Ch 28

POV Akari Nakano

Why am I even crying? I always knew things like this could happen. It is the same thing that happened in middle school, except this time I am the other girl. I had promised myself to not trust people easily. This is why I kept my distance from him in the beginning. But then why does it hurt so much seeing him with somebody else? When did he take a such a large spot in my heart?

I made my way to my house barely holding back tears. As soon as I returned, I locked myself in my room and let loose. Why did I let my guard down around him? If only I kept myself in check this wouldn\'t have happened. The memories of the time I spent with Makoto flowed in my head. The Karaoke Bar we went to after class, The trip during Golden Week to the amusement park, the date at the arcade, all these memories just made me feel worse.

"Haah…" I sighed after my tears dried up.

I felt much better after a long cry. I lay on my bed as I thought about today\'s events. The reason me and Hinata were at the mall today was actually to pick a gift for Shizuo. Her birthday is coming in a couple of days. We chose our gifts and were just window shopping when I saw a figure that I recognized. When I saw him I thought I just confusing him for somebody else. Maybe somewhere in my heart I already knew it was him but I kept hoping for a coincidence, like a person rechecking the numbers on his lottery slip. I mean he was hugging a girl in public. There was a good chance it might have been somebody who looked just like Makoto from the back.

But all that hoping didn\'t really help. Also, what did he mean she wasn\'t his girlfriend. You were clearly having a romantic moment in the middle of a date. If you say she isn\'t your girlfriend even after that then what kind of person does that make you?

When my head finally cleared I realized that what happened today wasn\'t even Makoto\'s mistake. Maybe I was the only stupid one for thinking there was something between us. I even made myself look like a fool when I yelled at him. How does it affect me whether has a girlfriend or not? On top of that I probably made it awkward for the girl he was with.

I have decided. On Monday, I will apologize to him for spoiling his date. And from now on I will interact with him less, strictly friends from now on. No more going on dates and stuff anymore.

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POV Shinji Makoto

What should I do? Should I enter? Maybe I should just leave and talk to her at school.

I couldn\'t decide on what to do. Currently, I was standing right in front of her house trying to decide whether I should ring the doorbell or not. What do I even say if somebody else opens the door? I can\'t exactly tell her mother that your daughter saw me with another girl and misunderstood the situation.

As I stood there an idea struck my mind. What if I tell her mother that the teacher told me to give her some papers? That\'s a good idea, right? And I can even get some A4s from the convenience store to make it more convincing. Sometimes my genius… it\'s almost frightening.

I quickly popped to the nearest convenience store and bought a stack of papers before making my way back.

Again, I stood in front of her house, trying to gather my courage. I Still couldn\'t properly decide whether to enter her house, or not. I took out my phone to see if she had seen any of my messages. I sent her more messages telling her that I was standing in front of her house and whether I could come in. Unfortunately, she didn\'t reply. Seriously, what do I do? The main thing stopping me from entering was the reason she was so angry. If she really got so angry at me for hugging another girl then wouldn\'t that mean she has some feelings towards me? But what if I am wrong?

Okay. I am going to try the forbidden trick. Tossing a coin and leaving everything to the Gods above. I have used this trick in the visual novels I have played before. And well, the results are not very good. But as a last resort to push yourself, I think it works nicely.

I fished out a coin from my jeans pocket and toss…

Heads, I go in

Tails, I don\'t

I caught the coin between my palms as it came down.

The moment of truth is here. Just as I was about to open my hands, I realized something. When I caught the coin my palms were perpendicular to the ground. Doesn\'t that mean the results depend on the hand I choose now? My genius really is frightening. How do you normally toss coins? Are there any \'official\' rules as to which hand you should catch it in?

What am I thinking? Even if there were rules it doesn\'t really matter. Right now, all I need to know is whether I am going in.

The question remains, right or left? Everything I have done in my life has come from right hand. This time as well I entrust my future to it.

I put my right hand, palm facing up, and removed my left hand more dramatically than Yugioh players revealing their trap cards.

The answer is… <<insert intense drumroll>>

Heads.

It seems the Gods have spoken. Not afraid anymore, I went up to the door and rang the doorbell.

As I waited for the door to open, my confidence started draining faster than a child\'s hopes and dreams shatter when they get to know that Santa was just their father dressed up. But it was too late to change anything now. I had pressed the button already. I could hear footsteps approaching the door and in a few moments it was opened by a beautiful woman who seemed to be in her 20s.

"Good evening. I am Shinji Makoto. Nakano san\'s classmate."

"Ah. Yes. I am her sister. How can I help you?"

Sister? Not mother? I didn\'t even know she had a sister. It\'s alright though. I can do it.

"Could I ask if Nakano san is at home?"

"I am sorry. She just left the house a few minutes ago."

What? The simulations did not prepare me for this. First calm down. A cool head is important when dealing with unexpected situations.

"I-is that so. Umm. The teacher told me to give her these papers. Could you pass it to her? It\'s not urgent or anything." I said passing her the empty stack of papers.

"Okay. Sure. Thank you for bringing it"

"Thank you. Bye."

After she shut the door I could finally breathe normally. She wasn\'t here after all. What was the point then? But she said that she left the house a few minutes before. Doesn\'t that mean if I didn\'t go to the store I could meet her without any hassle? My genius moment backfired on me. Also, what was the point of the coin toss? Weren\'t the Gods just making fun of my efforts.

Also, to anybody wondering, I didn\'t just give her an empty stack of papers. I put them in a large envelope, and even taped it so that she doesn\'t see it and catch my lie. But does that even matter? I didn\'t get to clear up the misunderstandings even after all that.

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POV Akari Nakano

"aaah.." The cool evening breeze feels good. It was the right decision to go out of the house. I feel much better now.

I was sitting on a swing in a park watching a few kids play tag. Surprisingly, it was a lot of fun watching them. The faces of disappointment they made when they were caught and their exhilaration at managing to escape felt so pure.

"Grumble"

My stomach grumbled. Was it loud? My ears turned red, as I looked around to see if someone heard it. Unfortunately, a little girl did hear my stomach grumbling. How embarrassing. She walked up to me and gave me a candy from her pocket.

"Onee chan here."

"For me?" I asked her really embarrassed.

"Yes. Don\'t worry. It\'s not poisoned. You can eat it since you are hungry."

"Why should I be afraid of poisoning?" I took the candy and unwrapped it.

"My brother told me if strangers give me candy I should not eat it because it\'s poisoned. But you can eat this. This is safe."

How cute. This kid sure is smart for her age.

"Thank you." I told the girl and popped the sweet candy in my mouth.

As soon as I ate the candy she pointed at me and started crying "Waa… waa…"

"What happened?" Did I do something?

Right then, I heard words I would never expect an elementary schooler to say.

"Since you ate my candy you should pay me back. If you don\'t give me an ice cream I will shout that you stole my candy."

The fuck? Before I could do anything she started crying even louder. Even the aunties in the park heard her crying and started whispering to each other and pointing at me.

"Fine fine. I will get you an ice cream. Don\'t worry. Please stop crying." I hurriedly asked her to calm down.

"Promise?"

"Yes, yes. I Promise." Her expression transformed from an ugly sobbing one to an evil smirk of a demon the instant I promised her.

Did I just fall for a child\'s lies? Didn\'t I just promise myself not to trust anybody just today?