Episode 44: A Hand That Stays Close
I just let Shiori lead me by the hand, away from that place.
— My heart ached.
Even so, I didn’t look back.
“…You did well, Yuna-chan.”
Shiori’s voice rang out, strangely gentle.
I couldn’t answer, and just stared at the ground.
“That was hard, wasn’t it?”
Shiori’s fingers touched my cheek, softly.
I caught a small breath.
Her fingertips were achingly gentle.
And yet, every time she touched me there, something stirred uneasily in the depths of my chest.
“But this was for the best.”
Saying that, Shiori gently pulled me close by the shoulder.
“…”
“You don’t have to think about anything right now.”
Warm. But it felt like something I shouldn’t let myself lean into, that warmth.
Shiori’s voice was soft, and yet full of a certain kind of conviction.
I just couldn’t say anything.
The time in the quiet back courtyard felt as if it had simply stopped.
Then, faintly, I heard it — the sound of the school chime.
“—Oh, there’s the bell.”
Shiori murmured it lightly.
Before I had time to react, she went on.
“You’re not really in the mood for class now anyway, are you? You should probably just take today off.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I nodded quietly.
“…Yeah, you’re right.”
Shiori smiled, satisfied.
“Let’s go, then.”
She took my hand and started walking toward the school gate.
We didn’t stop, and passed straight through it.
As we walked, a small question rose in me.
*
“Hey, where are we going?”
Shiori answered right away, without breaking stride.
“My place.”
“…Eh?”
I nearly stopped walking, but Shiori went on without turning around.
“If we went to your place, Shiraishi-san might show up, right?”
Hearing that, it clicked immediately.
“…You’re right. She has a spare key.”
“Yeah. And if we were out somewhere, we might just run into her by chance too.”
There was something in Shiori’s words that felt considerate of me.
But it seemed like there was something more than that too, and it snagged somewhere in the depths of my chest.
I fell into thought for a moment.
It’s true — right now, I have nowhere to go home to.
I don’t know what to do about Honoka, and being alone feels unsettling too.
In the end, I followed after Shiori and started walking.
“…Is it really okay for me to go to your place, Shiori?”
Saying it out loud let me organize the anxiety welling up inside me, if only a little.
But the answer didn’t come to me right away.
Is it really all right to go to Shiori’s place?
I still don’t know, even now.
Shiori paused for a moment and gripped my hand tightly.
“Of course it is. Let’s rest for a while, and settle down.”
At those words, I nodded again, as if pushing down the wavering feeling inside me.
“…Okay. Thank you.”
The road to Shiori’s place felt, somehow, a little heavy.
But right now, it’s all I have.
If I go to Shiori’s place, at least there’s no risk of running into Honoka by chance, and I feel, if only a little, some relief.
Carrying that unresolved unease in my heart, I gripped Shiori’s hand back.