Sakuta Azusagawa took a plot twist of his life when he saw a girl with the same case as his. As he met this significant being, so was the lost part of his childhood. It came returning to him, as the girl had her pain increased.
ORIGINAL STORY BY HAJ...
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私の唯一の本当の瞬間を知らないのですか、私があなたと過ごす瞬間ですか？
The Saturday morning came, and there's already tension. It is like the whole Shoko Makinohara situation all over again. Somehow, Mai's free at this very day, so the tension further increased for Sakuta, who has not cared for it but somehow did.
"And I thought my Saturday's just work, yet here we are... dealing with Adolescence Syndrome again. P a i n ." Sakuta said to himself, as if mocking the nervousness he's currently experiencing.
All of a sudden, somebody knocked at the door. Sakuta went to there to see that person. "Who is it?"
"I- It's me. Mizumi Haru." With that, Sakuta opened, and the once familiar voice became clear to him. It was his old friend from before he moved in to his apartment. He almost forgot her, but after seeing her face again, he gave her a quick hug.
This got Mai suspicious. She also went there while holding a knife, as she was prepping their breakfast. "So, you must be Mizumi. I'm Sakuta's girlfriend, Mai." She offered her hand, but Mizumi seems to be refusing it because Mai's holding a knife.
"Not again." Sakuta said to himself. He then offered Mizumi to sit with him on his kotatsu. With Mai prepping their dish, Mizumi started asking questions.
"So, how are you? It's been a long time since we've talked to each other, actually. I've never seen you get online anywhere on the internet. You have abandoned it, I guess." "Yeah, I did." Sakuta said, with dead cold eyes staring at nothingness.
The whole room was filled with awkward silence, until Mai landed their food on the kotatsu. "How long have you been friends with Sakuta-kun?" She then asked.
"Umm... since childhood...? It's been quite a while. I remember that one time his ice cream fell on the river. He was crying the whole day. Ahh the old days... I'm very sorry to intrude." Mizumi said.
Sakuta seems to not remember that one thing. He raised one of his eyebrows. "I don't remember crying that-- oh..." Sakuta finally remembered. "Remember? I was just there looking at you sad, when deep down I'm actually laughing." Mizumi added.
"It seems that you two have a really good friendship, huh." Mai said, while she turned off the food heater at the centre of the kotatsu. "A friendship that intermittently didn't last long than you expected." Sakuta said.
As Mizumi kept recalling the memories, the more Sakuta noticed that his wound is bleeding, but he doesn't feel pain. "Uhh... my wound... it's bleeding." He said to the two of them.
This got Mai worried, but Mizumi only sat there and watched, and gave a comforting smile. "There's no denying it... I am the cause of all this. I'm really sorry, Sakuta-kun... Mai-san. This is on me. I'll be on my way." Mizumi then rushed to the doorsteps and went outside quickly, feeling a bit of regression and acceptance.
"Sakuta-kun... are you okay?" Mai was curious of what happened to him. She covered the bleeding with a clean cloth from his closet. "Mai-san... thank you." Mai then proceeded to hug her.
"Go easy on yourself, Sakuta-kun. You weren't able to handle everything she said... take a rest, please." She tried to plead to Sakuta. "I always figured it would be like this, but still nothing seems to be quite clear. That's definitely something else..." Sakuta responded.
As Mizumi was about to push the elevator that will take her to the ground floor, Sakuta and Mai rushed to her. "Oh what's wrong? Are you okay now, Sakuta-kun?"
"I don't want to assume, but maybe it's not you who's the reason behind all of this. I- I don't want to think and believe that, Mizumi-san." Sakuta said.
"Sakuta-kun, it is what it is. You cannot just change that. After all, I'm waist-deep in so much trouble in my past life. This is just my escape. Don't worry, I'll be fine on my own. Your pain wouldn't stop if I'm around you." She responded back.
As Mizumi's confession took a turn for Sakuta, his wound stopped bleeding again. "Then stay with us for a while." Mai said, which surprised Sakuta, because she hasn't offered anyone his home for solitude yet, unless if she really knew her or is blood-related.
"Umm... that's... that's quite a large offer. Please, I don't want to disturb anyone, let alone Sakuta-kun." Mizumi was also surprised at the unbelievable turn of events.
"It's alright, Mizumi-san. I'm sure Sakuta-kun won't have any feelings for you. Isn't that right?" Mai turned her head to Sakuta, as she reaches for his ass and pinches it. "Ah- s- sure, Mai-san! P- Please, make... yourself at home...!"
"O- Okay. If that's an offer I cannot refuse, then I'll stay for a while. I'm really thankful for you two!" Mizumi bowed her head to both of them out of selfless act.
That afternoon, Sakuta was at his working place. He apologized to the manager for not saying he's not going to work on his morning shift. Afterwards, he continued his afternoon routine.
After his last customer service, Sakuta chilled at the counter. "Sakuta-kun, your eyes are as dead as always." Tomoe Koga stepped in just to greet him with that. "Nice way of saying hello to me, Koga. I'm surprised you kept noticing my eyes." He said back.
"I- I'm not saying that! Why were you not here this morning? Did something happened?" Tomoe asked. "Nah, it was just another problem."
"Is it that syndrome thing again?" She asked again. "You really want to know more about me, do you?" Sakuta laughed a little. "Y- You really are getting the wrong idea!" That really irritated Tomoe. "I'm just worried, that's all!"
"Eh... maybe a little problem. But I won't be getting into that until I'm okay with saying it altogether. The lewd stuff is still in my head, it's hard to clear it up." Sakuta said straightforward, even though that last sentence wasn't true at all. It's just a way to make this chapter contain more than 1000+ words.
"You're full of shit." Tomoe said. "I know, no need to tell me." Sakuta responded.
That night, Sakuta opened the door to his apartment and saw Mai-san sitting at the dining table. Mizumi cannot be seen anywhere.
