A cool breeze blew across the hill, flowing toward the large tree behind me. It wasn't too hot; we were all wearing short sleeves, so we felt it all.
I don't mean that as a bad thing. It was quite satisfying. I like this kind of cold air, especially in hot weather.
"Everything's spinning… How can I still be dizzy?" Kichiro exclaimed, lying completely flat on the ground. Obviously, his head wasn't resting on anything.
"Thank Amaya. If she hadn't made me stop, I would have kept going."
"Even I think you were going too far, what if he started vomiting all over the place?"
Daiki's comment brought back that same image to mind: Naomi with Kichiro on top of her, creating a fountain of vomit.
"Daiki, please don't force those things into people's minds, it's disgusting."
"You just put up with it."
A little time had passed since that incident. We were all huddled together on the picnic blanket we were having. I was leaning my back against the trunk of the large tree next to the group.
"Well, putting that aside, Amaya, didn't you tell us you recently changed classes?" In the silence that had fallen, Daiki asked Amaya a somewhat spontaneous question.
"It's true, you told me you appreciated the change," I added.
"Thank you? Oh, you mean that you think everyone in your class is 'retarded'?" Naomi asked me.
As spontaneous as it was, in no time the three of us were waiting for a response from Amaya.
"It's not that I think that, it's that they are," Amaya answered in my place. She added, "If you saw what they're like, you'd understand. They think they're everything just because they got into high school, as if it wasn't something everyone has to do. They also pretend to act like adults, but they're all conceited and like children. Besides, there's no one I like."
"Haven't you talked to a girl recently? Was it Suzuha? No.. Suzu… Suzu-"
" Why do you think I'm going to talk to someone from that class so soon?!"
"But haven't you talked to someone?"
"Well…" She was a little embarrassed about the fact. It's not even what one would do, but I do like tsunderes!
"You were so happy and proud, I can't forget your face!"
"S-shut up!" As she looked at me, now a little annoyed, I couldn't help but smile.
Honestly, I'd like to see more of that side of her. I usually see her tired, annoyed, or laughing her head off at me. I'm not saying she's not happy; she is happy whenever she's out, but she rarely acts that way.
It's like the joy of a child on Christmas Eve. A pure joy, thinking only about that which makes you so happy. Ahh, just imagining his face again makes me feel that way...
I'm not particularly religious, but I hope God hears me and gives you 10... no, 100 friends!
"Are you saying we're not your friends?" Daiki added, with a slightly sarcastic tone. Though well-intentioned.
"No, it's not that. Everything Riku's saying is a lie anyway."
" Lie? You liar!"
"Me? Lie? I could never!"
" So I made up everything I said?"
"Y-yes!"
" I don't know…"
"Shut up too, Daiki!"
We weren't laughing, much less at her, although we were holding back our laughter a little.
" Likewise, it's okay for my future girlfriend to make friends!" Daiki, I assume for the joke, put his arm behind Amaya's head, as they were both sitting next to each other. "Riku, take a picture! It's for my future children to see how handsome he was."
"…" Amaya was judging Daiki with her eyes. It wasn't complete disgust, it was more like repulsion and disappointment at the same time.
I sighed at what Daiki said. "You really are hopeless, man…"
"Don't you mean 'brother-in-law'?"
"...Just for that joke I'm taking the picture of you." I said with a silly smile, as I took my phone out of my pocket.
"If you take my picture, I'll tell Dad where you keep your 'magazines'."
" Do you think I use magazines for that like you do?"
"I… I don't use magazines!"
"Oh, so you look at it on your phone?"
"Yes, exa-!… N-no, not that either."
'But you humiliate yourself alone, woman...'
Taking advantage of her moment of weakness, and while Amaya looked at the floor in shame, I prepared the camera on my cell phone.
"Come on, smile for the camera!" At this point I was messing with her. Even though I know she likes it. Or at least, I hope so.
"Take me out handsome, or else...!"
"H-hey, I said no th-!"
*Tap.*
I snapped the photo before she could complain. It's honestly the best photo I've ever taken.
On the right was Daiki, who, not content with having a face like an idiot, the latter affectionately, is also making an 'Alpha Male' face, resting his chin between the hollow of his thumb and index finger, and sticking out his lip in an exaggerated way.
Amaya was practically dying. Yes, she was looking at the camera, but completely red. She was trying to hide her face. She had a somewhat hunched posture. She was on her knees, being a girl, and wearing a skirt, although her legs were positioned in a triangle facing the camera.
Seriously, anyone who was into incest… First of all, I'd hit him for being such a degenerate. Second, I'd hit him for thinking things about Amaya. Third, he'd hit me back and beat the hell out of me.
Ah…! How I love being so weak!
"Stop staring at the photo like a degenerate and let me see it already!"
I had gone blank for a moment as I looked at the photo.
"Don't…! L-look, I'm fed up, I don't care anymore…" For her part, she had given up trying to stop us, thus accepting the consequences of the catastrophe she had endured. If something similar had happened to me, I wouldn't be able to hold back my tears. Congratulations.
While she was complaining, Daiki came over to look at the photo with me.
"…"
"What, what's okay?"
"This photo isn't real, is it? It's 100% AI," Daiki said, hesitating slightly.
"You can thank me now."
"Y-yes, it left me so surprised that I didn't have time to jump for joy like a monkey."
"Do you want to see it, Amaya?" I asked.
At first, she pretended to ignore me. However, after I stared at her, she looked back at me and began to wonder what to do.
After a while, she gave up. She slowly came closer to us to look at the photo. "D-don't say a word."
"Yeah."
"Received!"
I left her my phone so she could see it. She picked it up as soon as I left it.
At first, he stared at the photo for a moment. Then he looked back at me. Then he looked at it again. Then he stared at Daiki. And finally, gradually, he began to smile.
And then he started laughing at Daiki.
"See? I make her laugh just by looking at her. I'm the perfect boyfriend!"
"I think he's laughing at something else…"
"Y-yes! This face… beats the rest of the ones you've made! Hahaha!!"
The sun was visible behind her in the distance as she laughed. You could see the orange color of the sunset, which had just begun at the moment I took the photo. I suppose that's why it looked so good.
She was trying to hold back her laughter, and she was also covering her mouth with her hand so that no one could see her mouth while she was laughing.
Her voice was tender, and she was laughing like a little girl. She always laughs like that, always laughs like a kid. And to think such a tender voice comes from someone so old. It's like she's two in one. A little girl's laugh, but an adult's body.
And I'm not talking about 'that' adult body. More like a lamppost. Yes. She's tall. Not exaggeratedly, but above average. She's even taller than me, even though I'm 5'6". More importantly, she's taller than Daiki, and that's saying something.
She's a kind person with a good sense of humor. Maybe she's a little too explicit—well, she doesn't censor herself—but it doesn't bother me. Plus, she has very good taste. Maybe I say that because I share many of her tastes, but I truly believe she has good taste, as far as I know.
Although she's not very cultured, she's smart. Definitely much smarter than me. Even in her first year of high school, she got high grades. It's true that her grades slipped a bit in her second year, but my father wasn't worried about it. He thought it was normal, since it was a much more difficult course than the rest.
You'll probably never meet a better person ever...
"S-sorry…" The moment I lowered my head from the sky, I saw Amaya again. She was still crying, but not from laughter. She was covering her face with her hands, trying not to make too much noise.
"A-are you okay?" I approached her, seeing her crying.
"Y-yeah… it's just…" She tried to speak through her sobs. Still, she forced herself to cry quietly. I don't know if it was to make me not think so much of it, or to force herself to eventually stop crying.
"Amaya…" She stood in front of him, watching as he removed his hands from his face. His eyes were a little red, though it was barely noticeable. He also had runny nose.
She had her phone resting on her lap. Just when she seemed about to stop crying, she looked down and looked at the photo of herself and Daiki for the second time.
"…Why has everyone left?" he asked, looking at the photo.
Daiki, Naomi, and Kichiro were no longer with us. It was just the two of us. Alone. Alone.
"…" She stopped talking for a moment. Right after, she lunged at me.
He came to hug me. He wanted to hug me.
The moment he did so he began to speak.
"I… I don't want them to leave." She was crying again. This time, her pain was audible as she spoke, and her cries were louder than before.
"They are the only friends… I have…
"Why can't I... talk to more people?" I hugged her too. It made me angry.
"It's not fair!" he exclaimed, shouting as loud as he could.
"No… I don't want to be alone…"
'You are not enough.'
She stopped talking. She continued crying on my shoulder, holding on to me as tightly as she could. She didn't want to let go.
Her crying could be heard all along the hill, along with the grass moving in the new breeze that was blowing.
She was cold, but much colder than before. Even standing next to her, I felt that cold.
No. Being with her didn't matter. No matter how attached I was to her, she wouldn't warm me up at all.
His body was already cold.
"…" She tried to hide her tears again. However, this time she managed to hide them. It wasn't her who hid them completely; it was me who drowned them out, crying louder than her.
"Sorry…" I hugged her even tighter than she had hugged me before.
"Huh?" She stopped crying as soon as I started.
"Sorry…" Little by little, I stopped thinking. All I wanted to do was feel. But even that worked against me.
"Sorry…" Static. Voices. None of it existed, but I felt it all.
"Sorry…" Eyes. Laughter. I closed my eyes. I wanted to avoid all of that, but still feel like I had her in my arms.
"Sorry…" Still, I could feel her body in the worst possible way. It was cold. I already knew it was cold. But it wasn't just that. The shoulder Amaya was leaning on started to get wet. It was damp. It was staining.
"Sorry…" It ran down my shoulder to my arm and chest. It stained my hands. My legs. My back. It was wet, but I couldn't tell what it was. I didn't dare open my eyes and see it.
"Sorry…" I could feel his hair, which gently brushed against my face. It was also staining me. But it was still soft. For a moment, I just thought about how soft it was. It was the last thing I did before he left.
She wasn't with me anymore. I wasn't holding her. She was gone. There was nothing. I wasn't holding anything.
I was plunged into darkness. I was afraid, even though my eyes were closed.
But, in the midst of that terror, I felt something.
It was a hand. A hand rested on my right cheek, caressing it with its thumb. It was damp, but at the same time, it was warm.
That warmth never made it to the rest of my body, and it would quickly dissipate after the hand was gone.
I heard a voice. I heard it clearly. I was hesitating. I didn't know what to say. I didn't have time either. That's why, before leaving, I decided what to say...
"Sorry…"