He couldn't see it, could he? What he was doing to her. Tomoko had hoped... oh, how she'd hoped... that this was going to be the start of something new. Of something more. Of something she'd wished for but never said aloud. Ryusei had called it a date, and yet he was here, breaking her. He was going to leave and he was asking her to understand and not to cry about it and it was too much to ask of her now and couldn't he see it? What he was doing?

"Cruel," she said now. "You're cruel, Ryusei-san." Because if he wasn't then he wouldn't do this. He could have just sent her a letter and she would break but at least it wouldn't be in front of him.

Maybe it would have been better that way.

Certainly anything was better than this.