VIOLET SKY, takigawa chris yuu

━ chapter thirty-one

act iii

life will go on;
together?
no.

chapter thirty-one

❛do you regret it?❜

━━━━━━

Amara sits beside Chris during the graduation ceremony.

Their classmates sniffle as their class rep gives the last speech of the ceremony. The scroll is cold in Amara's hands, despite the heater working overtime to keep the gym warm. Her eyes are dry, too, even though this is supposed to be an event of tender melancholy, goodbye to their friends and all that they've known, but also a tentative hello to the future and all that it might bring.

The ceremony finishes and the gym is filled with noise, cheering and clapping. They file out, class by class, and Chris takes her hand as soon as they're outside, in the unusually frigid midday air. Late March brings the first pokes of warmth, spring easing in full-time, but fragments of winter remain today.

It hasn't exactly digested that she's leaving today. It feels like she has to get through this — saying goodbye to her team, to her classmates, to her teachers — before she can even begin to realize that her flight to San Antonio is leaving at six-forty-five tonight.

She and Chris find the other third years — Chiyo, Ryosuke, Masuko, Kusunoki, Tanba, Yuki, Jun.

Their conversation quiets as their eyes zero in on her.

The silence is awkward for a few seconds.

Unlike her, they've seemed to confront that stark reality as soon as they were able.

"So . . ." Jun trails off awkwardly.

Kusunoki comes to the rescue. "When are you leaving?" He asks, smiling kindly.

She smiles bracingly. "Six tonight."

"So soon," Tanba says, looking sympathetic.

"It's a long way to Texas," she says, shrugging. "Eiko wanted to make sure I had at least a day or two to try and get rid of jet lag before I go back to school."

Chris is quiet beside her but his thumb is still rubbing circles on the back of her hand.

There is another fractured silence before Chiyo sighs sharply.

"Well, it's not like you're dying," she says, rolling her eyes and bounding forward to wrap Amara up in a tight, bruising hug; she lets go of Chris' hand to return it. "Keep in touch," she mumbles in her ear. "Even if it's once every six months, I don't care."

"I'll do my best."

Amara hugs the rest of them. Quick but warm squeezes and well-wishes mumbled in her ear, though Jun holds on the longest and squeezes the tightest.

The warmth makes her throat close up, eyes stinging, and she tries to compose herself as the second and first years arrive. They're likely looking to give their goodbyes to their senpais — the ones who played — so she prepares to make a quick escape, but then Sawamura comes up to her and bows low and deep.

"We'll miss you, senpai!" He says loudly. "P-Please don't forget us!" His voice shakes toward the very end so she pulls him into a hug, too.

"I could never," she mumbles, squeezing him hard before letting him go.

He wipes at his eyes, sniffling loudly, and she smiles sadly, turning to say goodbye to the others — mild ones this time. The only underclassmen she is truly good friends with are Sawamura and Miyuki but she'll miss the others just the same.