonna lose your chance, Fumie! Stop him!”
She suddenly grabbed Goro’s hand in a tight grip. “Wait! Don’t go!” The brunette was panicking. “I n-need to tell you something!”
“Whoa! What’s going on, Fumie?” he was worried.
She was all of a sudden quiet, still gripping on the boy’s hand. “It’s now or never!” she said in her thoughts.
“Uhh...Fumie?”
“I…”
Come on…
“I…”
Spell it out!
Fumie was blushing as hard as a tomato right now. Meanwhile, Goro was still holding a worried look on his face. She then placed her other hand over hers, tightening the grip. She squeaked out:
“Goro, I love you!”
There was complete silence in the air between the two teens. Goro was stunned by her confession while Fumie was looking down on her gripped hands, embarrassed.
The bunned girl spoke up. “I...uhm...Ever since preschool, you’ve always been my friend. Even when I didn’t talk as much, you always stuck by me.” She paused briefly. “I was envious of you. You talking on and on about your favorite things without a care… I sometimes think ‘wow, how is he friends with me, someone who’s quiet and trips on her words?’ Y-You were...really kind to me and I admired you...for, uhm, being patient.” Another pause. “And w-when we started middle school, when we started the band...I realized that my admiration for you turned into...a crush. I fell in love with you.” She fidgeted on his hand, feeling his soft and warm skin.
“Whenever you praised me, from helping you with schoolwork to organizing stuff for the band, my heart races and I get really shy. Well, shyer than usual.” She blushed. “Goro, you’re so i-important in my life, I...I just need to say it.” Pause. “Uhm...well...that’s all I wanted to tell you…”
Silence once again fell between them. “Did I say too much? Too little?” the brunette thought. “Oh no. He hates me now. I talked too much and probably thinks I’m being cheesy or stupid. This was a bad idea, a stupid--”
“Fumie.” Goro interrupted her train of thought. He sighed. Whether it was a sigh of disappointment or relief, the brunette didn’t know. “Can you first let go of my hand?”
“Oh no.” the girl thought. “S-sorry.” She let go.
“Thanks.” the frizzy-hair boy continued. “Fumie...I...I don’t know what to say.” He rubbed the back of his hair and sighed again. “But I...kinda figured you had a crush on me.” She was surprised. “I noticed a while back you were looking away at me whenever I say something good towards you. I first thought your anxiety was getting worse, but then I remembered from reading a lot of shojo manga that it was a crush.”
Fumie stayed quiet.
“As soon as you said that you love me, A lot of things ran in my head. But one thing was constant.”
“He’s gonna say it!” Fumie braced for the worse.
“...I just don’t feel the same way towards you. But I wanna thank you for--”
Loud sniffling was heard and tears started to surface on the brunette’s face, interrupting him. Her face was turning red.
“I..I…” Fumie was sniffling between every few words. “I should’ve...known…that…” Sniffle. “...that you felt...felt that…” Another sniffle. “That way...to...to…” A large one. “To me. I...I...SHOULDN’T HAVE SAID ANYTHING AT ALL TO YOU!” She suddenly burst out and then ran towards the rooftop entrance.
“Fumie, WAIT!” Goro shouted to her, but it was too late. The girl went inside the building, out of hearing range from him. Goro kind of felt bad, but it was the truth: he didn’t have romantic feelings towards her. But he didn’t finish what he had to say to her. And so he ran back into the building to chase after her.
--
A female second-year middle schooler with a chin bob was in the third floor hallway, retrieving something for a teacher. The whole floor was barren because all activities today were taking place in the gymnasium. It gave off an eerie vibe to her; She can even hear crying in the distance. But it was getting closer...and louder.
The girl was getting scared. Could it be a ghost? She was frozen in fear, scared of what would happen next. The crying was getting closer and closer, and then she saw someone running towards her: it was another female student, with brown hair, donning a odango hairstyle, and covering their face; She was the source of the crying. When the crying girl zip past the student, she recognized her. “Shirotani-senpai?” she realized.
The crying brunette ran into a classroom and slam the door shut. The student was wondering what happened to her senpai. Then she sees another student running towards her direction: Goro. Goro was panting from all the running and stopped in front of the student.
“Mizuno.” he was panting. “Do...you...know...where...Shirotani...went?”
“She went into 3-A.” She said, then something clicked in Mizuno’s mind. “Sakamoto-senpai, what did you do?” Her tone became stern.
He caught up. “Nothing! Just she and I had a talk and I accidentally upset her.” He put his whole hand on to his forehead, being impatient. “Look, I can’t sweat all the details right now, Mizuno. Fumie needs me.” He then ran off again to the classroom his friend went into.
Mizuno was very confused.
--
In the corner of the classroom, Fumie was sitting at a desk, with her face on it, arms covering her face, crying. She should’ve known that Goro didn’t felt the same way towards her. She thought that because they’ve known each other for most of their lives, cared about one another, and they were of opposite genders, he would at least had a crush on her. She was naïve, stupid for thinking that, she tells herself.
She then heard the classroom door sliding open. “Betting that’s Goro,” The bunned girl wasn’t going to look. “He’ll just rub it in.”
“Fumie!” shouted Goro from across the room. He walked into the aisles of desks and found a seat above her desk. He sat down, backwards, and faced her, crossing his arms on the back of the chair.
Besides the sniffling from the girl, both were quiet. Goro decided to break the silence. “Fumie, I…” he sighed. “At the rooftop, you...didn’t let me finish.” The brunette stayed quiet. “I was gonna say that although I don’t share the same feelings, I wanna thank you for telling me.”
The brunette stopped sniffling and crying but still had tears on her face.
“It’s not the end of the world, Fumie. I’ll still be your friend, I’ll still defend and protect you, and be at your side. Because...well, we’ve known each other for this long and I’m not the type of guy who abandons someone who’s basically important to me.”
Fumie finally looked up from her desk and looked at Goro.
“Fumie,” he begged, then hold her hands. “Please. I’m right here.” The boy was holding an assuring, yet concerned, face.
To the brunette, Goro looked sorry for what happened. In her head, she’s got to accept that Goro will always be by her, lovers or not. Just because he doesn’t share romantic feelings for her, doesn’t mean it’s the end. No, it’s the beginning of a closer friendship, a kinship even. Fumie’s tears dried up.
“G-Goro…I...” she paused. “Can I...hug you?” She immediately looked down out of embarrassment.
Her friend snickered. “Of course.” Both stood up from their seats, hands now apart, and embraced each other. Fumie was giving a tighter hug than normal. “Fumie, how long can you hold that?” It was starting to hurt a bit.
“Forever.” she joked.
Goro smiled. She deserved this. But… “I hope by “Forever,” you mean a few minutes, ‘cause I think our parents are getting concerned about what’s holding us up.”
She totally forgot about her mom. “S-sorry!” Fumie stopped her hug. She was now standing awkwardly, worried that she worried her own mother. Goro then hold out his hand to her.
“Wanna head back?”
The brunette stared at his hand. He wants her to hold it, like a couple would. She got shy, but she knows he’s doing it just to make her happy. “Yeah!” she happily said, grabbing his hand. The two teens walked out of the classroom, feeling like a huge weight was lifted between them and closer than ever.