『Entangled Stars』;「運命」┇akane a. x aoi. a au

chapter vi : worry & patience

#6 : Worry & Patience
心配と忍耐

Two days later.

"Well that's strange." Aoi-chan switched her attention to the petite female with locks glistening in the colors of silver and teal. The warm afternoon air blew softly as they both stood at the side of their classroom.

Not knowing what she was talking about, she could only imitate the confused expression of the girl beside her. Yashiro-chan then gently raised the small pot which was encaging a now withered flower.

"I've been very attentive to its state and tried a lot of ways to nurture it but in the end, it still withered. What do you think, Aoi-chan?" 

The silver-headed female asked the girl beside her but when the only response she received was silence, her vision went completely to Aoi, who was longingly gazing at the other potted plants in front of them.

"Is there something wrong?"

Her question pulled her out of her trance. With wide eyes, she met her rose-colored galaxies getting filled with worry. Aoi shook her head.

"No, it's fine." She quickly said and looked away, trying to change the topic. But she gasped when Yashiro touched her forehead with its right palm, "You don't seem to have a fever." She added.

"Don't worry, Yashiro-chan." The indigo-haired female assured her friend, both hands clasped together with its palm in between.

But the female with rose quartz orbs knows her too much that she can see right through her fake smile. Are you really alright, Aoi-chan?

Nevertheless, Yashiro nodded. Sighing inwardly as she worriedly looked at her friend who was trying to busy herself with something else. Yashiro couldn't do anything else but observe her friend closely since despite firmly sensing that there was actually a problem, I mean Aoi-chan barely even touched either side of her face since she got here.

Her signature gesture. . .nothing.

She could only be patient and wait till her friend told her what was the matter on her own.

---

"You're spacing out again, Akane!" The fiery-headed male was pulled out of his trance when he heard the frustrated shout of their coach that was directly aimed at him. His scarlet orbs traveled until they reached the small soccer ball that was resting beside his right foot.

"Urgh! This is the fifth time today. If you want to space out again, well there is the bench all for you. Where you could stare at nothing while you get surrounded by the guilt from being the sole reason why 15 minutes of our time were wasted because you couldn't play properly!" Their coach remarked with gritted teeth.

His lips formed a thin line as he felt his heart sink. Avoiding all of the displeased eyes darting at him, he made his way to the bench, only to stare at the ground as he sat.

He heard a familiar taller figure with golden locks speaks, "Come on, Coach! You're being too harsh on our Vice President."

The middle-aged man only shooked his head. "This is also the fifth time you've defended him, Minamoto. We're all tired, let's just get this thing over with." Their coach blew a whistle to continue the interrupted practice game.

The said male with golden locks made its way to the saddened red-haired one. "Don't mind our coach too much. He's just more strict now since Foundation's Day is near."

"I-I know that—" His voice cracked.

"Then what's wrong, Akane-kun? I've had a feeling that something happened especially when you didn't even do your usual extravagant greetings when we encountered Yashiro-chan and Aoi-chan earlier."

The mere mention of her name even only through Teru's sentence made his heart pang bitterly. Not noticing the change of his mood, the taller male continued. "You told me to shrug it off and I did. But now. . ."

"S-She—"He bit his bottom lip.

"Did she reject you again? Well, that's weird." Akane looked up when Teru suddenly chuckled to himself. But then he became serious again.

"From what I have observed, I've been convinced that you consider that kind of thing to be part of your daily routine. So I don't really understand why you're getting so worked up right now. Does she know you were serious?"

"Of course! We both were. I was confused and exhausted. I want it all to be finally clear now so I asked her one last time why couldn't it be me?"

"And what did she say? "

The scarlet-haired male stood up and stomped his left foot beside the golden-haired figure in front of him who barely even reacted despite his outburst.

"Nothing!" Tears threatened to fall from the corners of his eyes as he gets reminded of what had happened. "She left without even saying anything."

"Maybe she hasn't figured out her feelings yet. We're all different kinds of people, Akane. And not all the time we could be on the same page with others. You might be crystal clear about the context behind your affection towards her right now. But that doesn't mean she could be exactly the same and match you very quickly."

Akane watched as Teru looked up into the bright sky with a gentle expression on his face. The quiet breeze finally calmed him from his vocal distress earlier.

"So remember to treat the ability to have patience, not as a bonus point but rather the bare minimum. Give her time, that might be better instead of her responding to you with only uncertainty." Teru switched his vision back to his friend.

"You're right."

President's words pushed his consciousness to a valuable thought linked to patience. Then he suddenly felt a hand resting on his right shoulder, the owner smiling at him. The beam from his smile was comforting but brought a rush of adrenaline that lifted his mood.

"Don't falter, Akane-kun. You've already made it this far and I'm sure that with the sincerity of your sacrifices, the right timing will finally come. Don't give up now."

Somehow his words raised a fighting spirit within him. A kind that flickered the desire for finding the familiar female with expressive indigo galaxies.

"I-I have to go, President!" He announced, the informed male calmly nodded at him. Watching the pumped-up red-haired boy sprint to the halls of the academy.

"Good luck,
Vice President."