Episode 58: Not Letting Go

The next morning.

When I opened my eyes, Honoka’s sleeping face was right there beside me.
Her lashes stirred faintly; I could hear her calm, even breathing.
Last night’s tears, her trembling voice — none of it was anywhere to be found now.

(…Thank god.)

A quiet relief spread through the depths of my chest. I sat up carefully and pressed a small kiss to her forehead.

At that instant, her eyelids opened, and her still-sleepy eyes found me.

“…Morning, Yuna.”
“Morning, Honoka.”

That single exchange was enough to warm something deep in my heart.

─────

After that, Honoka and I ate breakfast side by side, and headed to school together, same as always.
When I got there and stepped into the classroom—

“Morning, Yuna-chan.”

Waiting at the classroom door was Shiori.

“…Yeah, morning.”

When I answered, she took a single step closer and dropped her voice slightly.

“…Things worked out, with Shiraishi-san?”

For a moment, my chest tightened.
But I nodded.

“Yeah. We talked properly, and faced things.”
“…I see.”

Shiori lowered her eyes for just an instant, then lifted her face again and said, gently:

“…If you ever get tired of Shiraishi-san — that’s fine too. Come find me again, when that happens.”

With that, she walked off toward her own seat.
Watching her back, I let out a quiet breath.

—Maybe Shiori still hasn’t given up.

But right now, the answer inside me was clear.

─────

After school.

Just sitting beside Honoka, something deep in my chest filled quietly, strangely.
We weren’t doing anything. Just being beside each other. And yet that alone brought this much peace.

“Hey, Yuna.”

Honoka’s voice.
There was hesitation in it, and a kind of fragility, and just the faintest tremor.

“…I still get a little anxious, even now. That you might drift away from me again.”

I could tell there were many feelings hidden underneath those words.
Anxiety. Loneliness. And love for me, too.

“It’s okay. I’m right here.”

I leaned in a little and gently touched Honoka’s hand.
Her fingertips were trembling, faintly.

Honoka looked away and bit her lip, just slightly.
She seemed about to say something, but it didn’t turn into words.

I said nothing, and simply held her hand, wrapping it in mine.

After a while—

“…Hey, Yuna.”
“Mm?”
“…I think I want to stay beside you, always.”
“Yeah.”
“But that feeling is so strong that… it scares me, sometimes. Like maybe there’s something wrong with being like this…”
“No. That’s not wrong at all. It just means you love me enough to feel that way, doesn’t it?”
“…Is that really true?”
“It’s true.”

I gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
Her hand, slowly, but surely, squeezed mine back.

Silence settled between us. But it wasn’t a frightening kind of quiet.

Even without words, some things get through.
Feelings. Wishes. And — the future ahead of us, too.

“…Thank you, Yuna. I’ll try to really believe it.”
“Yeah. I’ll keep telling you, as many times as it takes. That it’s okay. That I love you.”

Our eyes met. What was there wasn’t hesitation.
Something certain, and the resolve to live the days ahead together.

“Hey, Yuna…”
“Mm?”
“Stay beside me, always, from now on.”
“Yeah. I won’t go anywhere.”

The moment we exchanged those words, something that had been knotted deep inside me quietly came undone.

Being here, now.
That it could feel this precious, this dear —

—I really do love Honoka, after all.

Whatever happens from here, however many times I falter again.
Every time, I want to remember this. This feeling. This moment.
So I want to keep holding Honoka’s hand, and never let go.

So that someday, far in the future, the two of us can still be smiling, just like this, together.