When The Time Comes

Ten

All throughout work the following day, the only thing that was on my mind was the impending confrontation with Shibata-kun. I had managed to work my way around it the other day but there was no way I could play it off again. I could do it, but I did not want to. It wasn't fair to him, if anything.

No matter how much I tried not to think about him, I couldn't stop myself. All this while, watching from afar and exchanging a few words had worked for me but seeing him make a move like that despite not really knowing me... Time being rewritten had not completely erased me from his heart. That spoke a lot about how much he valued me. We were so close that the very act of serving him OUR blueberry cheesecake hurt me.

But that was just me. I was feeling miserable despite being fully aware of what exactly was going on. He was convinced that he knew me and he was trying so hard to be with me but he didn't even know why. I could not even begin to imagine how confusing all this may be for him.

I missed him terribly.

I missed us.

I massaged the bridge of my nose. The urge to cry had stung me pretty bad. My neck hurt but I really couldn't do anything about it other than to calm the torrent of emotions in my head down.

Even if Terasaki-san had said that he would do his best to protect us, I couldn't even imagine putting Shibata-kun in danger. If staying away from him meant that he would be unhurt, I thought that I could stay away but that was way proving to be way too painful for the both of us.

What was the right thing to do then?

No matter what I decided though, I knew him best. He was the persistent kind and I was too weak to him. Pushing him away might just have driven us closer.

"Thank you for your good work." Matsumoto-san saw us off after work. I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't run from this.

Shibata-kun was waiting outside, just as he had been the previous day. He smiled on seeing me. "Hey."

"Hi." I nodded. My heart raced- I couldn't tell if it was the nerves because of the confrontation or if it was because it was Shibata-kun.

"I'll go ahead." Terasaki-san told me and proceeded to walk ahead. I took a deep breath and turned to Shibata-kun. There was no walking away now. This had to be done.

"Let's go?" I smiled. What I really wanted to do though was to jump into his arms and cry, holding on so tight that even time would be unable to slip through my fingers.

"Yes." He nodded and we began walking side-by-side in the direction of home. The ache of my heart was far too prominent at this point to ignore. We were so close and yet... "That man." He spoke up as he stared ahead at Terasaki-san's back. "Who is he? He's always with you."

"He's my guardian." I replied.

"Your guardian? So, you're living away from home?"

Uh... "Yeah. He's, uh, my cousin." No. I did not want to lie. I did not want to lie anymore!

"Your cousin. I see." His features softened a little. Eventually, he turned his attention to me. "You really don't mind, do you, Kirishima-chan?"

How could I possibly mind your company, Shibata-kun? Just then though... While it made me happy that you hadn't forgotten me, I couldn't help but wish that things had been different. I was in no position to judge one situation as being better than the other but had you forgotten about me, it would not have been this hard for us. "No. It's alright."

Nevertheless, we were walking beside each other just then. All that torrent was just in my head. The reality was that he was with me and we were talking. Why not savour it while it lasts then?