After that incident, Yuuka became incredibly attached to me.
No matter where I went, she followed me, and when it came to pairing up, she apparently had no intention of pairing up with anyone else but me. The moment someone else tried to invite her, she’d grab my hand, hug me tightly, and glare at the other person as if to intimidate them.
Since I didn’t particularly mind, I ended up just going along with whatever she wanted.
Then, right after we graduated from kindergarten, Yuuka’s family moved in next door to mine.
Because of that, we ended up going to elementary school together, and Yuuka looked absolutely delighted.
Of course, I was happy too, so we held hands and spun around together in joy.
Then, during the elementary school entrance ceremony, we stood in front of the entrance sign and took commemorative photos.
Even though Yuuka stood out a lot, she paid no mind to that and stayed glued to me.
Our parents, watching us, were smiling warmly and saying something like:
—“If these two ended up together in the future, that’d be wonderful.”
—“Yes, it seems there’s a high chance our families will become one.”
They were getting all excited.
While Yuuka and I tilted our heads at our parents’ words, she stood beside me and rubbed her cheek against mine.
Meanwhile, everyone around was also watching us with warm expressions.
Then the entrance ceremony began, and we ended up in the same class.
Yuuka wasn’t much of a talker, but I thought she had very expressive facial expressions.
When something upset her, she made an unhappy face, and when something made her happy, she had a big, cheerful smile.
At first, our seats in the classroom were right next to each other, and she looked really happy about that.
But the moment the teacher announced a seat change, she looked like she was about to cry, grabbed my hand, and shook her head side to side.
Well, I thought it’d be nice if we could become friends with the people near us, even if we got separated, so I drew a lot and moved to my new seat.
Yuuka also drew a lot, and the seat she ended up in was right next to mine.
Yuuka looked overjoyed, grabbed my sleeve, and smiled as if to say, “I’m not letting go anymore.”
The person who sat behind me seemed to be in a similar situation.
A boy and a girl were holding hands, smiling brightly, and greeted us cheerfully with a “Nice to meet you.” I returned the greeting, but Yuuka hid behind my back.
However, at that time, we didn’t yet know that this encounter would lead us to meet the two people who would become our best friends.
TL Notes:
Thanks for reading!
Footnote:
- None