What exactly is a friend?
Even if you're headed in different directions, you still meet at the school gate and walk in together. You share snacks, talk about which fashion magazine is the most credible, and excitedly exchange the latest twists in your favorite dramas.
Even when you argue, you forgive each other quickly.
Back then, Yui and Yukino had that kind of friendship. Later on, she had similar bonds with Yumiko, Junko, and Sayaka too.
But Yukino was different or rather, the Yukino now was different. Yui could feel it clearly.
"Yui…"
Her mother came out of the kitchen holding a small, sweet-smelling box. She handed it to Yui. "Give this to your friend at school tomorrow. They're freshly baked."
Sprawled out on the sofa, mindlessly staring at her phone, Yui accepted the box with a puzzled look. "…Butter cookies? Who am I giving these to?"
She didn't even like these kinds of cookies too sweet, too greasy.
"That beautiful girl you brought home once," her mother replied, bending down to tidy the oven. "She said she liked butter cookies. I was clearing out the fridge today and found some leftover butter, so I thought I'd use it to make some."
Oh, right. Now she remembered.
That time, Yukino's family's car nearly hit her dog, and Hachiman had thrown himself in the way to save it. That's how the three of them met.
Everything had happened so suddenly Yui was in shock. It was Yukino who calmly directed her driver to take Hachiman to the hospital, handling the entire situation with quiet command.
Yui had always admired people who were decisive and capable like that. It was only natural that she and Yukino grew close in the aftermath so close that Hachiman used to joke that he was the "love rival" between them.
She had even brought Yukino home a few times. That proud, aloof girl who usually looked down on everyone else was, in front of Yui's mother, surprisingly obedient and shy like a well-behaved child.
Yukino had once told Yui that her mother reminded her of her own.
Yui had been surprised. My mom? Like Mrs. Yukinoshita, the elegant lady of high society?
But Yukino had gone quiet after that.
Sometimes Yui truly felt that she and Yukino were from two completely different worlds. The things that brought Yukino joy or sorrow were like riddles she could never solve.
Her mother wiped her hands clean and gently patted Yui's lifeless head with a smile.
"It's perfectly normal for friends to have the occasional disagreement. But if you don't do something to fix it, you might end up losing them forever~"
But what had happened between her and Yukino… it wasn't as simple as a disagreement.
Yui wasn't a clever girl, but she had a heart more sensitive than anyone's. She had sensed, even back then, that beneath Yukino's indifferent mask, there was always a deep, inexpressible pain.
Yui, who could offer kindness to anyone, even to someone like Yukino with whom she had now fallen out completely had still tried, in her own way, to offer redemption.
But during that whole warehouse incident… she had ruined everything.
Did Yukino ever really need her kindness? Her redemption?
Did she even truly understand Yukino?
Yui couldn't stop herself from thinking these things.
The pink-haired girl slumped deeper into the couch and let out a long, weary sigh.
Friendship… sometimes it's even more exhausting than love.
Meanwhile, on the narrow balcony of a luxury hotel's third floor, two girls who should have been the very image of poise and elegance heirs of powerful, distinguished families were instead squatting on the floor like a pair of rain-soaked strays. Their designer dresses were bunched up unceremoniously on the surprisingly clean concrete.
Once bitter rivals, they now looked more like two pitiful creatures who had fallen into the same mess.
After crying her heart out, Maki Shijo finally spoke, her voice muffled and sullen. "I came out here because I couldn't stop myself from crying in secret. What about you…?"
Yukino rested her chin on her hand and looked up at the waning moon above.
"Same as you," she replied.
"…Huh?"
"I came out here planning to have a quiet cry myself."
Yukino added matter-of-factly, "But after seeing how miserable you looked, I felt a lot better."
Maki Shijo: "..."
The twitch of a vein was visible on her forehead.
Yukino finally smiled and said, "The person who matters most to me not only doesn't remember me, he doesn't even recognize me anymore."
Maki responded coldly, "Sounds like you had it coming."
Yukino agreed softly, "Yeah. I deserve it."
That calm, almost detached voice delivering such a harsh judgment on herself left Maki momentarily stunned.
Yukino had a notorious reputation, yes but with her porcelain complexion and poised demeanor, even just standing silently amid the ballroom's glimmering lights, she had commanded attention. In that moment, everything else had faded into shadow.
She wasn't the kind of person you'd expect to say something like that.
"…Then why don't you just tell him?" Maki said gruffly. "What's the point of torturing yourself like this?"
"I can't."
Yukino replied instantly. "Just like you could never confess to Tazuna Tsubasa, I could never say it out loud either."
Maki Shijo: Excuse me?
She couldn't confess because she didn't want to sabotage her best friend's happiness or tarnish her family's name. But Yukino had none of those constraints!
But Yukino was thinking of something else entirely.
Because Haruno said she would find me.
Back when they were children, and their parents were away, the two sisters used to play hide-and-seek at home. Yukino always hid in the most obscure corners places no one would think to look. Part of her would feel smug, thinking Haruno will never find me. But another part of her always worried that she really wouldn't.
But Haruno always found her.
"No matter where you hide, Yukino, I'll always find you."
That's what Haruno had said.
So Yukino would wait.
She was still the same awkward, prideful child at heart.
Downstairs, voices occasionally drifted up from the banquet hall. Yukino checked the time on her phone.
"It's time to go."
Beneath the cover of night, the two girls who had spent the past hour in emotional disarray rose to their feet again.
They each dusted off their dresses and, just like that, returned to being the distant acquaintances who would nod politely in passing.
Maki Shijo thought to herself: There may never be another night like this again. A night where I open up and speak aloud the deepest secret buried in my heart.
She felt a fleeting regret so faint it was almost imperceptible.
Just then, Yukino reached out, her fingers brushing beneath Maki's ear and through her hair.
A stranger's touch warm, fleeting.
Maki Shijo leapt back, face bright red.
"What are you doing?!?!?!?"
"There was a leaf," Yukino said, holding up a yellowing leaf she had plucked from Maki's hair. It had probably fallen in when she'd leaned near the balcony's potted plants.
Seeing the look of mortified outrage on Maki's face, Yukino looked puzzled. "…Should I put it back?"
Maki Shijo: I will hate Yukinoshita Yukino for the rest of my life!!!!!!
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