Graduation Day

You were sitting underneath tree shades on a secluded bench. You stretched your legs, standing up for the ceremony and mandatory group photos takes quite a toll even on your young knees, it seemed. You saw a lot of your frien- …classmates, taking group photos with their own cliques. You quickly learned not to get too attached with people around since you moved countries a lot since childhood, your dad’s work compelled. You could’ve gone home since a while ago, but you decided to stay a little bit longer on your graduation day, you wonder why…

“There you are, Anon.”

A sweet voice came from behind you, quickly followed by a cold sensation on your right cheek. It’s Suisei, your …clubmate from the music club.  She was holding two cans of cold coffee and stuck one on your cheek. Walking around the bench, she playfully elbowed your shoulder, asking you to scoot over since the other side was drenched by the morning drizzle. You obliged and she handed you the can of coffee on her left hand. You hesitated a little.

“My treat, we won’t be meeting a lot after this, right? Figured I should treat you something on your last day here.”

More like at all, you thought. But you swallowed your word and took the drink from her hand with a thank you. You looked over the can, it’s quite the expensive one even though it came from a vending machine, small water droplets all around it. You looked at Suisei and saw your cheek mark on her can where the water droplets couldn’t be seen. She wasn’t a southpaw, was she? You decided not to bring that up. She raised a brow and gave you a puzzled look. Crap, you looked at her a bit too long.

“Coffee in the morning, Hoshimachi-san? That’s new.”

You decided to steer the conversation somewhere else and took a sip of coffee yourself. Way too sweet for your taste, you put it beside you after a few sips.

“It’s not that I usually drink coffee in the morning, I just…” She stopped her sentence and her eyes darted around, as if making sure no one else was listening. “…I couldn’t sleep before the graduation day. Ahaha, it’s kinda childish, right? Ah, how embarassing…”

You saw her eyes, a little bit puffy and red from what you guessed was crying with her clubmates, some of the girls were hugging each other when you left after the obligatory group photos, her included. Wait, do you normally just leave the group of people you’re hugging and crying with to search for some loner on secluded benches?

“That’s just normal, Hoshimachi-san. We’re still young after all.”

“I’m 18, you know, and stop calling me ‘Hoshimachi-san’, we’ve already been friends for two years, right? In fact, just call me Sui-chan like everyone else.”

“I really can’t get used with calling people by their first name.”
Suisei took another sip and stared absentmindedly at her feet. What, did you just say something wrong?

“Hoshimachi-san?”

“…”

She didn’t answer.

“Hoshi- “

“Sui-chan.” She insisted.

“Suisei.”

“Call me Sui-chan, please. At least for today.” She said, still not looking at you. She’s not taking no for an answer. You let out a sigh.

Hey.

I’m going to get attached, you know.

“Sui-chan.”

You finally gave in. Suisei eyes lit up and she looked at you with a smile.

“Yes?”

And you two just stared at eachother like idiots. There’s not much left to talk about afterall. Suisei cast her eyes downwards again as if looking at her shoes was more interesting than talking to you, some aspect of that might be true, though.

“You’re leaving today?”

“Yeah, the plane leaves at 2.”

“I see.”

And everything went silent. You awkwardly took a sip of coffee you had neglected for a while. You looked at your wristwatch, it’s 10 AM. Dad is going to chew you out for not going home soon.

Suisei noticed you looking at your watch and flashed a melancholic smile. She took a deep breath and stood up in front of you.

“Can I have that, then?”

“What?”

“Your button, you’re not using it anyway.”

“Ah, I saw some guys giving their second button out. What’s up with that?”

“No idea, some kind of a lucky charm maybe…?” Her eyes shifted around; you knew the answer was definitely not that.

“Fine then.”  You were about to loosen up the second button from the top of your uniform when Suisei pulled you for a quick hug. Your mind went blank with sensory overload from her scent and… other things. Seconds later the hug was over and the button was already in her hand, this girl is scary…

“I’ll never forget about you, Anon.” You saw a figure with pink hair and similar face waving from the school gate at her. Guess it’s time.

“Well, see you around, then.”

“Yeah, see you around.”

Even at the end, you couldn’t manage to say goodbye to eachother, huh.

-----

Except you do see her around today.

Well, not in the flesh. You saw her name one day when looking for some project about comets on Youtube. Looks like she’s made it as an idol. You subscribed to her channel and saw her grow, until her popularity exploded just a while ago.

Daaaaamn. Not getting attached my ass, you thought. You wish you kept contact with her, at least you might have a chance to reconnect with her somehow. It’s already too late now though, your dad has been long gone, along with his several million dollars of assets. Now you’re just some chump working for a near minimum wage job. You downed another can of beer as she finishes the first song of today’s stream. Your drunken mind keeps making up another what-if scenario and you need to shut it up somehow. You click the superchat button and sent a message along with $100 dollars worth of money, put your head down, and wait for a response while listening to her sweet voice, way sweeter than that can of coffee that day.

“Ah, Anon-san. ‘This is for the coffee that day, keep the change. Also take care of my second jacket button, okay.’ Ahaha, what is this about? Some kind of after-graduation scenario? Thanks for the red superchat! Next, Mikazuchi-san…”

See?

She’s already long forgotten about you, anyway.