Masato No Yura
Chapter 2
[Masato's POV]
"Let's go."
I realized the weight of those words after I said them. I wish I hadn't said that but it was done. There was no turning back anymore. I wish there was a way I could save her but I couldn't think of anything at all. There were no words I could say to her. I hugged her tighter thinking of a way to keep her from jumping. I wanted to save her but I couldn't see a way to.
"Why?" A silent quiver came from her. It took me a while to realize what it was. To this question, I had an answer.
"Because I have no confidence to tell you everything will be alright. But I want to let you know you're not alone. The only proof I can give you is joining you in your death."
Her shakiness seemed to have reduced quite a bit hearing this. Her uneven breathing slowly calmed down. She let out a deep sigh and held on tightly to me. I could tell she was crying.
"So, what do you want to do from here on?" After a few minutes of the comforting silence, I had to break it.
"I- I don't know" Her calm demeanor towards death had faded off. It seemed like a spirit of death possessing her mind was slowly losing its grip over her.
"I see... Well, I promised to support your decision. So whatever you choose is fine by me.", I eased my embrace and sat facing the river beside her.
"Well, I- I can't ask you to come with me. That would be selfish of me. But... Do you mind if I ask you something?" Her calmness from before was slowly fading away.
"Go ahead. But I don't know if I'll be able to answer it." I smiled at her as amicably as I could to ease her mind.
"Why did you not stop me right away? Why were you willing to die?" I was taken aback. A keen observation on her part but I honestly did not want to rant about my life.
"We all have our fair share of pain, small or big, it makes no difference. Pain is not absolute but a relative thing. I don't know what drove you to the edge, but joining you was the only decision I could make at that moment. You see, I am a good-for-nothing kid. Absolute average. And I can't get out of it no matter how hard I try. Or maybe I don't want to try." I said with a bittersweet smile realizing my words were stabbing me like a million daggers.
"I- I see... You sound like an old man saying all that." Her chuckling face made all the pain from those daggers fade away. It was as if my heart was healing... I couldn't help it.
"What about you... What drove you to the edge?" I asked as calmly as I could.
"Well, the short version would be that I am a rich kid with some family problems. I don't know why I came and sat here thinking about this but meeting you sure helped." I looked at her as she smiled into the sunset.
"Oh, Where are my manners! My name is Yura, What is your name?"
"Hmm? I am Masato. Nice to meet you Yura-san" I couldn't help but chuckle at the suddenness of her introduction.
"Nice to meet you too Masato-Kun. Will you be my friend?" She awkwardly put her hand forward. It seemed to me she was nervous about making friends. Well, to be honest, so was I.
"We already are friends though, after all that happened... Haha," I awkwardly shook her hand with an awkward smile.
"W-we are?" Her face became red as a tomato. I don't know why she was so flustered over friendship. But somehow, I felt like taking my gaze away from her...
"Yes. I suppose so" I said looking away from her and towards the setting sun.
I realized we were still holding hands... I had no idea what to say... I gently loosened my grip and she quickly pulled her hand back to herself getting even redder. Seeing her like that made me flustered for some reason... I kept looking into the sunset.
Suddenly, it hit me... I looked at my watch "Damn. I'm late. Okay, I got to go Yura-San. It was nice meeting you." I got off the ledge and picked up my bag.
"You're leaving? Okay, I guess you have to go."
Her face dropped like a stone. I felt bad leaving her but I was already quite late.
"We can meet here again tomorrow at the same time if you want Yura-san" I gave a smile I didn't know I could give to people other than my father.
"That would be amazing. But I don't know if I'll be able to come here tomorrow." She looked somewhat sad.
"Well, I pass by here almost every day so any day you can make it is fine, I suppose..." I said in my attempt to cheer her up. Although it would have been easier to exchange phone numbers so that we could coordinate better. But how do I ask a girl I just met for her number? She'd think I'm a creep for sure...
"Hmm... Can I ask you something?" My chain of thought was broken by her voice...
"Yes?"
"Can we exchange our phone numbers? Then we could text when to meet..." So she was thinking the same thing as me it seems... But should a girl really be asking this to a guy she just met...
"Eh... Are you sure... I don't mind but-" I had an awkward smile.
"Ahh if it's too much trouble then let it be Masato-San" She doesn't seem to realize the reason for my hesitation... Maybe she is unaware of proper conduct with strangers...
"No, it's no trouble, it's just that... You should be careful with whom you share your contact info... The world is a dangerous place you know... Especially for a beautiful girl such as yourself!" Even I don't know why I said that last part... And here we go... Her face is red and I have butterflies too. I shouldn't have said that...
"I-i-i am.... sorry. I didn't know that but I don't think Masato-San is a bad person" Huh... What was that... How can she tell I'm not a bad guy... even though I know I am not but still...
"Well, I hope you're right," I said jokingly.
"Eh?" It seems she got confused by that.
"Anyways Yura-san, here is my number. Feel free to text me anytime." I chuckled as I handed out a chit of paper with my number on it.
"Oh... Thank you. I'll text you when I get home then"
"Sure. Okay, bye Yura-San. See you again" I said as I started running to get back home... Hope I don't make dad angry. The image of my dad standing at the door angrily popped up in my head.
"See you again Masato-Kun!" I could hear her voice as I kept running. I turned and waved at her. She waved back. I felt happy for some reason.
