One rainy day, when the skies were pouring down from above...
“Weh... hic... sniffle...”
It was a little before the afternoon turned to evening— at the time, I was still in the third grade of elementary school... and I was crying on the bus after school.
The school was far from my house, which was why I normally took the train to school. But on days with heavy rain like this, I often ended up taking the bus instead.
Today was a little different from all those other days, though.
After exerting all of my energy at the athletic meet, the movements of the bus lulled me to sleep. When I woke up, I found myself staring at unfamiliar scenery outside. As an elementary school student, I wasn’t given any extra pocket money to use—only the bare minimum needed.
I immediately fell into a panic, and naturally burst into tears.
That was when an older boy, around university-age, noticed my demeanor and called out to me with a gentle voice.
“What’s wrong?”
“Hweh...?”
My body twitched with a start, and I looked up at him. He seemed like a really cool, like... an older brother. He smiled softly, as though he was reassuring me.
“Did you get on the wrong bus?”
“Huh? Ah, no... I missed my stop...”
“Oh, I see. Where were you meant to get off?”
I sounded a little surprised when I responded, but the boy took it in stride as he continued to ask me questions.
“T-The park at the third district...”
“Got it. Then let’s get off at the next stop. I’ll take you to the stop closest to your house.”
“...O-Okay.”
While I had been taught at home and at school not to follow strangers, I didn’t hesitate to trust this person completely. I was overly excited at how he was just like a hero in those popular shoujo manga, appearing out of nowhere to save me, the main character. But...
“Ah, I don’t have... any money...”
I immediately remembered the fact that I didn’t have any money on me.
“It’s all right,” the boy said, smiling and gently shaking his head. Once we arrived at the next bus stop, he paid for my share of the bus fare and we both got off. Then, he headed towards the opposite bus stop and stared at the timetable. I was very nervous, so I silently watched his back.
“The next bus will be here soon, so let’s wait together.”
“O-Okay!”
Looking back on it now, I should have thanked him for paying for me. But I was so nervous at the time that I rudely forgot to. In the end, I remained silent and stared at the floor as my heart thumped in my chest—
“You shouldn’t really follow strange adults anywhere, but this is an emergency. Forgive me,” the older boy suddenly said with a strained smile. He probably mistook my continued silence for suspicion towards him.
“N-No! That’s... That’s not it!”
I tried to deny it in a hurry, but my fluster seemed to cement it instead. After that, the older boy kept talking to me so that I wouldn’t feel awkward. It was considerate of him... But I was so embarrassed, my answers were all over the place.
Just like that, time flew by and we arrived at the bus stop closest to my house.
“Will you be okay from here?”
“Huh? Ah...”
It was like a spell had been lifted, dropping me back into reality.
This is... goodbye?
No. I still haven’t said thank you—people often told me I had a meek personality, but I never felt it more strongly than in this moment. That was why...
“I-I! I have to thank you! For the bus fare!” I blurted out without realizing.
“It’s fine— don’t worry about it. Bye now.” He shook his head as though declaring that his job was done here.
“Ah... no...”
Watching the older boy’s retreating back, I squeezed out those words with a voice on the verge of tears. I had so many things I wanted to tell him, yet I hadn’t said a single word of them to him.
“Ah... Umm. I guess I’ll accept your gratitude?” He said in a slight panic at seeing me about to burst into tears.
“T-Thank you very m-much...!” I tried to respond in a hurry and stumbled over my words from nervousness.
Then, the older boy giggled... I was really embarrassed.
“T-Thank you very much...” I repeated once more, blushing furiously. I didn’t stumble this time.
“You’re welcome.”
“Y-Yes. It’s... this way.” I said, leading the older boy to my house. It was a one minute walk from the bus stop. Once we arrived, I rang the familiar doorbell. Mom came outside immediately.
“Welcome home, Suzune... What’s wrong?” Mom looked between me and the boy in confusion.
“Mom! We... we have to thank him! This boy saved me, and...!” Overwhelmed, I let out a jumble of words that confused Mom even more.
“Actually...”
The boy filled out my explanation by explaining the situation to Mom.
“Oh my, we must have caused you a lot of trouble then. Thank you so much.” Mom bowed her head deeply and thanked him. “No, I’m just glad I was able to safely bring her here. I shall take my leave, then...” The older boy tried to politely excuse himself.
“Oh, would you like to stay for tea?” Mom called out to him. Nice one, Mom!— I rejoiced quietly in my head. “I’m sorry, but I have a shift at work now. I appreciate the thought, though. Thank you.”
He had something to do after this and needed to leave immediately. Mom went back inside for a moment to grab some money for the bus fare, then tried to offer him a little more. The older boy tried to respectfully reject her, but Mom forcefully handed it to him in the end. He thanked us rather apologetically and left.
“What a nice man.” Mom said, watching him walk away.
“Yeah...”
That wasn’t all. He was really cool, too.
“And he was really cool, too, wasn’t he Suzune?” Mom said, as though she had read my mind.
“Yeah... huh?” Strung along, I nodded without thinking. I looked up at Mom in a panic to see her grinning back at me. Of course, I flushed again at that.
“Fufufu, you’ll have to tell me about what happened in detail.” There was nothing I could hide from Mom, so I started to tell her about what happened on the bus.
“Do you want to take the bus from now on?” Mom said after I hastily finished my story.
“Huh? C-Can I really?”
“Sure. Amakawa Haruto, was it? It’d be nice if you could get closer to that young man,” Mom said, chuckling to herself at how my voice rose an octave higher when I’d replied.
One year later, on a certain summer day...
I was attending a swimming class held at the school pool during summer vacation. The class ended at noon, and I hurried to the bus stop afterwards.
Yay! He’s here today too! I got on the bus home and spotted the older boy sitting inside, making me cheer inside my head. My happiness nearly made me break out into a huge grin, which I desperately tried to hold back.
The older boy’s name was Amakawa Haruto. The very cool university student who saved me a year ago, when I was at a loss for what to do on the bus home. He often took the bus at this time of day.
Just between you and me.... The reason why I decided to start taking swimming classes when I wasn’t any good at sports was because the swimming class ended at a time where I could see the older boy more often.
Well, Mom figured it out right away.
But that aside, maybe it was because of summer vacation... but the bus was a lot emptier than normal that day. Haruto was sitting in his usual spot— fourth row from the back, next to the left window— and I sat in my usual spot, which was next to the window in the last row. Unfortunately, I hadn’t spoken to him once since the day he saved me. The most I had been able to do was watch his profile from diagonally behind him. I knew it was kind of stalkerish of me, but thanks to that, I learned a lot of things.
For example: he liked to gaze out the window a lot, he would often sigh these small sighs, and he always had a sad look on his face.
Was he worried about something? I was so curious about his story that I was drawn to him without even realizing it myself. That day, as I continued to stare at him... he noticed my gaze again. Once in a while— or rather, quite often as of late— he would notice me staring at him. I sensed he was about to turn back to look at me, so I ducked my head in a hurry and looked away.
Then, as I slowly raised my head again to peek at him, I made eye contact with the high school-aged girl sitting two rows behind Haruto. She was a really pretty girl who seemed really mature. She quickly turned to face the front, but she was smiling quietly to herself, as though she had seen something funny. But it wasn’t in a malicious way... She had a gentle kind of air about her.
Actually, this older girl often rode the bus at this time, too. And— I might be wrong, but— it felt like she would stare at Haruto a lot too. Could this older girl like him too? If so, I can’t lose to her— I thought to myself in determination.
At that moment, the bus gave a sudden, lurching jerk. I felt like I was floating for a moment, before intense pain immediately traveled throughout my whole body. My vision abruptly darkened, and I couldn’t see anything in front of me.
Then... Wha...?
Without realizing what exactly had happened, I lost consciousness.
