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Shirakaba-sensei always left the glass doors ajar during the summer.
Despite pollen heavy in the air, the hassle of dusting lingering photo frames, he persisted. Nothing was alike the calmness of the mountains, he said. Waking up to the chirping birds in the distance or the sometime cold breeze – he could only enjoy after rubbing his dry hands together and pouring a cup of coffee.
A strange tradition all employees abode to.
All those things… Yua didn’t see the appeal of it at first.
The long road from Ijincho was not what she had expected. This, and everything that came before.
Jun brought it up out of the blue after asking what she would do after high school. The three years at Seiryo were behind her, at last as he was about to start his.
Endless were the hours, days, and months she felt unsure — ever since the paper Tesso gave her was left blank at the back of Zhao’s restaurant.
The question had haunted her forever, but – at that moment — she was determined. Albeit heartbreaking, she was leaving Ijincho for an even bigger city, leaving a lot behind. Tesso pushed her a bit to fly on her own and chase her dreams. Everything he had done so far led to that moment, she knew, and yet… She was still reluctant of everything down the road.
“I will…” Yua nodded to herself as reassurance; this moment lacked incertitude. Facing her so-called little brother, she aimed to be the bravest. “I will be a nurse,” she answered Jun, full of confidence and still unwavering in her thoughts.
He nodded in a funny way; gaze squinting and sliding to the slide. Perhaps, already imagining them running into each other at the clinic. Yearly exams stuck between his mother’s lingering admirer and his sister.
Nothing could go wrong… Absolutely nothing.
All the pieces were falling into place, Yua often thought. The moment their paths would divert from each hadn't come yet. They persisted together, nonetheless.
Flowers grew from bud to fallen dried petals many times over. The dark roots of his hair came back as quickly as he chased them away.
Alongside her, Kenya went to Tokyo.
Becoming pro meant bigger and greater things. Training in a gym ten times the size he was used to, far away from everything he knew.
Coach Todoroki took this ordeal to the highest degree – doing all he could to make Kenya a man able to stand on his own. For which, the endless scoldings during his improvised driving lessons and outdated dating advice were necessary.
He held on as long as he could, but the final farewell was tearful. Little could be done to repay all of Coach Todoroki’s devotion, all the blood, sweat and tears he poured onto him. Little could be done, but a promise.
A promise to become a boxer he would look up to with pride.
“Thank you for not giving up on me,” Kenya bowed, biting the inside of his cheek to not start crying. All in the will of leaving with the strongest image - as unneeded as it was. Standing tall in front of his coach, teammate and old foe, he nodded firmly and so did they in return. In their own way, wishing him luck on whatever awaited down the road.
Kenya shook his head to the cold breeze as he exited the yellow taxi, furrowed brows to the nonetheless beaming sun that rushed him awake. His pace, slow and clumsy, as if he hadn't been awake since the night before. He hadn't met such stillness for the longest time. It was strange - to finally be in the middle of nowhere.
"Oshikiri-kun?" Yua asked, stepping away from the patio's lone table. The sudden tires against the rocky pavement brought her out of her reverie. With Shirakaba-sensei's absence -- and the clinic's temporary closure, days were long and boresome. Despite all, she chose to stay in the mountains, unsure if anything awaited her in the city.
She thought she saw double, but it was him.
"How come you are-," she cut herself short, knowing well she wouldn't receive an answer. "How long was the way here," she asked instead, following the path closer to the car.
"I don't know," he answered, a bit honestly as he rubbed his irises awake, "I slept all the way here and it was uncomfortable,” he tried stretching the soreness away from his shoulder - the only makeshift pillow he had access to.
Yua stood in silence, a few steps away. The realization coming closer and closer.
“It’s your only day off isn’t it,” she asked, her stomach sinking at the possibility.
Kenya didn’t respond. Instead, turning back to the taxi to gather his belongings. A bag, then another, all while he seemed to look for something else.
"I got these for you," his words trailed off, hand firm on the blue cellophane wrapping the white roses. She bit her lip, holding a sigh in.
This… Again…
She clenched on the pockets of her white coat, knuckles turning white. Biting her lip as she sought the right words, still holding onto the hope they didn’t have to come down to this. And yet, she still fought sadness threatening to overflow out of her.
Just for a bit longer, she had to be courageous.
“These are your favorites, right” he still held the white roses in her direction, waiting for her to take them.
“Oshikiri-kun…” she muttered under her breath, eyes shut close, unable to look at him as she spoke the best she could. “Have you thought about how...” A short sigh escaped her lips, gathering herself to continue.
“Have you ever thought that all of this is bothersome to me?”
He blinked, looking left and right, puzzled at her words, but his expression remained unchanged.
“You mean, this?” The blue cellophane crinkled at his hardened grip, gesturing at the bouquet in his hand.
“No,” she shook her head. Right now, even, he was still so oblivious about it. Perhaps nonchalant or just stubborn, despite all, he still didn't get it.
“Not just this, it’s everything,” she gestured around her. She meant everything; his insistence to be there, the flowers, taking his only day-off – and she knew – to come in the middle of nowhere. It was everything.
His expression didn't change at all. Even at her words, he remained unmoving - but the question lingered nonetheless.
“Yes, I have.”
“Then, why do you,” she sighed again, defeated, shaking her head at the obvious he failed to understand. “W-Why do you always," lips trembled at the need to spell it out. Moving away in the middle of nowhere, the silence between them that sometimes got longer that it used to, -- all in the hopes of him moving on, letting himself get carried away by the wind. That way, she thought, would've been the least painful. And yet.
She imagined it would be like a train’s slow departure. Leaving its station, heading who-knows-where. Standing at the dock by herself and peeking in one of its windows, despite not waving goodbye. Exchanging smiles for a brief moment and only having memories to cherish despite never coming back.
It was more than enough, just like that.
With her head still down, she gave up on holding back the tears — nonetheless, embarrassed for losing her composure. She knew; at her sudden outburst, confusion would weave itself in his face. If only she could delay this realization a bit more. Just a little bit more…
There was nowhere to hide - all left was to stand and remain as pathetic as she ever felt. Still, she couldn't bring herself to admit it. Her dearest wish, she knew, would appease him of a burden he had been carrying for too long.
The silence between them flew as the wind.
“It will never bother me,” he admitted, this time, gaze firm on her. And, at seeing the root of her anguish, like a wave washing over him, he did his best to stand his ground. After all this time,
“Yua,” words lingered on his tongue, and he could only call her name. At first, confused in the midst of her own collapse, hearing her own name was the least she expected.
He gazed back at her, brows furrowed full of confidence. In his own way, to reassure her — or more himself in the following words rolling out of his mouth.
"When I come back from LA," he paused, despite himself, his gaze adamant to linger on the ground for only an instant. It didn't take long for him to meet the confusion of her reddened irises. He was determined this time; the moment to hesitate had long passed.
"When I'll be back, I have something to tell you."