Eternal Melody

A few hours later

It did not take long before they arrived at the station. After they arrived at the ticket gates, they arrived at the meeting spot. She stopped, and so did Yuhi. 

"In any case, today turned out to be a good learning experience. Thank you very much."

Yuhi spent the last few hours showing her different sculpting techniques.

Sumire bowed, honestly expressing her appreciation. It is rare for any good artist to teach their techniques to others. The truly successful ones keep everything to themselves. Even though he was spartan about it, he still taught her well. 

When Aika and Asami heard that Yuhi was teaching her, they looked very surprised. It seems like Yuhi has never taught anybody before, and that was why no new student approaches him. Sumire wondered what the reason was. Many students were younger than them who often hung around the senior classrooms to ask for help, but nobody approached Yuhi.

Sumire looked over at Yuhis expression and saw his red cheeks.

She lifted her face and laughed in amusement.

"Yuhi, make sure to keep today in mind, okay?" 

"Yeah…well, thank you for today." He mumbled.

This is one of the things about Yuhi that does not change. Still, it surprised her when he gave that speech during the end-of-day assembly. It is unlike him to do something like that.

She sulked about it until he offered to take her out. Maybe she is too simple-minded after all. That was clearly a bribe. Sometimes it is difficult for her to tell what Yuhi-san wants from her. 

Occasionally there are times where it looked like he wanted more from her. But then there were equally occasions where he would do nothing, and she would be left guessing.

Then again, this is not new. It was the same back when he was still a member of the Holy Knights with her. Back then, she made all sorts of direct moves, and yet he didn't notice at all.

Sumire sighed. "Yuhi, still an idiot." Sumire quietly muttered. 

In the end, their relationship has not changed much. The only thing that has changed is now there is a name for their relationship now. But other than that, they still make such clumsy mistakes.

Their relationship hasn't developed at all. Even though she had fun today, it felt like it was only her. 

Once again, it felt like she was the only one enjoying herself; it was just like when she was with that person. Sumire shook her head. 

No, she needs to stop referring back to her relationship with Sano. Yuhi is different. He truly treasures and cares for her. The only reason it felt one-sided is because Yuhi is not very talkative. He conveys his feelings more with actions rather than words.

"Wait a second, Sumire."

Huh? Her thoughts broke off when he grabbed hold of her wrist suddenly and leaned forward, ehhhhh? Wait what's with this development? Is he actually going to do something? Sumire felt her heart speed up when she saw the serious look on his eyes.

But just as she thought so, he brought his hand towards her hair and brushed something away. "You had something in your hair. I got rid of it just now."

Oh…. So that's all it was. Sumire felt disappointed and sighed deeply. She supposes this is normal. If she thought about it, Yuhi has never been in a proper relationship before. It is only normal for him not to understand what to do. 

"Yuhi minus ten points for touching me without asking."

Yuhi looked at her, surprised.

Sumire laughed weakly. "Better luck next time. Bye-bye." She whispered and rushed off before she heard his response.

She rushed towards the other platform. It did not long before she got further away until he was no longer in sight.

Once she was certain he was further away, a relieved sigh passed her lips. 

Yuhi needs work on that department more. You didn't even realize that something was wrong with her. She guessed it was expected, with the way she managed to play tennis earlier. Nobody would expect that she had an injury. 

She leaned her head against the pillar as she waited for the train. In the end, she wonders if there is nothing she can do to salvage what is left of this relationship. 

When they first started dating, he was the one who made the first move. But after that time, he has held himself back a lot. At first, she realized it was because of her pregnancy, but even after she gave birth, the situation did not change.

Somehow Sumire felt as though he hesitated whenever they talked. Besides, she placed her hand on her hair. He patted her head like that and said, 'Got it then. I'll make sure to come back to you' made it seem as though he saw her as a little kid.

Yes, there is an age difference of two years. But in the end, that's not a lot. The majority of her friends are dating university third-years, working adults - some being teachers in their school. 

So two years? Two years is nothing in contrast, yet Yuhi still insists on treating her like a little kid. She doesn't understand why he does it, or maybe he is not conscious of it?

Her thoughts broke off once she saw the train, and moved away from the pillar, and rushed over. Yet, there was a sudden appearance of a large crowd causing her to get pushed around. Before she lost her balance, somebody caught her. 

At a time like this, it would be nice if it were Yuhi. But no way would that happen. Besides, he told her he would be busy with work, so he sent her ahead to go home.

"Careful, isn't your leg still injured?

She turned to the direction of the voice to find a man with purple-colored spiky hair. "Hino." 

"Right, my bad." Sumire laughed and winked. "That definitely scores highly in my book, though eighty-five points."

  his head and sighed, "I'll never get that about you."

Sumire only laughed again.

She thought this before, but any girl who is in love with Hino is lucky. There are many rumors about Hino being cold-hearted and cruel to girls, but Sumire learned the last few months that he was a gentleman. Not the stereotypical type, but how to put it? He is kind without showing too much kindness, and he knows where to draw the line.

This is the reason why she could be friends with him. The reason why she is not afraid.