Episode 7: Distance
The next morning, I arrived at school earlier than usual.
Any other day I’d have gone straight to Honoka’s classroom. Today, my feet stopped.
I’d made a decision — a little distance, just a little — but my heart was already pulling toward her.
I breathed in slowly and took out my phone.
No new messages. Of course there weren’t.
Did Honoka think about me last night?
Or had she already stopped caring?
The moment I thought it, something tightened deep in my chest.
All I want is to live somewhere inside Honoka’s heart.
“…Yuna.”
A familiar voice, out of nowhere.
I looked up. Honoka was standing right in front of me.
“Honoka…”
The moment her name left my mouth, something trembled inside me.
She came. She came to find me.
Every part of me wanted to reach out and take her hand.
To go back to the way it was — the two of us side by side, as if that were simply how things were.
— But.
I shifted my gaze away, just slightly, and drew a slow breath.
“…I’m sorry.”
Start with that. An apology.
I wasn’t even sure if I owed her one. But right now, I needed to put my feelings in order before I could do anything else.
Honoka blinked, surprised.
“Why are you apologising?”
“…No. It’s nothing. I just — there’s something I want to say.”
I pressed my hand into a fist at my side.
To hold back the urge to touch her.
“…I think I’m going to keep a little distance for a while.”
For just a moment, Honoka’s expression froze.
“…What?”
“You said it to me, didn’t you. ‘Can you give me just a little more freedom?’ I’ve been thinking about it. I love you, Honoka. But maybe — because I love you so much — I’ve been tying you down.”
Shiori’s words from yesterday moved through my mind.
“Do you really understand what Shiraishi-san is feeling?”
I hadn’t wanted to hear it at the time.
But the thing Shiori had pointed at had landed somewhere true, in a place I couldn’t reach on my own.
“Hold on too tight, and people start wanting to pull free.”
I had seen Honoka’s face go lonely.
I’d just been pretending not to notice.
“So I’ve decided — to keep a little distance.”
Honoka looked at me, uncertain.
“…Does that mean…?”
“It doesn’t mean breaking up. Nothing like that. It’s just — I need to get my feelings sorted out.”
Breaking up with Honoka was never going to happen.
I just wanted to respect her freedom.
But even thinking that felt like it cost me something.
Honoka started to say something, then bit her lip and went quiet.
“…Okay.”
Her voice had something lonely in it.
Hearing that, I almost reached out again right then and there.
But I’d made up my mind.
If I really care about Honoka, this distance is what she needs.
“Thank you.”
That was all I said, and I looked quietly away.
The truth is I wanted to see her face. Wanted to know what expression she was wearing.
But if I looked—
I was afraid I’d undo everything.