YUKI-To Move Forward: Prelude 1

Chapter 6: Goodbye, Sentinal

"Sixteen as of last month. Wow, so I guess you're older than me."

"Yeah... it must be so cool, having someone that looks up to you like that. I'm an only child now, so I spend all my free time training and practicing... Oh, here we are. I'll see you later!"

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I took a large bite out of Dad's hand-crafted sandwich, and looked up at the unchanging, cloudless sky. It was certainly a quiet day, the kind that lays the world to rest and denies its inhabitants any possibility of studious behavior. Sure enough, after two minutes of sitting down on my favorite bench looking over the field, my muscles were relaxed, and my every thought felt sluggish. It was a nice feeling, but I knew it couldn't last. In a world like Chorus, nobody had the luxury of leaning back on a bench and wasting the day away.

Nobody could possibly waste so much time.

As if on cue, a rather loud noise burst out from behind me; first a girl's surprised yell, followed by a boy's scoff. Shuffling, pushing. It sounded like the girl wasn't in a very good situation.

Darn it, just when I'd gotten so comfortable, too.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have had anything to do with another person's issues. I could barely handle my own, and I certainly wasn't some socialite hero, or anything sociable at all. Despite that, I shook my body awake, sighed out the content laziness in my lungs, and got to my feet. Despite who I was, the person being antagonized wasn't just some classmate or student whom I'd bumped into once or twice. I could tell exactly who she was from her voice and attitude.

And there was no way I'd let an opportunity to help Alison pass by. More importantly, I couldn't just sit back, knowing she could use a hand.

As I crept forward, cautious of what exactly I was getting myself into, the wind drifted the conversation in my direction.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"C'mon now, girl. You don't need to be so shy. Someone as pretty as you should have way more friends than you do. Let's head on over to the gym; I'll introduce you to some peeps."

"Don't touch me. I'm perfectly happy where I am. Popularity and attractiveness are in no way mutual attributes, and I'm more than content with the latter. Now please leave me be."

"That's no way to act. C'mon, I'm just trying to be friendly."

"Then how about you step back, huh?"

At that point I'd rounded the corner of a classroom, and the scene became clear. Alison was backing off slowly towards the field, and Matthew, the student with the halberd I'd seen before our duel, was slowly advancing. It sounded like Matthew was just trying to be friendly, but his method was borderline harassment.

I wanted to say something, but my legs were immobile. The very idea of intervening grounded me to the spot. What would I say? What could I do? I couldn't just go up there and fix things! I wasn't nearly as strong as him, so what could I realistically do? Stepping up would just pull me into that mess, without helping anyone...

At the same time, a wave of guilt rolled through me after every question.

Such obvious excuses can't fool anyone; you're just scared. Scared, shy, and useless. Come on, just go over there and help her! What do you actually have to lose? Sure you may be weaker than him, but you and Alison both? Stop kidding yourself and get over it!