1
.
All the while he was busy doing his usual computer coding stuff, I was doing my best to have fun.
Ryuu is a perfect friend, nothing about him was wrong. He would help me do ridiculous things, even after that, he got bruises and scars, he would still come and play with me.
Ryuu has been a good friend of mine since middle school.
He was the quiet type of person in class, reading his book alone in the corner of the classroom. He doesn't care about the other activities the school has to offer. Even when we were doing a full circle around the soccer field, I saw him sitting down and only watching us.
"Hey! Aren't you going to run?"
I said, walking up to him. But I was also thirsty, so I wasn't only going to him just to convince him to run and exercise. Coincidentally, my bottle was next to him.
"Ahhh… that felt good"
I drank a lot of water. Of course it felt good, it felt refreshing.
—It was the natural reaction of drinking water after doing something exhausting.
"—I think it's useless…"
"...? huh?"
"What do we get running around the soccer field? A reward? Then, what kind of reward?"
"What are you talking about?!"
"Didn't you ask me why I'm not running?!"
"W-well… yeah I did"
"Well good, I've given my answer!!"
"No need to shout…. Geez, Tanaka"
"..."
He left me with a silent glare. His face then looked away from me, deciding to stare at the dirt beneath him.
"..."
"..."
"Are you free after school?"
"... yeah"
"Alright, that's enough for me!"
I remember saying that as I ran back to the others who were still running another lap around the soccer field. But before I actually went along with the group again, I looked back.
"Meet me at that river, alright!"
"—??"
.
2
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"Hey, Ryuu"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think that Kazehaya and Fujiwara are dating each other?"
"Hm… well, they seem to be close but it doesn't seem like Kazehaya has any liking to Fujiwara"
"Now that you mentioned it, yeah… He doesn't really treat her like she's his close partner"
In the morning, not a lot of people were walking on the beach. The beach they were visiting, Katase Higashima, was located near the island of Enoshima. If Ichika would want to, they could walk to the island on foot.
Ichika's bare feet were feeling the cold sand below her. Soft, and somewhat comfortable. But sometimes, she gets uncomfortable feelings because of seaweed on the sand.
Ryuu followed behind her, his feet were still safe from the sand below.
"Hey, Ryuu"
"Hmm?"
"Since we're in the topic of lovers and partners"
"...?"
Ichika stopped on her tracks. Before she was about to give a question to Ryuu, a gust of cold wind blew her hair as she turned around.
"Do you like me?"
——
———
Confidence had built up inside him.
With his mouth opened wide and his body shaking, he answered the question like it was the most important question in his life.
"Yes. Yes I do like you"
"..."
But, his expectation for a cute smile from Ichika, he was shot by an unsatisfied stare from her.
His heart ached before he could say anything. There was an urge to cry but his mind was forcing himself to not cry.
"I see…"
"H-huh…?"
Her unsatisfied expression turned to a smile. But not a smile Ryuu wanted. She smiled when she was turning around again, a one eighty turn in the opposite direction.
"Come on, let's go eat"
"..."
Ouch.
Ouch indeed.