Chapter 10: The Lady Wavers
BY the time the first day of the new semester, the first Monday in September, rolled around, everything had completely changed.
First of all, the duties of student council president had passed from Shinmyou, who was in his third year, to Asahina, who was in his second year. St. Delia’s Academy didn’t hold student council elections. Rather, a student was nominated by the student council president. The rules stated that the new student council would take their positions each September, so the changing of the guard was no surprise.
However, almost every student expected the new student council president to be the Prince himself, Mochizuki, or the studious Izayoi, so the announcement was accompanied by a great deal of surprise.
And more importantly—and more shocking—
“Chouko did?! Wh-Why...why would she?”
“Hey, I don’t know, but is it true?”
“Oh dear, and you seemed to be so close, I thought she would have told you herself.”
“Hey! I don’t like your tone.”
Aoyama, a girl from our class who was a part of the equestrian club, mocked us without even trying to hide it. I knew she hadn’t cared for us since the school festival, but what happened during the horseback riding competition really sealed the deal.
But that wasn’t the issue at hand. What really mattered was what she said, not the disdain with which she said it.
“Chouko...transferred?”
My voice was so shaky from the shock, I could barely get the words out right. Why would he do that? Could it have been, would it have been, because of me?
“Oh dear, you really hadn’t heard. I heard she’s going to study abroad in America. Well, she is the cream of the crop, so she’ll probably be able to make the most of her talents over there,” she sneered, sure to get everything out she wanted to say before quickly moving away, likely having sensed Aritomo’s growing rage.
“Tch, if you wanna bring us down so badly, at least give us all the details. Urara, Urara! Are you okay?!”
“Y-Yes... W-We need to find out what’s going on. From Chouko.”
Yes. I needed to know what was going on directly from Chouko so we could get the truth once and for all. No matter how my legs quivered and quaked, I tried to force myself to my feet, only to have my hips give out and fall back into my chair. Shizuku put a hand on my shoulder.
“Just wait here,” she said and ran out of the classroom.
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☾☾☾
“NO good. Tsukuyomi isn’t here today.”
She had gone to Chouko’s class to try to get an answer, but in the end, nothing had come of it.
“I tried to find out where that rumor started. Apparently it was that second-year Hattori. If it smells like a lie, it must be. But...”
Even as she trailed off, I understood what Shizuku wanted to say.
While her family wasn’t as powerful as the Shimozurus or the others’ families, Hattori came from a powerful enough family that it wouldn’t have been unthinkable for her to have heard something from one of her family’s staff members.
Actually, I felt a little nervous walking and talking out loud about all this. What if someone overheard us?
It seemed highly likely that Chouko really was leaving to study abroad.
My hands were limp, and yet as an idea popped into my head, I squeezed them tight. There was someone else, wasn’t there, who would know? Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner?
“Shizuku, what about Shimozuru? It looks like he’s out. Have you heard anything from him about Chouko?”
Shizuku and Shimozuru had confessed their love for one another only a week ago. Shimozuru was one person I didn’t mind sharing my true feelings with. But most of all, I just wanted to know what was going on.
The second I mentioned him, though, Shizuku furrowed her brow and put her hands together in apology.
“I’m sorry, Urara. I actually won’t be able to get in touch with Oboro for the next two weeks.”
“Really?! Shimozuru, too?”
“Mm-hm. He won’t tell me why, either, but he swore up and down that it was one hundred percent not cheating. It was something he couldn’t get into, even with me, so I just had to let it go. If I had known he was hiding something like this, I would have made him tell me,” she lamented, scratching her head. But she wasn’t to blame.
“It’s not your fault, Shizuku. Please don’t give it another thought.”
“Well, I did break our promise and call him once.”
Shizuku had always done what she wanted, after all.
“But I got a message that either the power was off or it was out of service.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it. Thank you for thinking of me. But you can’t break your promise.”
“It’s all right. I’ll explain it to him later,” she said, sticking out her tongue. Seeing her so playful like that calmed my fears about Chouko for the moment.
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☾☾☾
“URARA, um...can I?”
Haruto had come to my room and spoken to me for the first time since the kendo incident. In the past half month, he had scarcely said more than “Good morning” to me.
“What is it, Haruto? You may come in.”
His words from that day still rang in my ear. Things between us had been awkward, and we couldn’t seem to completely patch things up.
I was relieved Haruto was finally speaking to me, so it was a shock that the first thing he would ask me about was Chouko.
“How are things going, with your friend Tsukuyomi?”
“Mm... He hasn’t been coming to school.”
“Huh?”
“Apparently, he’s going to be studying abroad. Though I still don’t know if that’s true or not...”
Haruto’s mouth gaped at my words, and his face seemed to go pale. “What is that idiot doing?” he shouted.
“What’s gotten into you?” I asked.
“I’m sorry, Urara,” he apologized over and over to me, tears forming in his eyes. “I said if I won that day, he wasn’t allowed to come near you. So I’m sure that’s why...”
This was the first time I’d heard that was one of the conditions of Haruto winning their match.
But could that really have been why Chouko was avoiding me? I saw cracks in his mask for the first time at the dojo. I thought that, even though he lost, he was having fun.
So maybe there was another reason? This possibility seemed more and more likely.
“Hey, Sis. I’ll try calling him. Let’s get the answer straight from him.”
“Do you know Chouko’s number, Haruto?”
“Yeah. It’s still in my call history. Hang on,” he said and ran to grab his smartphone. He searched through the numbers.
“Here,” he said, holding up the screen for me to see.
There was no name or anything, but thinking that those numbers could bridge the gap between Chouko and me, I just couldn’t hold myself back.
“Haruto, I’m sorry, but may I call?”
Haruto silently handed over his phone. Chouko might not answer, but I had to try.
My fingers gently pressed the call button, and once the sounds of the dialed numbers subsided, the ringing of the line resounded in my ears.
Just the thought that I might get to talk to him brought tears to my eyes.
“Chouko...”
It rang fifteen times without an answer, but I was happy just to know he hadn’t rejected me outright.
Haruto promised to lend me his phone again the next day, enabling me to sleep that night.
Even in my dreams, I was clutching that phone, gazing out the window at the lovely half moon. For some reason, the moon began to fill as it rose, and it reminded me of those words on the cafe terrace.
“But don’t you want to be able to talk to your boyfriend?”
“I believe absence makes the heart grow fonder. Like the anticipation of awaiting the next phase of the moon.”
Why did I give such a cheeky answer to Mikazuki’s question back then?
Those were the pretty words of someone with no experience with love.
Only a short time had passed, and yet I was desperate to call again. Even if he didn’t answer, I wanted to hang on the line for longer. My chest was getting so hot, it hurt. I didn’t want to hang up. I wanted us to be connected forever. I struggled to suppress the need to scream out that I wanted to call him right now as the moon began to change phases.
“I want to see him.”
I wanted to see him so bad, I couldn’t wait for the waxing and waning of the moon. After thinking that, my consciousness melded with the dream.