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Kakeru is filled with nothing but regrets to the brim. The sky is unforgiving with thunder roaring and the rain with its unstoppable pouring. He definitely hasn’t been himself for the past days and his head has been all over the place. Last Monday, he accidentally poured salt on his morning coffee. Last Tuesday, he wore his shirt inside out. What made it worse is it was his newly-bought shirt and the price tag was dangling happily on his nape throughout the day. Last Wednesday, he didn’t realize he set his alarm to five in the afternoon that made him miss his first three classes. Thankfully, none of those classes had quizzes that day. And for the fourth time in the week, the hellfire from his series of exams is still out to get him.
He is someone who would check the weather every morning and make sure every little thing in his backpack is in place. So he couldn’t understand why he’s stuck in the waiting shed across the building where he takes his Tuesday-Thursday classes because he forgot to bring his umbrella. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the only times he’s getting lectures so far from his home college’s building and going there would need a lot of walking under the sun. Except, there’s definitely no sun at the moment. He should have just forgotten something else, not his rainy day buddy. His dormitory is five hundred steps away and he'd be dripping wet before he could even take a step inside the dorm lobby should he decide to just… run through the merciless pouring.
"Doesn't the rain make you sing?" Kakeru hears a voice from the other end of the shed that breaks the silence. He didn’t realize there was someone else stuck with him, a boy with his peach-colored hair touching the collars of his plaid button-down shirt. The striking pattern on his shirt felt familiar, one that he might have seen on the first row of his Marine Biology class. They must be classmates.
But to answer his question, it’s a no if he meant to sing with happiness. Rainy days are annoying. It reminds him of the countless times he had to get through the day with miserably wet shoes. It reminds him of the time he got rainwater splashed on him by a speeding car on his way to a family lunch when his parents paid him a visit in the city. It reminds him of his drafting project getting ruined just before he handed it to his professor, making him cram his plates on his supposedly rest day. It could have been the first time he’s handing them in early that could have earned him extra points.
So rainy days can definitely make him sing in despair. Although instead of saying it out loud, Kakeru just stares at the stranger’s back, trying to figure out why one would sing to the vicious droplets.
Fortunately, the rain starts thinning away and Kakeru is able to walk back to his dormitory completely dry. He shouldn’t forget to bring his umbrella the next time he goes to his Marine Biology class.
Unfortunately, Tuesday comes with a harsh rainfall and Kakeru just had to forget his umbrella. Again. He is starting to recover from his pile of exams from the previous week but there's some residual stress clinging onto him.
“Doesn’t the rain make you jump out of joy?” a familiar voice speaks from the other corner of the shed. It’s the voice he shared that rainy afternoon with last week.
Ah, there he goes again. Kakeru says in his thoughts. Is the dude making friends with him or he just couldn’t stand the silence wrapped by the downpour?
Rainy days make him lonely. It reminds him of the days he had to stay indoors and cancel kite flying with his neighborhood friends. Rainy days remind him of the nights he had to eat his dinner alone because it made his parents stuck in their offices, unable to go home until later in the evening. Rainy days are nothing but disappointments to him and he couldn’t recall an instance where it ever made him jump out of joy.
Kakeru keeps the reminiscing on his thoughts. He kind of feels bad for not responding to him but a stranger is a stranger and he couldn’t just go on and overshare about his rainy day frustrations. So he keeps mum and they stand in silence, shirt sleeves dripping on the cement floor until the skies become clear.
It’s not like he hates the company to not speak even speak to him. There’s just a weird comforting feeling about the silent company of this certain stranger on rainy days like this. So much comfort for a stranger he doesn’t even remember the face of. Yes, they’re in the same class but Kakeru is always running late because of his previous class so he can only stare at the back of the peach-haired stranger whenever he enters the room out of breath. Plus, he’s kind of enjoying the mystery so he didn’t want to go out of his way just to stare at his face. Though, he recalls him having this bored look on his face when he leaves the lecture room.
Forgetting your umbrella once in the middle of the rainy season is understandable. Forgetting it twice? All right, that’s passable. But three times? Kakeru has head somewhere else except the weather report he never failed to watch since he was in pre-school.
“Doesn’t the rain make you dance?”
Kakeru runs a mental list of the times the rain definitely didn’t make him dance. But this time, he says his thoughts out loud.
"Is it supposed to make me dance?" Kakeru answers back to the stranger. The peach-haired stranger jolts at the sudden response and turns to face him.
He sure has enchanting eyes. It’s the first thing that pops out of his mind. And at that very moment, he couldn’t hear anything except for his heartbeat, not even the ringing raindrops or the roaring thunder.
Such beautiful eyes. Kakeru can't help but get enthralled by his captivating eyes that he could stare at them forever. Maybe the rain doesn't need to stop soon.
Maybe forgetting your umbrella on rainy days isn't a bad idea after all.
“Doesn’t the rain drive you crazy?”
It sure does. Now, Kakeru is standing at his usual spot on the shed, thankful the peach-haired stranger is there to keep him company as he waits for the rain to stop. No, he didn't forget to bring his umbrella this time.
He just chose not to.
“Kashiwazaki Akane,” he finally introduces himself, extending his hands that have been shivering from the cold rain.
“Kurahara Kakeru,” he can't help but get a little sly and tries to feel the pulse on his wrist.
And he realized that the reason he couldn't hear anything is that their heartbeats have always been in sync since the first day.
Rainy days started becoming different. Rainy days gave him a hand to hold. He doesn't find rainy days annoying anymore. If anything, it makes him giddy with excitement. Rainy days don’t make him lonely anymore. Rainy days are making him happy now.
Maybe he’ll be forgetting his umbrella some more.