All for Love (Fin)

III

“Maa… maa… another necklace?” Yamada’s voice snapped me back to reality.  For how long I stood there, staring at the snowflake necklace – that same one I gave Yuki on my seventeenth birthday - I didn't know.  I felt as if the world is crashing under my feet as I stared at it.

 God, how I missed her.

 I just smiled, and looked at the sales girl.

 “I’m buying this, please.”

+++

 “Inoo-kun?”

 I stopped from drinking my coffee.  There he was, walking with a guy – Amakusa Ryuu? – whose hand held up a familiar pendant.

 It was the same necklace that Yuki has.

 I felt as if my world would crumple as he disappeared from my view.  It was from him – the necklace that Yuki always wears, that one she always holds, the one she would never take off for the world – it was from him.

 I closed my eyes and ran my hands over my face.

 No, she wouldn’t do that.  I have faith in her.  I believe in her.  She wouldn’t do that.

 I forced a smile.

 Yes.  She doesn’t need to assure me.  Maybe she holds that pendant as a habit, something she can’t let go of that easily.  Not because she still loves Inoo-kun.  He hurt her.

 Right?

 She’s going to have a surprise for me today, that’s what she told me.  So maybe Yuki would see Inoo-kun somewhere, but no, she wouldn’t do that.  She would cry maybe, but in spite of him coming back into her life, she would still choose me.

 I believe in her.

 I opened my eyes.

 “I don’t know.  I really don’t know.”

 It seems like my body moved on its own.  I stood up and ran for her.

 

+++

 I smiled as I shoved my cell phone into my skirt’s left pocket.  Yodogawa Yoshihiro – he hates it when I call him by his full name – seemed pissed at my lateness, judging by his surprising phonecall.  But I won’t answer him.  I am sure he would forgive me despite my “insensitivity”.  He should, because I spent most of the night making the perfect chocolate to make him feel that he is the most special man on Earth today.  And I even wore yellow because he always says I look “even” prettier in that color.  With these, I’m sure he would forgive me.  Saying “I’m sorry” only spoils everything.

 I smirked.  Right.

 I gave the chocolate box cradled safely in my arm a quick glance.  I wrapped it in forest green, because that’s Yodo-kun’s favorite color.  I know I would never go wrong with everything.  I want to make this day perfect for the two of us.

 Yodo-kun would forgive me.  He would forgive me because I will be his from this day on.

 With my free hand I fixed my earphones.  My iPod had already started playing.  I looked at the traffic lights.  As if on cue, the colors shifted from orange to red.

 I bit a corner of my lower lip to suppress a smile as I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket.  I took a small step on the pedestrian crossing.

 And stopped.

+++

 “You did that?” I let out in genuine shock.  “You’re crazy!”

 Yamada laughed.  “I am, right?  And since then I got less and less chocolates from my classmates.  I regret it now.”

 I laughed.  Just a bit, of course.  I have long learned to make sure I am as inconspicuous as possible in a public place.  And I should be even more careful now because it is, after all, Yamada Ryosuke who’s walking with me.

 “Wait, Inoo,” he said.  “I have chocolates back in the studio from my sister.  For you.  I almost forgot.”

 I felt embarrassed.  “Oh, thank you.”  I’m not really comfortable with topics like this.  I don’t even know how to answer properly.

 He laughed.  “She’s a bit shy, you know.  And she has school today.  But… can you make her like, a ‘thank you’ note, or something…”

 I scratched my nape, smiling.  “Yeah, no problem.  That’d be my first chocolates for this Valentine’s.”

 “No kidding?” Yamada asked, surprised maybe.

 I shook my head.

 “It feels bad that we don’t get lots of chocolates, right?” he asked, with a tinge of regret.  Just like Daiki exactly a year ago.

 I laughed, and shoved my hands inside my pockets.  It always feels good to walk around freely like this.  We stepped on the pedestrian crossing.

 “Have you seen Ryuutaro’s new DVD?  I wonder when he’ll outgrow his seventies-complex…”

 In normal circumstances I would have smiled at the thought.  But she was standing there, with those familiar, beautiful eyes staring back at me.

 “Uso.”

 I’m not even sure if I really said that.