Chapter Five: Her Tears

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The breeze cooled through the hallway. The windows in all the rooms were open, and walking past them you could see all the students on cleaning duty. The afternoon was beautiful. The cloudless sky, the fresh spring air, the countless peripheral sounds of chatter amongst students gathering near the lockers… it was almost perfect for…

I sighed… and told myself that was never going to happen.

The afternoon sun was still high… the bell had just chimed signaling the end of the school day and the beginning of the weekend, and the atmosphere was already fresh in the air. There were no club activities this afternoon… Kai had made no plans this weekend for the Film Club… in fact Kai wasn’t even at school today. I was just left with the task of meeting the deadline for an outline for a script by the end of next week… and I still had no idea where I would take this project.

I slowly opened my locker and took out my street shoes.

I sighed. I was planning on returning Ami’s manga today too… but she wasn’t at class either. Even more so I was going to try to use that as an excuse for…

I sighed again… and reminded myself of the same thought that entered my mind a minute ago.

“Seiichi?”

I turned around – it was Kanna.

“Oh hey, Kanna.” I said with a smile.

She blushed heavily. This was unlike her… Kanna had never been the shy type… I searched her face trying to figure out what the problem was… but I couldn’t find it.

“Um… Seiichi… about last night.”

I looked at her confused for a second, I had totally forgotten about the night before at the swings. Was she still going on about that?

“Um… it… was really nothing you needed… to…” Her face was crimson.

This wasn’t the usual Kanna…

I looked into her eyes… and there was a hint of pain. Something that tugged at my heart, I didn’t know what it was, but something was bothering her, and I felt as though she was desperate, sad… even.

“Don’t worry about it… I don’t even remember most of… what…”

YOU IDIOT! OF ALL THE THINGS!

Kanna’s expression suddenly looked really saddened.

“What do you mean you don’t remember?” She retorted quickly.

“I mean… it’s not that… I wasn’t listening… it’s just that it was late at night, and I’ve been pre-occupied with the script…and…” I shuttered. I wasn’t sure why Kanna was so worried about it, and even more so, I don’t know what she was embarrassed about really. It was just as confusing for me to listen to her last night, in fact, I still don’t know what she was talking about.

“Never mind! You’re an idiot, Seiichi!” She seemed angry all of the sudden.

“What?! Wha- did I do wrong? I don’t even understand what you were talking about last night. Stuff about Kai not knowing your favorite drink and…”

Pause.

Silence.

“I said never mind!” Kanna didn’t return my gaze and simply stormed off.

Pause.

For a second… I didn’t know what happened.

Was… I at fault there?

Was there something I missed?

The beautiful day… was shattered…

I was confused.
I cursed at myself. I didn’t know what was going on, but I felt obligated to follow her. Something was definitely wrong with her recently. Something was bothering her… and I just couldn’t abandon her… especially since we’ve known each other for so long and had been friends for such a long time.

I sighed.

Quickly I grabbed my street shoes and pushed my foot into them and ran after her.

“Kanna!”

She was storming off very quickly. She didn’t even look at me.

“Kanna! Hold on!”

She broke into a run. The wind breezed past pushing her hair back. The courtyard was now visible and Kanna dashed as fast as she could through the gates of Mihara.

“KANNA! DAMMIT!”

I broke out into a sprint chasing after her.

“KANNA!”

I reached out my hand and finally caught hers.

Time seemed to stop for a moment though…

For a single moment…

I saw it…

Kanna’s face…

Was… torn… with pain.

Something stung deep within my chest.

I’ve known Kanna for so long… and… I had never seen her like this…

I… I… I had never seen her… cry…

Not with tears of pain.

She had been hiding this.

All those smiles on the days before… all the times at the club… all the times she wanted to walk home together… those were all facades.

“Kanna…” I said… shocked.

She sniffed and whimpered… her tears wouldn’t stop.

“Kanna… what’s wrong…”

It stung deep down… it hurt to see her like this…

Kanna was like a sister to me… she… was…

She couldn’t look at me.

“I’m sorry… I should’ve listened…” I put my hands on her shoulder.

“It’s… not… you, Seiichi… it’s… not…” She said between her breaths.

I tried to put myself at her eye level but she just turned her face… her tears… wouldn’t stop though.

“Kanna… I’m here… if you want to talk… I’m here…”

Why wasn’t she going to Kai… why was she showing me her tears… why?

Kanna nodded slowly…

Slowly she turned her face.

Slowly…

Time…

Stopped.

Kanna looked at me… her eyes… in pain… but happy that I was here… happy?

And then suddenly.

RING.

My phone.

I cursed for a moment.

RING.

“I’m sorry…”

RING.

I dug into my pocket and picked up my cell phone without looking at the number.

The cherry blossoms blew by, and the students walked past us. Some looking… some not paying attention. Kanna’s face deep red from blushing and her tears.

For a moment I told myself… this had better be Kai. Kai should taking care of this…

“Hello? What is it?!” I said with a hint of frustration.

And then…

Then…

Horror struck my face.