After a Heartbreak, My Bitter Childhood Friend is now Sweet Like Sugar - V2 Chapter 6.12

Chapter 6.12

It was dark.

My vision was filled with darkness.

In an endless tunnel, I was running desperately from something, something that was chasing me.

“Yuu-chan.”

Out of nowhere, I heard her voice.

“Yuu-chan, why are you still here?”

My heart ached at her voice as I was pushed back by a gust of wind.

I have to move forward.

I have to move on.

“Yuu-chan, why haven’t you forgotten me yet?”

I had to quickly forget her and move on.

I was afraid that if I stopped, she’d see my pathetic self, someone who couldn’t move forward at all.

I didn’t want to disappoint Senpai, who might be watching from somewhere. 

Above all, I hated myself for dragging it out forever.

I had to move forward.

So, I desperately ran towards the front.

To forget my Senpai, to move on, to stop hating myself. And above all, to be… happy.

“Yuu.”

The voice changed.

This voice was not that of Senpai’s, but of a childhood friend. 

“…!”

I woke up startled and threw away the blanket.

My entire body was sweating, and my shirt stuck to my body. I was having a strange nightmare, and unusually for a dream, I remembered the contents clearly even after I woke up.

I don’t know why I had such a dream.

No, I think I know why I had dreams like this.

I’m…

◆ 

It was lunchtime on Monday.

“Oh, by the way, Rei-chin hasn’t come yet.”

Kasugai muttered as she munched on her lunch, seemingly without a care in the world. 

Speaking of which, Reika hasn’t come since then.

“Well, I’m glad I don’t have to watch Sawatari get popular.”

“You’re coming straight at me again? If it weren’t for me, you’d be crying.”

“She must be eating in her classroom! Don’t you have days when you don’t show up? Or maybe, she’s on vacation?”

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious, but at any rate, ever since we had that talk in the club room, she had stopped coming.

She also asked me if I would like to have a relationship with her. 

No, I think it was a joke because she seemed to be concerned about whether she was bothering me or not.

I indeed have fewer heartaches now that she’s not here, but she also said that she wanted to come here for lunch and that she didn’t have any friends in her class. 

I wondered if she was making an effort to make friends. I do hope so.

At that moment, Yamada-san, a classmate eating bread at a nearby seat, approached us.

“Hey, Kasugai-san. Is the Reika-chan you were just talking about the freshman Reika Shiki?”

“Hmm? Yes. Do you know her?”

“I don’t know her that much, but we went to the same junior high school. Actually, Shiki-san collapsed in front of the school gate this morning and got taken to the infirmary.”

“… What?”

I was the one who uttered the question.

Immediately after, the four of us looked at each other.

What? Fainted? Reika-chan? Did she collapse?

“Perhaps you didn’t know about her illness? She’s always been very sick, and her attendance was so rare that she could barely keep up.”

“So she wasn’t skipping school for no reason!”

“Yes, she’s very sick. It seems to be a serious chronic illness, and she’s had it since elementary school, so when I saw her trying to hit on Sawatari-kun in this classroom, I was impressed with how well she was doing.”

“Serious, in what way?”

“No one’s ever given me any details, but rumour has it that it’s deadly.”

No way!

Serious enough to be life-threatening? 

She fainted and got taken to the infirmary…

The girl who looks just like Senpai…

Yamada-san, who had been talking in a light-hearted manner up to that point, seemed to realize that she had misspoken and held her mouth. 

She probably knew about the deceased senior who looked just like her.

And now I was reminding myself of those feelings.

“Well, if you’re worried about it, I think you should go to the infirmary.”

She said and hurried back to her seat.

I knew it was a fateful encounter, but now this again…

No, no way, I don’t think that would happen. 

Impossible…

“I’m going to the infirmary.”

“Yuu, please wait!”

Then, Kokoa stopped me.

“I’m going with you.”

I nodded and walked quickly with her out of the classroom to the infirmary.

Senpai’s face kept flashing in my mind over and over again.

… What’s this all about?

Why am I in such a hurry? Am I worried about Reika? I am, but it’s not like that.

What I can’t help but recall was that day. The day my Senpai disappeared, the day I heard the news of her death, and the day I covered my ears.

The fear from that day is returning back to haunt me…

When I entered the infirmary, I saw Hanamori-Sensei chatting with her students. It seems that there are many students who use the infirmary as a hangout during lunch break, so I guessed the current students were one of them.

“Wow, Sawatari-kun, what’s wrong with that scary face?”

“What, a scary face?”

When she said that, I realized that my expression had become grim. I immediately softened my facial muscles and consciously raised the corners of my mouth.

“Maybe you have a bad stomach ache? Do you want me to give you some medicine?”

“No, that’s not what I want. I’m here to see Reika Shiki.”

“Oh, Shiki-san already left early. She said she was feeling much better, so she wanted to go to class, but I told her to take a break in case something happens.”

“Oh, she left already?”

We couldn’t help but look at each other.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen her. She is doing fine nowadays, even though she used to come here so frequently…”

The teacher frowned at me.

“Reika-chan is a regular at the infirmary?”

“Yes. I told her to come here whenever she’s not feeling well. That’s why we’re now good friends.”

Hanamori-sensei smiled at me.

Thank God. 

From the looks of it, there was nothing wrong with her.

“Um, is Reika-chan’s illness really that bad?”

“Hmm… I can’t tell you much about my students’ personal lives, but yeah. She seems to be having a hard moment, so she’s been absent from school for a long time.”

It seems that Reika’s illness was real since even Hanamori-sensei knew about it.

“But do the two of you know her?”

“Yeah, it’s just that we met recently.”

“I see. I’m glad she is making friends. I was a little worried about that too. Oh, you’re not friends, but seniors and juniors. Anyway, be good to her, okay?”

“Yes, we will. Thank you very much.”

After saying that, we left the infirmary.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

I said it out loud.

Kokoa peeked at my face, looking worried.

“Yuu, are you okay?”

“Hmm? Nothing is wrong with me.”

“It’s not that. As Hanamori-sensei said, you looked scared…”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it myself since I just remembered something I didn’t like.”

“You mean about her, right?”

“… Yeah”

The day my Senpai passed away. 

That day when the world got so dark that I couldn’t help but despair.

No matter how many times I try to look forward, the feelings of that day remain in my mind.

I didn’t want to forget about her, but I wanted to forget those painful feelings, and it wasn’t that easy.

I was getting impatient because I was stuck, unable to move on.

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