“Hitomi…are you feeling any better?” I asked her. “Still the same. But I’m glad you came.” She looked happy.

I brought out the manga Masuda wanted to give her. “Oh Masuda wanted to give this to you.”

She took off the plastic wrapped around it. “Oh…! Thank him for me ok? I love this!” “I’ll be sure to do that.”

We were both silent for a minute since she started reading one of the manga. Then it started raining outside. That’s when I thought that I visit her nearly every day. Is the reason why Masuda sometimes doesn’t visit her is because he’s giving me the chance to…

She put away the manga. “It started raining huh?” She said, looking at the window. There were gray clouds outside. Then I looked at her. Her cheeks were red.

“Ne, Hitomi…I remember something from when we were in High school.” “Hmmm…really?” She looked attentive. “Yeah, remember that rainy day and you forgot to bring your umbrella?”

I told her the whole story.

---flashback---

Class ended. Everybody gave a sigh of relief when sensei left the room. I packed my things and went to my locker. I grabbed a few things and an umbrella. As I was headed outside, I saw Hitomi by the door. “Ah, good afternoon Hitomi. It’s raining pretty badly.”

She looked at me. “Tegoshi-kun. Hi. Yeah it is…”

I stayed with her for a few minutes and we chatted a little.

“I guess I need to head home now. I’ll see you tomorrow. I waved goodbye to her and opened my umbrella. As I was about to walk past the gate, I heard her call out. I ran back and asked her.

“You didn’t bring an umbrella, didn’t you?”

She nodded in a childish way. “I’ll you home then.”

The two of us went under the umbrella and started to walk. We passed the gate. Hitomi’s house is still a bit far away. This could be a pretty long walk.

“Ne Tegoshi-kun, how is Masuda-kun doing?” “Oh, he’s fine. Not very much in school though.” Hitomi looked at me. “I’m just kidding…he’s not that bad in class…”

We both laughed a little. “How about you Tegoshi-kun?”

“A-Ahahah…I’m trying my best. I want a bright future too. How about you?”

“Good.”

We were both pretty silent for a while. We passed a small bush of flowers. It still seems to be doing fine. I went closer to it and picked a white one. I gave it to Hitomi. “Here.”

“Arigato…” She accepted. Then something came to my mind. “Um, you don’t have someone you like, do you?! I hope that didn’t bother you.”

“Well…that’s…a secret.” She smiled and looked down.

We saw two cats under a car on the way. Hitomi felt pity for the two cats. “I hope it doesn’t rain too long. Poor kitties…”

Yeah, but I suddenly feel weird. It’s like I’m hoping for it to stay a little longer. Also, I want to know if she really has a person she likes.

We both saw a crepe vendor on along the way. “Do you want to some?” I asked her. “Ok. Strawberry please.” A few moments later, we were eating crepes.

“This is…like a date.” She said, smiling at me.

I didn’t say anything. My heart was beating too fast. I just nodded at her and kept on eating my crepe. …

“We’re almost there.” She said, but I could sense a slight sadness in her voice.

“N-Ne Hitomi…!”

We both stopped walking.

“A-Actually…I…”