Chapter Ninety-Four: The Sky's Inner Turmoil (New Year's Day Bonus Chapter)

"Are you all right, Aoki-kun?"

"Aoki-kun, if you see this, please reply as soon as you can."

"I asked our classmate, Harushino... You haven't gone home yet?"

"I can't get in touch with Maeda Torago either. Is everything okay with you?"

"I'm terribly sorry—I was so flustered that I let it slip to Harushino-san. I truly am sorry. I never meant to make her worry."

"You still haven't gone home, have you?"

Looking at the dense stream of messages from Kokomi Teruhashi on his phone, Aoki Tsukasa found himself unable to blame her at all.

With a sigh, Tsukasa let Sora keep holding his hand as she slept, and with his other hand he clumsily typed back, "I'm home. Nothing's wrong, so don't worry."

"Thank goodness!" The instant reply made Tsukasa a little surprised.

"I'm really worried about you, Aoki-kun. How is Harushino-san? When I asked about your situation just now, I accidentally let it slip. I must have caused you a great deal of trouble."

Kokomi Teruhashi was lying on her pink, oversized bed, legs crossed, cheeks flushed as she stared at the phone screen, her fingers tapping in anxious little bursts as she waited for Tsukasa's reply.

With one hand, Tsukasa replied slowly, "It's fine. Anyway, by the time I got home, the state I was in would have told Sora what happened."

Teruhashi let out a sigh of relief and broke into a somewhat goofy smile at the screen. She had been deeply worried that Tsukasa might get angry with her for what she had said to Sora, and now that he seemed not to be upset, the great weight in her heart finally seemed to have lifted. She tapped at her phone quickly, then erased and revised her words again and again, going back and forth several times, not knowing what to say.

Should she keep asking about Aoki-kun's condition? He already said it was nothing. If she asked again, would he get annoyed with her?

Then how could she keep talking to him?

Teruhashi bit her lip, then her eyes lit up as her fingers began to dance across the screen.

"How is Harushino-san doing?"

No matter whether he said Harushino-san was angry or that she did not care at all, she could use the topic to keep chatting with Tsukasa for a while longer. Teruhashi smiled brilliantly.

Tsukasa glanced at Sora, who was sleeping soundly with her head on his leg, both hands still clutching one of his hands beneath her cheek, and slowly replied:

"She's asleep."

Reading those words on the screen, Teruhashi suddenly felt that something was off. But she could not quite tell what was wrong, so she continued cheerfully, "Have you eaten dinner, Aoki-kun?"

Only then did Tsukasa suddenly remember that he had not even eaten the lunch box from noon, and had just fought a hard battle at that. His stomach turned sour and bitter at once, and hunger surged up through him. Then, from not far away, the aroma of fast food drifted in through his nose.

"I'm about to eat." After sending that brief reply, Tsukasa looked down in hesitation at Sora in his arms, then at the fried chicken, pizza, and hamburgers sitting just by the door yet still out of reach. His mouth watered at once.

Seeing that Sora seemed to be sleeping very deeply, Tsukasa finally could not resist. He gently withdrew his hand, watching Sora's little head dip against his leg, yet she did not wake. Only then did he breathe a quiet sigh of relief. Carefully lifting her head and sliding his other arm under the bend of her knees, he laid her back onto the bed and covered her properly with the blanket before tiptoeing toward the door.

When he touched the fast-food bag, the rustling clash of plastic was unavoidable. Tsukasa held his breath, watching Sora all the while as he tried to keep his movements as small as possible.

By the time he had taken out his own portion, Tsukasa was already drenched in sweat.

Letting out a breath, Tsukasa looked at Sora, who was still asleep, and smiled softly at her. In a low voice, he said, "Silly girl. Sweet dreams."

Only then did he carefully close the bedroom door again.

At the sound of the door shutting, Sora opened her eyes, her face burning red. Staring up at the ceiling, it took her a long while before she murmured, "You're the silly one."

She hugged the blanket tightly, but the heat in her face would not fade.

Just now, when Tsukasa had been about to pull his hand away, Sora had woken. But the moment she realized that she was lying on Tsukasa's leg and still holding his hand, she had been so mortified she did not dare open her eyes.

"Honestly..." She let out a soft sigh, then looked at her own hands with a complicated expression. Staring at her pair of pale, delicate hands, she said unwillingly, "Silly."

Even she did not know whether she was speaking of herself, or of Tsukasa.

"Tsukasa..." Sora clasped the black rabbit plush by the bedside tightly and lowered her head in distress, one hand pressed over her heart, her feelings a tangled mess. Again, she felt close to tears. "What should I do?"

"Tsukasa... I hate you."

She buried her face in the plush and did not lift her head for a long time.

But I hate myself even more.

I hate that I know perfectly well that the deeper our feelings become, the more we will hurt each other, and yet I still cannot stop... or rather, I do not want to stop.

Tsukasa... he must be worried about me, just as I worry about him, right?

Tsukasa... he must feel sad too, just as I feel sad, right?

If I...

Sora clutched at her chest, raised her head from the plush, and breathed in gulps, tears slipping silently from the corners of her eyes.