“I see you got changed,” she said. “You look nice.”
I shut the door behind me. “You’d better get changed too, or you’ll miss the ceremony.”
“True. It’s just about too late.” There was something about her voice that locked me in place. Her eyes were clear, almost mirror-like. “I genuinely had no idea I was this much of a sore loser.” Her gaze dropped. The edge of her skirt swayed ever so slightly. “It’s not enough that I get one miracle. I need another. And another after that, I bet.”
She looked up again. To call this smile weary or simply joyless would be to undermine its weight. This was a mask so deprived of life that it brought only pain to its wearer.
“Shiratama-san…”
“That’s just who I am, I guess. A coward. I tear things apart and don’t even have the dignity to know when to call it quits. So here I am. Running the clock out.” Her lips did not bend. It was willpower alone that held their curve. “You’d better get out of here, President.”
But I didn’t. I just stood there, battered by wave after wave of emotion. It was anger, mostly. At her. At myself. I liked to think I understood her. She was a brat. Someone who really just did not know when to cut her losses. A ditz who just had to take on the world against everybody’s better judgment. The type to put other people’s happiness before her own.
But how many girls did I know like that by now? How had it not sunk into me yet that hers wasn’t the type to accept consolation prizes?
I looked her dead in the eye. “So you’re just gonna give up on him. On Tanaka-sensei.”
Hers was the type to play for keeps.
Shiratama-san froze on the spot. “You’re saying steal him away? Make him mine?”
“Sure as hell am.” I stepped toward her. I was done being polite. “Here you are, sitting on your thumbs behind an unlocked door right next to his room. You want him to find you, don’t you? You’re willing to just leave it all up to chance. You’re willing to bring all of us together to tear apart your own life for you.”
Shiratama-san choked on her words.
I didn’t wait for her to let them out. “But what good does that do you really? You’re not going to give this up. Not after all those years you spent stewing on these feelings. They won’t go away just because your sister’s marrying the guy. They won’t go away just because you burned every bridge you could. Tell me I’m wrong.”
She looked at me like she hated me. Her shoulders dropped. “I will not get in the way of their happiness.”
“So do it when they’re not happy.”
“I…” She opened her eyes wide as she tried to find a way to argue but ultimately couldn’t. Finally, she shook her head. Resigned. “I didn’t think you could be this mean, President.”
“Yeah, well, sorry if I ruined your opinion of me.”
“Not really, actually. If anything, I feel…exhilarated.” She dropped her bouquet. “I’ll wait.” Her eyes turned up. That same adorable gesture. The slayer of men’s hearts. “I’ve been waiting as long as I can remember. Over ten years, I’ve hid these feelings. I can wait ten more.”
“Then you’ve got somewhere to be. A wedding to celebrate. Family to be there for.”
“Right.” The strength was back in her voice. Life returned to her perfect smile.
“If you hurry now, you should be able to make it in—”
She moaned suddenly. Like, that kind of moan. Shiratama-san started to blush and fidget. “Wh-when I say ‘exhilarated,’ I don’t mean, um… It’s the thing. The thing Asagumo-san gave me. The vibrating one. I didn’t have anywhere to put it, so I…taped it to my thigh.”
Was I a prophet?
“Why is it going off?”
“Yanami-san has been spamming it f-for a while.”
A while? One vibration meant “advance.” Twice for “retreat.” Four or more…run.
I threw myself at the door and locked it. The doorknob rattled an instant later.
“Locked? Yamashita-san, do you have a key?”
“I should. One second.”
Men were on the other side. Staff, probably. And they’d get in any second. No time to even spare a glance back at Shiratama-san. Only one door. Only one other place for us to go.
We threw open the window and dived out onto the balcony without even looking. The door opened a second later. We crouched down low, out of sight, not even daring to breathe. The men’s voices from inside reached us.
“Whose coat and bouquet is this?”
“Last group must have left it. Hang on to it.”
A coat? I’d nearly forgotten Shiratama-san had worn a coat over her dress on the way here. The men eventually came over, shut the window, and locked it. No going back that way. Were we gonna have to sneak out of the venue with her in a very visible wedding dress?
“In for a penny, in for a pound, President,” Shiratama-san whispered, reading my mind. True words in this scenario. We were in for more than a pound, to be frank.
The garden side of the balcony had waist-high railing, but parts of it were latticed, making our hiding spot not much of a hiding spot. We couldn’t stay here long. For multiple reasons.
I checked my watch. Thirty minutes to the ceremony.