One Last Chance

Chapter VI - A Rocky Road

We have now arrived in autumn, a season where people begin to huddle closer to their fires and double down on their hot teas and cups of joe, not to mention the leaves changing colour as the trees prepare for the oncoming winter. At this point, it is now late October, three months since me and Mami started dating, and it's been a good relationship for us so far. We mostly did the same sorts of things we had done for a while at that point, though it was a bit tricky to get used to the fact that we were now dating. We would often go out when we weren't in classes or when we weren't busy with anything else, and we enjoyed every second of it. That promise I made to her back in July to improve her life wasn't just a promise for her; I also promised myself that I could achieve that. If I can't steer Mami's life in the right direction, I'd be horrible for just leaving her to her fate. Other than that, these past few months have been rather uneventful... well, with two exceptions.

August 29 and September 15, 2017. Two missiles from North Korea sailed over Northern Japan (specifically Hokkaido and Aomori), which prompted shelter in place orders in these areas. This was a scary time for many of us. From what Mami told me, her father forbid her and her brother from going outside for the whole day on both occasions as he was worried for their own safety, even though Tokyo wasn't in the warned areas in either incident. With tensions this high, I wouldn't be surprised if someone made the terrible mistake of dooming mankind, but we hope that it won't get that far.

One day, as I was just walking about on campus, Mami had come up to me with a concerned and somewhat downcast expression.

Me - Hey, Mami.

Mami - Hey...

I've only heard this sombre tone of voice one other time before, and that was when she told me of her past back in July. Something must be up.

Me - Shouldn't you be in class right about now?

Mami - Yeah... but...

Mami sighed as she began to voice her concerns

Mami - To tell you the truth, I've been feeling a bit stressed lately, and I don't feel it'd be healthy to be in class in that case. Besides, it's Koumigi's class I'm normally in right now, and he's pretty lenient with attendance, so I just marked myself as "here".

Me - I see... You can always pick up lesson notes and assignments from him later so that you don't fall too far behind.

Mami - Yeah... that's what I've been doing.

Me - Is this a one time thing, or...

Mami - My mental state has been pretty rough for the past couple of weeks now, so that's how long I've been doing this.

What's going on with her to cause her to start leaving early from classes? Familial issues? Her depression flaring up? Or perhaps even something to do with Kazuya? I don't really know for sure as of yet. I placed my hand on her shoulder as I began to speak.

Me - It's okay, Mami. I can sense that you don't want to overexert yourself mentally, and I can respect that. However, I can't deny that you definitely need a break from school and everything else for a little while. With that in mind, how about we go and spend the rest of the afternoon together? Just the two of us. Besides, my last class got cancelled because the teacher called in sick today and there weren't any substitutes available, so I'm free right now.

Mami smiled at me and nodded graciously.

Mami - I'd love that, Natsu. What did you have in mind?

Me - I figured we go down to a café close by and just relax. I know of a really good one in Ikebukuro that does parfaits themed around the zodiac, and I think it would be pretty interesting. So, what do you say? You up for it?