chapter 32



“I never imagined there are many students here at this time!” Rika said to herself when she entered the nearest mall she could find. She immediately found a place near an accessory shop where she could eat her packed lunch. She opened her lunch and started eating by herself. She was almost finished eating when she noticed a bracelet on the shop. The bracelet has dolphins around it and it immediately reminded her of the gift that Maki gave her years ago. She didn’t finish her food and got her necklace inside her uniform. She looked at the pendant and the bottle with Maki’s ashes, sadly. She was tearing up a little.

“I don’t want to cry anymore… I want to be strong… But I wouldn’t want to forget you.”

Rika held back her tears. She put her lunch box back to her bag and readied herself to go back to school. She didn’t notice the person behind her so she bumped to her when she stood up.

“Itai!!! I’m sorry I didn’t… no..tice… AYUMI!!!!!!” Rika was delighted to see her best friend in the mall. She hugged her friend tightly.

“Geez… you’re so noisy…” Ayumi answered and hugged her friend back.

“What are you doing here? You should have called me earlier…”

“It’s our foundation week… And it’s kinda boring in school so I decided to visit Masae-san.”

“…….. Ma… sae… san? Ehhh?! Why do you plan to see her before me? I’m your best friend!” Rika was annoyed but deep inside, she was happy to see her friend again.

“It’s only a joke… I was really planning to meet you… But, I’m also dying to see Masae-san after you’ve mailed that her hair was somewhat…you know… colorful.” Ayumi smiled. She was glad to see that Rika improved a lot. She was glad that she managed to talk to Rika before they went here in Tokyo.

……….
“Rika, are you sure you want to do this?”

“Hai… I want to study in Tokyo High. The standards there were much better than here.”

“Please tell me you’re doing it for yourself… and not because of Maki.”

“I’m doing it for myself… and for Maki.”

“Why?! Why do you keep on living in the past? Can’t you just move on with your life? I know you loved her very much but…” Ayumi stopped and changed the topic… “I really thought that you moved on. You started making friends again… But why go to the same school that Maki’s supposed to go?”

“I’m starting a new life in there… You said that I should move on right? I’m doing this to move on. Whenever I’m in our school or in our neighborhood… I always remember Maki. No matter what I do, I can’t stop being sad about it. That’s why, moving to Tokyo will be the first step for me.”

“But why go to that school? There are still lots of other good schools in Tokyo right?”

“I must not forget Maki totally… I’ll just move on but that doesn’t mean that I’ll forget the memories we’ve shared together…”

……….
“I hate your logic…” Ayumi whispered to herself but Rika heard it.

“What did you say? To whose logic were you referring too?” Rika inquired

“You”
“A classmate of mine.” Ayumi replied.

“Oh, is that so? Why? What did your classmate do?”

“Because she wanted to move on but she went to the same school that her lover wanted to go too.”
“She will find every loophole just to justify herself… Even if what she did was really wrong.”

“Was she a bully? I think I can relate to that…” Rika replied.

“Why? Were you being bullied in your school?” They were now approaching Tokyo High. Rika wanted to spend more time with her that’s why she asked Ayumi to walk with her to her school.

“Hmm, not… yet… But I’ll not back out if she did that. She’ll get the battle that she wanted..”

“Woahhh… When did you start to act like a juvenile?” Ayumi laughed at her friend.

“I’m not!!! You’re still mean to me…”

“Hahaha… Gomen… Well, what time will your school end? I’ll wait. I want to spend some time with you.”

“I’ll be off at 3… When will you go home? If you have no school tomorrow, then why don’t you stay in our house?”

“That will be good… At least I can…”

“SHIBATA SAN!!!!!”

Rika and Ayumi looked at the gate. They saw Reina, Eri running towards them with Sayumi leading them. She immediately jumped on Ayumi. Reina and Eri hugged her after they removed Sayu from Ayumi.

“I can’t believe that you’re here in Tokyo! How’s your life here?” Ayumi asked after removing Sayu from her tight Koala hug.

“Well, we’re fine… We’ve entered the futsal varsity team last year.” Eri replied.

“Yes! And our team’s somewhat strong.” Sayu added.

“Yah, so strong that’s why we didn’t get to many exposures on the game.” Reina replied sarcastically. Sayu and Eri became silent afterwards.

“… Why? What’s wrong with the team?” Rika asked. She didn’t want to get involve in futsal again but her curiosity got the best out of her.

“Those Yoshizawa sisters were playing like they don’t have a teammate.” Eri confessed.

“Who are they?” Ayumi asked.

“They were the captain and sub-captain of our team. They act like we don’t exist. Rika and Maki were a good duo; they always play with the team and pass the ball around. Miki and Hitomi were not like that.” Reina looked at them with sad eyes.

“I’m sure its Miki’s fault. Hitomi was a good person. I’ve heard them fight about that earlier. But I guess, Hitomi can’t do anything about it because of her older sister.” Rika said. She then looked at her watch. “Geez, were going to be late!”

The three immediately ran back towards their school. They waved to Ayumi before entering.

Rika hugged Ayumi before going inside. “I’ll see you later!” Rika shouted. She didn’t notice that someone was watching her from a far.

“Onee-san, what are you doing in there? We’re going to be late!” Hitomi tried to drag her sister away from the window of their corridor.

“I’m just watching a wonderful scene outside.” Miki smiled when Hitomi was not looking at her.