This Warmth Of Yours

Chapter 2 - How close are friends supposed to be?

Thank you.

It was so simple. Yet it kept spinning in his head, rewounding and repeating like a broken record. He wondered if he was so unloved that a simple thank you affected him this much. Was something wrong with him? He was sure that he wasn't that mentally ill.

Voices overlapped one another as the school's lunchtime was underway. "Oh my god, you know-- someone actually brought their dog to school toda- Hey, are you listening? Yuki? Earth to Yuki?"

Was it because she practically whispered it in his ear? That was the cause of the tingles for sure. Right, it's normal to feel that way when someone whispers to you, he thought. It doesn't quite explain the smile, though...

"YUKI!"

He felt a tug on his ear. "Owowowow--" His hand shot to his ear, gently rubbing it. He glanced at the girl, a pitiful expression on his face. She looked concerned. "You've been spacing out this whole morning. Did he finally beat you up yesterday?"

"... Kana."

"Yeah? Did ya need me to treat you for emotional support again?" She laughed.

"Can you say thank you? Like, with a real cute smile."

"Huh?" No further words needed to be said. There was so much disdain in her face that even a blind person would be able to decipher how she felt. Yuki felt like he had just harassed her. "Oh, so I guess asking you to whisper into my ear would be too much, too..."

"..."

"Please ignore that."

"Were these the things happening when you had your secret rendezvous with the guy yesterday?" She joked. "Gosh, I didn't know your relationship was like that... Please spare me of all the details from now on..."

"Ew, the cat I brought home yesterday was way cuter," he joked. His eyes drifted away to the window and landed on a familiar head of pink. He couldn't make out the words being said, but a boy was speaking to her. "Oh... Haru. There's a legend in this school about her." Kana interjected. Yuki looked at her, interested in what she was about to say. "Huh, surprised you never heard about it," Kana said.

"People rarely ever hear her say a thing, so they think that if they get her to say something to them on the day of a full moon, they'll receive extremely good luck for that entire day." She giggled. "Whoever created that rumour must've not wanted her to be lonely. It's a small school, so even with a personality like hers it's impossible to be truly invisible."

She pointed at the boy speaking. "He's probably gonna confess to someone today. High school kids don't tend to have the biggest of worries, so she's usually just a good luck charm for love or something like that."

She leaned in and spoke with a teasing tone. "Why? Need some luck with the boy from yesterday?"

Yuki ignored her. It wasn't worth a headache for the quintillionth time. If he told her about what he went through the night before, he was sure that Kana won't ever let him live it down.

"That said, it takes a lot of effort to get her to say something to you." She continued. "She usually just waves if you greet her or nods or shakes her head. It's actually kind of an achievement if you succeed."

"And why do you know so much about that? Do you have someone you wanna confess t-"

"Had the pleasure of witnessing one myself," she interrupted. "Was a blast! Wished you were there. He was fumbling through his words looking for topics that would get her to speak. It was hilarious how pathetic he looked!" she laughed.

"God, you're so similar to me that I don't like how it feels like I'm looking at my own reflection right now!" he responded in a joking manner. He looked down through the window again. The boy had already left. Haru was sitting on the bench alone as she continued watering the plants. She appeared to be poking the leaves to get the water to drip completely. He giggled at the sight.