“I almost went to high school, like you.” Kokoro told her, eyes still shut. “My parents decided last minute that it would be better if I had private lessons.”
“Oh? Where were you going to go?”
Kokoro opened her eyes. “Not even a private school. A girl’s one, Hanasakigawa. I remember it really well because we went to look at it when my parents were still thinking.”
Misaki opened her mouth, willing her words to come out and trying to wrap her brain around what could have been. What were the chances?
“That’s where I went.” She pushed out.
What a world it was. What a world it might have been. Would she have hated Kokoro then too? Loved her?
Kokoro was smiling. “Wouldn’t that have been interesting. If we were able to meet sooner.”
Misaki didn’t want to dwell on the “what ifs”, because there were things she didn’t know if she wanted answers to. Life could have re-written itself in a universe where Kokoro sat next to her in class, happy and shining, probably a lot like she was now. Everything had already played out though, and they were here now.
