From the next day, all the organizers and assistants began to work intensively in the committee, and there was a busy atmosphere everywhere. Looking at the people dragging cupboards and chasing papers, Yumiko was surprised by the hectic pace of preparations. In order to free up space and help the rest of the students preparing for the festival in their own way, helpers gathered to move some things to other places or give them away temporarily to members of various clubs. This fuss was also due to the work being done even during the school breaks. Also, some brought in boxes of posters and ribbons.
Haru so explained to Yumiko that every member would now start trying as hard as she did, and hoped for her understanding. Yumiko had enough prudence to thank each worker and helper for their work, and she had no qualms about covering the important points in their work, thus controlling every move, like a strategist who knew all the moves in advance and used them to the benefit of the community. She was stubborn, and even after Natsuki asked her to rest, she dared not suspend her work. This was the essence of Yumiko, who was admired by the members of the literary club.
When Haru and Yumiko were left alone to discuss any things naturally affecting the theme of the festival, Ryou, who was reverently peeking at the pair, flinched when he was lightly slapped on the back by Tomoyuki, who was hauling crates of supplies with another guy. The blue-eyed man asked him to step aside. Even though Ryou clearly understood the brown-eyed man's excitement for the Cultural Festival, a certain sense of inner discomfort didn't leave the guy. In the end, he counted the unprecedented feeling as concern.
While Glenn was picking up boxes of festive ribbons and other gear, Akiko, who quietly approached him in a sober manner, asked if he needed any help. The boy, seeing her frail hand reaching out toward him, could not refuse, and for the sake of her company gently gave her a light crate in her hand.
"But this box is too soft."
"I will not be bothered to give a heavy one, Akiko-chan."
"So be it," Akiko stepped slowly. "You think I'm too squishy a girl."
"Not at all. Akiko-chan, how are you doing?" he followed the girl. "You've become more pessimistic lately."
"You've only seen me in a good light. Here I am, the real Akiko Akiyama — quiet as can be."
"I didn't mean to insult you."
"I don't even know who I'm talking to right now. Who are you, Glenn-kun? Looking at you only makes me go through meager thoughts, but what's that got to do with it? Whether you are a good man or a bad man, I cannot know, for I am unable to foresee your actions. You have been a mystery to me since we met."
"I ain't a tyrant at all," Glenn paced quietly with the girl down the corridor. The guy with the naturally mocking eyes didn't mind answering openly. "I have nothing to hide: I promised you. What have I got to hide? If you want, I can tell you all the things I think, because I trust you. We are friends, after all."
"Friends. But how do you choose your friends? By certain criteria, or maybe you're just acting as our big brother who helps us behind the scenes every now and then?"
"I want to bring you out of your anxieties and provide your feelings with sincerity, so that you may finally realize who you really are and get rid of the troubles that surround you. I told you, Akiko-chan, I wouldn't lie, so I didn't."
"That all sounds too welcome, however, why would you do that? You're literally invading our personal affairs."
"What personal matters, my dear friend, can we talk about if you haven't really formed as individuals yourself. I am no judge, deciding lives for others, God knows if I would have done so at all. But sometimes people need a little bit of chutzpah to succeed. Success itself comes from chutzpah and pride, don't you and Tomoyuki-kun know that?"
"I don't. Life hasn't rewarded me with success, only a line of failure."
With a sigh, Glenn replied, "I haven't planned anything. I have nothing more to plan, for my time is running out. I am honored to make friends with you, Akiko-chan, for you are a peculiar person. You are different from the rest of the rabble, at least in your desire to succeed. All the people have already chosen their roles, and now it only remains for me to rest."
"It looks like you're tweaking the movie to suit you and stocking up on popcorn so you can watch quietly what you end up composing."
"Maybe so. But there is one fact that pleases my heart and soul. Yumiko-chan has been able to change, for the better. I revere her, and would not question her resolve. I have a heart for her personality, for she is as pure as a diamond. People change. They change because the world around them changes. For Yumiko-chan, the world is our affection for her and her desire to look away."
***
Time passed quickly, and it was now the third week since Yumiko had become the head of the Cultural Festival. There was a noticeable change in the behavior of the students as they anxiously awaited the start of the festival and were just as diligent in their preparations as the helpers. Ribbons and posters were hung on the corridor walls, and colorful balloons were preparing for their time to hang from the ceilings and surroundings of the whole school.
Holiday curtains stepped into force for the windows and large halls, where the schoolchildren were going to plot theatrical skits and musical plays. There was a sharp buzz among the students about the upcoming event, and everyone was eager to finally face the holiday month of November. All that was left of the organizing team was to see things through to their expected conclusion.
One bright day, as daylight shone on the school grounds, Ryou saw Yumiko and Haru coming out of the committee room. The pair were solemnly talking about what they had left to finish before the festival began. Ryou felt something again that he hadn't known before, but he didn't understand what exactly he was anxious about. Maybe it wasn't anxiety at all, but something else that he didn't want to reveal or really was in the dark, only he himself knew.
The boy rummaged for an answer within himself, but it was in vain – he could not fully put the puzzle together, and he continued to muddle on. So why does his spirit take over when he sees Haru and Yumiko together?
"Jealousy," Tomoyuki answered him, sitting back in his chair and looking directly at Ryou when he dared to ask.
"Jealousy?" asked Ryou excitedly, not knowing what he was talking about.
"Huh? Are you kidding me? It's clear to the eye that you're experiencing jealousy."
"I swear to God, I didn't know. Jealousy... but why?"
"You seem to be uncomfortable with Yumiko-chan being with another guy."
"But why would I be jealous? Haru-san is certainly a responsive guy, but I didn't think I was ever envious of him until you enlightened me. Maybe you're wrong after all."
"Anything could be," Tomoyuki bowed his head to his hand. "That's the first thing that could have popped into my head. The answer lies only in you, Ryou-kun, and in your feelings. It doesn't make me shudder that you didn't really want to believe you were jealous until the last. What was it that made you so anxious?"
Ryou began to wonder if he had missed the early pores of life when such incidents should have occurred, after which specific answers could be pushed back. He had, after all, been in the process of stagnation all along, until he had made his first friends in Kyoto, and that at the age of thirteen. Tomoyuki, on the other hand, repeated within himself that it was more likely that Akiko had once again failed in her task, giving Ryou a chance to act unanticipated. But now the blue-eyed man was unobtrusively concerned about Ryou's own feelings, declaring him his friend, thereby contradicting his values and ideals.
"Do I envy Haru?" muttered Ryou in his room, sitting in front of the window, wrapped in a warm blanket. As he looked out at the evening stars, he thought of how bright they were sometimes, how they could illuminate the lives of entire people, giving them a reason to move on. Toward the end of his reflection, the boy remembered the incident with Yumiko during the Fireworks Festival, how he had grabbed her hand for fear of being captured by a black hole. "Why did I freak out then?" asked Ryou to himself, absorbed in other thoughts as he continued to stare wearily at the evening sky. "I seem to have changed."