[Serina Mikage POV]
Before my alarm could go off, the sound of rain woke me.
The drum against the windowpane was no longer a scattering of distinct droplets. It sounded as though someone was ceaselessly pressing a thick sheet of water against the glass.
I pulled open the curtains.
Morning should have arrived, yet the world outside had not reclaimed its brightness. Heavy gray cloaked the entire sky, blurring even the roofline of the house across the street behind a veil of rain. Water had already pooled at the curbs, spraying white arcs into the air each time a car rolled past.
It was exactly as the weather forecast Rio had shown me yesterday predicted.
Still, the rain clouds on a phone screen and the sky suffocating the view before my eyes carried entirely different weights.
Today, I had an examination for my right leg after school.
Thinking about slogging to the hospital through this downpour made me want to crawl back into bed. But if I pushed back the appointment I had fought to secure, the next available slot wouldn't be until next week.
I lowered my right foot to the floor, confirmed there was no lingering ache, and pushed myself up.
If the doctor checked it today, they might finally tell me I could stop favoring it.
As that thought crossed my mind, the resolve I had settled on yesterday in the classroom naturally resurfaced.
The next time I see Aiba-kun, I want to hear something directly from his own mouth.
It didn't matter if it was something he liked or something he disliked.
Not secondhand from someone else, but something Aiba-kun himself felt comfortable sharing with me.
Compared to when I was just staring blankly out at the sky, I felt like I had one more reason to head to school.
◇◇◇
Rain swept deep into the entrance hall, staining the gray floor a slick black.
Droplets trickled from our four umbrellas, gathering into a small puddle beneath the rack. The shoulders and hems of our uniforms were already damp just from the short dash between the school gates and the entrance.
"I wonder what it'll be like by the time we head home," Rio murmured, gazing down at her folded umbrella.
"The forecast said it's supposed to get heavier this afternoon."
"Wait, heavier than this?"
"Yes."
"Then there's no point in even carrying an umbrella."
"At the very least, it minimizes how much of you gets soaked."
"Even though its only job is keeping us from getting wet in the first place?"
"Expecting that much from an umbrella against today's downpour is a bit cruel, don't you think?"
"Even umbrellas have their limits," Miu added with a straight face.
"You two sure are remarkably forgiving when it comes to umbrellas, aren't you?"
Just as I was about to laugh at Rio's dry retort, it happened.
Among the stream of students descending the stairs, a familiar silhouette caught my eye.
His bag was slung over his left shoulder, while his right arm hung loosely at his side. Whenever he seemed on the verge of bumping into someone, he instinctively shifted his left side forward.
It was Aiba-kun.
The instant I spotted him, a gentle warmth bloomed in my chest.
Yesterday, we hadn't crossed paths even once.
It had only been a single day, yet seeing him made me far happier than I had imagined.
Aiba-kun noticed me at almost the exact same moment.
Our gazes locked.
In that fraction of a second, his expression froze.
It lasted no longer than the blink of an eye. In the next breath, his usual gentle demeanor returned.
A faint prick of curiosity lingered in my mind, but it wasn't enough to diminish the joy of running into him.
Aiba-kun came down the stairs, step by step.
His eyes never left mine.
And today, I didn't look away either.
"Good morning, Aiba-kun."
The chatter of students, the clatter of shoe lockers opening and shutting, the steady patter of droplets hitting the tile—I raised my voice just enough to keep it from drowning beneath the noise.
"Good morning, Mikage-san."
His reply came back in his usual, steady tone.
More than anything, I wanted to initiate the conversation today.
Just like I had planned yesterday, whether it was something he liked or disliked, I wanted to ask him one simple thing about himself.
"Aiba-kun, um—"
Before I could finish, a cluster of students rushing down the stairs surged between us.
Aiba-kun halted, stepping back toward the wall to protect his right shoulder from the press of the crowd.
"Sorry. What is it?"
My eyes met his again as he prompted me to continue.
There were so many things I wanted to ask.
What did he like? What did he hate? What kind of things did he enjoy doing in his spare time?
Until yesterday, they had all seemed like such effortless questions.
Yet, now that Aiba-kun was standing right before me, patiently waiting for my words, every single topic suddenly felt overwhelmingly significant.
The wave of students cleared in seconds.
Even so, the words that had faltered on my tongue refused to come out.
"...No, it's nothing. I'll save it for next time."
Why I had added "next time," I couldn't even tell myself.
Aiba-kun's eyes widened ever so slightly. Then, as he always did, he shifted aside just enough to give me ample room to pass.
"Ah. Sure. See you later, then."
"See you, Aiba-kun."
With a small nod, Aiba-kun turned and walked toward the far end of the entrance hall.
I couldn't tear my eyes away until his back dissolved into the silhouettes of the crowd.
I was thrilled to have seen him.
And yet, I hadn't managed to ask a single thing I wanted to.
—I'll save it for next time.
Only the parting phrase that had tumbled from my lips lingered in my chest, feeling almost like a promise to meet again.
"Well, well. Aren't we in high spirits today?" Rio whispered right into my ear.
"...What are you talking about?"
"You just looked like you were having so much fun greeting Aiba-kun, Serina."
"...Did I really look like that?"
"Yup. Completely."
"'Completely' is an exaggeration."
"Just a little, then."
"If it's only a little... I won't deny it."
Rio beamed with satisfaction.
I knew she was teasing me, but I didn't have the energy to fire back a witty retort.
In my head, I shuffled through the questions I had failed to ask all over again.
Favorite foods. Worst subjects. What he did on the weekends.
They were supposed to be so simple, so why did they become impossibly difficult the moment I tried directing them at Aiba-kun?
"Serina?"
Hearing Rio call my name, I lifted my head.
"It's nothing. Let's go."
As I moved to catch up with Rio and Kotoha as they started walking, I noticed Miu was still lingering behind.
She was gazing intently toward the corridor where Aiba-kun had vanished.
"Miu?"
When I called out, she turned to face me.
"It's nothing."
Leaving it at that, she hurried after Rio and Kotoha.
I followed closely behind.
Outside the school building, a fierce gust of wind blew.
Rain lashed violently against the glass doors of the entrance hall, and as if spurred on by the sound, we hurried toward our classroom.
◇◇◇
By the time first period ended, the sky had grown even darker than it was at dawn.
Despite the fluorescent lights humming overhead, dim shadows clung to the corners of the classroom. Water cascading down the windowpanes warped the outside view, making the school building across the yard look as though it were submerged beneath a deep sea.
At the front of the room, the teacher was droning through mathematical formulas.
The scrape of chalk on slate, the dry rustle of textbook pages—usually, those sounds were enough to anchor the lesson, but today, everything was swallowed by the ambient roar of the downpour.
I lowered my eyes to my notebook.
In the middle of the equation I was supposed to have copied down, an entire line was missing.
Trying to force myself to concentrate, I flipped back a page in my textbook to track down the skipped step.
Yet before I realized it, my thoughts had drifted right back to Aiba-kun this morning.
—Sorry. What is it?
That had been the gentle cadence of his voice as he stopped and waited for me to speak.
Recalling his voice brought back the memory of his expression freezing for that briefest moment when he first noticed me.
I couldn't help but wonder what that was about.
Still, his voice and demeanor after that had been entirely normal. Pondering it here and now wasn't going to give me any answers.
More than anything, I regretted letting the moment slip away after he had gone out of his way to ask what was on my mind.
Just asking about one thing he liked would have been enough.
If I had, by now I would have known a piece of Aiba-kun that I hadn't known this morning.
A piece of chalk struck the blackboard with a sharp crack.
"Mikage, read from here."
Startled by my name, I rose to my feet on reflex.
"Yes, sir."
It took me a second to locate the designated line. Still, I managed to stumble my way through reading it aloud.
When I sank back into my chair, Rio glanced back from her seat diagonally in front of me.
Her lips silently mouthed, "That's rare."
I shot her a mild glare and glued my eyes back to the textbook.
The next time we cross paths, I'm definitely asking him something.
Locking in that resolution, I filled in the missing line in my notebook.
When I looked back up, the teacher had already moved on to the next problem.
◇◇◇
Even when lunch break arrived, the deluge showed no sign of letting up.
The courtyard was obscured by a white haze of spray, with water droplets endlessly bouncing off the wooden benches. The cafeteria was overflowing even with students who had brought their own lunches, creating a line that snaked past the doorway.
We pushed our desks together in the classroom, and the four of us laid out our bentos.
"Serina, you've been spacey like that all morning," Rio remarked, picking up a piece of broccoli with her chopsticks.
"Spacey how?"
"Like someone who opened a drawer and completely forgot what they went in there to grab."
"That's such a weirdly specific metaphor."
"But that's exactly what you looked like this morning. You started to say something to Aiba-kun, and then you just froze."
"I just hadn't settled on what to say, that's all."
"And then you hit him with 'next time,' securing an advance promise just like that."
"I don't think it really counted as a promise."
"So it's more like a teaser for the next episode?"
"...Let's just go with that."
"So, what were you actually trying to ask him?"
"...I hadn't thought that far ahead."
"Your desire to talk to him came out before what you actually wanted to say, didn't it?" Kotoha remarked smoothly.
"...When you put it like that, it's really embarrassing."
Unable to deny it, I dropped my gaze to my bento box.
Come to think of it, when I spotted Aiba-kun, a question hadn't been the first thing on my mind.
I had just wanted to call his name.
I had just wanted to hear his voice directed at me for a few seconds longer.
That longing had taken precedence, and I had only scrambled to invent a topic of conversation after the fact.
If I confessed that to Rio, she looked like she would interrogate me until she dragged out every single question I hadn't managed to ask.
Across the desks, Miu snapped her bento box shut.
"Thanks for the food."
"Done already?" Rio asked.
"Yeah. I'm going to return a book. There's another one I want to borrow, too."
Miu picked up the paperback resting against the side of her desk.
"Heading to the library now?"
"I'll be back before the preparatory chime."
"Got it."
Miu packed her wrapped lunch away into her school bag and slipped out of the classroom with the book in hand.
Even down to three of us, the conversation with Rio and Kotoha flowed uninterrupted.
Chatting about afternoon classes and the miserable weather outside, the remaining minutes of lunch break trickled away.
Yet throughout the conversation, my thoughts drifted back to that morning exchange again and again.
Miu returned shortly before the warning chime rang.
In her hands was a volume noticeably larger than the paperback she had carried out earlier.
"Did you get it returned?"
"Yeah."
"Did you borrow another one?"
"There was just something I wanted to look into."
Without offering any further explanation, Miu slid the book into her bag.
Moments later, the chime signaling the end of lunch break echoed through the halls.
◇◇◇
As afternoon set in, the rain gradually began to blur the world outside into a wash of gray.
The white chalk lines on the sports field grew faint, and the chain-link pattern of the backstop net dissolved. Even the silhouette of the school gate beyond was smudged within the white sheets of downpour.
Partway through fifth period, an announcement crackled over the intercom.
All after-school club activities were canceled for the day. Students without urgent business were instructed to head straight home as soon as classes finished.
The moment the broadcast clicked off, a wave of excited chatter rippled across the room.
"Are you still going to the hospital today?" Rio asked, wandering over to my desk during the break.
"I'll check later to make sure they haven't closed early. If they're open, I'm going."
"Right. Your next chance to get it checked isn't until next week, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Then you definitely want to get it out of the way today." Rio glanced toward the streaming windows. "Just make sure you don't slip."
"I know."
"You have a habit of doing something reckless two seconds after saying you're fine, Serina."
"I won't run, and I won't rush today. Promise."
"Alright, that's good enough for me!"
Satisfied, Rio gave a firm nod and bounced back to her seat.
The rain grew another notch heavier.
Even straining my eyes through the water coursing down the pane, the contours of the school gate remained hopelessly blurred.
The words I had choked on this morning floated back to the surface.
The next time I see him, I'm definitely going to ask him something.
If I ask what he likes, I want to tell him about the things I love, too. If I ask how he spends his days off, I want him to know what my weekends look like as well.
Not just firing off a question and passively taking an answer.
I wanted to listen to Aiba-kun's words, and weave my own response from them.
That was what I was supposed to be focusing on, yet somewhere along the way, wondering what to ask had morphed into wondering whether I'd get to see him just once more today.
Before I realized it, my head had turned toward the hallway where Aiba-kun's classroom lay.
Even though I had literally just seen him this morning.
Couldn't we cross paths in the corridor just one more time?
Even as those selfish thoughts spun in my head, the rain outside continued to wash away the sharp edges of the world.
◇◇◇
The final bell of the day rang.
Before the chime could even fade, the entire classroom sprang into motion. Freed from club activities, students grabbed their bags and huddled together to figure out who was walking home with whom.
I checked my phone screen.
A reply had arrived from the orthopedic clinic in response to the inquiry I had sent during the break: they were operating on their normal schedule.
"Are they open?" Rio asked.
"Yeah. Looks like I can go as planned."
"Be careful out there, okay?"
"It's only about a ten-minute walk from school. I'll be fine."
"Ten minutes is more than enough time to get completely drenched."
"I'll just have to put my umbrella to work."
"You have an awful lot of faith in umbrellas, Serina."
"That's only because you refuse to show them any respect, Rio."
"Since when did I become public enemy number one to umbrellas?" Rio laughed, hoisting her school bag onto her shoulder.
"Once your appointment is done, you're taking the bus from right in front of the clinic, right?" Kotoha checked.
"Yeah. It drops me off right near the station."
"Then just make sure to watch your footing."
"I will."
Miu's eyes drifted down to my right leg. "If it starts hurting, don't push through it."
"Got it."
Miu shifted her gaze from my leg back to my face. "Just to be safe, text us the second you arrive at the clinic."
"I won't forget."
"Good."
Giving Miu my word, the four of us stepped out of the classroom together.
The hallway was choked with students heading for the exits. Everyone was clutching an umbrella, moving in a steady tide toward the entrance hall.
Squeezing through the crowd, I cast a single, fleeting glance down the corridor toward the second-year classrooms.
Aiba-kun wasn't there.
I guess I'm not going to see him again today.
The moment that reality sank in, a pang of disappointment far sharper than I had anticipated weighed on my chest.
It seemed the handful of words we had exchanged this morning simply hadn't been enough for me.
—I'll save it for next time.
The unspoken continuation of the phrase I had uttered myself had been echoing in my heart all day long.
As we reached the entrance hall, the roar of the rain surged a notch louder.
Beyond the wide glass doors, the scenery was reduced to a smeared blur of rushing water. A damp, chilly draft gusted through the open entryway, spraying a fine mist across the tile floor.
I slipped out of my indoor shoes and stepped into my outdoor ones.
The other three finished getting ready, and together, we popped our umbrellas open and stepped out into the storm.
The heavy drumming against our umbrellas immediately swallowed the sound of our footsteps.
Even the short walkway leading to the school gate was already dotted with shallow puddles. Rainwater surged violently through the roadside gutters, water kicking up beneath our soles with every stride.
Past the front gates, the road split in two.
To the right lay the path toward the station—the route the other three would take home.
To the left was the sidewalk leading toward the orthopedic clinic.
We all paused under our umbrellas.
"Well, see you here."
"Yeah. Take care, Serina!" Rio waved.
"I hope the examination goes well."
"Thanks, Kotoha."
Miu pointed at the pocket where my phone was tucked. "Text as soon as you get there."
"I told you, I won't forget."
"Okay."
The three of them turned and started down the path to the right.
I stood there, watching until their backs dissolved into the pale haze of the storm, before turning toward the left myself.
The rain pounding down on my umbrella was noticeably heavier than it had been this morning.
With every step forward, water splashed underfoot. Droplets rolling off the umbrella's rim gradually soaked the hem of my skirt and seeped into my socks.
After a few paces, I glanced over my shoulder.
The three umbrellas had shrunk to tiny specks in the sheets of white rain. Even the warm glow of the school windows was just a faint, watery smudge in the distance.
Facing forward again, a sudden wave of isolation washed over me.
Only the drum of the rain against my umbrella felt close. The cars cruising by and the footsteps of pedestrians approaching from ahead all sounded distant, muffled beyond a wall of water.
I tightened my grip on the handle to keep the wind from ripping it away, stepping carefully to make sure my right foot didn't slip on the slick pavement.
From the opposite direction, three boys from our school approached, walking shoulder-to-shoulder.
Raucous laughter drew nearer, cutting through the ambient roar of the storm.
The sidewalk was too narrow for groups to pass with umbrellas open. I instinctively pressed closer to the building wall, putting as much distance between myself and the trio as possible.
Reflexively, my body locked up.
My fingers squeezed the umbrella handle until my knuckles whitened, and my eyes dropped straight to the boys' sneakers.
Deep in their own conversation, the three marched past without offering me so much as a passing glance.
Only after their laughter faded into the rainy distance did I finally allow the tension to bleed from my shoulders.
Nothing had happened.
It wasn't like they had done anything wrong. They hadn't even registered my existence.
Even knowing that, it was a physical reaction I simply couldn't control.
Whenever a group of boys walked toward me, my body braced for impact before my mind could catch up.
Aiba-kun from this morning drifted into my thoughts once more.
That split-second freeze in his expression when he first spotted me.
The steady voice that had called my name in return.
The way he had stopped and asked, "What is it?"
I still had no idea what that brief hesitation had meant.
Yet, wanting to decipher that mystery wasn't the reason he kept occupying my thoughts like this.
With those boys just now, all I had wanted was for them to hurry past and leave me alone.
Yet with Aiba-kun, I caught myself desperately wishing he would come walking toward me from beyond this veil of rain.
They were all boys, yet the emotions stirring in my chest couldn't have been more different.
I had wanted to talk to him so much more.
Not just learning one little thing he liked, but talking about what happened today, or what tomorrow would bring.
I wanted to listen to Aiba-kun's voice, and I wanted to share a little bit of myself with him in return.
Before this day came to an end, I just wanted to see him one more time.
If Aiba-kun were to appear through this curtain of rain right now, this time I wouldn't hesitate to call his name.
I wouldn't brush it off with "next time"—I would say all the things I had left unsaid.
"...I want to see you."
My faint whisper dissolved instantly into the roar of the downpour. Even so, the sentiment anchored itself with undeniable clarity deep within my chest.
—Ah. I really am in love with Aiba-kun, aren't I?
Not because he was the boy who had rescued me from the fire. Not because he was Koharu's older brother.
I just wanted to see Aiba-kun, the boy who shared my school, one more time.
Nowhere in the sky was there a single break in the storm clouds.
The path stretching ahead grew hazier the farther it went, swallowed entirely by the downpour.
Even so, I adjusted my grip on my umbrella, called Aiba-kun's name once more in the quiet of my heart, and took a firm step forward beyond the sound of the rain.