Summer Shade

By Any Unborn Child

The quiet hum of computer monitors and hushed conversations floated through Kousuke's ears as he continued to study. Over the years, the library had become a second home to him. The background noise served as his life's soundtrack for a very long time. The words in the reference books that he used every day slowly became all too familiar to him. For the most part, he was okay with his routine – go to school, study, talk/hang out with Kaho, and sleep. Rinse and repeat.

But every so often, the staleness of the library air seemed to coincide with what his life had become.

Since he, Chiaki, and Makoto went their separate ways, there was not much else that he could do. He went with the flow, in the direction that his life was headed at that point. Every once in a while, he'd talk with Makoto over the phone, nostalgia lingering in their voices, but to Kousuke, every once in a while was not enough. He did not address it to himself often – he had a habit of doing that – but deep down, he really missed the friendship that he had with them…

…with Makoto….

For the most part, it was not just their (her) presence that he craved, but the spirit and the vitality that seemed to exist whenever and wherever they (she) were there with him. Amidst everything that seemed to be going on, he always knew that he could count on them (her) to bring his spirits up.

Kousuke stopped reading for a moment. He took off his glasses, resting them on the book, and rubbed his eyes.

He closed his eyes.

Yes…he really did miss his friends.

And Makoto.

Especially Makoto.

There was not much he could do about that.

He had missed his chance to tell her how he felt. He saw the love that was already there between Chiaki and Makoto. He did not want to ruin anything by putting his feelings ahead of theirs, ahead of Makoto's.

Even though it was unexpected, almost out of the blue, over time he grew to love Kaho.

She was everything to him in every way possible.

But…the feeling, the existence of those thoughts, the thoughts about Makoto… still hung over him…like a summer shade.

They were comforting for the time being.

They disappeared after a while, only to come back moments, sometimes days later.

They left behind the knotted emotions of what could have been.

Still…

He always came to the same conclusion, the same ray of sunlight that encompassed throughout.

As long as Makoto was happy, that was all that mattered.