tfw still no cute log gf 0.5

It was a little under half a year since she disappeared that Reina contacted me but I was more surprised by her message out of the blue than not seeing her. We used to play together almost every day as kids, but as time went on, we slowly drifted apart. She had her friends, and I had mine, and as it was common with childhood friends of opposite genders, we gradually started associating with other people. She had her friends, and I had mine. We still saw each other time to time, but that had been reduced to a fleeting wave or a quick greeting when passing each other at school.

I had assumed she had maybe transferred, but never actually went to her house to confirm. It had been years since the days we would go to each other's houses to spend afternoons playing games or reading together. Still, she hadn't come to school for a few months and I was curious where she had been. I read the message, just a few short words "Hey Kei, meet up sometime? Tell me when ur free!" It had been a long time since she had called me by my childhood nickname and I had nothing really planned so I replied a few minutes later saying I was free whenever. A half hour later, and the date had been set on next Saturday.

The familiar path to her house had barely changed through the years, and walking down the path filled me with memories of the past. About how we would stay out until dark before returning home, or about how when we would run down this same path laughing. "Kei!" I turned my head to see the friend I hadn't seen in so long. Reina was sitting outside her house and she looked almost exactly like how I remembered her, with her shining energetic eyes and slight smirk. The thing that stuck out was her wheelchair.
“Reina! A-are you okay? What happened?” I stared at her but she only smiled back at me with that same familiar smile of hers. She was always a bit shorter than me, going up to my chin when we stood next to each other, but now seeing the top of her head only go up to my chest made her feel smaller and more vulnerable than I had ever seen her. If anything, the biggest change I could really see was that she dressed maybe a bit more feminine with a little purse on her lap, but I rarely saw her outside of school these days so I couldn’t say for sure.

“I’m fine, I’m fine! For the most part at least” She seemed to wave away my worries with a gloved hand, “I’ll tell you more about it later, but can you push me? I want to go outside for a bit. I’ve been cooped up way too long. Take me shopping or something.” That pushy part of her didn’t seem to change, but I felt like the polite thing to do at this moment was just to go along with whatever Reina had in mind. “Kei, you’re not mad are you?” She turned her head to look at me as I pushed her. “I honestly would have told you sooner, but well, I just got home last week and it was honestly a mess, like seriously, tons of blood and scars and all kinds of other stuff, I didn’t want to make you see that. I’m fine now though!” She didn’t bother continuing, so I decided not to press this topic.
As we headed into the nearby mall, I tried to think when the last time we had done something like this was. It must have been a long time ago but I definitely remember when she had a brief phase where she was a lot more feminine and was obsessed with shopping. “You know, this almost seems like a date,” I tried teasing her.

“Is that what they’re saying behind my back?” She countered. “If this is a date then where’s the mandatory crepe or other dessert?” Reina giggled. “Hey, feed me! Buy me a crepe or something from one of those stalls, I want chocolate!” Gah. I really was no match against this girl. Still, buying a crepe for Reina was worth it seeing her smiling face as she ate it but-
“Do I really have to be the one holding it and feeding it to you like this? This is sort of embarrassing”
“You’re the one that started it, so you should go ahead and take responsibility for your actions” Reina said matter-of-factly as I felt my face reddening. I’m glad there weren’t too many people around, especially as I went to wipe a bit of whipped cream from her lips after she had finished.

Reina was a lot more quiet as we browsed through the clothes section of her suggested stores, but I guess that was understandable since she probably felt awkward with me around and her lack of mobility. There was silence as I pushed her past the different shoe sections. “Actually, I want to go back now. Can you take me home?” Reina’s request was only a quiet whisper now.
“Uh sure, but I’m going to go buy something really quick, can you wait here for a moment? Um, it’s a surprise so-”
“It’s not like I can go anywhere you know? Just come back here when you’re done and don’t take too long. I know you’re sort of slow and can even get lost in a place like this.” I was glad to hear her teasing voice again. I went to buy the item that I wanted but from far away, seeing Reina sit quietly in her wheelchair there with her head down was so unlike her normal cheery self that I pretty much ran on my way back to her.

The trip back home was done in relative silence, and I prepared to take her home but Reina spoke up at the intersection that I would normally turn on. “Not that way, um, take me to your home.” Wordlessly, I nodded and took my usual way home.
“Oh that’s right, your room is on the second floor isn’t it? Well that’s inconvenient,” pouted Reina, “I guess you’ll just have to carry me then.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, and do it in an elegant manner okay? Don’t just try slinging me over your shoulder, pick me up like a dainty princess or something.” Oh man, this girl. Sometimes I really did have no idea on what goes through her head. At least she wasn’t very heavy.

“Really reminds you of the old days doesn’t it?” Reina asked from my bed as I came upstairs with some drinks and snacks. “Your room hasn’t changed that much. Are there still dirty books near the back of the bookshelves?” I tried to suppress that memory and ignore her snickers as she recalled it. “Anyway, what was it that you wanted to buy that I couldn’t see? Was it something dirty? Hey, let me see, let me see!”

I took the box out of the bag and opened it for her. “Well, I remember you saying that you always wanted to this pair of shoes before. And I figured your size didn’t change that much so I went ahead and picked it up for you. Here’s the receipt if it doesn’t fit or anything.”

“Michael….That’s...I….but you…” Reina struggled to find the right words to say before giving up with a sigh. “Michael, sometimes you are so, SO dense! You know that? Well, since you went through all that, you might as well put them on me. You’ll see then.” She stuck one of her legs out to me.

Slowly, I undid the laces on her boots, with the only sound being my heart beating loudly, each beat echoing in my ears as I undid the knots. I could feel my hands trembling as I went to take it off. The boot slid softly down her leg, with less resistance than I expected. My eyes traced the outline of her leg all the way from her knee down to where her leg ended, a bit above the ankle. The leftovers of her her black tights tied in a little knot hugging the stump of her leg.