CotE: Dearest

Chapter 10 - Lovers

𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖙

"How have you been, Ichinose?"

"I've been... alright, but why are you here?"

I let the moment breathe, feeling the cool breeze against my skin, before I asked again.

"Do you think I'm a bad person?"

The question hit like a pebble dropped into still water, creating ripples in her expression.

"...Just because you have done some bad actions in the past to me, doesn't mean you're a bad person in general."

Still, they carried the weight of someone who had spent too much time trying to convince herself of the same thing.

There was a certain fragility in her words. She hadn't thought about the past in years—at least, not until now. Not until this conversation.

"I think I was a bad person in the past."

She flinched, taken aback by the bluntness of my admission. "T-That's..." she stammered as if unsure how to respond.

There was no need to drag this out longer than necessary—for her sake.

"Well," I continued, "whether or not that's true doesn't matter as much as one thing that definitely is: how I treated you."

Her lips parted in a small, stunned "eh?" as she processed my words.

I stepped closer, the distance between us shrinking until the faint rustle of her breath reached me.

This wasn't about the feelings she'd once held for me—those were long gone.

What Ichinose wanted, more than anything, was to move on and move forward.

"For that," I said, looking directly into her eyes while touching her shoulder, "I wanted to apologize to you dearly."

"Ayanokoji..."

She inhaled sharply, her chest rising and falling like fragile waves against a rocky shore.

"I know words can't make up, but I... felt like I should."

She looked relieved, as if a stone fell from her heart. The tension that prickled beneath her skin started to lessen.

"It's fine... It's fine. I just... didn't expect this."

"To be honest, me neither," I admitted, "but... there's someone who makes me want to be a better person."

"That's... good to hear."

"There's one last thing I'd like to give you since I know you have been struggling."

I reached into my pocket, and pulled out a carefully folded envelope, handing it to her. Her fingers trembled as she took it, almost as though she were afraid to open it.

"What is it?" she asked as she opened the envelope.

I didn't answer immediately. I simply watched as she opened it. When she saw the contents, her eyes widened in shock and she closed the envelope again.

"A-Ayanokoji!? I can't accept that."

"Please, do."

"I r-really can't..."

Her voice cracked, and her eyes glistened, tears threatening to spill over. Her breath hitched, the envelope crinkling slightly in her grip.

"If you consider yourself a bad human being because of what happened in the past, then I want to prevent you from thinking of yourself as one in the future."