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The afternoon sun illuminated the path, occasional breeze rustling the overgrown grass along the sides.
The graduation ceremony was over yesterday. There should be no reason to come here anymore....
Half a day at home, and he was feeling restless having nothing to do. Cleared one stage on the video game, snapped the Gameboy shut, flipped it open, cleared another stage, and snapped it shut again.
"I'll be out for a while."
Being alone has never been a problem before....
Hands in the pockets, Chiba listened to the sound of snapping twigs under his footsteps, and let his intuition guide him forward.
***
Whoosh——Thunk—.
Whoosh——Thunk—.
Familiar sound. Familiar range.
Familiar figure.
He stopped feeling agitated all at once. The corner of his mouth tugged slightly upwards without himself noticing.
Just as he stepped within fifty meters, the figure who'd been focusing on the target suddenly turned around and had the gun pointed right at him.
Chiba pulled his hands out of his pocket unhurriedly, and held them halfway in the air.
"It's okay. It's me."
She paused for a moment before letting down her guard and dropping her right hand that was holding the gun.
"Sorry, instinct kicked in," she mumbled, making her way to the bench, and picked up the water bottle on it.
Chiba came to the spot where she'd been standing moments before, measured the distance to the target in his mind, and posed his bare hand in front of his eyes.
He listened to his steady heartbeat. That's right, only here feels like home....
Click—the sound of closing a lid.
Chiba walked toward the source of the sound, and sat down where he had rested between practices countless times over the past year. Hayami was still standing there with her bottle, observing his actions in silence.
"Is this one of the spare guns?" He asked after a while, looking at the gun Hayami had laid on the bench.
"Yeah, took it from the shed," she said, finally sitting down at the other end of the bench.
Most of the rifles and handguns had been withdrawn by the Ministry of Defence after the assasination mission ended, leaving only a couple of toy guns assembled by the two of them with Koro-sensei's help.
In order to make your weapon become a part of your body, surely you have to understand it inside-out! And to understand an object, the best way is always D-I-Y! You might call it a toy gun, but you won't find a single difference between the architecture diagram in this "Beginner's Guide to Gun Assembly: Not For Kids" (which, by the way, is written by your dear sensei) and the guns you get from Karasuma sensei! Nuruhuhuhuhu~~
The laughter seemed to ring in his ears as he recalled the piece of memory. Out of nowhere, Chiba felt a pang in his chest, heart pounding violently.
"Did you gather the bullets?" he asked hurriedly, distracting himself by picturing the anti-sensei BB bullets that had been scattered in the corners around the campus.
She turned her head and rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not that bored, okay? Bought them from the stationery store, regular BB bullets."
She took out a small can of BB bullets from her pocket, and shook it a bit before tossing it to him. It was a gesture he could remember vividly as if it happened just yesterday. He caught it with one hand, and then toy with it absentmindedly. The two of them fell into silence once more.
Usually, falling silent when being alone with someone gave him an awkward anxiety, because it always felt like he was the one to blame for not being talkative enough. With Hayami, however, it was a subtle dynamic that he had grown accustomed to. After a couple of exchanged words around the topic of sniping, they would go back to their own inner bubbles, and later, they would reconnect by talking about sniping again.
However... the days of assassination have ended.
The days of sniping have ended, too.
He didn't know what else to say.
"Hey, Chiba..., you know..." Hayami spoke with a small voice. He turned to look at her, but she lowered her head and didn't finish her sentence.
"Mmm," he responded, indicating that he was listening, and waited quietly.
"Do you... why did you come here today?"
He watched the way she was fixing her eyes on her shoes.
He could tell that the question in her mind was, "Do you know why I came here today?"
Doesn't matter. Both questions can be answered at the same time.
"Well, same as you."
Hayami lifted her head and looked at him. She didn't press on what he meant by "same". Instead, she looked him straight in the eye as if reading his mind. This was the first time where he sensed that someone's gaze could pierce through his fringe and aim at his eyes with such precision. However, Hayami's eyes bore no killing intent. They were like those of a vulnerable kitten, carefully observing the being in front of her.
After a long time, she averted her gaze and lowered her head again.
"The thing that you haven't got used to is living without sniping. But I've got one more. I haven't got used to... living without a target."
"Target... Koro-sensei? Then it's the same for me."
"I mean, the next target, the next goal." Hayami shook her head. "Everyone is working towards their next goals after graduation. Kayano said Nagisa wants to be a teacher, and she will likely go back to acting. And you are going to be an architect."
"I'm not so sure about that..."
"At least that's what you have. A goal. I still have no idea what I am interested in and what I want to do, even after two career consultation meetings."
"Well..." seeing her depressed, Chiba started once again to hate himself for being so poor with words. Something that might be consoling, or something that could make the mood lighter, can't you just come up with anything to cheer her up?
"Is... is there anything useful in Koro-sensei's advice book?"
For the second time, she rolled her eyes at him. "How can you possibly read that awfully thick book after all that has happened?"
"Right..." he fiddled with his fringe awkwardly. "I couldn't make sense of one single word in the classroom that night, either. Made surprisingly perfect height to sleep in sitting position, though."
Seemingly thinking of the ridiculous book, the corner of her mouth twitched.
Suddenly, a burst of wind whirled through the shooting range, stirring up a small cloud of dust. And snap—
"Ah, it breaks." Hayami looked at the hair tie in her hand, half of her coral hair waving in the wind.
Chiba stared, something triggered in his mind. He had a feeling he had found what he wanted to say, but his heart was beating uncontrollably.
He snatched the gun from where Hayami had put it between them, rose to his feet, and walked to the shooting position. With the other hand, he pried open the can Hayami had tossed to him, and loaded the gun in a swift motion. Gun raised, safety off, aim. He took two deep breaths, and waited for his heart to resume its normal pace.
Thump—Thump——Thump———Thump———
Whoosh——Thunk—.
Whoosh——Thunk—.
Whoosh——Thunk—.
Whoosh——Thunk—.
Whoosh——Thunk—.
As if telling himself that what he was about to say would turn out alright, all five shots hit the bullseye.
He let out a breath and slowly walked back to Hayami, putting the gun back.
"Hayami," he stood right in front of her, looked into her eyes, and spoke slowly and deliberately.
"Hmm?"
"If you are willing, I can be there for you, when you are looking for the goal. No matter how long it takes... be it high school, college, graduate school, I can... always be there with you."
Hayami studied him, and he felt once again that his eyes behind the fringe were seen through. He swallowed, waiting for her answer.
And at last...
"Hmm."
She gave a small smile and reached out one hand. He took it without hesitation, and pulled her up from the bench.
Even after she regained her footing, he didn't let go.
"Let's go," he said.
"Where?"
"Take you to shop for chocolate." He felt his cheeks turn warm, unaccustomed to speaking such expressions out loud. Luckily, they were already walking in the same direction now, so Hayami shouldn't be able to see his face.
And luckily, there would be no Koro-sensei hiding behind a tree and taking photos of the two of them holding hands anymore. But who knows? Maybe he and Yukimura sensei were snickering on the roof of the shed when they watched them return the gun.
Amber twilight illuminated the cherry tree that was fighting its way to blossom beside the schoolhouse, soft pink petals glowing a shade of gold.
***
On the way down the mountain.
"Hey, Chiba,"
"Hmm?"
"Shouldn't you have brought the chocolate?"
"......"
"......"
"... How could I have known that I would meet you?" he said innocently.
She giggled softly, and it was the most beautiful sound he heard all day.