New Age

Here it was. This was the last day of high school for seniors. Yuki paced around in his room. He hadn’t had time to think about his ex. Today, he was the one giving the graduation speech. When it was first announced, he couldn’t process it.

“Wait… Are you serious?” he asked.

“Yes,” the teacher said. “Congratulations.” Yuki just sat down at his desk when he heard his classmates clapping around him. This had to be a dream. He pinched himself in the cheek. They were still clapping. Yuki didn’t know how to take this.

“Wow,” was all he could say.

There came a knock on his bedroom door. Yuki jerked his head upwards.

“Yes?” he yelped.

“Are you ready to go?” Asuka asked. Her brother stood in place and lifted his chin.

“Just give me a second!” he shouted.

“I’ll be in the car!” Asuka said. Yuki listened as her footsteps disappeared down the hall. He took one more look in the mirror. The boy took a deep breath.

“Right,” Yuki said. “I can do this.” He turned and walked out of his room.

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Asuka looked over at her brother in the passenger seat. Yuki kept his gaze out the window. For close to a month, he had been wearing a mask.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Uh-huh,” he said.

“Hm,” Asuka said. Her brother turned his head.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Yuki asked. She shrugged behind the wheel.

“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just…”

“What?” Yuki asked.

“Okay, I’m going to be blunt with you,” Asuka said. “Between Toyota moving away and Shizuma being more distant, you are pretending everything is fine.”

“No, I’m not.”

“How many years have I known you?”

Yuki folded his arms across his chest. “Too long.”

“Exactly. And I can tell when you are not really happy,” Asuka said.

“What’s the point you are trying to make?” Yuki asked.

“What I’m trying to say is that you can come to me if you need someone to talk to,” she said. They pulled up into the school parking lot.

“Thanks for that,” Yuki muttered. He unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out of the car. Asuka followed behind.

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The auditorium was packed on this spring morning. Yuki stood back stage, pacing. He took in heavy breaths. A hand rested on his shoulder. Yuki turned his head. Sasuke was patting him on the shoulder.

“You okay, man?” he asked. Yuki dropped his shoulders and sighed.

“No,” he said.

“What’s the matter, buddy?” Sasuke. Yuki looked him in the eye.

“Everyone is leaving,” he said. “I know that it has to be like this, but it still hurts. Annette is leaving. Toyota is leaving. Shizuma-kun is gone.” His wrists started shaking.

“I just…” he said.

“Aw, come here,” Sasuke said. He pulled the other boy into a hug. Yuki let his body go limp. His eyes began to well up with tears.

“I don’t think I can do this,” he whispered.

“You have to, man,” Sasuke said. Yuki froze. His friend slowly pulled away. He looked the other boy in the eye.

“You have to get through today,” Sasuke said. He took Yuki by the hands. The other boy started to speak.

“Shhh,” Sasuke said. “Just speak like you are talking to our group.” Yuki pressed his lips together and nodded. His friend put his arm around his shoulders.

“Now let’s end this school year, shall we?” he said. Yuki finally began to perk up.

“Yeah!” he said. The boys walked out to their seats in the crowd.

Yuki managed to get through his speech to his graduating class albeit tearing up a couple of times. Still, the boy managed to pull through and finish. And just like that, he and his friends were no longer high school students. That didn’t mean he had fully dealt with all of his problems just yet.