Epilogue
This chapter was translated by shizuumi151, and proofread by kuririn, yuugs, and dei-hime!
Time had really flown since that incident in spring. Hajime-san's last year in high school went by in the blink of an eye, and I missed him already. His graduation ceremony had wrapped up without issue the other day, and now he just had to wait for the university term to start.
It was like the sky, the trees, and even the people had cast off their thick winter clothes, and the soft rays of the mid-March sun shone down. As I walked down the road to the station, I noticed how spring had begun to dye the town in its soft colors.
Chizuru Yukimura: "There're still about 20 minutes until the time we agreed to meet." I kept glancing down at my watch as I slowly walked forward.
...Now and again, I'd realize a silly grin had made its way onto my face, and I had to smooth my features back into a calm facade. I hadn't seen Hajime-san in three days, and I couldn’t stop imagining how he’d smile at me today when we met.
Hajime Saitou: "Chizuru, I'd just like to ask you something. Are you free on the 14th after school?"
Chizuru Yukimura: "Yes, I don’t have anything planned."
Hajime Saitou: "Right. Then, um... Right. ...If you'd like...then, maybe… It's fine
if you go home to change first. But would you like to go out with me for a bit?"
...That conversation took place a few days ago. Even now, I could clearly remember how awkward and shy he was as he tripped over his words.
Ever since I’d expressed my feelings to him with my chocolates during Valentine's Day last year… even though we’d told one another our feelings, our relationship didn’t change right away. Of course, we always spent important events or dates together… But this was the first time either of us had ever been in a romantic relationship, so we were flying blind.
On top of that, Hajime-san, always tough on himself, decided we ought to 'date in moderation, since we're in school'. Of course, I liked that part of Hajime-san as well… But I did think he was a bit too strict at times.
I’d found myself thinking as much many times in our time together, so there was no way I wouldn't be overjoyed when he invited me out like that.
‘I mean, this has to be a date, right?’ I wondered to myself as I carried on with a skip in my step. In the end, I arrived fifteen minutes early.
Chizuru Yukimura: "I'm sure I'm in the right place..." I looked up from my watch, and glanced around my surroundings. And just when I did...
Hajime Saitou: "......"
Chizuru Yukimura: "Hajime-san? You were already here? I'm sorry if I kept you waiting. I did try to hurry..."
Hajime Saitou: "It's fine. I just arrived myself."
Chizuru Yukimura: "......"
Hajime Saitou: "......"
Chizuru Yukimura: "Hehe." I felt a bit awkward, but hearing how clichéd we both sounded, I couldn't help but giggle. "Just now... How do I put it? It sounded almost like we're a couple."
Hajime Saitou: "...You know we're not 'almost' like that, though?" Hajime-san smiled at me, his expression overflowing with fondness.
Chizuru Yukimura: "...Yes. I know," I responded to him with a smile of my own, and we walked off side by side.
Hajime Saitou: "It's been three days since we last met up like this. It seems that the number of chances we have to see each other in person truly are dwindling now that we don’t go to the same school."
Chizuru Yukimura: "...Will you miss me?"
Hajime Saitou: "...I'd say I'd, um―"
Chizuru Yukimura: "I'll miss you."
Hajime Saitou: "...You really are a tease sometimes. That question was unfair." Hajime-san's words belied the blush on his cheeks, and he looked away with a pout. He was usually so serious and so composed; when he acted like this in front of me, I couldn't help but find it unbearably sweet.
Chizuru Yukimura: "Hehe..."
But my words just now were the truth, plain and simple. If Hajime-san went to university, we'd see each other less and less, after all...
We’d met up right in time to hit the after-school rush for home. As we walked around town together, students still in uniform emerged from all around. Hajime-san scrutinized a group crossing the road that looked like Hakuo Academy students.
Chizuru Yukimura: "You must be feeling nostalgic, seeing them."
Hajime Saitou: "Yeah. The graduation ceremony is barely over, yet high school already feels somehow distant. The school corridors I’ve paced so many times I could walk them in my sleep suddenly feel awfully far away."
Chizuru Yukimura: "......But that means you lived your three years at Hakuo Academy to the fullest, doesn't it?"
Hajime Saitou: "You're right. You're exactly right. In the three years I spent there, I wonder if I set a good example for younger students as a good senpai…?"
Chizuru Yukimura: "Of course. You also did a fantastic job carrying out your duties as the head of the disciplinary committee."
Hajime-san had continued serving on the disciplinary committee as a third-year. He was unanimously elected to be the president, and Hijikata-sensei gave him his duties as their advisor. Diligent person that he is, despite the additional duties, he maintained his grades, too. At the kendo club's last competition, he even defeated Okita-senpai and Heisuke-kun to take home first place. Naturally, he lacked no offers or referrals for university, as a result.
Hajime Saitou: "Right, I see..."Hajime-san gave a nod, seeming satisfied before he shook his head a little. "Actually, when I think back to my graduation, these three years almost feel like a dream. I had fun, I felt happy, and I made the most of them. I wonder if it wasn't all a dream, the kind that slips from your grasp upon waking..." Hajime-san opened the palm of his hand, and stared down at it pensively.
I also understood how he felt. The times when we were happy were short-lived, coming and going as quickly as cherry blossoms bloomed in spring.
But...
I took Hajime-san's hand and squeezed it softly.
Chizuru Yukimura: "You still have things left in your grasp, though. Like your memories, for instance..."
Hajime Saitou: "...And like you."
We held each other's hands, and squeezed gently. Looking at our reflection in a shop's show window, we couldn't be mistaken for anything but a couple. I felt a little embarrassed, realizing that.
Chizuru Yukimura: "...That reminds me, Hajime-san. Have you decided where we're going from here?"
Hajime Saitou: "Actually, there's a place I've been meaning to go with you in the evening. ...Having said that, it's still a bit early for it. I wonder how we should pass the time until then..."
Chizuru Yukimura: "In that case, why don’t we window shop a little around here? There are loads of stores. I think walking around together with you will be fun, too."
Hajime-san gave a smile and a nod at my proposal.
Hajime Saitou: "Then, would you mind if we stopped by a bookstore? And another for sports supplies would be good..."
Chizuru Yukimura: "Oh, I also want to go to a bookstore. We can take a rest somewhere afterwards―"
As they say, ‘Time flies when you're having fun.’ I felt the truth of it this afternoon. Especially since it wasn't even a holiday, but a precious few hours after school on a weekday. Before I knew it, the sun was sinking down to the horizon, and soon enough the moon would rise lonesome in the sky. Hajime-san and I walked to the shrine we’d visited on New Year's, whose grounds commanded a view of the whole city.
Chizuru Yukimura: "So this was where you wanted to go."
The station, my house, the residential area. Then Hakuo Academy, where we’d spent our days together until now. From the shrine perched on the mountainside, we could see it all laid out before us. As I looked over the townscape bathed in the light of the fading sun, a sigh of awe escaped me.
Chizuru Yukimura: "Wow... The town looks like a toy set from here..."
Hajime Saitou: "......" Hajime-san, who had been quietly watching over me while I admired the world at sunset, gave me a small nod. He lightly beckoned me over. "Come over here, Chizuru. The view's bound to be spectacular here… But what I really wanted to show you, what I really wanted to see with you was this view..."
Chizuru Yukimura: "...Cherry blossoms...?"
In the middle of the grounds grew a single cherry blossom tree. When I spotted it, a faint noise of surprise escaped my lips. The tree was near full in bloom, its branches bursting with blossoms glowing pink in the light of the sinking sun. It was still mid-March, but the sight of branch after branch in bloom almost looked like it was flowering out of season...
Hajime Saitou: "...It isn’t flowering out of season. This Oshima cherry tree hails from cooler climes. To the best of my knowledge, this tree is the very first in town to bloom."
Chizuru Yukimura: "Really?"
Hajime Saitou: "Yeah, these trees have white blossoms, and though they're pretty in their own right… This is the one time of day that they faintly change color with the sunset. That's what I wanted you to see."
Chizuru Yukimura: "......"
The first cherry blossoms were turning the blush of sundown... I couldn't express how pretty they were in a single word. I was left speechless.
Hajime Saitou: "...Also, Chizuru. Since today is White day, there's something I want to give you."
Chizuru Yukimura: "In return for Valentine's Day? You didn't have to do that."
...Though I said that, my heart was fit to burst with anticipation. Any gift from Hajime-san would definitely make me happy, but I wondered just what I was going to get, all the same.
Hajime Saitou: "I do hope that you'll like it..." He rooted around in his bag, smiling wryly, and I watched him, excited.
However…
Hajime-san's face slowly changed under my expectant gaze from smiling to troubled. Then from troubled to flustered.
Hajime Saitou: "......"
Chizuru Yukimura: "...Hajime-san?"
Hajime Saitou: "D-Did I not put it in...? Don't tell me―I couldn't have forgotten to...!?"
Chizuru Yukimura: "What...!?"
Hajime Saitou: "N-No, wait... Wait a moment! We don't know for sure yet. I'll look a little deeper...!"
Chizuru Yukimura: "Ah... It's alright, Hajime-san. You don't have to give me it today. It is a bit of a shame, but it’s the thought that counts."
Hajime Saitou: "No, I won't be satisfied with that. Not when you gave me chocolates on Valentine's Day. It'd be unthinkable for me to have nothing for you on White Day...!"
Chizuru Yukimura: "Still..."
Witnessing these cherry blossoms before us was more than enough for me, though. Probably because he was always so in control, Hajime-san was looking less like he was disappointed in himself and more like he'd fall to pieces over this. But in the end, he let out a sigh of defeat, his face mortified while he shook his head.
Hajime Saitou: "...I am so sorry. It seems I really did forget it. I'll absolutely give it to you later, but if only I had something to give you..."
Chizuru Yukimura: "No, no, like I said, it's alright. There's still next time."
Hajime Saitou: "...Something, there has to be at least something on me I could give to you as a present right now..." Hajime-san likely didn't hear me as he kept muttering complaints to himself.
The way he'd wholeheartedly dedicate himself to something he'd set his heart on was one of his good traits, but…
Hajime Saitou: "Something on me...?" Suddenly, the proverbial lightbulb went off.
For some reason, Hajime-san's eyes were filled with determination when he uttered those words.
And then.
(CG get!°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°)
―All of a sudden, his lips were on mine.
Hajime Saitou: "......"
Chizuru Yukimura:: ...!!?
It wasn't a kiss. It was more like...my lips were snatched away...? The shrinking gap between our faces, the touch of his lips. I never expected such a surprise attack, and how much it would electrify my heart like this.
Chizuru Yukimura: "...Haji...me...san…?"
Hajime Saitou: "...Please accept this. You might laugh at me, but this was the best present I could think to give you right now."
With his lips so close to brushing mine, meeting my eyes earnestly. They were filled with so much emotion they overflowed with his sincere care and love for me. I barely squeezed out the few words rattling around in my chest:
Chizuru Yukimura: "...So sly...Giving me a present like this...is so unfair of you..."
Hajime Saitou: "...You're right. You're exactly right. Maybe saying this is a present is just an excuse… because I simply wanted to do this."
Chizuru Yukimura: "Then..."
'Let's do it again.' Even without me saying it aloud loud, Hajime-san nodded his understanding.
Hajime Saitou: "Yeah... I want to kiss you properly again, too. The truth is, what I wanted to tell you along with my present was..."
Hajime Saitou: "...I love you, Chizuru."
Chizuru Yukimura: "...And I you, Hajime-san."
Our lips met again, gently, and our feelings for each other connected.
Truly, so much had happened since I enrolled into Hakuo Academy. Two years of high school life really went by in a flash… The fact I only had one left felt incredibly bittersweet.
My memories of these past two years flooded me again in a rush. But the most prominent of them all that came to mind was undoubtedly meeting Hajime-san.
In these last two years I'd spent at that academy, the way I felt towards Hajime-san had changed completely. My initial impressions of him were that he was a stern and kind senpai. He was more conscientious than anyone else I’d ever met, and that side of him was what attracted me to him. I was sure that I'd be lonely without him around in the coming year. But I thought of how he carried himself without shame, how he set an example for younger students after him, and how he always worked so hard... And that made me proud to be able to graduate from the same academy as him.
And after that, I'd follow in Hajime-san's footsteps, and go to the same university as him. So that I could spend time together with him in a brand new place...
The End
(Yuugs: Saitou, I love you, but consider getting some sexier pajamas…)
(Dei: this little cinnamon roll is perfect just the way he is! Besides, buttons are fun...)