Yayoi Can't Hide Her Secrets - 16 - Chapter 16 - Satsuki-kun and Yayoi-chan
Satsuki-kun and Yayoi-chan
As we entered our second year, April was coming to an end.
As the season began to change from spring to summer, another change also occurred within our class.
Yayoi-chan’s absence was over in just three days, and the day after I visited her, she came to school just as usual.
That ‘stay away from me’ aura seemed to have faded, and she no longer ignored her classmates when they spoke to her, she instead began to smile and converse with them like a normal student.
This was soon spread throughout the entire school and was even rumored to be known as the “Strange Incident of Class 7, Year 2”.
It’s sure to become one of the most significant incidents in the history of Otomachi High School. Yayoi-chan is always so full of rumors.
Even Mayama had said to me, “Maybe it’s because of that date with you, don’t you think so?” But I just calmly laughed at his words. I wanted to tell him that it wasn’t just that, but that piano date was a secret between the two of us. Yes, it’s a memory that only the two of us will have.
Another thing that changed was that we switched seats in class. I ended up in the frontmost seat right by the window, so I couldn’t look at the back of Yayoi-chan’s head during class anymore.
But I guess that’s okay. When I casually looked back at Yayoi-chan from time to time, she raised her eyebrows as if she was going to glare at me, but the very next moment she would just smile back at me. Her smile was still awkward, like a cat when it had been caught doing something red-handed.
I wanted to use the opportunity to ask her out on a second date during Golden Week, but unlike last time, I didn’t have a chance to ask her out, so I was holding back.
“I asked her out once, so it should be easy. Because Yayoi-chan thinks I’m cool, right?” I was conflicted between the aggressive me and the reserved me, “Even in the midst of friendship, there is etiquette. I am a reserved person, be modest and don’t be conceited.”
I think I’ve achieved my goal of finding the real Yayoi-chan, but for some reason, I think my worries are only getting stronger.
What do I want to do?
Spring, which has been misled by my numerous curiosities since I became a sophomore, is going to end soon. The light shining through the window is getting warmer and warmer, and the season is moving on, unaware of our existence in the world.
A breeze blew in through the window like the remnants of spring, puffing the white curtains of the classroom wide open.
I knew I would have to find the answer to this question by myself.
“Fukase-kun, may I have a word?”
It was after school, just before Golden Week.
While I was looking at a handout of the career path survey handed out in homeroom earlier, a voice called out to me.
I looked up slowly at the subdued tone of her voice and saw Yayoi-chan standing there.
“Um, I was wondering if you were busy?”
She looked at the prints on my desk and seemed to be concerned, but I quietly put them in my bag.
How could I say no to Yayoi-chan when she’s the one who began talking to me in the classroom?
“No, it’s okay. I was just about to leave.”
I showed her the bag I was carrying and glanced outside the classroom.
Is this an invitation to go home together? Yes, it is. Of course it is!
“Well, do you want to go home with me?”
I answered in an unintentionally handsome voice.
We quietly left the classroom together so as not to be noticed by my classmates who were scribbling on the blackboard behind us.
I figured that this might be my last chance to ask her out on a date during Golden Week.
As I got on the escalator, Yayoi-chan followed behind me with a bit of a distance. Holding her bag with both hands, she looked like a normal high school girl, which was somewhat refreshing compared to her previous look.
“Kinoshita-san, have you turned in your career plan yet?”
I asked her while we were taking the escalator down to the first floor.
We were supposed to write down your desired career path and submit it at the end of the Golden Week holidays.
“…Mhm, yes.”
Yayoi-chan replied back in a small voice, as if she was having difficulty answering my question, and I was a bit taken aback.
That was a stupid question. How could I ask such a sensitive thing to Yayoi-chan, who’s actually an agent?
“How about you, Fukase-kun?”
“Not yet. I’m still thinking about it.”
“Aren’t you going forward with higher education?”
“Probably, I think I might.”
I mumbled and bit my lip, as if I was thinking about something else.
Otomachi High School is an advanced school, and most of the students go on to college after they’re done. I’m sure that I will be following that exact path too, but I could not
say for sure if that was going to be my choice or not.
What do I want to do?
I run into my usual vague worries again.
Will I be automatically carried into the future like the escalator I’m riding now, will I be carried along the path that was clearly laid out for me?
It’s quite an absurd thing for a high-school sophomore to decide on a career path by calculating that far into the future.
“I see.”
Yayoi-chan slipped out a few words in response. I couldn’t read the emotion within them.
In Yayoi-chan’s mind, I was probably blessed to be able to freely choose my own career path. Either way, it was a topic that I should not have breached.
Yayoi-chan, who has a future as an agent waiting for her, must be more troubled than me, who is still aiming for a career path of sorts.
The future may be limitless for high school students, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a clear path ahead for one. It’s kind of difficult, isn’t it?
“So, the thing is…”
As we exited the school building, Yayoi-chan stopped, as if she had finally found the right moment to speak.
I stared at her face, and Yayoi inhaled quickly to catch her breath.
“I’m going to learn to play the piano!”
She must have been preparing for this for a long time, because she let out the words in one gulp, the corners of her mouth turning up in a small grin.
“Eh? Really?”
“Yes, I’m learning to play the piano. The night Fukase-kun came over, my father came home and asked me to play for him.”
“I-is that so?”
“That was less than a week ago, right? You could have told me earlier.”
“I was going to tell you…”
Yayoi-chan looked apologetic at my words, but it was tantalizing to think that she had been trying to find the right moment to tell me about it all along.
“But, that’s good for you!”
I was so happy to hear that news that I felt as if something good was happening to me.
Yayoi-chan said it herself, and what she wanted to do came true!
“I did a lot of research, but I thought it was kind of a stretch to go to piano lessons or something like that… Because I can only play ‘Canon’, you know? I don’t know anything about it, I suck at it, and my right and left hands don’t move together at all…”
Yayoi-chan spoke quickly and fidgetly.
The first thing I did was look at her face as it got redder and redder.
“That’s why, please! I want Fukase-kun to teach me how to play the piano.”
She said that sentence in a very loud voice and bowed her head. Her black hair fell smoothly off her shoulders, and her ears were stained in a bright red shade.
“M-me?”
“Please!”
Yayoi-chan’s heartfelt request left me puzzled for a moment.
I still couldn’t play the piano.
That day, when I listened to Yayoi-chan’s “Canon,” I received the message that I should not be afraid of failure.
But I was still unable to take that first step.
I tried several times to play the piano at home, but I haven’t been able to do so recently because Sanae has been practicing diligently.
But I couldn’t refuse her request at this point. I could at least manage to teach her the basics. Yayoi was trying to be brave and do what she wanted to do, but I couldn’t show
her that I was hesitant to help her out. I can’t show her that I’m not cool anymore.
“Of course!”
I said clearly and Yayoi-chan looked up at me.
“Really?”
“Surely. But I still…”
“Then, let’s go!”
Yayoi-chan grabbed my arm quickly.
“Eh?”
“You said you’d teach me, didn’t you?”
Yayoi-chan’s eyes narrowed as she smiled and tugged at the sleeve of my blazer.
“Where are we going?”
I was being taken somewhere by force, not daring to look at the students who were on their way back home after school.
Yayoi-chan’s aggressive behavior made me think of Uzuki. I had thought the two sisters didn’t resemble each other at all, but I guess that’s not true after all.
“Fufu! I’m not telling!”
Yayoi-chan glanced at me whilst her hair fluttered about in the wind.
With a tug on my hand, I pass a wave of students in a steady stream.
This road is one I had come to quite some time ago. This is the same road where I had followed Yayoi-chan.
I ran along the tree-lined path along the moat, looking up at Hiroshima Castle. The sun was shining and the trees were green and shimmering brightly, the two of us were in the center of the early summer scenery.
We entered an underground passageway, just like we did at that time. This time, we entered together.
“Kinoshita-san, by any chance?”
As we ran down the gentle slope, I noticed where Yayoi-chan was headed.
As I entered the paleo from the underpass, I saw my destination.
I didn’t stop like I did last time.
“We’re here.”
Yayoi-chan turned around in front of the street piano.
“I want to hear your demonstration, Fukase-kun!”
She had straight, semi-long black hair and large, dark eyes that felt as if it’d absorb me whole.
She’s tall and slender, with long, graceful arms and legs and a model-like style, with a neat and dignified presence.
This part of her has not changed ever since the first time I met her.
The only difference from the first time I met her that afternoon at the festival was the expression on her face.
Now, her eyes were wide, she had two dimples and a smile on her face.
It’s the smile I’ve always wanted to see come from Yayoi-chan, the most beautiful girl in the school, sparkling, dazzling and full of hope.
It was the real Yayoi-chan that I had found.
“Kinoshita-san…”
My psychometry and Yayoi-chan’s job as an agent, our mutual secret, made us who we are today. No, there was one more thing that connected the two of us.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, Fukase-kun! I’m confident that you’ll be able to play it!”
Yayoi-chan holds both of my hands in front of her chest and nods her head broadly.
She affirms me, very strongly, as if she were giving me courage to go on.
And I answered back.
“Of course. I’m good at the piano after all.”
I wasn’t being stubborn here. This time, it was true.
It was a weekday evening, so there were fewer people on the street than before. But when I sat down in my chair, few people stopped by.
“Phew…“
I took a deep breath and straightened my back.
The situation has changed since our first date.
Since then, Yayoi-chan has gathered her courage and stepped forward to do what she wanted to do. I thought I was the one who was pushing her back, but before I knew it, she was actually pushing my back.
I quickly put my hands out on the keyboard. My fingers melt between the black and white keys. There was no distance between me and the piano like before. I felt nostalgic and fresh.
It’s all right now. I glanced over at Yayoi-chan, who was standing next to me, her eyelids fluttering down and her hands clasped in a prayer.
“Well then, I’ll play…”
It’s the same song I had played at the festival.
“Amorosi miei giorni” – translated into Japanese as Watashi no ai no hibi (My Days of Love)
It was one of the songs in a collection of 36 arias in the classical style by Donaudi.
The keyboard for the first note felt heavy. But my body remembered the rest. My fingers moved on their own, and the melody I had pictured in my mind flowed directly to my
fingers.
I heard Yayoi-chan’s voice, as if she was touched by me.
As I began to play, I was no longer nervous.
The fact that Yayoi-chan was next to me helped me get over my trauma.
As I played the piano for the first time in six months, I remembered many things that had happened during that time.
When I first met Yayoi-chan at the Piloti, she was a really unsociable girl, a girl who lived up to the bad rumors and was a person who was too high of a stature for me.
Even after I found out that she liked me through psychometry, the distance between me and Yayoi-chan remained distant. I was afraid to get close to her, so I only quietly followed her back.
We had various secrets, worries, and walls within our hearts.
But we pushed each other to overcome our worries and trauma.
We tried to support each other. We tried to protect one another.
We overcame our issues, we faced them with each other, and now we are together like this.
There’s a line in the lyrics of this song that goes something like this
If only we could hold on to one hope for as long as there is life.
No longer fearing the pain of a false life…
Let her gaze be all my radiance, her smile all my treasure.
And with only the hope that “I will be all that I can be.”
What was I fighting against then? The huge audience? Mayo-senpai? Myself?
I was trying to show my ability, trying to look good, trying to perform with smugness.
I was playing to myself, trying to show what I could do, trying to look good just for my self-satisfaction.
But now, it’s different.
I’m playing for Yayoi-chan right now.
It’s because I want to see her smile. I want to see the real Yayoi-chan.
That’s what I can do.
What I can do, not for myself, but for someone else.
“I was so thrilled…”
After the performance was over, I let out the breath I had been unconsciously holding in at Yayoi-chan’s words.
My fingers were shaking a little, but the touch of the piano after half a year was nostalgic and very gentle.
“I was so impressed.”
She said again for emphasis and clapped her hands brightly.
I tried to be modest, saying I wasn’t very good at it, but I accepted Yayoi-chan’s compliments.
“You’re amazing, Fukase-kun.”
I pretended not to see the tears welling up in Yayoi-chan’s big eyes.
“Hey, it’s a little embarrassing to be that impressed, isn’t it?”
I scratched my cheeks to hide my embarrassment.
“You played the piano well…”
Yayoi-chan exaggerated. I’m not sure which one of us is the piano teacher or the student.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Kinoshita-san.”
I said, too, with a sense of accomplishment that I had overcome the obstacle in my heart.
I’m the one who gave you hope, Yayoi-chan.
We both looked at each other and laughed.
A glimmer of hope seemed to shine between us.
On the way from Paleo to Hondori Station, Yayoi-chan’s cheeks were cherry red as she walked next to me.
It seemed that Yayoi-chan was more excited than I was after playing the piano.
It was a strange feeling to be walking next to each other shoulder to shoulder like this, even though we had always only stared at each other’s backs the entire time.
There’s no need for any more fantasies right now. This is absolutely real.
“What’s wrong?”
Yayoi-chan noticed that I was glancing at her and twisted her head.
She doesn’t glare at me like she used to anymore.
“N-nothing.”
I understand that the reason she was glaring at me was to hide her true feelings.
“Weirdo.”
Yayoi-chan giggled, not hiding her feelings any longer.
There was so much more I wanted to tell her, but I felt like I didn’t need to try to know everything right now. I know that there are things that I don’t need to know as well.
“Thank you for today.”
Yayoi-chan thanked me profusely as we arrived at the station’s ticket gate.
“I’m the one who should be thanking you. Thank you so much.”
It was time to go home, and the station was crowded. In the midst of the mingling hustle and bustle, everyone was moving with a purpose. Thinking about something, for something, to the right or to the left. There were no meaningless people anywhere.
We, too, are ordinary high school students here and now. I don’t know what the future holds, but for now, that’s all we can do. If we keep walking forward, that will surely become the path for us.
Yayoi-chan, who quickly brushed her hair behind her ear, looked me up and down.
“Will you continue to teach me the piano?”
Her dark, beautiful eyes were crystal clear.
“I’m fine now, so I can always teach you whenever you want.”
I pretend to play the piano with both hands and make a playful gesture.
When I get home, let’s practice for the first time in a while. I’ve been listening to Sanae play badly every day, so it’s time for me to show some dignity as a big brother.
“The train will be coming soon, so I’ll be on my way.”
I looked at the timetable and was about to head for the ticket gate to say goodbye.
“Ah, wait a minute!”
Suddenly Yayoi-chan grabbed my bag.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have one more thing I want to do.”
Yayoi-chan turned her head slightly and began to fidget a little.
The right and left toes of her shoes were touching each other, and her mouth twitched like a bird that had forgotten how to chirp.
This teasing gesture made me unable to move, and my imagination ran wild.
No way, it’s time to go home, right…
We’re not that close yet…!
Yayoi-chan grabs my bag a bit and looks up at me.
I inhaled quickly, and Yayoi-chan opened her mouth as if she had made a decision.
I pouted my lips, still in a golden state of adolescence.
“……can I call you Satsuki-kun?”
Yayoi-chan whispered in a voice that only I could hear.
Her face was bright red.
My heart almost jumped out of my mouth and I pulled my lips back.
“Of course… Yayoi-chan!”
I called out Yayoi-chan’s name for the first time, with a million thoughts inside my mind.
Come to think of it, when we psychometricized before, you said you wanted me to call you by your name, right?
I was able to make one more thing that Yayoi-chan wanted come true!
“I’m off then. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
Yayoi-chan fidgeted and held out her left hand.
I took her hand without hesitation.
“Thank you, Satsuki-kun.”
‘Thank you, Satsuki-kun.’
Yayoi-chan’s voice matched the voice in her mind.
It was Yayoi-chan’s true feelings.
Yayoi-chan can’t hide her secret.
But the Yayoi-chan in front of me now has no secrets.
“Thank you, Yayoi-chan.”
I still feel a little embarrassed to actually say that name out loud. My face is probably redder than hers right now.
I feel as if I don’t need to say anything more to get the message across, so I run into the ticket gate.
I’ve found out and Yayoi-chan doesn’t want me to know.
Yayoi-chan will not give up everything because of her job as an agent.
She can do whatever she wants to do.
I don’t know what the future holds for Yayoi-chan, but I want to continue to push her forward.
I want to be the sun that always shines on her.
I also hope that one day I will be able to tell you the secret of my left hand.
And also this feeling that makes me nervous whenever I think of Yayoi-chan.
Before the stairs, I look back.
Yayoi-chan was waving at me.
I give her a small wave back.
This left hand is not there to find out someone’s secret.
It’s there to hold hands with you someday.
The spring breeze no longer bothers me…
TL: ”
ED: Spynine01