Seasons of Chances and Love 3: Promised Love In Autumn

A Rainy Afternoon

Kana was panting when she reached the main building of the high school division. Well, she has to run in order to go there since it was already raining. And mind you, it was raining hard. She should have expected this since the clouds earlier that morning began to turn dark and loomed over the sky, predicting a heavy rainfall.

And here comes that heavy rainfall.

The only problem was she didn't bring her umbrella because she forgot to bring one. So right now, she has to wait for it to stop.

If ever this rain will stop... she thought before heaving a heavy sigh and then she proceeded to enter the building to shield herself from the rain. But then she thought that it was already useless since the rain got through her. She was half-wet and yet, she didn't mind. Somehow, she liked getting wet by the rain for some reasons.

When she entered the building, she saw that there were still other students who seemed to be waiting for the rain to stop. While some decided to make it through using their umbrellas. A lot of students were leaving-most of which were friends or couples sharing the same umbrella-and she wanted to watch them. She felt a little envious about them.

She wanted to do the same thing with a certain someone who was special to her. Though she wanted to, she couldn't. She couldn't tell him that or else, he would think something different if ever she said something like that to him.

Now that she thought about it, something similar happened to her before.

That's right...

It was during middle school. As she continued to traverse the path towards the classroom, her mind couldn't help remembering the time she almost confessed to a certain someone who was special to her named Oishi Shuichiro...

-x-x-

It was a rainy afternoon and Kana was feeling a little tired-not to mention bored-as she was waiting for the rain to stop in a shed. She and her younger sister Nanami decided to spend some time at the street tennis before they start their other training back home. They played for more than 4 hours before Nanami decided to head home first. She continued to play with the other street tennis players there until she was tired.

But just as she was about to head home, the rain fell and it fell incessantly hard. She couldn't help cursing at the rain as she ran fast towards the nearest shed. She really hated it whenever the rain get through her and made her wet.

"Next time, I'll just play tennis at school so that the rain won't get through me," Kana mumbled as she watched the rain continue to fall. After that, she heaved a heavy and slightly exasperated sigh. 'I should've brought an umbrella with me even though it's not raining."

"I guess I'm not the only one the rain got through."

She stiffened when she heard that familiar voice enough to let her heart beat in an accelerated rate. But she tried not to show it to that person. A warm smile greeted her as soon as she turned around to face that person-who happened to be Oishi.

She couldn't help but smile at him, too. "I guess that's what we have in common, then."

"What we have in common?" Oishi asked innocently.

"The rain loved to get us wet. It's like it could figure out when to fall since we didn't bring any umbrella for us to us, even to share, at the very least." And then she chuckled a bit at that before watching the rain fall.

"So you're saying that you want us to share an umbrella?"

Kana blushed slightly hard at that question that she chose to look away from him. Seriously, this guy really knew how to let her guard down for a while. And it wasn't something good for her. She couldn't let Oishi do that to her all the time.

"T-that's not what I meant!" she responded furiously. She pouted but Oishi didn't see that, thankfully.

As she and Oishi continued to wait for the rain to stop, something popped out in her mind as she watched the raindrops.

"Ne, Shuichiro... can I ask you something?" she inquired after a few minutes of silence between them, eventually breaking it.

"Sure. About what?"

"What do you think of the rain as it falls down? I mean, what comes into your mind whenever you watch it fall down?"

No one was able to say a word after that. Kana couldn't actually take the quiet and a little tensed atmosphere between them. She was about to take back her what she said when-

"It's how I describe love... I guess," Oishi said as he faced her with a smile.

Inwardly, she was stunned to hear that from him, making her face him. What she didn't realized, though, was that their faces were only a few inches close since they were just sitting next to each other. Both of them blushed when they realized that and looked away at the same time. But eventually, they laughed at their actions.

"We're acting like we're not used to being this close," he commented and sighed. "Rain made me think of how I love someone. Rain is something that comes unexpectedly even though we could predict it coming. Just like love, it comes to us unexpectedly. It's something we couldn't easily avoid-it will get you whatever circumstances you have."

She could only watch him in awe and eventually it was enough to make her smile because of what he said. Both of them were just second years in middle school and yet, he had this kind of perception about something as complicated as love. He could even put an analogy to it.

But then she thought that if Oishi could think of something like this, could it be that he was already in love with someone else? It was possible given the fact that he was popular with the other girls, too. That thought caused little needles to prick her heart over and over.

She should get used to that fact but until now, she couldn't do such a thing. It was so hard for her to do it.

"What about you?" Oishi asked that startled her for a bit before she managed to regain her composure.

"Huh?"

"What about you? What do you think of the rain every time it fall down?" he asked.

What did she think about the rain? Besides the fact that it could nourish the earth or destroy it if it fell down too much? No... there was something else.

"It... hides certain emotions in my heart," she uttered with hints of sadness in her voice.

Oishi frowned deeply. "What do you mean?"

"Rain is a perfect camouflage to hide a certain feeling in your heart, or at least that's in my perception. Sometimes, I say to myself that I like it when it rains because no one would know how much I suffered. It hides my pain and because of that, no one could tell how much I cried. No one could tell I've been struggling to hide something from the one I like the most that I know could ruin everything we've built so far. No one could tell how much it hurts me doing all that," she answered sadly that she couldn't hide to Oishi. "Rain reminds me a lot of thing-things that I wish I could just hide forever..."

What she said was the truth. That was what she thought about whenever rain fell down from the dark sky.

"Rain washes away my courage to tell you that I love you ever since I realized how to love..." she unconsciously mumbled in the softest tone possible as she watched the rain once more.

Apparently, Oishi didn't hear what she said very well. "You were saying something, Kana?"

She was snapped off from her trance upon hearing his voice. She shook her head rashly and laughed a bit-albeit nervously since she realized she almost blurted out her feelings for her friend.

"N-nothing! Nothing at all! You were probably just imagining things. You know, effect of the rain falling. Like what people say, rain stirs up our mind and emotions in more ways than one, causing us to act without thinking. Right?" she reasoned while trying not to stammer even though her heart was beating wildly upon realizing her actions.

"Oh..." was all he said in a slightly disappointed tone that her ears still caught and made her frown. Was it her or she really sensed disappointment in his voice?

That was probably the reason...

The rain stirred up her emotions for her to think of something like that right now. But then she asked herself.

What if Oishi really heard what she unconsciously said? How would he answer her?

-x-x-

Kana sighed heavily after remembering that before she decided to head to the classroom faster since she left something there along with her school bag. But then she froze when she felt something covered her head, followed by someone holding it. When she looked up, she was surprised to see Oishi looking at her with worried eyes.

"You really like catching a cold, huh? Why did you run right through the rain? You got yourself wet again," Oishi scolded like a mother which broke off her trance.

"S-sorry..." was all she managed to say before touching her head. She then realized that it was a towel that covered her head and Oishi was holding it in place.

"Use this to dry yourself at least a little. Before you go home, make sure you have to change your clothes. Your mom will scold you once she saw your wet uniform because of the rain." Then he proceeded to wipe her face gently before drying her hair.

Her heart began to speed up when she realized how close the two of them were. His gesture only intensified her heartbeat's tempo, causing it to beat rapidly. She already said to herself that Oishi was just concerned about her because she was his friend and nothing more. But would it be bad if she wished for something more?

Why was it that love could cause everything to change between two people?

"Kana?" Oishi called out that made her look at him.

She couldn't help gulping when she realized that they were just a few inches close. She got a closer look at his face that-in her perception-hadn't changed after all those years. He still has this childish look, especially when he was worried.

"Thank you for being nice to me, Shuichiro," she couldn't help uttering before she smiled gratefully, causing Oishi to blush and look away for a few seconds. In her perception, he looked cute that way.

"Why are you saying this like you're leaving me?"

"I didn't say that," she reasoned. "I just want to say thank you since you're still this nice to me after all those years."

Oishi smiled as he gently tapped her head. "We're friends, Kana. Of course, I'll be nice to you."

Of course... I should've seen that answer coming... Friends. That was all they could ever be.

Before she broke down in front of him, she lowered her head a little and proceeded to leave. "Thanks for the towel, Shuichiro. I'll return it to you once I had it dry-cleaned." After that, she hurried to leave that place, even though she could feel Oishi staring at her as she walk away from there.

Unrequited love is surely the sweetest hell on earth, especially if the person you fell in love with is someone forbidden-like your best friend...

Now where on earth did Kana heard that quote? If she could recall it right, she actually read it from some book.

Oh yeah... on one of the romance novels she bought many years back. At first, she had to deny that since she wasn't actually feeling something close to sweet hell, as the quoted stated.

But time passed by.

Time intensified everything she felt for her best friend and to be honest, it was making her crazy.

How long?

How long would she just let things be?

One way or another, something was bound to happen that would either take things between her and Oishi to a different level or make things even worse than how it already was.

For now, she couldn't tell what. But something will definitely happen. It was only a matter of time before everything would be set in motion.

-x-x-

What Kana didn't know was that Oishi was looking at her with dejected and sad eyes after realizing the answer he said a while back.

"I shouldn't have said that we're just friends that's why I'm nice to you," he mumbled as he proceeded to leave the place, as well. But as he was walking through the hallway, he couldn't help but watch the rain as it falls. He smiled bitterly as he remembered Kana's words during that one rainy afternoon when they were together under that shed.

"Rain washes away my courage to tell you that I love you ever since I realized how to love..."

"How long are you going to let the rain do that, Kana?" he whispered before he heaved a heavy sigh. "If only I could tell you the same thing... that rain doesn't only describe love but it also conceals that feeling inside of me..."

But then, he couldn't find a way to let it out completely.

Would there be a time that he and Kana could tell to each other all of their feelings that they've been concealing for a long time? Would there be a time where he could finally say to her how much he loved her more than a friend?

Yeah, the whole 'lending-his-towel-because-she-was-wet' thing was probably crossing the line. But that was just one of his steps to let Kana know how he felt.

She was like the rain-his rain-that described his love and also the one who was washing away his courage to let her know all that.

If only there was a way for rain to become a medium for their feelings to reach...

He chuckled sadly after thinking that. "If only I could let the rain tell you I love you, Kana..."

But then, only fate could do something about that. How he wished it happens soon before his feelings drive him crazy.