Thursday, February 10th, Iro Road High School, 1;30pm
For Kira Jun, it is difficult to simply describe Ibuki Sumire’s existence in his life with mere words. He knew the others in his team would think so too.
She is their requiem. She saved them all; she connected all their threads together. But for him, the most important thing is that she gave him his dream. She gave him something worth fighting for, something worth living. If he did not give her this dream, then he would not have connected with the others. He would not have met them.
One of the first set of memories he recalled was meeting a young girl around a year older than him. When he asked her what she was doing, a girl he found singing in the park talked loudly. She looked at him with wide eyes, surprised, ‘ You don’t know what singing is? Or rather this it’s music, you don’t know?’
When he learns of the concept of music, it does not take him long before he becomes fond of it. Because she gave him his dream, he was no longer an empty shell. Although he still spoke in a monotone for many years and didn’t understand individual emotions all too well. He was already a ‘human’ a long time ago.
That girl’s voice that gave him life. The reason why he became so fond of singing and dancing was because of her. Had somebody else shown him, it would not have interested him. It’s because she’s the one who showed him.
If she didn’t show him, then for sure, he would not have become interested at all.
“Semei.”
Where did that hamster of his go again? Recently he keeps sneaking off. It did not take Jun long to find himself in a familiar field behind the school. There were different types of flowers blooming. It’s unusual; it’s still February, so why are the flowers blooming like this?
As he pondered on this, he spotted a girl with brunette-colored hair. Oh, this location is near where she said she would find inspiration to draw. Currently, it is free study for art students. They normally use this chance to practice drawing. He was no exception, although he joined the department due to the bullying situation. He has always been interested in art.
Although he is still a newbie at this, now that he thought about it, he became interested in drawing after the bullying incident.
Jun makes his way over and greets her. “Sumire-san.”
“Oh Jun-kun. Were you looking for Semei?”
Jun nodded, and the brunette pointed to the flower nearby to see his hamster use the petal as a blanket.
“When I found him like this, I thought it was pretty cute, so I didn’t want to disturb him.”
In other words, she remained here to guard over him. Everybody has seen him with this hamster, after all. Although the bullies are being investigated and are currently suspended from school, who knows how many friends they have? This is no good; he still feels tense. Jun felt the familiar sensation of goosebumps all over his skin. But that faded when he saw Sumire’s bright smile.
“Thank you.”
Sumire nodded, and it was then he saw it, the drawing he did not too long ago. But it got blown away by the wind.
“Why do you have that?” Jun wondered.
“Oh, this? I picked it up the other day. It was blown by a strong breeze and landed on my face. I kept it since it was so wonderful. “Sumire said, her gaze softened.
Jun averted his gaze. “People who only rely on hard work for art are poor judges of art, too, huh?” He mumbles. “I can’t believe you kept such a worthless drawing.”
“It’s true I can’t make wonderful drawings like you and Yuhi can. But, I do know that this drawing is wonderful. When I look at this drawing, I can feel the joy you felt when you looked at these flowers. It makes me smile. I love it.”
“You must be stupid. Nobody would like such a drawing.”
“But I like it. It really is wonderful. Being able to express their feelings with such colors like this, I really am impressed.” Sumire said, smiling brightly.
By this point, Jun knows he can’t hide it anymore, or rather she saw through him right from the beginning, didn’t she? Jun slumped on the ground.
“Jun-kun?”
“You have me beat Sumire-san. I give.” Jun muttered, defeated.
“En. I knew right away this was your Jun-kun. Few people can draw this well with this faint stroke and markings. This gentle usage of colors can only belong to someone with equally a gentle heart. ” Her sweat trails dropped, “That’s why I knew that it didn’t belong to Yuhi. That guy always draws everything based on his current emotions, after all. That’s why I know it can’t have been his.”
“Sumire-san, you really like Yuhi-san’s paintings don’t you?”Jun said.
“Yes. Jun-kun, you knew about it, didn’t you? That I was searching for the one who did that painting.”
He gave a small nod of confirmation. How can he forget? That was one of the main reasons why she came along with them to TOKYO in the first place.
“That painting, truthfully I already knew a long time ago who painted it. Just now I admitted that Ican determine which paintings belong to certain people. I knew it was his, so I set off to TOKYO. Perhaps he already stole my heart then.”
So that’s how it was; he figured there was something strange about her when they mentioned TOKYO first. Her tension seemed to be high, and she was even more clumsy for the next few days.
Sumire-san really cares about Yuhi indeed; it’s exactly like Mamoru-san
said. However, if he thinks about it carefully. Isn’t there another meaning behind why she came here?
Perhaps, even now, Sumire-san doesn’t understand her true feelings very well. He wants to believe in her. Believe that the love he’s seen these past few years won’t be destroyed by just a few months’ worth of tenderness and affection. However, the world is ‘illogical’; it’s unpredictable.
