Disclaimer: Neither To Aru nor the song 'Say Something' is mine. I hope they were though.

Say Something

"You're leaving?"

She merely closed her eyes, not confident enough that she'd be able to pull through her resolve if she looked at him.

There they were in the middle of the airport in District 23.

She held the handle of her luggage trailing behind her, a single green suitcase protected by a Gekota padlock, in one hand and her violin case in the other. She wasn't wearing the uniform she should be adorning that school day and was instead in casual clothes.

He, on the other hand, was wearing his winter school uniform. He held nothing else, but the phone in his hand, and a look of disbelief and hurt on his face.

The announcement of her flight rang over their heads, and around them the crowd of people continued to pass them by.

She couldn't hear them though.

All her mind could register was deep, almost betrayed, pained voice.

She could hear his silent pants, brought about by running who knows how far just to catch her before she left. She didn't know how he even found out. He wasn't supposed to know she was leaving.

Maybe her friends took pity at him. Maybe they thought he deserved to know.

Maybe they knew only he could make her stay.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, his voice raspy—from the run or from whatever it was that he felt about her leaving.

'Because,' her mind said but she refused to say it out loud, 'I'm giving up on you.'

Two years. That's how long it took for her to finally give up chasing after him. She had tried everything, and she wasn't even sure anymore if he really was that dense, or if he chose to pretend to be because he just wasn't interested.

And so she decided to move on and leave Academy City. She'd been receiving countless letters from schools overseas, offering her very impressive exchange student programs that no sane student would turn down, and finally—finally—she decided to accept one that will send her all the way to Europe.

He was the only reason why she stayed anyway.

Her refusal to respond only seemed to upset him more as he exasperatingly called her, "Biribi—"

"Don't," she stopped him, not wanting to hear that damned nickname he had given her. It was breaking down her resolve, crumbling it to pieces, "Just—Touma, don't…"

Her grip tightened around the handles of her suitcase and violin case.

She still refused to look at him.

"…Mikoto…"

She could feel him approach her, but she was frozen. No longer was her mind connected to her body. No matter how many times she told herself to get away from him her body just refused to move.

He stopped in front of her, and he asked in a whisper, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know I was obligated to."

"Why didn't you?"

She bit the inside of her cheek at his frustrated voice, "I don't have to tell you."

"Damn it, Mikoto, look at me!" he suddenly grabbed her by her shoulders, shaking her so forcefully that her eyes snapped open. But she kept her eyes averted, and this, he noticed, "Look at me, Mikoto," he held her chin, tilting her head to face him. She silently noted how his hold was still gentle even with the amount of anger he was radiating, "Tell me… please, why didn't you tell me?"

The sudden desperation in his voice seeped into her chest and her eyes unwillingly met his as she answered, "I didn't want you to know."

The hurt in his eyes was so apparent that she almost apologized right there. But she held her tongue as he murmured, "Why not?"

"Because I don't want you to convince me to stay."

She decided to be honest with him. There was no point. He knew. And whether he was aware or not, all he really had to do was ask her and she'd stay.

That was why she made it clear that she wanted to leave.

His hold on her loosened, and she felt his hands trail down along her arms as the slowly slackened to his sides.

"When will you be back?"

She averted her gaze again, unable to withstand the weight of his stare, "I don't know."

She could feel him watch her critically before he dared to ask, "Will you ever come back?"

"…I don't know."

Overhead, they heard the announcement of her flight.

Swallowing the words lodged in her throat, she told him, "I have to go."

She made a move to pass him but his hand secured her wrist before she could get far.

Her heart almost broke at the utter grief in his voice, "Why are you leaving?"

She didn't reply.

"Please, Mikoto," he begged, "Say something…"

Over the noise of the bustling crowd, she told him in a soft voice.

"I'm giving up on you."

There were no words; even after she pulled herself free from his grasp, or when she disappeared from his sight, and when it was announced that her plane had finally left, he couldn't think of anything to say that could've made her stay.

Author's Notes:

Just something I came up with when I discovered the song 'Say Something' by A Great Big World. Listen to it while reading this. It was on loop on my playlist while I was writing.

Gah! the angst! And I was readingFacing Your Fears: Again! by cupcakesarereallygood (again) when I heard the song which is pretty much the reason why Mikoto's leaving and Touma didn't know. But the situation is a whole different thing :DDD

To those who are still patiently waiting for the updates of What Causes a Sparkand A Certain Game of 20 Questions, please believe me when I say I'm making steady progress with the chapters. Little by little, yes, but a steady progress still. But I keep scrapping scene after scene when I deem them not good enough and had to replace several pages of written work so it might take a little more while... thank you for the patience!

~Any typos or grammatical errors? I didn't proofread this so... yeah...

I hope you enjoyed reading this! :))

~61wisampa