I had decided not to quit. I was determined to go see her.

Holding on to these reasons, I just kept on walking, even with my hands against the wall. Every time I lightly bumped into someone, and each time I tried to avoid them, I felt severe pain in my leg.

“It’s all right… Just a little more.”

I took a couple of deep breaths, gritted my teeth and kept going. And finally, I arrived at my destination—the fountain.

At the end of the main street, right in front of the station, buildings surrounded an open plaza. At its centre, a beautiful fountain was illuminated by bright lights.

“I never thought… I’d come here in this manner.”

I couldn’t help but giggle at this strange quirk of fate. Confessing with the lit-up fountain in the background was the exact confession plan I had in mind. So I actually came at my planned time, at my planned place—just in a way I hadn’t planned.

“…But now I consider myself lucky.”

In any case, my preliminary research had been done meticulously. As a result, I knew that all the buildings around here were locked and that the only place where I could monitor the fountain square without being detected was on the bridge, which was a little further away.

“Gotta hide quickly…”

I had to hide before Kotani and Sota’s arrival. If they happened to see their classmate in such a ragged state standing here, they would be in no condition for a confession.

Dragging my sore feet, I climbed onto the bridge and stared at the square. A quick glance at my phone showed that there were only five minutes left until the light-up—the scheduled time for the confession.

“…Here they are.”

Kotani and Sota arrived in front of the square. I swept my gaze around the area at the same time. Yuzu and Namase should’ve come nearby by this time.

“…Huh?” However, they were nowhere to be found.

Did Yuzu discover me first, so she avoided me? No, if that was the case, it’d be strange that Namase who took my side did not tip me off. So either there was some kind of trouble that caused the delay or…

Yuzu had known from the start that Namase would leak the information to me.

“Yuzu set this up…?”

Thinking it that way, it all made sense.

Namase was giving me the information at Yuzu’s behest; Namase originally had no intention of telling me what Yuzu was up to. That would be the most natural way to interpret it.

However—

“I think it was great when Yamato and Yuzu-cchi started dating.”1

—I refused to believe that those words were lies.

In that case, there was one answer: Namase was following Yuzu’s instructions, and on top of that he believed I would be able to find her. In conclusion, I should already have enough information to find her.

“THINK!”

I needed to consider Yuzu’s behaviour pattern and add to it all the information I had gathered up to this point. Running my brain at full capacity, I recalled everything that had led me to this point2.

“Aki will confess in front of the fountain. Thirty minutes from now, the fountain area will be lit up. Aki is supposed to confess to Sota at this time. If things go well, both of them will go home by train; that’s our plan.”

Suddenly, I noticed something strange about those words: Namase’s statement included information that I didn’t need. He should only have told me where the confession would take place. So, why did he even tell me that Kotani and Sakuraba were going home by train?

No… Why did he mention that only Kotani and Sakuraba were going home by train?

“…Are Namase and Yuzu supposed to go home with other means of transportation?”

Right. That must be it!!

The newly-formed couple would go home by train, and it was unlikely that Namase and Yuzu would get in their way. Even if they took the train at a different time, Kotani and Sota might be spending time in front of the station before going home. They would want to avoid the possibility of bumping into each other as much as possible.

And above all, this scenario would only happen if Kotani and Sakuraba became a couple after a successful confession. If it failed, both of them presumably would go home separately to avoid any awkwardness. Sakuraba, who was unaware of the plan, would take the train while Kotani would take a different means of transport—probably together with Namase and Yuzu.

“​​If the train is not an option, then buses or taxis. It’s difficult to catch a taxi on Christmas Eve, so the cautious Yuzu wouldn’t factor that into the plan. So, the bus would be her first choice.”

However, waiting at the bus stop in front of the train station—the venue of the ‘Christmas Fulfilment’—was akin to inviting me to find her. So, the next bus stop would be the one to aim for.

“Yuzu is sure to show up there!”

With my back to the now-lit-up fountain, I started walking towards that bus stop.

I had a bellyful of words to say to her. And another bellyful of questions for her. Although we had been together every day and talked so much, after all this time, it was strange that it felt like we didn’t know much of anything about each other.

“Darn it! This just keeps getting more and more painful.”

As time passed, the pain in my right leg became more and more intense. But there was no time to rest. If Kotani’s confession went well, Yuzu would immediately head for the bus. I was running out of time.

As I trudged along, taking deep breaths to keep the pain under control, I suddenly felt a drop of water hit my neck.

“…Rain?”

As I looked up to the sky, droplets of rain were falling from the cloudy sky. It was cold rain that had failed to turn into snow. The rain, which had begun to fall, was gaining momentum like a landslide rumbling down a mountain..

“No better time for this rain to fall. I just needed to cool my ankles,” I bluffed under my breath. I started walking again.

Every step taken caused me pain and robbed me of my body heat.

Worst conditions ever. Yet, strangely, my legs kept moving forward. My heart pounded against my chest. My whole body was telling me to stop, urging me to rest, but only my heart kept telling me to go on.

—It doesn’t have to be today.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, the cold version of me whispered. Telling me that I could meet Yuzu anytime. That there was no need to insist on today; if I wanted to say something, I could say it at any time.

“But… That’s exactly why it has to be today.”

Because there was no reason for me to meet her today. Precisely because there was no reason, I could go meet her just because I felt like it.

“Ouchhh…!”

The pain in my legs increased at an accelerated rate and my steps slowed in inverse proportion. Soon enough, the designated bus stop gradually came into view. I was nearly there.

But before I reached there—

“Ahhhhh…”

—a bus passed right beside me going in the same direction; this bus was the one that departed from the bus stop in front of the station. It easily overtook me before slowing down to a stop. I started chasing it in a hurry.

“Wait for me…!”

My legs were aching. My water-soaked clothes were heavy. Even so, I kept on running and running.

Thump!

My knees gave way and I fell, tumbling down.

“Sh*t…!”

The pain and cold had apparently taken a lot of my strength before I knew it. I stood up desperately and looked straight ahead.

But the bus had left unceremoniously.