Betrayal

6

Nishikata looked over at Takagi-San, and felt happy. He didn't know the reason why, but he knew that being with her made him feel good. As they walked, their footsteps echoing in the hallway, they both thought of something to say to each other to start a conversation but not finding one, they conceded to the silence and left it as it was. As they reached the front entrance of the school, they saw the clouds about them open up as the rain started pouring down and spattering onto the ground. The students that were near them quickly rushed back inside, getting their umbrellas out and Nishikata reached into his bag to get his. As he pulled it out, he saw that Takagi-San wasn't moving, but was staring down at the ground. He asked her what was wrong, to which she replied that she had forgotten her umbrella. Realizing that this would be an issue for her, Nishikata offered to share his umbrella with her. Takagi-San happily agreed. Behind them, Akari-San thought about how similar this situation was to what happened on the day of the 'incident'.

As they walked through the rain, Nishikata thought back to the last time that Takagi-San had been at his house. He remembered the strange way she had acted and he thought about bringing it up, finally deciding against it. They walked in silence. Eventually, Takagi-San asked if she could move closer as her shoulder was getting wet. He agreed, and she pushed up against his shoulder. They both blushed. Quite far behind them, Akari-San brooded silently, praying that Nishikata would not fall for Takagi-San's acting and become friends with her again. When they arrived at Takagi-San's house, they both said their goodbyes and walked their separate directions. Just after he started to walk away the skies above Nishikata cleared, and he put away his umbrella, happy that the rain had finally stopped.

When he arrived home, Nishikata cursed himself. He had completely forgotten his entire plan to try and find out more information about what had happened on the day that he had been hit by the car. Deciding that the next time he and Takagi-San walked home together would be the perfect opportunity, he suddenly felt a sharp pang of guilt. He knew that it was the only way to get the information, but faking being her friend still made him feel guilty. As he thought more about it, he wondered what he would do with their relationship once he found out all the information he needed. After mulling it over for a few minutes, he decided that the best course of action for him after finding out what he needed was to simply give her the cold shoulder and not talk to her at all. He knew that she would think of him as a massive asshole, but he wasn't too bothered by that fact. He just knew that he had to find out what had happened on that day, and he knew that it must have been Takagi-San that he had saved.

After all, Akari-San was the person who had told him what happened, and he trusted her with his life.