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3- Moving On.

The truth hit them like a boulder. Osana was dead. Everything felt like a blur. One minute they were frozen in front of her body, and the next there were several police cars and teachers.

Michiyo and Sakurai were sat down with a police officer, who was trying to calm them down. The two girls sat in silence, unable to process what happened. Tears suddenly emerged in their eyes, blurring their vision. Sakurai buried her face in the palm of her hands, trembling slightly. She was unable to get that image out of her mind. Michiyo suddenly burst into tears, streaming down her face.

"I know this is going to be hard, but your friend committed suicide," the policeman said, with a sympathetic expression. Sakurai looked up, unable to prevent her body from shaking.

"SHE WOULDNT!" Michiyo yelled, clenching her fists. Sakurai was unable to speak and a lump had formed in her throat.

"On the rooftop, her shoes along with a suicide letter was found by the railing. I'm really sorry."

As soon as Taro heard the news, he distanced himself from everyone. He wouldn't even speak to Sakurai or Michiyo. After all, Osana was his childhood best friend.

Sakurai was walking along the street, when she saw Taro sat on a bench with Amai. Sakurai felt her heart ache as she watched Amai be the one to put a smile on his face. She handed him a box of cupcakes, and she listened to what he had to say. Sakurai backed away quietly, wondering why she couldn't have tried to cheer Taro up herself.

A few days had passed, and Sakurai began to see Amai with Taro even more. She hadn't known Osana for that long, but her lifeless body was enough to haunt anyone. Sakurai felt as if the only person keeping her sane was Michiyo. Michiyo was trying her hardest to raise Sakurai's spirits- without her, Sakurai would have been in a much worse situation.

Sakurai was laying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. She heard a buzz coming from her phone. She lifted her head slightly, so she could see who texted her. It was Taro. Quickly, she grabbed her phone to see what he sent her.

T: I am so sorry for not talking to you, I've just been feeling really down.

S: Don't apologise, it's not you fault. How are you managing?"

T: I've been feeling a bit better since Amai started talking to me

S: That's nice of her. I gtg bye

Sakurai fell back onto her head, tears filling her eyes once again.

After a few days, Sakurai tried her hardest to act normal again. She began meeting up with Michiyo before school again, so they could walk there together. It was still hard to believe that Osana committed suicide, but you never know about what's happening in someone's personal life. They were beginning to move on and even find things to distract themselves about her corpse they saw that day. Sakurai was working on a school play with the drama club and Michiyo was promoted to the gaming club president. Taro would usually sit beside the fountain and read his book, spending most of his time by himself. He and Amai weren't really friends, but she seemed to pay a lot of interest and care towards him more than everyone else.

"You know that girl from my class, Ayano Aishi," Michiyo said, fiddling with her hair.

"Yeah, that's the one with the ponytail, right?" Sakurai replied.

"Mhm. She asked me whether you had a crush on Taro."

"What?! What did you say??"

"Well, she had already figured it out, so there was no point in denying it. I may have also told her that I was trying to set you up with him." Michiyo smiled apologetically.

"WHAT? Seriously, don't tell anyone else, even if they ask." Sakurai sighed.

"Okay! Okay, I won't. I promise."

It was almost the end of the day, and it was cleaning time. Sakurai was wiping the windows with a piece of cloth, when someone approached her.

"Amai?" Sakurai said, stopping what she was doing.

"Hey! I just wanted to talk to you, since you seem like a nice person." She smiled warmly, and began helping Sakurai clean the window.

"How come?" Sakurai asked.

"Well, Taro has spoken about you a few times and-"

"He has?" Amai nodded. As if she just remembered something, she suddenly stared at her shoes with a sad expression.

"I also understand that..." she thought for a moment, "the incident... it hit you really hard." Sakurai swallowed, before nodding gently. "That's why I wanted to give you this." Amai began, before handing her a box, with a cake inside. Sakurai stared at it, smiling sadly.

"Thank you."

Amai smiled again, and walked away. Once school had finished, Sakurai decided to split the cake in half with Michiyo. They both went to their club rooms, as usual.

"We are going into the auditorium to rehearse, so I hope you practised your lines." Kizana said, snobbishly. Everyone nodded and began following Kizana. Taro and a few others were still cleaning in there, and Kizana immediately set her eyes on him.

"Who- who's that?" She whispered, just so Sakurai could hear.

"That one? That's Taro Yamada. He's in my class." Sakurai responded, wondering why she was so curious about him. Kizana smirked to herself and started talking louder, in hope that he would hear her.

"Okay, everyone! We will be rehearsing now, so good luck!" Her voice projected through the auditorium and she put her hands on her hips. She kept glancing over her shoulder, trying to see whether Taro was watching.

The performance ran smoothly- the play they were working on was Romeo and Juliet. Of course Kizana played the role of Juliet. Sakurai was one of Juliet's friends, but she had quite a lot of time on stage. While they were waiting backstage for their turn, Sakurai and Kokona were just messing around, doing snobbish impressions of Kizana. Once it was time to head home, Sakurai walked out with Kokona. They both parted their separate routes to their homes, saying goodbye.

Sakurai was just strolling through the street, when she walked past a poster attached to a lamppost. It caught her eye, and she stared at it, dumbfounded. Her eyes widened.

"No way..."