halcyon days

29 2 5
                                        

⌠ 1 ⌡

The rainy season has finally

washed away.

Summer comes to Hoshizora

and with it,

the endless song of cicadas.

It feels like the sky might split open.


I see them by the school gate.

Takeshi waves.

Sugawa fixes his tie for him.

Yura, still half asleep.

"Morning," she says with a clumsy smile.

"Morning."


Since when did this become tradition?


We walk through the courtyard.

Past our lockers,

past the bulletin boards,

posters peeling at the corners.

We talk about nothing.

How hard that pop quiz was.

How the vending machine's still broken.

How the heat would never end.

None of it matters.

But it feels important.


"I'll see you later," Yura says quietly,

when we split up for homeroom.

"Yeah. Later."


Takeshi grabs my arm, dragging me into the classroom.


"You've got those puppy eyes again."

"You're one to talk."

"Eri's cute. That's all there is to it." His grin annoys me.

"Are you serious this time?"


He pauses.

The smirk stays,

but his eyes

wander.


The teacher starts class.


The question

lingers,


unanswered.




⌠ 2 ⌡

The final bell rings.

The heat's unbearable.

I find them outside,

huddled under patches of shade.


Takeshi's halfway through a popsicle.

Eri steals a bite.

They argue like kids.


Yura waves me over.

She hands me a canned drink,

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