Meanwhile, Hanabi was quickly realizing the suggestions Rin had given her for this date were going to be of no use at all. At a loss, she blurted out, “There’s a really big bath at the Motegi house. I could wash your back there?” Then she had a mental image of herself in the bath with Kuon, both of them naked, and her about to touch his back. She hastily yelped, “No, never mind!”
They both wound up turning red. They were hopeless.
“Um… Then is there anything else you’d like?” Hanabi asked, trying to recover.
“Um…some chocolate? You know how it was back on the mainland. The shops were all closed.”
“O-okay!” Hanabi cheered up immediately. This was on Rin’s list.
Rin was too busy gloating in the shadows to notice the suspicious looks she was engendering.
“There’s a shop that imports chocolate from overseas. Let’s go there, Kuon-kun!”
“Okay!”
It went smoothly after that.
The Jave had ruined many sea lanes, making chocolate a highly sought-after and expensive commodity, but when Kuon balked at the price, Hanabi essentially forced him to let her buy him some. She was struck by how nice the shop clerk was being.
After that they really did go to a sento, soaked for a while, then sat side-by-side on the massage chairs between all the senior citizens.
“Ahhh…”
Kuon caught a whiff of that post-bath smell from Hanabi, and when her yukata parted slightly, and he caught a glimpse of cleavage, or found his eyes automatically drawn to her long legs and arms in the one-size-fits-all yukata, he forced himself not to look. But he couldn’t help stealing glances. She really did have big boobs. They were as big as his face. Remembering how he’d had his face stuck in the valley between them in the deep sea, he was forced to shake his head to rid himself of those thoughts.
After a lengthy sequence of such glances and head shakes, the old lady next to him said, “Good luck out there,” and gave him some candy. Confused, he looked from her face to the candy in his palm. “You’re Cavalleria, right?” she said, smiling. “I used to live on the mainland, you know.” Only now did he realize why the chocolatier clerk had been so nice. He was still only in his first year at the Cavalleria school, and not used to this treatment. It was a good reminder that he was fighting to protect these people.
They’d both done quite well.
Kuon helped ease Hanabi’s stress about the summons tomorrow, and Hanabi helped relieve the physical and mental exhaustion Kuon had built up.
Neither of them put what they most wanted to say into words, but the time flew by, and they had so much fun.
At the end of the “date,” they stood together at the bus stop, waiting for the bus to go home. Hanabi would be going back to the dorm, and Kuon to the training grounds.
This was goodbye.
At this time of day, not many people used the bus line leading from the shopping district to the academy. The hologram bus schedule had a forlorn glow to it as Kuon and Hanabi stared at it in silence.
Hanabi was reminded again, as she had been all day, that she really enjoyed Kuon’s company, and that his smile brought her joy. She’d already put it into words in her diary, and she’d spent the whole day thinking that same thought over and over.
Fuji had said what he had to say to his fiancée, and while Rin had no such partner, Hanabi knew she never would have hesitated to express her feelings.
Hanabi knew she was being weak, and she knew she couldn’t let herself be that way. She may never come back. She would be dropped on the capital, and there was every chance she’d never come back to Jogen.
She may never see him again.
“Kuon-kun.”
She looked at him. He was so short. So thin, yet well-built, with muscles where he needed them. He had strong-willed, confident eyes. A demeanor so calm it was hard to believe he was five years younger than her, were it not for the occasional moment of childishness. And those tough little hands that spoke of how hard he’d worked—the hands of a swordsman.
He looked back at Hanabi, staring directly into her eyes, waiting for her words.
Say it.
Say it.
Say it now.
“I’m in…in, in, iiin…”
The bus arrived with flawless timing.
“…iiinterested to see how great a Cavalleria you’ll become!”
Hanabi suddenly felt extremely tired.
Kuon smiled. “Thanks,” he said. “I know you’ll be a great Cavalleria, too.”
“Mm, thanks.” She smiled listlessly and took a step onto the bus. She wanted to die.
“Senpai!”
Kuon was looking up at her from the bus stop. There was an urgency, a grim look in his eyes.
“I’m really, really sorry I can’t join you in the Operation tomorrow. Please, please…”
The bus drove away. Hanabi was the only passenger. She sat in the very back, her face buried in her hands, remembering the words he’d said as the door closed.
“Please…fight with honor.”
He must have wanted to say that all day. The fact that he couldn’t fight with the rest of the Fuji Squad must have gnawed at him the whole time they were together—when they were eating, in the baths, when he smiled… It didn’t matter to her that he wouldn’t be joining her in battle; she understood.
She must have been the only one genuinely enjoying their time together, and that made her feel absolutely terrible. She was completely ashamed of herself. The pained look on his face wouldn’t leave her mind.
Don’t… Don’t let that be the last I see of you.
The bus drove on.
With nobody else on board, Hanabi cried softly.
“What am I even doing?!”
Watching through her scope from the next stop over, Rin thought about what Hanabi hadn’t said, and what Kuon had said to Hanabi, and what both of those things meant. She suddenly felt helpless.
What was she doing, watching her friend’s date like a nosy little sister?
When the bus arrived, Rin didn’t get on. At the back of it, Hanabi didn’t see Rin standing there.
The bus drove away.
Kuon had said less than half of what he’d wanted to say.