One rainy day, when the skies were pouring down from above...
"Weh... hic... sniffle..."
It was a little before the afternoon turned to evening— at the time, I was
still in the third grade of elementary school... and I was crying on the bus
after school.
The school was far from my house, which was why I normally took the
train to school. But on days with heavy rain like this, I often ended up taking
the bus instead.
Today was a little different from all those other days, though.
After exerting all of my energy at the athletic meet, the movements of the
bus lulled me to sleep. When I woke up, I found myself staring at unfamiliar
scenery outside. As an elementary school student, I wasn't given any extra
pocket money to use—only the bare minimum needed.
I immediately fell into a panic, and naturally burst into tears.
That was when an older boy, around university-age, noticed my
demeanor and called out to me with a gentle voice.
"What's wrong?"
"Hweh...?"
My body twitched with a start, and I looked up at him. He seemed like a
really cool, like... an older brother. He smiled softly, as though he was
reassuring me.
"Did you get on the wrong bus?"
"Huh? Ah, no... I missed my stop..."
"Oh, I see. Where were you meant to get off?"
I sounded a little surprised when I responded, but the boy took it in stride
as he continued to ask me questions.
"T-The park at the third district..."
"Got it. Then let's get off at the next stop. I'll take you to the stop closest
to your house."
"...O-Okay."
While I had been taught at home and at school not to follow strangers, I
didn't hesitate to trust this person completely. I was overly excited at how he
was just like a hero in those popular shoujo manga, appearing out of nowhere
to save me, the main character. But...
"Ah, I don't have... any money..."
I immediately remembered the fact that I didn't have any money on me.
"It's all right," the boy said, smiling and gently shaking his head. Once
we arrived at the next bus stop, he paid for my share of the bus fare and we
both got off. Then, he headed towards the opposite bus stop and stared at the
timetable. I was very nervous, so I silently watched his back.
"The next bus will be here soon, so let's wait together."
"O-Okay!"
Looking back on it now, I should have thanked him for paying for me.
But I was so nervous at the time that I rudely forgot to. In the end, I remained
silent and stared at the floor as my heart thumped in my chest—
"You shouldn't really follow strange adults anywhere, but this is an
emergency. Forgive me," the older boy suddenly said with a strained smile.
He probably mistook my continued silence for suspicion towards him.
"N-No! That's... That's not it!"
I tried to deny it in a hurry, but my fluster seemed to cement it instead.
After that, the older boy kept talking to me so that I wouldn't feel awkward.
It was considerate of him... But I was so embarrassed, my answers were all
over the place.
Just like that, time flew by and we arrived at the bus stop closest to my
house.
"Will you be okay from here?"
"Huh? Ah..."
It was like a spell had been lifted, dropping me back into reality.
This is... goodbye?
No. I still haven't said thank you—people often told me I had a meek
personality, but I never felt it more strongly than in this moment. That was
why...
"I-I! I have to thank you! For the bus fare!" I blurted out without
realizing.
"It's fine— don't worry about it. Bye now." He shook his head as though
declaring that his job was done here.
"Ah... no..."
Watching the older boy's retreating back, I squeezed out those words
with a voice on the verge of tears. I had so many things I wanted to tell him,
yet I hadn't said a single word of them to him.
"Ah... Umm. I guess I'll accept your gratitude?" He said in a slight panic
at seeing me about to burst into tears.
"T-Thank you very m-much...!" I tried to respond in a hurry and
stumbled over my words from nervousness.
Then, the older boy giggled... I was really embarrassed.
"T-Thank you very much..." I repeated once more, blushing furiously. I
didn't stumble this time.
"You're welcome."
"Y-Yes. It's... this way." I said, leading the older boy to my house. It was
a one minute walk from the bus stop. Once we arrived, I rang the familiar
doorbell. Mom came outside immediately.
"Welcome home, Suzune... What's wrong?" Mom looked between me
and the boy in confusion.
"Mom! We... we have to thank him! This boy saved me, and...!"
Overwhelmed, I let out a jumble of words that confused Mom even more.
"Actually..."
The boy filled out my explanation by explaining the situation to Mom.
"Oh my, we must have caused you a lot of trouble then. Thank you so
much." Mom bowed her head deeply and thanked him. "No, I'm just glad I
was able to safely bring her here. I shall take my leave, then..." The older boy
tried to politely excuse himself.
"Oh, would you like to stay for tea?" Mom called out to him. Nice one,
Mom!— I rejoiced quietly in my head. "I'm sorry, but I have a shift at work
now. I appreciate the thought, though. Thank you."
He had something to do after this and needed to leave immediately. Mom
went back inside for a moment to grab some money for the bus fare, then
tried to offer him a little more. The older boy tried to respectfully reject her,
but Mom forcefully handed it to him in the end. He thanked us rather
apologetically and left.
"What a nice man." Mom said, watching him walk away.
"Yeah..."
That wasn't all. He was really cool, too.
"And he was really cool, too, wasn't he Suzune?" Mom said, as though
she had read my mind.
"Yeah... huh?" Strung along, I nodded without thinking. I looked up at
Mom in a panic to see her grinning back at me. Of course, I flushed again at
that.
"Fufufu, you'll have to tell me about what happened in detail." There
was nothing I could hide from Mom, so I started to tell her about what
happened on the bus.
"Do you want to take the bus from now on?" Mom said after I hastily
finished my story.
"Huh? C-Can I really?"
"Sure. Amakawa Haruto, was it? It'd be nice if you could get closer to
that young man," Mom said, chuckling to herself at how my voice rose an
octave higher when I'd replied.
One year later, on a certain summer day...
I was attending a swimming class held at the school pool during summer
vacation. The class ended at noon, and I hurried to the bus stop afterwards.
Yay! He's here today too! I got on the bus home and spotted the older
boy sitting inside, making me cheer inside my head. My happiness nearly
made me break out into a huge grin, which I desperately tried to hold back.
The older boy's name was Amakawa Haruto. The very cool university
student who saved me a year ago, when I was at a loss for what to do on the
bus home. He often took the bus at this time of day.
Just between you and me.... The reason why I decided to start taking
swimming classes when I wasn't any good at sports was because the
swimming class ended at a time where I could see the older boy more often.
Well, Mom figured it out right away.
But that aside, maybe it was because of summer vacation... but the bus
was a lot emptier than normal that day. Haruto was sitting in his usual spot—
fourth row from the back, next to the left window— and I sat in my usualspot, which was next to the window in the last row. Unfortunately, I hadn't
spoken to him once since the day he saved me. The most I had been able to
do was watch his profile from diagonally behind him. I knew it was kind of
stalkerish of me, but thanks to that, I learned a lot of things.
For example: he liked to gaze out the window a lot, he would often sigh
these small sighs, and he always had a sad look on his face.
Was he worried about something? I was so curious about his story that I
was drawn to him without even realizing it myself. That day, as I continued
to stare at him... he noticed my gaze again. Once in a while— or rather, quite
often as of late— he would notice me staring at him. I sensed he was about to
turn back to look at me, so I ducked my head in a hurry and looked away.
Then, as I slowly raised my head again to peek at him, I made eye
contact with the high school-aged girl sitting two rows behind Haruto.
She
was a really pretty girl who seemed really mature. She quickly turned to face
the front, but she was smiling quietly to herself, as though she had seen
something funny. But it wasn't in a malicious way... She had a gentle kind of
air about her.
Actually, this older girl often rode the bus at this time, too. And— I
might be wrong, but— it felt like she would stare at Haruto a lot too. Could
this older girl like him too? If so, I can't lose to her— I thought to myself in
determination.
At that moment, the bus gave a sudden, lurching jerk. I felt like I was
floating for a moment, before intense pain immediately traveled throughout
my whole body. My vision abruptly darkened, and I couldn't see anything in
front of me.
Then... Wha...?
Without realizing what exactly had happened, I lost consciousness.