Chapter 29: Walk Together

“Mommy, mommy. Where are you mommy?” A small voice cries out in the park. It’s of a little girl, no more than nine. For this is Youna from the past who got separated from her family during an event at a local park. “I want… I want to go home.” She quietly cried to herself, hiding away in the bushes away from strangers. The girl never warmed up properly to those she wasn’t familiar with.

There was no way for anyone to see a little girl hopelessly lost. So how could they possible even help find her family? She was about ready to give up. The girl was going to accept that she would never see her family again and she’d have to grow up in the wild.

“…” Suddenly, she heard the rustling of the bushes. Someone was nearby.

“Who’s there?” She asked out loud, turning to face the source of the noise. Little Youna was prepared to rush away from this hiding spot should the object prove to be dangerous, or worse, scary.

“I’m here.” A boy produced himself out into the light. He appeared to be her age, and confused to why she was here. “Are you trying to play hide and seek?”

“No…” She responded, trying to wipe away her tears. “I lost my mommy.”

“You did?” For a moment, there was only silence between them. Then he gave her a real fright when he grabbed her by the hand. “Then, come with me.” He said.

“What? No.” Youna tried to resist his grip. “I don’t know who you are. Where are you taking me?”

“If you’re hiding in here, then your mommy will never find you.” He wouldn’t give up. “I’m just taking you to my mommy. Don’t worry, she’s really nice and she’ll help us find yours.”

“She will?” Her hands trembled from the fear she still had. But if she stayed here, then she’d most likely stay lost for good. So the little girl took a deep breath and chose to trust this kid. Youna walked side-by-side with this boy, holding his hand all the way.

After that, he did as he said he was going to do. The little boy brought her to his mother, who then contacted the local security to aid in reuniting her with her family. She was in tears the moment she found her mom again, that the little girl forgot to thank the young boy who saved the day.

“And I was that young boy. Guess I probably should’ve given you my name back then.” Ishi finished the story for everyone around. Their parents had the predictable reaction of thinking it was a cute moment, as well as remembering what had happened that day from their perspectives. That was the topic of their conversations between each other while Ishi returned his focus on his food.

“That was you?” Youna was in awe from his story. She couldn’t believe how long ago that was, yet he retained it in his memory perfectly.

“I was a little surprised you didn’t recognize me when we met again in junior high.” Though he couldn’t say that he was that shocked either. After all, he had a more… Regrettable haircut all those years ago that he would’ve preferred to forget. “Not that it matters either way. It’s not like we got to know each other back then. I was only just helping out because… Can’t just leave a kid alone like that.” He spoke as if it was the him of present time making that decision. Despite the fact that his younger self was younger than her at the time. Perhaps the younger him had different reasons for wanting to come to her aid.

They continued on their dinner. There was the usual exchange of regular topics about upcoming school events such as the culture festival. Discussions of homework were had since they also had to be concerned about their exams. During this time, Ishi nearly forgot that his life had been changed with the arrival of an idol living next door, along with the revelation of secret life held by someone else.

Time seemed to pass quickly, and before they knew it, dinner was finished.

“Well, I’m going to go get some fresh air.” He got up from his seat as the parents got out their wallets to pay for the wonderful meals. “And I’d like to be alone-”

“Can I join you?” Immediately, Youna regretted asking and buried her face into her hands. The girl had planned on asking right after his first sentence, but got a little shy about being so forward. The moment she gathered up the courage to make the request, he had already mentioned wanting to be alone. Now this blunder made her blush under her cheeks, hidden by her hands. “Never mind…” She meekly spoke through her covered mouth.

“Well, if you want some fresh air, then you can join me if you want.” He allowed it. Much to the joy of his parents who chuckled and giggled under their breaths about the whole event. They weren’t going to say anything to mess up this little moment that they surely believed to be the start of something special. Though Ishi disagreed with the content that lead to their reactions. “It’s a public place, so anyone can go wherever they want.” He said as he left without bothering to wait for her.

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“Youna.” Her mom stopped her as she got up. “You got a little something on your face.” There was a speck of meat from her food right besides her lip. “Don’t clean it though, I bet he’ll notice and take care of it for you.” However, Youna was too embarrassed in realizing how dirty she was and immediately grabbed a napkin and wiped it off. After that, she exited the building with the same door he used to rejoin the boy.

“You know you don’t have to force yourself to be more outgoing, right?” Those were the first words out of his mouth the moment she came. “That’s why you asked to join, right? Because your parents want you to make more friends before you’re done with high school?” Well, they did want her to do just that. Except it was more that they wanted her to do that ever since she started high school.

However, that wasn’t the reason why she wanted to spend more time with him.

“It’s not because of my parents.” She responded. “I like hanging out with you. Because I like you… As a friend of course!” Youna quickly tried to clear up any possible misconceptions.

“Can’t say that a lot of people say that about me.” He could count on one hand the number of non-relatives that felt that way about him. Perhaps he should try to value people like Otoya and Rinse more because of it. Though he couldn’t understand why a girl like Youna would feel that way about him. She was this shy, meek little person. While he was very cold and harsh. Obviously a combination like that should send her running away from him as fast as humanly possible. In fact, for a period of time in the past several months, it did seem that way with her. That girl spoke like she was scared he might get mad at her, despite knowing each other for years and him never doing something like that in front of her.

When did that start, he wondered? It must’ve been right as their third year began, but why? The boy had erroneously assumed it to be her being concerned seeing as she took the class rep position from him. Not that he was the type to hold a grudge, nor would she even have been the target of ire anyway. Some other classmate nominated her. Who was it again? Oh right, it was that Ryugi girl. Something about that girl he just couldn’t stand.

But now that he was actually putting some thought into it. She seemed rather apprehensive before that moment occurred. That made no sense, nothing in their relationship had happened to make him upset. It seemed entirely random in his eyes, but perhaps the timing would make more sense if he could pinpoint the specific day where it began. Too bad he didn’t care to take note of it, since she wasn’t someone he consider to be entirely close to.

While he was standing in silence, they both were actually. Youna had another thought running through her mind. It was something that she wished to ask for a long time, but never could say because they were never considered friends. The idea of it seemed to weird for someone like him to be asked of, that she thought he’d reject it without a single thought. That being she wished to ask if they could walk to school together.

The reality was they had a similar route to reach the school. It wouldn’t take any effort on her part to change slightly so that she could swing by his place and join him towards the station. Things got a lot more complicated now that she was aware that he had the opportunity to walk with an idol. Even if he wasn’t the type to care, how could she compete with that?

“You have something to say?” He broke her train of thought with his question. “You look like you want to ask me something.” He read her like a book. Now she felt cornered. Should the girl lie and ask something mundane, or be honest and get rejected or ridiculed?

“Well um…” She struggled with forming a sentence. What could the girl possibly come up with that wasn’t going to sound awkward? “I was just… Uh, never mind.”

“Go ahead and take your time.” He encouraged her. Ishi would’ve said that there’s no such thing as a stupid question, but really there were plenty he could come up with that were quite dumb. “Even if you think you won’t like the answer. You might as well make sure of it.”

“Can we walk to school together!” She forced the words out of her mouth. A lot louder than she intended to as well, where she then covered her mouth in embarrassment. “And home together…” The last part of her question was a lot quieter than the first part.

“That’s what you want?” He thought about it. They did share the same train, but never say besides the other. Ishi believed that she must’ve felt it was a little weird since they knew each other, but had to do some odd kind of avoiding like it mattered. “Sure I guess.” He accepted her request. It wasn’t any big deal to him, since all that would change was that he’d have to get out of the house a little earlier to see her.

That he felt it was a good time to head back inside. The boy asked her if she wanted to follow, but she declined. Youna needed to spend a little bit more time outside and told him to go ahead. The second he entered the restaurant once more, she gave up on her attempts to seem normal.

“Ah…” Youna took short, quick breaths. Her heart was racing from asking something that had been a major deal for the last few years of her life. Her face was burning hot, the chill from the wind being her only comfort. “Thank you.” She said out loud to him, even if he couldn’t hear it.

She would never forget the day they first met, even if she did forget who the boy was. Since it turned out to be Ishi, she made a promise to herself. Youna would enjoy every time she got to walk besides him. He gave her courage today, just as he did all those years ago. When she chose to trust him and walk besides him then.

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