"Is there anything I can help you with, Ichinose?" Watanabe Hayabara asked with a smile, his gaze resting on her reddened earlobes.
Ichinose Honami seemed to snap out of a daze. Her shoulders trembled slightly as she realized she'd been staring at him for a full thirty seconds. She hurriedly lowered her head, her gaze landing on her own polished black shoes. "Um..." Her voice trailed off, so faint it sounded ready to snap.
Her cheeks flushed visibly, the red spreading from her cheekbones to her temples until even her neck had turned a faint pink. Watanabe Hayabara suddenly felt that the cherry blossoms in her hair were nowhere near as lovely as the blush on her face.
"Don't be nervous, Ichinose." Watanabe Hayabara leaned forward slightly, a gentle smile on his lips. His fingers brushed his cuff absently. "Whatever it is, I'll do my best to help if I can."
"It's just... it's just..." Ichinose Honami clenched her fingers. "I got a confession letter, and I don't know how to turn her down. Could you... could you pretend to be my boyfriend for a little while, Watanabe? She asked me to meet her here after school today, so I came ten minutes early."
The moment she finished speaking, she jerked her head up, then quickly lowered it again, as if she'd committed some terrible crime. The sunlight fell on her trembling lashes, casting a small fan-shaped shadow. Her ears were so red they looked ready to bleed.
Seeing how flustered she was, Watanabe Hayabara smiled a little more warmly. "A confession letter? I guess you really are popular, Ichinose." He paused deliberately, watching her press her lips together nervously. "But why not just turn her down directly? Why ask someone to pretend to be your boyfriend?"
"It's just... the one who confessed to me is a cute girl from my class..." Ichinose Honami's voice was barely audible. When she said "girl," she nearly buried her face in her chest.
She knew it was a terribly unreasonable request, but she couldn't bear to hurt the girl who'd confessed to her so earnestly. That was why she'd come up with this clumsy plan. Thinking of how heartbroken the girl might be after being rejected made Ichinose feel as though her throat were stuffed with cotton, making it hard even to breathe.
Watching the girl twist her fingers helplessly, her eyes growing slightly red, Watanabe Hayabara let out a soft laugh. He stepped closer and brushed a cherry blossom petal from her hair. His fingertip accidentally grazed her ear, making her shrink back as if she'd been shocked.
"Don't worry, Ichinose." His voice was soothing and warm. "Leave this to me. I'll help, and I'll make sure things turn out the way you want."
Ichinose Honami jerked her head up, her eyes instantly sparkling. The blush hadn't faded from her cheeks, but she broke into a bright smile, as clear as the sky after rain. "Thank you so much, Watanabe! I'll treat you to the strawberry cake shop at school afterward. Their seasonal specials are delicious!"
The wind swept through the cherry trees, sending another flurry of petals to the ground between them like a pink carpet. Seeing the delight in her eyes, Watanabe Hayabara's smile softened. "I'll look forward to it."
Amid the soft rustle of falling cherry blossoms, a tearful cry suddenly broke in, fragile as crumpled candy paper. "Honami...!!"
Ichinose Honami's shoulders tensed. When she turned toward the voice, cherry blossom petals trembled loose from her hair. A short-haired girl emerged from the bushes, her face tilted up. Ash-brown strands stuck to her dirt-smudged cheeks, and a jagged clover leaf clung to the back of her uniform. She had clearly been hiding in there for quite some time.
"Chi-Chihiro?" Ichinose Honami's voice shook. Her fingers instinctively clutched Watanabe Hayabara's sleeve, digging into the fabric. She looked at Shiranami Chihiro's usually bright eyes, now brimming with tears like two springs on the verge of bursting. Her lips moved, but she couldn't manage to say a single complete sentence.
Shiranami Chihiro sniffled, the tip of her nose red as a ripe cherry. She wiped her face with one hand, only smearing the dirt across her cheek even more. Her voice was as light as a feather drifting on the breeze. "I heard everything, Honami." She stared at Ichinose Honami's stunned face, and tears finally slid down her cheeks, gathering into gleaming droplets on her chin. "You don't have to force yourself. I just... I just wanted you to know how I feel."
Only after Shiranami Chihiro had roughly wiped away her tears with the back of her hand did Watanabe Hayabara speak. His voice was as steady as a windless lake. "May I ask your name?"
"My name is Shiranami Chihiro!" The girl suddenly lifted her head, her eyes still wet, her voice turning sharp like a kitten with its fur standing on end. "A man like you should stay away from Honami!" She took half a step forward and stood in front of Ichinose Honami, but the vast difference in their builds made the scene look absurd.
"Tch." Watanabe Hayabara clicked his tongue softly. A flicker of helplessness crossed his eyes, but he didn't get angry. He stepped aside, revealing Ichinose Honami, who had been hiding behind him. "Shiranami, first of all, Ichinose was the one who came to me for help." He put extra emphasis on "the one who came to me," his gaze sweeping over Shiranami Chihiro's suddenly rigid face. "So I shouldn't have been involved in this in the first place. But since I've agreed to help Ichinose, I'll explain things clearly—"
He paused, looking at Shiranami Chihiro's knuckles, clenched until they'd gone white, then continued. "The real reason Ichinose came to me is that she doesn't want to reject you, but she can't accept your feelings either, so she's caught in a difficult position." The wind tousled his fringe, revealing his clear but keen eyes. "She won't distance herself from you just because she turned you down indirectly. She cares about you too much. This isn't a deception; it's a different kind of consideration."
Shiranami Chihiro's shoulders slumped slightly, and tears began welling in her eyes again.
"However," Watanabe Hayabara continued, his tone softening, "that kind of consideration isn't love—or, to be precise, it isn't romantic love. She wants to turn you down because you'll make wonderful friends." He patted Ichinose Honami's shoulder, signaling for her to step forward. "As for me, I'm only here to smooth things over between you two and ease the tension."
Ichinose Honami bit her lower lip and slowly walked up to Shiranami Chihiro. She reached out to touch the dirt on her cheek, but Shiranami turned her head slightly, avoiding her hand. Sunlight streamed through the space between the three of them, casting interlocking shadows on the ground. Cherry blossom petals continued to fall silently, one sticking to the corner of Shiranami Chihiro's tear-reddened eye like a frozen pink tear. Ichinose Honami's hand hung in midair, her fingertips trembling. Her throat felt as if a cherry blossom stem were lodged in it, and no sound came out. Shiranami Chihiro stared at her trembling fingertips, then abruptly turned and ran into the swirling shower of blossoms. The clover leaf pinned to the back of her uniform shook violently as she ran, and she soon disappeared among the layered shadows of the flowers.
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