Chapter 31

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

This is a continuation form chapter 30.

Title: Waiting time for Satou-san

The line for the boarding gate began to creep along. The movement of the people gathered in the lobby became hectic. The voice of the announcements echoed in the high ceiling, trembling in my ears.

But Satou-san doesn’t move. She remained still, staring at a point and waiting for the right moment. She stands motionless in a corner, away from the noisy lobby air. She doesn’t even notice that I’m here. She didn’t even turn to look at me, just waited. She kept waiting.

I waited too. I waited impatiently a few feet away. It was agonizing. To see the look on Satou-san’s face. I knew that whatever the expression on her face was, it would be hard for me. There was nothing more I could do now than wait. So I waited. As I waited, I thought about it.

What I’ve been thinking about since that night when I got the call and heard the confession. Today, as I was riding on the train, I kept thinking about it. A decision, to feelings that are still unanswered.

People come and go. They pass by in front of me. I watch Satou-san through the gap. The airport scene is changing at a dizzying pace, but Satou-san is the only one who doesn’t move from her spot. She is still, like a character in a painting. She blinks slowly, as if she were begrudgingly wasting time.

Suddenly, I heard an announcement in the room for the umpteenth time. Satou-san moved slightly at that moment. She looked down at the cell phone in her hand. Her expression remains the same. After checking it, she looks up again and begins to stare at a point. She’s still waiting. I check my watch, too. It was almost six o’clock in the afternoon. Determined, I lift my gaze. I fastened it to Satou-san. I turned to her and started walking toward her. The sound of my sneakers on the airport floor was hard and cold. And yet my feet were soft and sinkingly awake. As I walked closer with my fevered head, Satou-san still didn’t look at me. I’m sure she’s still staring at a point that isn’t me. I’m still hesitant as I close the distance between us.

But take a deep breath and stop, for a few seconds.

“Satou-san.”(Y)

I called out softly in a hushed voice. The name I kept calling over and over again in my mind.

“Yamaguchi-kun, why are you here”(S)

“She had a faint voice.”

“I’m sorry.”(Y)

My apology sounded white. I sounded just as muffled as Satou-san.

“I was worried…and I came. I’m sorry, I know it’s none of my business, but I had to.”(Y)

When I tell her that, Satou-san looks like she’s about to cry. She lowered her eyebrows, bit her lip tightly, and turned over. After a short time, she said tremblingly,

“I’m sorry, Yamaguchi-kun. But it’s okay. I’m still waiting for him right now.”(S)

“Yes.”(Y)

I nodded. I knew it would be so. Satou-san would wait. She could wait as long as she could. She was a very sincere girl in that regard.

We were silent to each other. I didn’t dare to ask what exactly the time was for the arival. There was no point in trying to find out. My fears were coming true. Satou-san kept her head down and waited. Her anxiety must be even greater than mine, her shoulders shaking, as if he were cold. Her cell phone, wrapped in the palm of her hand, didn’t ring at all. I was staring at Satou-san. Even if she didn’t look at me, I was staring at her. I could reach out and she was within reach. It was always this way. Satou-san, who was seated next to me in the classroom every day, was very close to me. But in Sato-san’s eyes, I was nothing more than a distant presence. Although I was so close to her, she never looked at me. I could see her eyelashes moving through her upturned bangs. Her hair is in a single knot, colorless as usual. A denim skirt and long-sleeved t-shirt that I’ve never seen before. Sneakers that don’t move. Narrow shoulders that trembled. Tightly clenched hands and a cell phone. I can reach out to everything.

“Satou-san.”(Y)

Satou-san didn’t answer.

“How long do you plan to wait?”(Y)

I looked at my watch as I asked. –It was long past 6 p.m. Satou-san still doesn’t answer. She is silent and continues to wait.

An announcement announcing the arrival of the plane came from overhead. The voices of the crowd gathered in the lobby were jumbled together and sounded like ringing in the ears. Satou-san didn’t look up. It’s probably because she knows it’s not his plane. Or maybe she already knew something else. I’m watching her intently. I don’t know what’s going on. But I feel a sharp pain in my chest because of the anxiety, which has become more concrete than before, and the feeling that even if my anxiety were true, I would not be able to turn to Satou-san. She knew that she would suffer, but she knew it, and yet she came to see him, even though she knew it was obvious. And I’m clawing to shake her heart. It’s not good, and it’s in a terrible way.

“Satou-san.”(Y)

I called her name.

“Are you tired?”(Y)

She shook her head silently. There was no way she was going to say she was tired. There was no way she was tired of doing things for the person she loved. She’s single-minded. So she’ll keep waiting for as long as she can.

The same is true for me. If there’s something I can do for Satou-san, I’ll do anything I can to help her. Even if I get tired of doing it, I won’t feel like giving up. I just don’t know what I can do for her. I don’t know what’s best for her. What I do know is that I wouldn’t make her wait so long. I wouldn’t make her so anxious. I don’t know what she will think, but I will do my best to make her happy. I don’t think this kind of romance is right for Satou-san. Satou-san is more suited to the brighter side of things. Shr can say something witless and then smile when She realizes it later, She can cause trouble and flail around but then laugh it off later, and She can bounce back when She feels depressed. The kind of love that makes you tremble with insecurity and fret about your problems is not for you. It doesn’t suit you.

“Satou-san.”(Y)

Once again I call her name.

“Are you still planning on waiting?”(Y)

Slightly cruel words were added afterwards. Immediately, Satou-san looked up as if she had been played. H=She looked at me tightly with tears in her eyes.

“I’ll wait. I’ll wait. He’s going to come. He promised me that he would come.”(S)

I hear a faint voice answer and I sigh.

“But you were like that the last you waited too.”(Y)

Satou-san had been made to wait by that guy before. She had been waiting for so long that he caught a cold and had nearly fainted. How can you wait so long for a guy who didn’t even call you because he had something urgent to do? Satou-san shook her head strongly.

“But today, it’s different. I’m sure he’ll come. He told me he’d be there!”(S)

Her voice echoed through the murmur.

I felt a few stares, but I didn’t look away from Satou-san. Her face looked like it was about to start crying. The eyes had a lots of tears in them. Her shoulders were shaking. I wonder what is supporting her as she stands still at the edge of her seat. Is it the thought that she is still single-minded, or is it simply the innocence of not doubting people, or is it her stubborn sincerity? I wasn’t innocent or sincere, but I liked Satou-san. So I continued.

“Don’t do it. You don’t have to wait.”(Y)

We should just stop it. You don’t have to.

“You don’t have to wait until it hurts you.”(Y)

“No!”(S)

Satou-san exclaimed.

“I have to wait, he said he’d see me this time. He promised! I have to meet him. I can’t believe anything I don’t know until I meet him!”(S)

She is screaming with all the strength he can muster.

“I’m insecure. I am very, very insecure about whether he will like me when he sees me, so I want to make sure that he will like me. I want to believe his words. I have to see him, I have to see him for sure!”(S)

I heard the cry, but I reached out with my hand.

I touched her trembling shoulders gently, and the next moment I held her tightly with all my strength. My other hand rested on her hair in a single knot. To draw her closer.

Satou-san didn’t resist. I hugged her, I pulled her close, and then I put my lips near her ear.

“Don’t do it.”(Y)

I whispered the awful words.

“If you can’t believe it, just stop. That’s not like you, Satou-san. It doesn’t suit you, Satou-san.”(Y)

Satou-san stayed in my arms for a while, not moving. Then, after a little while, she began to cry.

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