7 Days After..... - Chapter 67: Eyes (End) + Author\'s Note

I closed the door and turned around, leaving the staff room behind me.

Sensei had said she had some other things to do, so she told me to go home.

“Take care of yourself, okay?” With that, she waved me goodbye.

I looked around.

The sun was setting, casting a warm orange glow across the corridor.

It looked… beautiful. For some reason, everything felt beautiful.

Or maybe it was me, I felt light-hearted.

Things were slowly, steadily falling back into place.

‘Maybe… I can live like a normal person after all.’

With those thoughts, I opened my classroom door to pick up my bag. I thought everyone was gone.

But someone was there.

I stood frozen in place. In the path of my gaze, standing in front of a massive pile of papers, was him.

Kawasaki Yuji.

He looked at me too.

For a long moment, no one spoke.

“Aizawa… Yo.”

He gave a plain raise of his hand.

I nodded and started walking toward my bag. 

Thank God my brain didn’t short-circuit this time. It always did when I saw him. I didn’t know why.

I reached for my bag, but my hand stopped midway.

‘Try to help others.’

Sensei’s words came back to me. I glanced at him.

He looked troubled, staring at the pile of papers, which was absolutely massive for anyone to carry alone.

Maybe I should just leave like normal.

But… if I wanted to change, I needed to take a step forward. Didn’t I?

I took a deep breath and turned toward him.

He was trying to lift the papers, positioning his hands to grab all of them at once.

“Umm… Kawasaki-kun?”

He stiffened. He dropped the pile on the table, the papers barely not falling apart.

Then he turned to me, his eyes wide.

“Do you need help with… this bundle?”

I bet my face looked creepy, trying to force a smile on my stiff, awkward features.

He stood frozen this time.

Then-

“…You can speak?”

This time, I stood frozen.

Another awkward silence.

I let out a sigh- an exasperated one. 

“Yes. I can speak.”

I tried to sound normal, but I was certain my face was twitching as I said it.

“You- you can breathe? Or, more like, sigh?”

“I guess you don’t need my help, then. Good luck carrying those.”

I turned and walked toward my bag.

“No! Wait, Wait! I’m sorry. I’m sorry! Please help me with these.”

I looked at him. He had a troubled expression. Pleading, even.

I sighed again and moved to pick up half the stack.

“Where do they need to go?”

“…To the staffroom upstairs.”

He scooped up the other half, and we began walking.

The upstairs staffroom was a bit far from here, it would take more than five minutes to reach.

I glanced down at the papers.

Homework assignments.

I had submitted mine properly, of course.

“Thanks for the help.”

“No worries.” I didn’t even look at him.

“Um… sorry for reacting like that.”

“More like overreacting.”

Wow. I didn’t know I could be this sour.

“Don’t blame me for that,” he defended himself. “Think about it. If a classmate who never speaks to anyone- only ever opens her mouth when the teacher calls on her, and then answers in one-word responses- suddenly spoke to you out of nowhere… what would you do?”

“…”

I guess that was fair. His reaction made a bit of sense.

We walked the rest of the way in silence. When we finally reached the staffroom, it was empty.

“Let’s just leave them here.” I set my stack down on the nearest desk.

Then we walked back to the classroom.

“Thanks again for the help.”

“Don’t sweat it.”

I guess I had managed to take a step forward. And I could speak to others properly, too.

Though… I felt like this was different because it was him.

“You know, I didn’t bring my homework today,” he said, his hands in his pockets. “So the teacher told me to redo it and submit everyone else’s work to his office too. He just wanted to push his work onto someone else.”

“…”

“Still… I never thought Aizawa, of all people, would step up to help me.”

I was about to say nothing. But then I remembered something. And I thought I should get it off my chest.

“…It’s not like I’d just abandon someone in need of help.” It was a lie. I had been thinking of him. But I kept going. “Unlike a certain someone who leaves people to drench in the cold rain.”

A verbal jab. I wasn’t particularly angry about that day, honestly, I was glad he hadn’t offered to walk me home.

But I was still sour about his earlier words. No matter how justified his reaction might have been, was that really the first thing you say to someone you’ve barely spoken to?

He stiffened and paused.

I kept walking.

Then he hurried his pace, falling in just behind me.

“Oi, wait. Don’t make me out to be the heartless one here.” He sounded defensive. “When you were drenched in the rain that day, I was surprised too. But I did tell you I’d go get another umbrella for you, didn’t I? And when I came back… you were just gone.”

Now it was my turn to freeze.

I looked back at the memory of that day.

The convenience store.

The rain.

His face, unreadable, watching me.

The way he turned and walked back inside.

And yeah… he had spoken. He had said something.

I just hadn’t heard it. More like I couldn’t.

“You don’t know the way Keika looked at me when I was holding two umbrellas,” he continued, his voice animated now. “I had to say that I brought one for her in advance- for when she grows up and her umbrella gets too small. But that girl! She said she didn’t like the color. Even though I put so much thought into what a girl might like.” He paused. “Are you listening?”

I hurried my steps, making sure he stayed a bit behind me. I couldn’t let him see my face.

No way. I couldn’t possibly tell him that I hadn’t heard his words because my brain had short-circuited just from seeing him.

Just thinking about it made my face flush to the tips of my ears.

“What happened, Aizawa?” he called from behind.

“N-nothing.” I tried to cover it up, desperately scrambling for something to say. “Y-you could have just given me your umbrella and bought one for yourself, if you were buying one anyway.”

‘What am I saying?! ‘

That sounded so selfish.

He fell silent.

Was he offended?

“I guess you’re right. I should have done that. Sorry.” He actually sounded apologetic.

I panicked. I hadn’t meant to make him feel that way.

“A-anyway,” I tried to pivot, “who is Keika?”

I diverted the topic, hoping I wouldn’t step on another landmine.

“Oh? Keika is my little sister. She’s in elementary school right now.”

“I see. You have a little sister.”

“Yeah. And a real angelic one at that, you know.”

“…I see.”

The mention of a little sister… reminded me of him.

My little brother. Hiro.

He would have been in his first year of middle school if he were still…

Maybe he sensed the shift in my mood. Kawasaki-kun fell quiet too.

*Sigh*

‘Nice job, me. Destroying the happy atmosphere.’

“You know… Aizawa.” He finally spoke, his voice quieter than before. “When I saw you here, in high school… I knew you were different from how you were in middle school.”

His footsteps stopped. And mine stopped too.

I looked back. He stood with his eyes downcast, fixed on the floor as if the tiles held some answer he was searching for.

“It was only a few days later that I found out what happened… to your-”

He lifted his gaze and met my eyes. And there it was again. That short-circuit. But this time, I could hear him.

“I’m sorry. About your family.”

I didn’t say anything. Then one of his words struck me.

“How did you know how I was in middle school?” I asked.

He gave a troubled smile.

“We were in the same class. Until the second year of middle school.”

…

……

‘Eh?’

‘Eeeeeh?!!’

“What? Really? I mean, sorry, but I don’t remember you… being a classmate.”

He laughed, but it was nervous, self-conscious.

“Well… I’m pretty different from how I was back then. I was more of the gloomy type, you know. Always focused on my books. Long bangs covering my face. Kept to myself.”

He scratched the back of his head, a boyish gesture that seemed at odds with the composed image I had of him.

Now that I thought about it… there had been a guy like that.

Who sat in the back, always reading. Who never raised his hand. Who spoke so rarely that his voice was almost a rumor.

Ugh. I felt bad for not remembering him until now, and only because he had revealed himself.

“Well, I changed schools right before the end of second year.” His gaze dropped to the ground again.

“Family… reasons. You know.”

The atmosphere around him darkened.

Yes. I did know. About his situation being complicated too. I had heard things- fragments, whispers- but I had never asked.

Never pried.

But now…

I wanted to know. I didn’t know why, but I wanted to talk to him. To understand him. But I didn’t know anything about him. I didn’t know where to start.

Is this how other people felt when they wanted to know about my situation? Do you need to know someone before you can ask? Or is it okay to pry without knowing anything at all?

He lifted his gaze again, and this time it softened.

“I’m glad you’re okay now.”

With that, he walked- not back to the classroom, but toward the window at the end of the corridor.

The sun hadn’t set completely yet. The orange glow was at its brightest, painting the hallway in hues of amber and gold.

I followed.

I walked to the window and stood beside him. He gazed down at the track field, where members of the athletics club were doing their evening laps, their shadows long in the fading light.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hm?”

“How was I? In middle school?”

He hummed, thinking.

“Well… you were popular. Good grades. You were with Kuramoto-san and Tanaka-san most of the time, but you were nice to everyone else too. A little too competitive about sports, maybe.” A pause. “And… I guess a lot of boys liked you.”

“I see.”

So I had a pretty good reputation back then. The opposite of now.

‘Sigh.’ 

Don’t sour the mood by spiralling into negatives, Rina. Don’t. I bit my tongue and stayed quiet.

He didn’t say anything either. 

I glanced at him.

Up close, he was rather good-looking. Sharp jaw, clear eyes, a decent face.

The boy from middle school must have been completely different from this version of him.

Had he changed? Or had he been wearing a mask all along?

“What is it?”

Oops. I had been staring.

I turned my gaze back to the track field, searching for something-anything- to say.

“…You seemed to know me pretty well, I guess?”

He stiffened.

“I-I mean, you were popular, right?”

He was flustered now. His composure cracking. The shift was so sudden, so obvious, that it made me pause.

‘Wait a minute. Don’t tell me-‘

“You… had a crush on me?”

I glanced at him as I said it.

He froze. Not just stiffened- froze. 

Then, for the first time in my life, I watched a boy turn completely red.

His cheeks.

His neck.

Even the tips of his ears burned crimson.

“N-no- that’s not- I mean, yeah, you were kind, and you helped people, and your smile was bright, and people did like you and I was also among them but like you as in like you is… but- it’s not like I hated you, but-“

He was clearly flustered.

A mess of words and denials that contradicted themselves. I felt a little bad for him.

But his reaction was also a little fun to watch.

So I didn’t interrupt. I just stood there, letting him stumble through his protests, and for the first time in a long time-

I almost smiled.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Umm… sorry,” I said when he finally calmed down.

He had folded his arms on the windowsill and buried his face in them. 

‘Cute’ 

But I felt a little bad for him.

“Ugh… geez.” His voice was muffled by his sleeves. “Why am I so bad at lying? And how did you even guess? Seriously?”

He turned his face just enough that, through the corner of his eye, he could see me.

“I… just guessed, I guess.” I shrugged.

“Ugh… so embarrassing. My dark history always seems to be lurking in my shadows.”

Okay.

He was wrecked.

Completely different from the composed person I had perceived him to be.

And yet… it felt kind of refreshing.

“It’s getting a bit late,” I said. “We should go now.”

I turned away, more for his sake than mine.

“Wait.”

His voice stopped me.

I looked back.

He was standing upright now, one hand clutching his head as if trying to hold himself together.

“*Sigh* If the cat’s out of the bag… then at least let me say it properly.” He took a breath. “At least for the middle school me. I want to put his last regret to rest.”

He straightened his posture and looked directly at me.

I froze.

“You don’t need to answer, Aizawa-san,” he said quickly. “This is just me telling you my feelings. Feelings I held onto years ago. But I’m saying them now because I know they were genuine.”

He took another breath. Then his gaze softened. And a smile bloomed on his face. A very small but real smile.

“I liked you, Aizawa-san.”

I held my breath.

I should say something.

I knew I should say something. But I couldn’t.

I was captivated.

Not by the scenery outside.

Not by the beautiful sunset painting the sky in shades of gold and rose.

And, unfortunately for him, not by Kawasaki-kun himself.

I was captivated by his eyes.

Not by their color or shape.

But by what was reflected in them.

In the depths of his dark irises, I saw a girl.

Brown hair.

Eyes widened in surprise.

Mouth slightly agape.

Cheeks flushed- maybe from the sunset, maybe from something else.

I had seen that face many times before.

In windows.

In mirrors.

In the dark screen of my phone.

But for the first time in a very long while, I looked at that face and thought:

‘What a… beautiful girl.’

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Not from sadness- something else.

Something more.

And despite that tear, one thought rose, from the quiet place in my heart where hope had begun to grow again:

‘How can someone look so beautiful?’

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Author’s Note:

It will take time.

Time for her heart to recover and for her to move on. Maybe she will face similar heartbreaking situations in the future, too. 

But she shall face them on.

And Rina shall live.

I had always thought that the first story I would write would be a romance or harem, action one.

But somethings happened irl, and Rina came into being.

I know the story had some flaws and so did the writing, but in my opinion, I did a decent job, i guess. The story came out as I had envisioned from the start. (*Self patting my back*)

I shall make sure to learn from my mistakes and work on them in my future projects.

If this story brought even a bit of a tear to your eyes, it has duly fulfilled its purpose.

Thanks to everyone who read any of the chapters.

Thanks to all who picked this story up and witnessed Rina’s journey till the end.

Thanks to anyone who had supported this story in their own ways.

And last but not the least-

7 Days After….

Fin.