On a certain night, Haruko shared about what she uncovered from this world based on her investigation. We had some similarities, but not entirely.
First, both of us wished upon the star on that night. I wished to see Yuuma again, while Haruko wished to study more about folklore. I had no idea about studying folklore, but if it helps a little, I should put in some effort.
Second, about our identity, she arrived in this world as an existing person. Not like me, a person that never existed in this world, thus I have to "move in" in order to make my existence explainable. Due to this fact, Haruko does not need to change her name in order to avoid distortions of people around her.
Third, the way that people works around us are different. For me, people does exist everywhere, but they seemed to not move if I'm not paying attention to them. In Haruko's case, they looked like dolls, a mannequin, to be precise. They look featureless according to Haruko.
Fourth, I met Ryutenji as a trial guide in this world, he has been answering my questions, but he never told me anything about the trial in going to take part. For Haruko, she found a book with certain answers that can be found by solving mysteries. Apparently, she had been solving a lot of mysteries to come to a conclusion that there are also other people who came to this world by simply wishing upon the star.
Fifth, I told her that I have the ability to change the scenarios of the world to my will, Haruko said that her existence is nearly ignorable due to the fact that she is usually ignored by others back in our original world. Perhaps deep down, she really wants to make friends.
After sharing all these information, Haruko suddenly had an inspiration of uncovering another mystery, so she hung up suddenly. She sent a mail to apologise shortly after.
On a weekend three weeks before mid term examinations, Yuuma invites me to his room to study. I accepted blatantly, and entered his room without hesitation. He was kind of surprised that I know the way. Having to just let him accept whatever excuses is just easy.
I came to his room a lot since little. That is why I'm so familiar with his house. It's the same room as before, pictures of stars, articles of astronomical sightings, catalogues of telescopes that he tried to save up money to buy, and... Of course those kind of magazines, perhaps hidden under his bed... Ugh...
He blushed a lot when we studied, I was wearing simple clothes, he told me that I looked cute in them. That... That... That made me unexpectedly happy! I loved you so much, Yuuma! Eventually, we got used to each other's presence and began studying seriously. I studied further chapters while answering some doubts he had when he is studying for the test.
"Rinka-chan you know, I was wondering about something. Why are you studying a chapter that is not out in the test? We have been studying together for weeks, yet you never studied about the chapters that are going to be in the exams." Yuuma said. It was true that I had already revised more than enough every day. Since manipulating the exam results by perfect precision on scoring on certain questions will result in a grade that leaves me in the middle rankings, which is enough for me to not getting into the same class as Yuuma.
"I studied them yesterday, so I just help you out with some questions that are tricky to solve... Ehehe..." I couldn't come up with a better excuse, regardless, he nods without me doing anything. Time passed so quickly that we finally finished studying. We play video games to unwind a little, but he is seriously cool when he is focusing hard in games, perhaps he's like this as well during a basketball match... I should have watch him play next time.
Days after days of repeating the same events, with only slight alterations of events such as the little cat that lives around the neighbourhood, or the rain that occasionally showers the dry earth, and big events such as exams.
Well, the exams passed in a blink, since I'm very capable of solving them all. I have no longer needed to act pathetic. However, I still have to make them at least fit into the grades in the same class. With these results, I'll get the first place in this class. After the exams, everyone is cheered up about the summer break, they are sure excited to spend a lot of time without studying huh?
Yuuma approached me after school hours. With a blushed expression, I'm pretty sure that he is going to ask me out for a date.
"Rinka-chan, I wanted to thank you for the time we spent together studying, so... How about we review the questions in the exams after we get home?" Yuuma said. I'm utterly disappointed on myself to think that he must be asking me out for a date. Of course he would want to review the questions so that he would roughly know his scores.
"Sounds nice, let's do that in my place today." I said.
We arrived home shortly after, I brought him into my room, my parents greets him with utmost pleasure, seems like they are very lively today, perhaps I'm too excited about this... I brought him to my room, and leaves my room to prepare snacks and tea. It's such a long time ago that Yuuma came to my room before. The last time he came to my house is already six years ago. He just occasionally greeted my parents in front of the door, and that is how far he could reach in my house.
I returned to my room, everything seems fine, except I noticed something is off. The drawer that I keep my diary is not fully closed. I served the snacks and tea, and then approached the drawer. I pushed it slightly, and it moved. That means that Yuuma had opened it just now. I wrote about a lot of secrets about this world in it, yet Yuuma is unaffected. I let out a sigh. Perhaps he is unaffected by them? I thought.
We reviewed our exam questions, it seems like Yuuma is doing well in his exam.
"Out of these questions, you scored more than 80%, you are sure good in studying, Yuuma." I praised Yuuma. He blushed.
"You are far more better than me, you should have scored higher than me..." Yuuma replied. Thinking back in the past, I had never been praised this way, since no one knew that I studied that hard though. I was planning to gradually increase my scores so that I can get into my ideal university.
There is an awkward silence for a few minutes between us. I'm unsure how to continue the conversation. Perhaps I could ask him to visit some places with me... No, I mean, he should be the one asking me out, I just have to wait... After another few minutes of awkward silence... Yuuma finally wanted to say something, but hesitated.
"Uh... Rinka-chan, you see... It's summer break... Do you have any plans? I think I wanted to thank you by hanging out with you somewhere, is it okay?" Yuuma said after hesitating for a while. What?! Did he really just did that? I didn't do anything to alter his thoughts, perhaps it's really him wanting to ask me out for a date... Wait, he didn't mentioned that it's a date...
"Are you asking me to go on a date with you?" I asked boldly, it's very embarrassing to say something so boldly. I can hardly keep my face straight.
"Y-yeah... It's a date... If you want to call it like that." Yuuma replied, with his face bright red. We kept looking away for a while. Perhaps we felt the same thing that is about to change the way we interact in the future, people are always hesitating to change without a good reason. And I promise, I'll find the reason on that day.
We talked a lot on the phone later in the night, it seems like he can really talk a lot when he is not in front of me. Strange huh? We agreed on a day where both our schedules are free, the venue is in the central city, where we can visit the theme park as well. There is three more days before the date. I'm so excited.
I opened my drawer to write my next entry, to find that there is a drop of water on one of the pages. The water seeps through some adjacent pages, it seems like Yuuma has seen my diary, on that page where I wrote about Haruko's findings. This made me started to think, why is Yuuma unaffected when he saw something that is supposed to make his mind overflowed with information? He should be immobilised by the massive amount of information from my original world... Nevertheless, today's entry is different like the several pages prior. It feels refreshing to write something different over a few days.
A quick trivia:
Rika starts with R
Yuuma starts with Y
Ryujii starts with R
Yuuki starts with Y
Well, it is just a coincidence. BTW, please check out A Twilight Promise as well if you haven't read it before.