A Firefly's Glow

Chapter Twenty: Part One

The last time I had seen Hinata was the last Monday, on the breezy night I had decided to run from the Hanabusa household.

He had walked with me up an exit on that beltway that night. All I had felt the moment we were strolling up that road gave me relief.

He had saved me. If I was left alone, I would have been caught by police. I didn’t even know what situation I’d be in my then if Hinata didn’t stay by my side, pulling me out of trouble.

Once I caught eye of the café and Amanatsu, I had forgotten Hinata for a brief moment. When I had turned back around to look at him, he wasn’t present anymore.

I didn’t expect to see him again.

Now that he was standing just a few feet away, I was thrown in just a little shock. He was in front of me again, exchanging glances with me. His hair hung loosely over his eyes, just like the night I saw him.

I wanted to smile and squeal and say, “Hey! Long time, no see!” and acknowledge his existence. He hadn’t disappeared off the face of the earth!

But the thoughts of what he was doing here overpowered my sense to greet him.

“You go to Seika Academy?!”

My voice was probably louder than it needed to be, because Hinata jumped at it. I heard Keita mumble in a low voice, “Clumsy.” I purposely ignored him.

“Uh. Yeah—“

I interrupted Hinata’s answer with another question.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t think I ever needed to—“

“How?!” My voice seemed to scroll by without any thought about Hinata’s answers. It was like my voice was automatically turned on whenever I heard just a bit of reply. “Are you freakishly wealthy like—“ I turned towards Keita and eyed him for emphasis.

“I’m at Seika on a scholarship.”

“Scholarship?! You’re that smart?!”

I didn’t know how hard it was to get a scholarship to attend an academy like Seika, but I was sure that it must have been hard. You must have had to be a super genius to be able to attend such an exaggeratedly luxurious school! You had to deserve all of this treatment if you didn’t pay for it with your own money.

“I guess—“ Hinata began, glancing at the floor and shrugging his shoulders.

This time, it was Keita’s turn to interrupt Hinata. His voice was amazingly blunt.

“Fuyume, you know her?”

“You know Hinata?!” I gasped, whipping my head towards Keita with wide eyes.

“Yes, he is in my class—“

“You’re a second year?!” My gaze lashed from Keita back towards Hinata. I knew that Hinata seemed tall enough to be older than me, but I never thought of him as my upperclassman.

“No,” Keita answered. “He’s a seventh-year, because seventh-years totally exist.”

I growled at Keita and his freakishly blunt sarcasm. “No one asked you!” I hissed.

I had this giddy feeling inside my stomach. The moment where two people that you know but never thought that would know each other revealing that they’ve been acquainted with each other al this time sort of gave me a mind-blowing moment. I couldn’t help but feel excited.