I returned home, with my parents welcoming me from the door. They asked me to wait at the dining table. I ate my breakfast, but there's still space for another serving. They served porridge and soup, as expected from my parents. They were so kind to me, I'm so grateful.
I finished both the porridge and soup, there wasn't much spice in them, yet they taste good. I shared with my parents about random things happened while I was in the hospital. They were all relieved after I told them again that I just have a slight anaemia.
I went back to my room, and rummaged around my drawers, trying to locate a notebook where I wrote about wishing for Rika-chan to accept my confession. I found a notebook that matches the appearance of the one I saw in the memories, yet there is no such entry of it. Perhaps I haven't wish for it yet?
I sat down on my cushion on the floor, and began thinking. How did I fell in love with Rika-chan. We were actually born in this town, with me being older because I was born three months earlier than her. I remember the first time we met, it was twelve years ago, when we were three years old. Both of us hid behind our mother's back, quite awkward for a first time meeting.
"Yuuma, go introduce yourself to Mizuhara's daughter!" My mother said. I reluctantly stepped out, where she peeks out for a bit.
"H-hello Hello! My name is Yuuma! Nice to meet you!" I braced myself, I said while closing my eyes.
"Mizuhara... Mizuhara Rika, same here..." She said politely, yet not much. She inspired me to hone on my manners. I tried every day, to make sure I speak politely... I miss the old days, where whenever I forgot to say a name without honorifics, I'll cry, just like the end of the world...
"W-want to play together?" Rika-chan held out a bunny stuffed animal. I looked at it, it waved at me, with Rika-chan dubs over it.
"Let's play together!" She said.
"Yeah, let's go!" I said, we then proceed to play all day together.
"Look at them, they get along pretty well." My mother often say to Rika-chan's mother, which I always smiled at them whenever they mentioned about that. Perhaps they were happy that their children gets along with each other, perhaps reassuring to behold, as a parent. We played together since we were three. I hope I could still be close to my childhood friend Rika-chan, perhaps, we were close before, until I thought of wanting to make us closer, that's why she distanced herself.
"Alright students, please draw a picture about your dream!" One day, my elementary school teacher said, the homework for drawing class, I haven't thought of my dreams yet. I raised my hand.
"Sensei! What is a dream?" I asked. While others laughed at me.
"You don't even understand about dreams? Hahahaha!" They laughed.
"Stop it! Don't laugh at Yuuma-kun!" Rika-chan stood up and shouted. The others were scared and some of them even cried.
"Ah class, be quiet, please?" Sensei said. The class slowly quieted down.
"Yuuma-kun, a dream is something you wanted to do in the future, when you grow up. What do you want to do?" Sensei said. What I wanted to do when I grow up. I looked at Rika-chan, I wanted to be with Rika-chan forever, is what I thought. I quickly drew what's on my mind. Sensei walked over and whispered to me.
"Yuuma-kun, who is this?" She pointed on a girl in my picture.
"This is Rika-chan, I want to be with her forever." I said blatantly, with enthusiasm. Sensei shook her head.
"Yuuma-kun, do you have an occupation you wanted to be when you grew up?" Sensei asked. I thought hard, yet I couldn't find an answer.
"Yuuma-kun, don't force yourself hard, have a little time thinking might help you to find your dream." Sensei said.
I walked home with Rika-chan. On the way, we stopped at a park.
"Rika-chan, what is your dream?" I asked.
"Mom said that I could become a scientist if I study hard." Rika-chan said.
"I see..." I mumbled.
"Yuuma-kun, what's wrong?" Rika-chan said.
"Don't laugh at me... I told sensei that I want to be with Rika-chan forever." I said.
"Pfft... Hahahaha!" Rika-chan laughed, though she tried hard to hold it in. I allowed her to laugh, at least.
"Ah, the sun sets!" Rika-chan pointed at the sky, It seems like we had been in this park for a very long time, we should head back now.
"Rika-chan, let's go home." I held out my hand, she held mine immediately.
"Sure!" Rika-chan said.
We walked home, without detours, yet time still moves forward despite how quickly we walked. Soon, the black curtains covered the sky, with sparkling lights scattered on it.
"Wow, Yuuma-kun, look, stars! They are so pretty!" Rika-chan exclaimed with joy. She hopped forward gleefully, trying to reach the stars, and obviously she couldn't.
"Yuuma-kun! I like that star!" She pointed at the sky.
"I know it, Rika-chan, I found my dream!" I too, exclaimed. The both of us gleefully run back home and got scolded for being outside for too long, we looked at each other and giggled, like we had a little secret together.
We did our drawings together, I drew mine and showed her.
"Rika-chan, did the star you saw look like this?" I asked.
"Yeah! It's so pretty!" She replied. The two of us drew the scenery we saw, not noticing that we were about to draw the same picture.
We fell asleep after finishing our drawings, my mother came over to Rika-chan's house to take me home. They noticed our drawings, they were surprised at first, but then giggled together. Perhaps they had a new secret about us?
My mother woke me up, it's time for school. I took a closer look to my drawing. It's perfect. I changed my clothes and went outside. It was raining, so my mother drove me and Rika-chan to school. We got down and opened our umbrellas, but a gust of wind blew upon us, resulting in Rika-chan's drawing fell into a puddle of water.
"Ah, my dream!" She cried. Sensei came out after my mother called, she saw what happened. We went into our classroom with a gloomy face. I didn't know what to do, I reluctantly give her my drawing.
"Rika-chan, please look at my drawing." I said. She wasn't in the mood of doing so, yet she opened and looked. She cheered up afterwards.
Sensei brought over a hair dryer, in hopes of letting Rika-chan to dry her drawing. She saw her being happy, and decided to come over.
"Rika-chan, here is a hair dryer, let's go over there and dry your drawing together, okay?" Sensei said.
"Yeah!" Rika-chan said. Sensei plugged in the hair dryer, and instructed Rika-chan to dry her hands before handling it. I took my drawing with me, and showed sensei.
"Sensei! I actually drew the same drawing as Rika-chan! Can we share our drawings?" I asked. Sensei smiled and looked at our drawings.
"Hmmm... A star, and a person here, this one is a girl, and this one is a boy." Sensei commented.
"Who is this girl?" Sensei pointed the girl in my drawing, who is supposed to be Rika-chan.
"It's Rika-chan!" I said.
"So this boy here is supposed to be Yuuma-kun?" Sensei asked when pointing to the boy in Rika-chan's picture.
"Yes!" Rika-chan said, with a broad smile.
"Well, though you had the same dream, that doesn't mean that you can share your drawings like that! You should also hold tight to your dream as well, not to lose it easily! Understood?" Sensei said, with enthusiasm brimming over her face.
"Okay!" Rika-chan started drying her drawing, while I also wanted to help I brought over another hair dryer to dry Rika-chan's drawing. Sensei smiled and left the classroom, preparing for her class.
Classes begun, we were asked to present our drawings, and talk about our dreams. Rika-chan is going to present earlier than me, so she went first after a boy finished his presentation. Rika-chan opened up her picture, with a very damaged drawing it had became after drying it, it looked distorted. The class laughed.
"Rika-chan, you don't even have a dream? Why is your dream like that? Is it a bad dream? Hahaha!" They laughed. Rika-chan almost cried.
"Stop it!" I shouted. I took my drawing with me and went to the front.
"My dream is to look at stars with Rika-chan!" I said, as I revealed my drawing. Sensei was about to stop me, but seeing Rika-chan stopped crying, she decided to allow the both of us to present together.
"We saw stars yesterday, they were so pretty! That is why, I wanted to look at stars with Yuuma-kun!" Rika-chan said.
That was when, I set on my goals, to become an astronomical researcher. Rika-chan too, aimed to become a scientist associated with stars.
I snapped back to reality, continuing to rummage through my closet to look for something. I found my drawing, my "dream". I snapped a picture to Rika-chan, with a message.
"I remembered our dream, and a promise we made back then, during the important day."
...
A Message from Yuuma-kun? A picture from elementary school huh...
"I remembered our dream, and a promise we made back then, during the important day."
A promise huh...? You still remembered... Dummy.