The drone of the history teacher's voice was supposed to be the main sound in the room, but my mind was a chaotic symphony of its own.
"Don't try to keep your distance from her. I don't really mind."
Yui's words from this morning were a puzzle box with no instructions. She'd given me permission, a royal decree, to approach Aoi. But what did that even mean?
"It hurts so much seeing you… seeing you with her. It would have been better if you just stayed gone!"
Aoi's words were shards of glass, sharp and painful. Each time I replayed them, they cut a little deeper. Her pain was my fault. Her guilt was my fault. And the kiss… that was a consequence I hadn't even begun to calculate.
Reconnecting with Aoi felt like chasing a white rabbit into a maze, except the maze was built by Yui's impossible generosity. Yui, who claimed she didn't mind, was the one who had waited two years. Her heart was a fortress built on a vow, and I was wary of testing its foundations. How could she not mind? Was her faith in me so absolute that jealousy was an irrelevant emotion? The thought was both flattering and terrifying.
My brain, overloaded with unsolvable emotional equations, did what it always does when overwhelmed: it sought shelter. And my only shelter was her.
My thoughts drifted from the classroom to the quiet, moonlit battlefield of last night. The memory of Yui's skin, warm and slick under my hands. The shameful, wanton sounds she made, lost in the space between our mouths. The way her body had finally surrendered, collapsing against mine in a tangle of exhausted limbs. The scent of her perfume mixed with our shared sweat…
A sudden, intense heat flooded my cheeks. My entire body felt warm, and a slow, stupid smile must have spread across my face. She was so, so cute.
Pinch.
A sharp, targeted pain shot through my side, right at the waistline. I jolted, my daydream shattering into a million pieces.
"Ow—!"
I looked down to see Yui's fingers twisted in the fabric of my uniform shirt, her nails digging in with righteous fury. She was looking straight ahead at the teacher, but her eyes, narrowed into a sharp glare, were aimed at me.
"Thinking about something perverted again?" she whispered, her voice a low, dangerous hiss. How does she always know? It's like she has a direct-line to my most embarrassing thoughts.
"No," I whispered back, leaning closer so only she could hear. "Not anymore."
Her glare intensified, followed by a soft, exasperated sigh. The pinch eased, replaced by a light, corrective pat. "You'd better focus," she scolded under her breath. "You suck at history."
As she turned her head slightly to deliver the final, devastating verdict on my academic skills, I saw it. Just for a fraction of a second, her gaze flickered past me, across the aisle, to the front of the room where Aoi sat, her back perfectly straight. Yui's expression softened for an instant, a flicker of concern and old affection.
And just like that, my resolve hardened. This wasn't just about me and Aoi anymore. This was about restoring Yui's world to its proper shape.
The moment the lunch bell rang, the classroom exploded. A tidal wave of students rushed for the door, their chatter a frantic buzz.
"Did you hear? Starlight Serenade is doing a sound check on the field!"
"No way, for the school tour? Let's go!"
The room emptied in seconds, the commotion fading down the hallway. Soon, it was quiet. Only three of us remained. Yui, Aoi, and me.
"A famous idol group, huh?" I murmured, watching the last of the students disappear.
"Something like that," Yui replied, her movements calm as she began to unpack our bentos.
My eyes found Aoi. She was at her desk, pulling out her own lunch, her movements slow and deliberate. She was creating a bubble of solitude, pretending we weren't there.
I looked at Yui, then at our perfectly packed lunches. I placed my hand over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Can you wait a while?"
She looked from my hand to my face, then followed my gaze to Aoi. She didn't need any other explanation. She simply gave a small, firm nod.
I slipped out of the classroom, my footsteps unnaturally loud in the empty hallway. At the vending machine, my fingers hovered over the buttons before finding the familiar carton with the cheerful cow. Strawberry milk.
I hope it works this time.
When I returned, the scene was unchanged. I made eye contact with Yui, a quick, silent exchange that conveyed everything. She watched, her expression calm and steady, as I walked to the front of the room. Aoi was already eating, a light novel propped open against her water bottle, a shield held up to ward off the world.
I grabbed the empty chair from the desk next to Aoi's, the legs scraping softly against the floor, and sat down beside her.
She didn't look up.
I placed the chilled carton on her desk, right next to her book. "Here," I said softly.
She continued to ignore me, turning a page with a little too much force.
I sighed, leaning back in the chair. Time to play my only card. "So, you actually wish I was gone, huh?"
Aoi's body went rigid. The light novel snapped shut. "No!" she cried, whirling to face me, her eyes wide with panic and indignation. "I told you, it's not like that!"
I didn't argue. I just picked up the carton, deftly punched the straw through the foil seal, and held it out to her. A faint, gentle smile touched my lips.
"Then drink it," I said softly. "Drink it, and I'll forgive you."
Aoi stared at the straw, her lip trembling. For a long moment, she didn't move. Then, she took a shaky breath and leaned forward, her lips closing around the plastic tip. She took one small, hesitant sip. Then another.
It wasn't a solution, but it was a start.
She pulled her face away from the straw. Guilt radiated from her in palpable waves.
"I stopped looking," she whispered, her eyes dropping to the desk. "When the searches ended… I was relieved. I'm a coward, Jun. I chose peace over you. I betrayed you!"
Her voice cracked on the last word. I reached out, my hand closing over hers. It was cold. "Aoi, you didn't betray me," I said, my voice firm. "You were forced to endure the unthinkable. You were left with nothing but silence. I was the one who left you alone to suffer. Waiting for a ghost is an impossible thing to ask of anyone. You were just trying to survive, Aoi. That isn't a betrayal."
"But I stopped waiting," she insisted, her voice thick with self-loathing. "I stopped hoping."
"Did you stop loving me?"
The words escaped before I could stop them. They hung in the air between us, heavy and shocking. My own heart stuttered. Love? Why did I say love?
Aoi's head snapped up, her tear-filled eyes locking onto mine. For a moment, she looked like she might confess everything right there.
"I… I don't…" she stammered, before her voice broke completely. "It doesn't matter! I told Yui to forget you! I told her to let you go!"
"No," I corrected her gently. "You tried to make her move on. There's a big difference. And you did it to protect her, right? You saw how much she was hurting, and you did the only thing a best friend could do."
"But—"
"He's right,"
A new voice, soft and unwavering, joined the conversation. Yui had approached silently from behind. She wrapped her arms around Aoi's shoulders, pulling her into a gentle, encompassing hug. Aoi flinched, but didn't pull away.
"Thank you for trying to protect me back then," Yui whispered into Aoi's hair. "And… please forgive me for pushing you away."
Aoi let out a choked sob, her free hand coming up to cover Yui's on her shoulder. But the confession wasn't over.
"But I... I betrayed you, Yui!" she cried, pulling away just enough to look at me, her face a mess of tears. "With what I did to you yesterday…"
I decided to detonate this one with pure, unfiltered absurdity.
"Oh, that?" I said, waving a dismissive hand. "Don't worry about it. Yui said you can kiss me as many times as you want."
Aoi stared at me, her mouth agape in pure, stunned disbelief. Then, as if on instinct, she brought her hand up and gave me a light, sharp chop on the top of my head—a gesture so familiar it felt like coming home.
"Why would I do that, you idiot! That was a one-time thing!" she snapped, her cheeks burning a furious shade of red.
"But you said it, right, Yui?" I asked, turning to my accomplice for support.
Yui, the absolute traitor, had the audacity to blush. "I-I didn't say that!" she stammered. Then she added, with a tiny, mischievous smile, "But…, if you want to, I suppose you can."
Aoi looked from Yui's reddened face to mine, her expression a perfect portrait of bewilderment.
Seeing Aoi utterly baffled by Yui's impossible logic, I pressed my advantage.
"See? She understands. It was a friendship kiss. I'd probably do the same thing if my best friend came back after being legally dead for two years."
My own words sobered me. The playful tone vanished, replaced by a sudden, crushing weight in my chest.
"And Aoi," I said, my voice dropping, becoming quiet and serious. "You know me, right? I was alone for as long as I can remember. There was no one waiting for me. Until I met Yui, and you." I took a deep breath, letting the words come from the deepest part of me. "You are part of my life. My entire life. I don't have many people I care about. So few I could count them on one hand."
My voice started to tremble. "Losing you is not just losing a friend. I'm losing a big part of myself." I looked down at my hands, the raw fear I'd been suppressing finally surfacing. "I still don't know how I disappeared. I have no memory, no way to stop it from happening again."
A single, traitorous tear escaped and traced a path down my cheek.
"And I'm terrified that if it does… I don't want Yui to be alone again. I don't want you to be alone again."
I looked up, meeting Aoi's tear-filled eyes, then Yui's. "So, for my own selfishness… if that happens… can I ask you to welcome me back? Because I'm sure—I am absolutely certain—that I will always find my way home, as long as the two most important people in my life are waiting for me."
That was it. My final, desperate plea.
The silence that followed was broken by a sudden, desperate movement. Aoi launched herself from her chair and into my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck and burying her face in my shoulder, her body shaking with silent sobs.
A moment later, Yui knelt beside us, her arms wrapping around us both, completing the circle. We stayed like that for a long time, a tangled, tearful heap of apologies and promises.
Finally, Yui pulled back, a brilliant, watery smile on her face.
"Shall we go have lunch?" she asked, her voice thick with emotion. "I know a good spot."
She stood, looping her arm through mine and pulling me to my feet. Aoi, her face still blotchy but her eyes finally clear, stood up and took her place on my other side.
I looked at Yui, her hand finding mine and lacing our fingers together. She was my vow. Then I looked at Aoi, who gave me a small, hesitant smile. She was my promise.
And with the two most important people in my life flanking me, we walked out of the empty classroom and back into the light.