hile being in the clubroom, I felt a cold breeze and some water drops on my face. I turned towards the window just to find clouds covering the sun, and rain.
"Rain!?""Agh! I forgot to check the weather report today!"
"Wait, I should have a backup umbrella in my bag"
As I opened my bag to search for the backup umbrella, I remembered I broke it three days ago."No, no, no. Did it really have to be today?"
I opened my phone to check the weather report just to find out it's going to rain for the next six hours.
"Kazuki isn't here today, Rina left early. I don't have an umbrella, I am done for," I said to myself.Just then, someone opened the clubroom door.
It turned out to be Shiori.
"Ichiro?"
"Shiori-san? You haven't gone home yet?"
"I was just going home. I came back to get something."
"Wait, Shiori-san is here. Maybe I can as-"
"No way! I'm going to ask her to share her umbrella." I thought
"Anyway, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you go home?"
I couldn't tell her that I forgot my umbrella or she'd think I'm an airhead."Aa-..." I laughed nervously. "T-The rain looks so beautiful from here, so I was just taking some pictures of it."
"Now that you mention it, it does kind of look appealing to me." She said"Mind if I join you?" Shiori-san asked with excitement.
"Why would I mind?"
"Thanks! Ok, I'm going to put my photography skills to the test today. Let's see what I've learned in the last two weeks."
While we were clicking pictures, I noticed that Shiori was really into it."She's so focused…" I thought to myself.
We spent the next few minutes in comfortable silence, capturing the serene beauty of the raindrops against the window.
"Ichiro, look at this one!" she exclaimed, showing me a picture of a raindrop clinging to a leaf, perfectly in focus with a soft bokeh background.
"Wow, that's amazing, Shiori-san. You're really getting the hang of this."
"Thanks! It's really fun once you get into it," she said, beaming with pride.
The rain continued to pour outside, and the room was filled with the gentle sound of raindrops hitting the windows.
It was oddly comforting. As we were looking at our photos, a loud thunderclap echoed, causing Shiori to get startled and accidentally instinctively hug me
"What's this feeling? Is this… heaven?" I thought."S-Sorry, I'm really sorry," she apologized, clearly embarrassed."S-Shiori-san, are you scared of thunder?" I asked."Y-Yeah"
"I know it's embarrassing. You can laugh all you want!" She yelled at me"
Nah, it's not necessary to act tough all the time.""But being afraid of the sound of thunder, is she a kid?" I thought to myself.
As Shiori declared her departure, I watched her gather her things with a pang of disappointment. "Okay, I'm gonna head back home," she stated matter-of-factly, her voice tinged with a hint of regret.
"Okay, bye. See you later!" I replied, trying to conceal the reluctance in my tone.
But just as she turned to leave, she paused, with a curious glance back at me. "Wait—why are you still sitting there? Aren't you going home?"
"Uh, actually-..."
"..."
"So you forgot your umbrella and no one is here to share one with you?"
"Uhh, Yeah"
"You should ask the school for an umbrella from the lost and found," she suggested.
"Great idea. How did I not think about that?" I thought
"Come, let's go," she gestured for me to follow her.
I followed Shiori-san to the Lost and Found and my luck…
"How bad could my luck possibly be? What should I do now?" I muttered to myself, feeling a sense of helplessness creeping in.
"S-shiori-san, can you pleas-" "No, I'd Never ask her"
"Ichiro."
"Ichiro!"
"W-what?" I stammered, startled by her sudden attention.
"If you'd like, I-I can share my umbrella with you," she offered, her cheeks flushing pink with embarrassment.
"R-really? That'd be a generous act of yours!" I exclaimed, feeling a rush of gratitude wash over me at her kind gesture.
"But wait, a boy and a girl sharing an umbrella?" I hesitated.
"I-I'm sorry, I have no choice today," she confessed, her vulnerability echoing my own.
In the end, I found myself under the same umbrella as Shiori-san
"Ichiro, can you hold the umbrella?" she asked, her voice barely audible over the sound of the rain.
"Yeah, s-sure,"
But in my nervousness, I failed to notice that I had positioned the umbrella in a way that protected only her from the rain, leaving me exposed to the gentle drizzle.
"Hey, Ichiro, what's the point of sharing an umbrella when you are still getting exposed to the rain?" she teased, her laughter breaking through the tension that had settled between us.
As we reached her home, she insisted that I take the umbrella with me and return it to her the next day at school.
"I hope I don't get a cold," I muttered to myself.