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You were gone the whole summer, of course you had changed.
Yachi knew it was more than the superficial stuff like the hair and clothes. It was much more. It was the way you acted free-er and just different. Different from your small hometown-girl self. Bigger than that girl. Happier than that girl.
She’d hate to admit it but it was obvious that Miyagi was just tying you down and you didn’t wish to be there any longer. In just a year, you’d be gone and Yachi wouldn’t know the first thing to do without you.
She’d spent almost the entirety of middle school and most of high school dancing around you, too scared to confess her feelings for you so she settled for a friend. Just hoping one day you’d notice.
To see you so much happier to have been away from Miyagi and from her, she couldn’t help but wonder if it was her driving you from this town. You weren’t really that close with anyone else so what other reason could it be? Yes, there’s always the possibility of more fitting schools in that area or a better environment, but the thought plagued Yachi. For months.
It was all you could talk about when you started school again. There’s this and that and this and that.
Halfway through the school year, you’d gone back to the new city for holiday. Yachi just stayed at home, biting her nails and putting together some designs she’d meant to finish when she had time. She thought about calling you but couldn’t stand to even think about the “newfound” you. Yachi knows it’s selfish but she can’t help it. You’re her only real friend outside of the volleyball boys and what you have is special for her.
When you come back, it is all set in stone.
“I found a school over there, Yach. It’s perfect,” you tell her the first time you meet after break.
“Oh, really? Everything you’re looking for?” Yachi asks, looking for an ounce of fault to keep you in Miyagi.
“ Everything, Yachi. It’s like it’s calling me,” you respond with so much joy, Yachi isn’t sure she’s ever heard you like this before.
“That’s great, Y/N. It’s good you know now where you’re going after high school,” she replies, trying to sound as genuine as possible.
“After high school…” she repeats in a whisper.
“Huh?” you ask, unsure of what she just mumbled.
“N-nothing. But, yeah, it’s good you know.”
“I just need to get out of this town,” you add.
“Why?” Yachi questions.
“It’s just so small and the world is so big. I don’t want to be in Miyagi forever. And there’s so many people. New people.”
Oh is what she thinks.
“Yeah, new people,” Yachi repeats after you while shoving her hands in her pockets and looking downward.
‘Maybe, we should continue talking about this later,’ Yachi thinks. So she changes the subject, successfully getting you to talk about some movie or something, Yachi can’t remember.
Fast forward to spring and the conversation needs to be had again. The third years have all finished taking their entrance exams already and students await the responses.
With all the free time you guys have, it’s only logical she invites you over to her place.
So you go over, eat some food, watch some movie you wanted to show Yachi, and then get to the talking.
“Aren’t you excited, Hitoka? We’re finally going to college and we’re going to live like adults and just get away.”
“I’m… not going away, Y/N. You’re going away. To some great big city with great new people you’re dying to meet,” Yachi admits sadly.
“Don’t say it like that, Yach. It’s a part of life. Of course we’re going to meet new people.”
“Sure, Y/N,” Yachi says as she looks down, avoiding your eyes and trying to stop the tears from falling.
You notice and are instantly worried.
“Hey, hey, Hitoka, what’s wrong?” you ask as you inch closer.
Yachi avoids you by backing up to get the chance to clear her head for a minute.
“Sorry, sorry, Y/N, I try really hard not to be like this when we have these conversations.”
“It’s just… you have a whole other life planned in that city already. You’re ready to meet new people and be in a new environment and to be without me. Of course, I want you to stay but you look so happy talking about this place and you look so dreary when you talk about staying in Miyagi. So you go to that city, that school, and forget about me. Meet those people you want to meet and see the things you want to see. Forget about this town and forget about me. I couldn’t tie you down even if I wanted to.” Yachi doesn’t know when, but some time during her little speech, she started crying.
And when she looked up, she saw you were crying.
She didn’t know what to expect from you, but for a moment, it’s silent.
“Hitoka, I love you, ok?”
“No, no- don’t tell me that right now, Y/N,” she says in frustration, rubbing her eyes.
“Listen, listen, ok? Yes, I’m excited to start this new part of my life but nowhere did I say it was going to be without you. I know we are going to be apart but I am going to come back, ok? I was never ever going to just leave you here, Hitoka. Understand? I need you,” you tell her.
Yachi has her eyes sealed shut, while nodding, trying to believe what you say is true. She only opens her eyes when she feels your hand on her face and your thumb rubbing her tears away.
“I don’t want to forget about you. You’re the best thing to ever happen to me,” you whisper before kissing her.
“I’m going to come back, I promise you that. And we’ll have every moment before I leave.”
“Ok,” Yachi whispers to you as her forehead is pressed against yours.
“I– I thought it was because of me,” she admits.
“What?” you ask incredulously.
“I thought you were leaving because of me.”
“Yach, I swear you’d be the last thing to drive me from Miyagi,” you reassure her.
She giggles and it’s the sweetest sound on God's green Earth.
“Can I kiss you?”
“You already did. You don’t have to ask aga-”
So you kiss her like it’s the last chance you’ll ever get. Yachi can tell it’s desperate and yearning but that makes it all the more better.
“I love you, too, Y/N.”
“Let’s make this time the best, yeah?” you ask her.
“Yeah.”