Specks of Light

Part Three. Chapter 4: False Hope

It seemed like time had gone flying when he finished drawing the last piece of the day. The other assistants were still working but Fujino and Yuu seemed to be pretty much done with what they had scheduled for today. "We are all set" Kirishima- san commented approaching them both "Yanase-kun and Nozomi- san won't be available within three weeks on thursday and friday but the rest of the month should be fine. That means we can print two chapters of this manga for this month's Japun".  Yuu wrote down the appointments in his cellphone when a new text arrived [Call me when you arrive home]. He deleted the notification and kept writing down what Kirishima- san was telling him.

"So then we have four weeks scheduled with everyone?" Fujino asked with a smile "Yes, we do" Kirishima- san answered with a similar smile. Yuu quickly stood up ready to leave "Well, I'll see you all tomorrow then. Good work today" he said picking up his bag. "Of course, thank you for your work today" Fujino answered as Yuu stepped out. He was about to leave the place when a familiar voice called out "Yanase- san, are you going by train?" Yuu turned to look and as expected, he saw Nozomi- chan with her usual blushed cheeks. Last time Nozomi- chan had asked this, he had told her an author was going to pick him up but today, Ijuuin wouldn't be coming. "Yes, I am" he answered honestly. "Can I go with you? If you don't mind?" the innocent girl asked looking at him. Yuu didn't have a clear excuse in mind and even though he didn't really want Nozomi to go with him, he had to admit it was not very nice to let a girl go home by herself this late at night. "Sure, we can walk to the nearest station" he said with a low tone. "Thank you, Yanase- san" Nozomi answered with a very shaken voice.

Yuu watched as Nozomi put her coat on and they headed out of the apartment. The night was really clear and there wasn't a lot of cars in the street. As silence settled between them, Yuu kept thinking of Ijuuin's text [Call me when you arrive home] he was certainly anxious to talk to sensei but he would take long and by the time he got to his own home it would probably too late to make a call. Ijuuin's place, however, was closer, so maybe if he went there instead of his own house, he could actually call Kyo and talk with him for a while. He was just thinking about that idea when Nozomi interrupted "Yanase- san, do you live nearby?" she asked clearly trying to break the silence between them "Not really, its a long way" Yuu answered taking into consideration the location of his own place "Really? I could swear I once saw you exiting one of the buildings of this area" the girl commented "But probably I just got confused" she finished with a little laugh. "Probably" Yuu replied coldly.

The conversation died until they entered the train. Yuu had decided to go to Kyo's place after all, plus he was sure he would be able to rest better in there than at his own home. The problem was that Nozomi was still with him and he had just said he lived quite far. "I'll be getting off in the next stop" he said noting that he was already close to sensei's house. "Oh, I thought you lived in another area" Nozomi answered confused. "I am not going to my house today" Yuu replied trying not to reveal a lot. "I see" the girl said with a soft voice that could have never warned Yuu about her next question "Are you staying with your girlfriend tonight, Yanase- san?" Yuu felt his whole body turning cold at the question, even when Nozomi had asked innocently "I- I don't have a girlfriend" he answered as steadily as possible "Well...He's not a girl" he thought right after he said that.

He didn't really see anything wrong with his answer until he noticed the tiny smile that had formed in Nozomi's bright red face. It didn't take a genius to realize that his answer had given Nozomi the hope he had been trying not to give her. There was no way of fixing this one "I'll see you tomorrow. Good work today" Yuu said as the train reached the next stop. "Good work, Yanase- san. Have a good night" Nozomi answered still wearing the smile she had formed upon hearing that Yanase didn't have a girlfriend. 

Walking to sensei's house had always been something Yuu liked to do. No matter what he had done or if he had had a good or a bad day, arriving to that apartment always meant that he would have peace to seize the day. Several times Ijuuin would be waiting for him with dinner and Yuu would always find it very nice to go to sleep by his side whenever he could stay in there. Tonight, however, that feeling of peace was not what he felt as he approached sensei's place. Knowing that he was far away was a quite saddening plus he had just given an innocent girl a hope of acquiring what she would never have. He tried to ease those feelings by remembering that he could call Ijuuin as soon as he arrived to his place.

The apartment was dark and cold, he took  few steps in and quickly turned on the heat. Having taken a very quick shower and changed into his sleeping clothes, he dialed Ijuuin's number as he took a seat on the living room's couch. His heart raced as the beeping tone of the call echoed through the phone. ["Yanase- kun"] sensei answered making Yuu a little nervous "Hi, how was your day?" He asked trying to hide how happy he really was about this call ["It was fun, I had an interview and an autograph session. I was surprised to know there were so many manga readers around here"] Ijuuin answered sounding really excited. It looked like he had indeed had fun. ["How was work with Fujino- sensei?"] sensei continued with a very curious tone. "It was fine, we worked really fast and I saw one of your assistants there, also.." he stopped, maybe it was better for Ijuuin not to know about everything that had happened that day, specially about the way Fujino- sensei had grabbed his hand to make a drawing.

["Also?"] Kyo asked waiting for Yanase to complete his story, without much thought, Yuu answered with the worst possible explanation "One of his assistants is Nozomi- chan".