Adachi and Shimamura1,2

I couldn't stop wondering, what would it be like dating Shimamura?

At our age, even if you went out with some boy, it didn't mean that you

were gonna get married or build a family together or anything. As such, it

wasn't really necessary to stick to the opposite gender. As long as we limited

our discussion to this specific period of a person's life, there weren't any

particular issues when it came to two girls dating each other.

No issues, huh?

What was I thinking? There definitely were. Even if I could understand it

myself, the rest of the world would never stop giving us weird looks.

Whether or not Shimamura would be willing to accept it was a massive issue

in and of itself. At the same time, all those were issues with the world, with

Shimamura. External ones. Perhaps what I had meant was that I personally

didn't have any issues with it.

No, that wasn't it either. Focusing on it, I could definitely come up with at

least one.

There was a possibility that I could bring that value system with me to

adulthood. And if that happened, it would interfere with continuing the

legacy of my family. While it was true that I was merely a single person and

that it didn't really matter what I did, the appearance of an exception could

potentially attract others and end up creating a massive wave. Now, whether

or not that would happen, I didn't know, but if yes, society would be in a lot

of trouble. It was for this reason that being the exception was so scary.

I see.

"..."

Did I really like Shimamura that much?

Hiding my face behind the bowl, I sneaked a glance at her.

Her dyed, brown hair waved in the air, matching her movements. Her

makeup was a bit more elaborate than mine, and her eyes made her seem

languid. There was also her mouth, moving elegantly. My stare was fixed at

Shimamura's face. Especially her mouth.

I hadn't really noticed it before, but she sure was cute.

It was common for things to start looking like something completely

different once you became conscious about them.

Feeling that I was going to be enthralled by her and knowing that I

shouldn't, I turned my head away.

I pretended like she didn't even exist. Just then, a thought crossed my

mind.

Why Shimamura?

"Oh, if it isn't Shimamura and Adachii."

Someone suddenly called my name in a really weird way, and I almost

dropped the bowl from shock. I hurriedly put it back on the table and looked

up, only to see two people standing next to us, likewise carrying bowls of

their own. Shimamura reacted with a short "oh", after which the two sat down

at our table without really asking for permission or anything. If I remembered

right, the small one was Hino, and the big one was Nagafuji.

"So, you did come to school, huh?" Hino asked, having sat down next to

me.

"Huh? Y-Yeah."

I quickly realised the meaning behind her words, even if it did take me a

second. I hadn't been to class. In the eyes of the teacher and the attendance

record, I was treated as absent. Now that that was settled, the only question

remaining was these two who had suddenly joined our lunch.

"A... Ad... Mumble, mumble."

The girl sitting diagonally to me, Nagafuji, mumbled something. Kinda

surprising; she didn't really seem all that shy.

"It's Adachi. Did you really think you could trick us into believing that

you hadn't forgotten her name just by mumbling?" Hino stated, the tips of her

chopsticks pointed at her.

"Oh, right. Hahaha", she replied back. Her laugh sounded completely

monotonous. "Doesn't really matter. Anyway, Adachi."

"What?"

"Good morning."

Nagafuji's face turned into a slight, gentle smile as she spoke. I was a

little confused by her sudden greeting, although thinking about it more, I

supposed it was what you were meant to do as soon as you met someone.

Nevertheless, I somehow got the feeling that she wasn't all that good at

reading the room.

"...Morning."

It was kinda weird for someone whose looks and behaviour oozed with

such intelligence to be so absent-minded.

"Did you just arrive?"

Nagafuji had noticed the bag sitting next to me. I decided to answer

honestly.

"No, I skipped class."

"Ohh?" she replied, and so did Hino. What emotion were they implying, I

couldn't tell.

"Still, it's pretty rare to see you guys here. You usually bring your own

lunch."

Shimamura was the one who spoke this time. Her comment was aimed at

the two others. Shaking her chopsticks in the air, Hino replied. Moving her

hands whenever she reacted to something seemed to be a habit of hers. Was

this a sign of her being unable to relax, or just being full of energy?

"My mom overslept. That's why."

"As for me, I didn't have any good ingredients around."

Out of the two, I found Nagafuji's reason far more mysterious. Did she

make her own meals?

Facing me, Hino explained. Her chopsticks were still pointed towards

Nagafuji.

"Her family owns a meat store."

"Oh", I stated back shortly. How exactly was this related to the

conversation we were just having?

"I went there the other day and asked: 'Can I have some of that delicious

brisket'. You know what happened then? They smacked me. What a horrible

store."

"I told Dad it's okay to smack you since you're not a customer."

That sounded pretty extreme. Far more delinquent-like than me,

considering that I had never smacked anyone.

"Now, Shimamuura, wanna share food?" Hino suggested, holding a piece

of a carrot between her chopsticks. Pretty weird, seeing how, like us, she too

had ordered a Chinese rice bowl.

Also, sharing food with Shimamura? Hmm...

"Why? We both have the same one."

"Come on, don't be like that", she said before dropping the carrot into

Shimamura's bowl.

"You just want to give me all your carrots because you don't like them.

Hey, Nagafuji! Don't jump on the bandwagon."

Another piece of carrot dropped into Shimamura's food, the culprit this

time being the silent Nagafuji. For a second, I thought that maybe I should do

so too. Shimamura looked at me and smiled wryly.

I smiled back, my expression filled with all sorts of subtleties.

Doing stuff like this wasn't half-bad.

There wasn't anything wrong with the noisy atmosphere these two

brought with them. I thought back to the lunch time in elementary school.

Those had been the days. And yet. I couldn't deny that there was a part of me

that felt that way.

It really had been a while since Shimamura and I had spent time together

with just the two of us. No matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn't shake

off the feeling that these two had butted in, that this wasn't where I belonged.

Had wanting to hide those feelings been part of the reason why I had

smiled?

"It's pretty rare to see you smile, Adachi", Shimamura stated, poking fun

at me.

"Well, excuse me."

Shameless. I had smiled just a minute ago, hadn't I? It had been a pretty

wide grin, too... or maybe not. Still, if there were any smiles that felt like they

didn't come from the heart, they had be Shimamura's. Often, it felt like she

smiled simply because it fit the situation.

Just what were the things that Shimamura was interested in?

I had tried asking her this in the past, but all I had gotten as an answer

was a mix of "dunno"s and "some stuff"s.

And thus, for the first time in a long while, I ended up having lunch in

something other than silence.

Not much of the lunch break remained once we were done. The other

students had all began leaving, and joining them, I too finished my bowl.

"How are you gonna spend the afternoon?" Shimamura asked me after

we'd brought our trays to the collection station. After what had just happened,

I wasn't really in the mood for going back to the gym all by myself.

Besides, I had also brought my bag with me.

"I think I'll go to class."

"I see."

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could swear that I saw a trace of

happiness on Shimamura's face. Looking at it moved my heart.

Making sure that her friends in front of us didn't hear, I spoke the

following words, loaded with the slightest sense of antagonism towards the

two.

"Hey."

"Hm?"

"Would you mind if I came over to your place after school?"

My slightly nervous question earned a small head tilt from Shimamura.

"Why?"

"I'm free, so I just figured."

There are an endless number of places we could go to spend time, so why

my house, was what she wanted to say, judging from the look on her face.

Speaking of her face, I wasn't really a fan of the expression she made at times

like these.

Maybe I was just thinking too much, but it really did feel like I was being

accused of something.

"Even if we do go, there's nothing to do there. And, my little sister's...

Well, whatever. Sure."

She couldn't be bothered to explain it all, and ended up cutting her

sentence short. Something about her little sister being home and being noisy,

seemed to be what she had wanted to say.

"But seriously, there's nothing there", she emphasized.

"Yeah, I know", I nodded to her.

I knew well that we wouldn't do anything there.

It was the experience of visiting her house that I felt to be important.

Once you became a high school student, you rarely got the chance to visit

other people's houses.

I simply wanted to take that single step towards being special to her.

Under no circumstances could I come out with it and say that I wanted to

be alone with her.

"..."

Her house, her room. The dream was trying to rouse me, but I shook it off

with all my might.

"Oh, your bike's fixed."

"Yep."

Shimamura's statement after school at the bicycle parking station where

she had followed me to brought my mind back to around a week ago.

Those memories were soaked with thoughts of regret, and I had

purposefully chosen to ignore them.

Just who was that person wearing a space suit that had appeared before

the station? The whole thing was weird, and were it not for the fact that

Shimamura had talked about her—confirming that I had actually met her—I

really would've thought of it as a dream. Whereas I ran away immediately

when spoken to, Shimamura had no trouble dealing with anyone, even

someone like that. For better or worse, she was completely neutral.

Was I part of that neutrality too? That thought alone caused me to see that

day in a completely different light.

Deep inside me, I felt relieved how quickly Shimamura had forgotten

about those events.

"You're riding on the back?" I said while tapping the back wheel of my

bike.

"Sure", Shimamura immediately agreed. "Hold this."

Having put her bag in my bike's basket, Shimamura placed her hands on

my shoulders. I did kinda wonder if perhaps we should have waited till we

were outside of the school to do this, but I also didn't want to stop her, and so

we were off. Though it was really tough at first—with there being another

person's worth of weight on the bike and all—once the pedals started turning,

we quickly accelerated.

"You don't have work today?"

"Nope. But I do tomorrow."

We swiftly passed through the school gate. Had a teacher seen us, there

was a good chance that we would've been yelled at to stop and given a

lecture.

"Hey, my house isn't this way."

"Oh, right."

I had instinctively turned towards my place. I did a U-turn, and before

long, we were back in front of the school gate.

"You're really gonna come?" Shimamura asked while pointing towards

the correct direction.

"Yeah. You don't want me to?"

I wasn't going to go if Shimamura said no. She didn't answer, however,

and instead asked the following.

"That China dress, is that what you wear outside of school, Adachi?"

How was this question related to anything we'd been talking about? Also,

what kind of a question was that?

"Of course not."

"Really? None of the other employees were wearing one."

"Well, that's because..."

"Because what?"

"You know, because I'm the youngest."

"Perhaps also because you wear it the best?"

"Hmm, I wonder."

Had Shimamura actually liked when I wore that?

Did she even like things in the first place?

Still pedalling, I tilted my head upwards to look at her. Our eyes

immediately met.

"No, no. Eyes on the road", she spoke quickly, pointing forwards. It

wasn't the first time something like this had happened, I thought, and

continued staring at her for a while.

"Hey, seriously."

Seeing her all tense felt refreshing in a way.

It kinda felt like lately, my thoughts had been nothing but Shimamura.

"And so, I arrived at Shimamura's house", I spoke to myself as I pulled

over in front of her home.

"Why are you monologuing? You sound like Hino", she replied.

Thinking back to the exchange that had taken place over lunch earlier that

day, I had to admit, she had a point. I locked my bike before turning my eyes

towards the house. Its roof was blue, and there was a deck made of wood on

the yard. The wood looked pretty old, though, and I could tell that it had

decayed here and there. On it, I could also see some washed clothes that had

been left to dry, gently swaying in the wind.

Was I really going over to my friend's house? I hadn't done something

like this since middle school.

Maybe I never would after this.

Shimamura unlocked the door and opened it.

"Yeah, I figured she'd be here", she stated, looking at the small pair of

shoes lined before the entrance while taking off hers. Was she talking about

her little sister? Having finished removing them, Shimamura placed her own

shoes next to the ones already there.

I did the same, after which we entered the hallway. There were stairs

leading to the second floor right in front of us, but Shimamura simply walked

past them.

"Your room's on the first floor?"

"Yep. Although, I see where you're coming from. Having it on the second

is way more common."

Mine was, at least. Same went for most of the girls whose houses I had

visited in elementary school. Maybe it had been the fashion back when our

homes had been built.

"This one", Shimamura said, pointing at a door at the end of the hallway.

She placed her hand on the doorknob and turned.

In that instant as the door opened, I heard a voice coming from inside.

"Big Sis! Welcome... back..."

The first half of her greeting had been filled with enthusiasm, but as soon

as she noticed me, it all faded away.

Shimamura's little sister had been playing a game, sitting on the floor next

to her backpack. It was a table tennis game from the looks of it, the kind you

played by swinging the controller in the air. She had missed the ball, and all

that could be seen on the screen now was her opponent cheering.

"Hi", Shimamura quickly returned her sister's greeting. She then

introduced me, standing behind her. "This is my friend. From yesterday,

remember?"

"Sure."

The girl turned off the console, tidied up a little, and rushed out of the

room. She had probably been waiting for Shimamura to come back home so

that she could play the game with her, hadn't she? Something about the way

she had run away reminded me of myself. My chest ached.

"Oh, sorry."

"Don't even worry about it. She's just really shy around strangers."

No, I don't think that was it. Despite being her big sister, she didn't seem

to have noticed.

If I happened to see her when I left, I should apologize to her.

Whatever. I could think about her little sister later. There was something

far more important that I needed to focus on right now. As I stood there in the

doorway, I became extremely self-conscious of a certain fact.

This was Shimamura's room.

Of course, as one would expect—and I can't stress this point enough—her

room was nothing at all like the one I had seen in my dream. It was

completely different, both in layout and size. The colour of the walls too: not

even close. Still, looking back to it now, that sure had been one clear dream.

From the miscellaneous items to the colour of the roof, all the way to the

landscape visible through the window, none of it was hazy.

The wallpaper was light blue, and the curtains pastel colour. There was a

bed next to the wall, as well as a single desk. Opposite to the bed was a TV,

and outside of the second-story window shone the evening sun. Shimamura

sat down on the bed, leaning her back against the wall, and on her lap, sat I.

That was how it had gone in my fantasy. Err, dream.

Now, let's talk about her actual room.

The walls were white. There was no bed, but rather two futons. This was

the most curious part. Next to the window was a TV, and below it some Blu-

ray cases and a gaming console. There was also a bookshelf full of manga,

likely belonging to the younger of the two. I spotted a table tennis book, and

for some reason, felt a little happy.

Two writing desks stood next to each other, giving off a feeling that

they'd been there for a while. This was where my dream really fell apart.

Never had I imagined that Shimamura still shared a room with her little sister.

Or rather, some corner of my mind hadn't.

It wasn't like I'd had control over what happened in that dream. As such,

it had nothing to do with what I thought. It didn't.

There was also an aquarium, further enlarging the rift between

imagination and reality. There were some fish inside, swimming around

lazily.

"You like these?"

"Hino caught those. My sister likes taking care of animals, so I entrust

them to her. She's also in charge of the class pet in school, I hear",

Shimamura said, smiling.

"Oh, I remember those", I stated back, smiling as well. "They still do that

thing?"

"I guess, yeah. Now then."

Having placed her bag on her desk, Shimamura sat down on the futon.

She grabbed the yellow cushion her little sister had been using and tossed it

over to me. I caught it and took a look. On it was pictured a black cat—the

mascot of the delivery company Kuroneko Yamato—holding hands with a

white one. I placed it on the floor and sat on it.

"Now, whatcha wanna do?" she asked for my input while stretching her

legs. In other words, how were we going to kill time?

Perhaps bored, Shimamura turned on the TV. She changed it from the

video screen to a regular channel, and a drama started playing. I could tell

from the poor image quality that it was pretty old, a rerun of something I'd

already seen multiple times when I was in elementary school. Looking at the

dark-skinned main actor, I couldn't help but smile a little. It really did feel

like I saw this one every six months. They'd been showing old American

films on TV a little while ago, this having been one of them. I'd happened to

watch through it then, and as such, everything that happened in it was fresh in

my memory.

"This one again, huh?"

Shimamura seemed to share my sentiment. Us sharing something, even if

trivial, soothed me.

And yet.

"..."

Sitting tight on the cushion, I tapped my temple lightly.

My eyes wouldn't calm down, as if they were chasing afterimages.

I knew I shouldn't mix dreams and reality, yet I still felt restless.

We were sitting, kind of... far away from each other.

"Hey, Shimamura."

"Hmm?" she replied, still facing the TV. She then began taking off her

socks.

"Umm, do you mind if I, like... sit between your legs?"

What the hell was I saying? She was going to think that I was a weirdo,

muttering some weird nonsense.

"Huh? No, I guess I don't."

She didn't mind, huh? ...Wait. Wait, what? Wasn't this exactly what

happened in my dream?

I was completely taken aback by how casually she had accepted my

request. Even as she opened her legs, the expression on Shimamura's face

didn't really change. I walked over to her and sat down between them, all the

while wondering if I really should be doing this.

As I hung my head, I could see Shimamura's legs sticking out on either

side of me. I felt myself panic, and my head started spinning.

Of course, I couldn't bring myself to lean against her right away. I sat

there grasping my knees, my body stiff, and a slight gap between us.

Supporting my upper half with my hips alone placed a great burden on them,

and it didn't take long for it to start hurting. Around when my body began

shaking, Shimamura called out to me.

"What are you doing?"

"No, I just..." I muttered, not even coming close to forming an actual

sentence. Shimamura was clearly confused.

"Hm? My sister sits like this all the time. It's completely normal, is it

not?"

Did Shimamura treat both me and her sister the same way?

I couldn't decide whether that was a good or a bad thing. In either case, I

was starting to feel something hot welling up inside me.

"Well, it is, but..."

I felt like if I didn't say that, I'd get kicked in the butt and roll all the way

to the end of the room. Yes, it was a lie.

Was I taking advantage of her ignorance? Or was it really a normal thing

to do? I couldn't tell.

Were I to look over my shoulder, Shimamura's face would be right there.

Just thinking about it made my ears burn. No, there was definitely something

weird about that. I was way too self-conscious. The sound of the TV barely

even registered in my ears at this point. Or rather, my ears were burning. It

was already getting a little painful. As Shimamura was right next to me, it

wouldn't be strange for her to have noticed. Had she?

"Come here."

"Whoa!"

All of a sudden, Shimamura grabbed my shoulders and pulled. She

knocked me off balance, and I started falling towards her. Had she perhaps

done so because she felt my rigid stance to be unnatural? Whatever the

reason might have been, I really hadn't seen her attack coming. I felt like I

was going to drown. Waving my arms around, my back thudded against her. I

fit perfectly, even though Shimamura was supposed to be the more petite one

out of the two of us. It really was like I had become her little sister. Right

behind me—or rather, above me—was her head. She didn't really seem to

think anything about this, judging by the calm look on her face as she stared

down at me.

I straightened my back a little bit, and Shimamura once again disappeared

behind me. I could hear her "hmph" at my height. As for me, I still couldn't

believe that I was actually this close to her. Trying to comprehend it, I felt my

arms and legs grow weak.

I extended my legs on the futon and took a breath. Dream and reality

blurred together. I was getting dizzy. Gripping my knees, I could feel

Shimamura's presence with my back. She was on the other side of a thin wall.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

My mouth moved spontaneously. I felt like I had to say something to

break the silence.

Thinking back to it, it was around here that I turned into an automaton.

"You think I do?"

The way Shimamura replied was clearly a little mean-spirited. Even if she

hadn't meant it that way, it didn't change the fact that I came close to

growling.

"No."

"And you'd be right. Wait, didn't you ask me this same question just the

other day?"

"...Oh, did I?"

My head wasn't working well enough for me to have remembered that.

"What about you, Adachi? Do you have one?"

"No", I replied in the exact same way I had just moments before.

"I see", Shimamura stated back. It didn't sound like she was particularly

interested.

She had just asked because I had asked her. That was probably all there

was to it. Yes, definitely. That's just how Shimamura was in general. Even

now, despite clearly wondering why I had asked her something like that, her

only reaction was to repeat the question to me. She put no effort whatsoever

into trying to force a meaningful conversation between us.

It felt like there was an inaccurate ruler between us, and no matter which

one of us moved and in what way, the distance between us simply wouldn't

close. That's how our relationship was always going to be, wasn't it?

Thinking that, I turned my head slightly. As I did, Shimamura's eyes

appeared before me.

I was as close to her as I had been in the dream. I just sat there, staring

into her eyes.

"What?"

It seemed that Shimamura too felt this to be a little weird. She was right;

it definitely was. Super weird.

My collarbone hurt. For most people it was their chest that started aching,

I'd heard, but for me, it was my bones. They creaked, as if my flesh had been

peeled off or something. Perhaps the extra burden placed on them by my

tensed neck could be thought of as the reason. My neck was in pain, so much

so that I was a little worried that my head might come off.

I wanted to feel comfortable. And for that, I knew right away what

needed to be done.

Huh?

I love you! Wait, I mean—

Huh?

What?

What the hell had I been about to say?

Wait, had I said it? Had I not? If I had, what was going to happen if

Shimamura had heard? What was going to happen?

"Hm?"

Shimamura tilted her head slightly to the side. It seemed that in the end,

my voice hadn't come out.

It felt like my throat was being crushed.

The corners of my eyes tingled.

I-I think I love you, Shimamura.

The only sound coming from my mouth was that of cold air passing

through my throat. Not my voice.

As if my heart had stuck into my bones and joined their throb, the insides

of my body were keeping me in check.

I was unable to blink and could feel my eyes narrowing, like my eyeballs

were sinking into my skull. Shimamura, who I was still staring at, was clearly

confused. My body shook a little, and she twitched.

D-Do I love her? Well, possibly. It's like, "I might love you, maybe".

Again and again, I tried getting the words out of my mouth. I felt my

lower lip and jaw shiver.

This wasn't good. It was bad. Insane. All sorts of insults filled my mind.

My memories and consciousness wiggled around like a bunch of worms, and

I could barely get a thought across. What I was doing was... it was...

Really stupid.

Shimamura was completely dumbfounded. Her mouth moved with great

uncertainty, as if this was her first time speaking.

"Umm, are you okay? Are you breathing? Your face is bright red."

That was all she said before her fingers touched my mouth.

I was swallowed by white light, shining all around me.

Before I realised what was happening, I had already sprang up and broken

into a run. Though everything from the creaking of my hands to my

screaming headache was undeniably a part of me, for some reason, it felt like

I was an outside observer, and that this was all happening to someone else.

"W-Wait", Shimamura spoke, all the while showing no intention of

chasing after me. Leaving her behind, I ran away.

My legs felt shaky, to the point that I was worried whether or not I'd be

able to ride my bike.

I buried my face into the pillow. My entire body shook, and I felt like I

had to pin down my head.

If you told me that I got home from Shimamura's place by warping, I

probably would have believed you. That's how little I remembered from the

way back. Yet, the sharp pain in my legs proved that I'd been pedalling like

no tomorrow.

I had forgotten my bag in her room, though with how things were, there

was obviously no way that I could go grab it.

I growled into my pillow. What the hell was I doing? What the hell was I

doing? That was the question the drops of sweat welling up from my scalp

were asking me. Letting out yet another pathetic scream, I took off my

uniform jacket. I screamed again.

"Whadashaa!? Whadashaaaa!?"

This expression embodied my emotions. It wasn't Japanese for sure, and

even I had no idea what it was supposed to mean.

Just attempting to remember what I had said was enough to make me

scream. It felt like the parting of my hair was sinking into my skull. I

coughed again and again, and tears welled up in the corners of my eyes.

I lifted my head, only to find that the sun was still up.

Why wasn't it down yet? I felt despair, and that despair felt like it was

gouging out my eyes.

"My neck... hurts... It hurts..."

Something hot and dark, something I couldn't even begin to swallow

moved around in my chest.

I didn't want to stop, but at the same time, I wanted it to be over. These

feelings gushed down on me like a waterfall.

The sun would soon set and then eventually rise. The question was,

would it really bring with it a tomorrow for me?

Never before had anyone run away from me in such showy fashion.

Even now that Adachi had left, the TV remained on, with me still facing

it. There was a slight depression in the futon between my legs where she had

sat. Thinking back to Adachi's face—redder than a goldfish and slightly blue

by the end—I couldn't help but wonder what had been going on with her. It

felt like she had wanted to say something, but the words had gotten stuck in

her throat. What was something she'd have that much trouble saying? What

would be hard for Adachi to say? Well, for example...

"Hmm..."

No, there was no way it was that, right?

"Shabadaba!"

My little sister entered the room. She was in fourth grade of elementary

school, yet I was still lumped with her in a "kids' room". I had an inkling that

us being sisters is what made our parents think that this was fine; had I been a

boy, we probably would've gotten our own rooms a long time ago. Armed

with a portable heater and an electric fan, I occasionally took refuge in the

storage room next door for late night studies, though it did come with the cost

of having to breathe in a lot of dust.

"She's not here? Nope."

Having taken a look around the room—to check whether or not Adachi

was still there, presumably—my sister slid in front of the TV. I watched as

she picked up from the floor the controller she'd dropped, still connected to

the console. Was she planning to resume playing the game from earlier? Just

as I thought that, she turned my way.

"Let's play, Sis."

"Huh?"

She always wanted to play with me despite the fact that she sucked. To

make matters worse, she got grumpy whenever she lost and stopped speaking

to me, meaning that I had to go easy on her and occasionally let her win. It

was kinda tedious, honestly. Especially right now.

"Well, good luck."

Not waiting for my reply, she turned the TV on, changed it to the right

channel, and pushed the console's power button. Eager, were we now?

"Well, I guess I have to", I mumbled as I grabbed the controller. As I did,

she instantly hopped between my legs and leant against me. I normally

wouldn't have thought anything about this, but right now, it caused my heart

to groan. The reason was simple: it reminded me of what had happened with

Adachi moments earlier.

This wasn't a weird thing to do, was it? Adachi's strange behaviour had

planted a seed of suspicion in me.

"That person left pretty quick, huh?"

"She sure did", I answered absent-mindedly, my chin resting on her head.

Now that I thought about it, she really hadn't stayed for all that long. Kinda

made me wonder why she had even bothered to come in the first place.

"Did you have a falling out with her?"

"Hmm, I'm really not sure myself."

The game my sister had chosen for us was a competitive puzzle one.

Colourful orbs fell from the top of the screen one after another. When you

connected four orbs of the same colour, they disappeared, and the goal of the

game was to pile them up in a way that they disappeared in a chain. Just

dropping them down randomly, you could sometimes get a two or three chain

to happen on its own. That's what I was doing, and from the looks of it, my

sister was as well.

Should I have played something like this with Adachi? Kinda late to be

thinking about it now, I suppose.

My whole life was filled with moments of regret just like this one, yet I

was utterly incapable of utilizing my experiences in any sort of meaningful

way.

Even if I found myself in a situation completely like one I'd been in

previously, I likely wouldn't recognize that in time. I was conscious of my

lack of interest in most things, at least on some level.

I never played games by myself. Neither did I read books, nor go see

movies. I barely went shopping either, and those rare times I did, it was

mostly just to buy clothes whenever the seasons changed. Adachi had once

asked me how I spent my days off, but honestly, I hadn't really known how to

answer her. A lot of the time I just, sat there.

That was to say, my choices were limited. Well, not that there even were

enough answers for me to be able to choose. Sometimes, my fingers looked

thin, really thin. I never felt well when that happened.

What about now? Was it my fingers that tapered off like a dead end

leading nowhere, or perhaps something else?

Whatever was happening with Adachi was a mystery to me, one that I

couldn't bring myself to solve.

Those thoughts took all my focus, and for once, my little sister won

without me deliberately allowing her to do so. I could feel her celebrate

below my chin.

Briefly, I pulled my body back.

"Hey", I said, prompting my sister to look around. I had my index finger

ready, and as soon as she turned, I poked her soft cheek with it. To be

perfectly honest, I'd been planning to do this to Adachi, but she had turned

around herself before I'd gotten the opportunity. Wanting to dispel any

lingering regrets, I had tested it out, and who knew, it'd worked perfectly.

Good going, Sis.

"Instant-kill headbutt!"

"Gah!"

Launching a counter attack, the girl tilted her neck and headbutted me.

My chin throbbed intensely, and the resulting shock wave of pain

travelled all the way to my temple.

Needless to say, the use of such a special move earned her a thorough

punishment after I recovered.

Taking the events of yesterday into consideration, I had anticipated that

Adachi might come here, and arrived a little earlier myself. I was still waiting

as the bell indicating the start of the first class rang. Sitting on the second

floor of the gym by myself, I checked the clock.

It was 9 o'clock, give or take. I stared at it for a while. Maybe it was still

too early for her? That was the conclusion I came to, and I sat back down. It

wasn't like she had promised to come or anything, yet for some reason, it felt

like she had. Why? Gripping my toes and pulling them together, I pondered

this while rolling back and forth like a daruma doll. As I did that, it began

feeling like this was the natural flow of things, her not coming. She really

was blowing this out of proportion. What had even happened? Nothing.

I got up and pulled my bag to me. Grabbing my phone, I decided to

message Adachi.

We had exchanged numbers when we first became acquainted, though I

hadn't really used hers for anything till now. We saw each other in school

every weekday, and even then we could barely keep up a conversation and

fell silent a lot of the time. As such, there wasn't really anything for me to call

or text her about. Still, I supposed it was good to have her number for times

like these. My fingers paused as I wondered what I should write.

"Why did you leave yesterday?"

A little too direct, perhaps? I could definitely see her taking this as me

being mad at her. I needed something softer, something that Adachi might

actually reply to.

"Hmm..."

In any case, once I got a reply from her, this whole mess would be over.

That's how it felt to me. As such...

"Are you feeling okay? Wanna meet?"

After thinking about it for a while, this was the message I came up with.

Personally, I was feeling perfectly fine. Send.

I placed my phone on top of my bag and waited for a reply. Just then, I

realised something: I had forgotten to put my phone on silent. I was currently

skipping class, after all. I quickly fixed my mistake and hunkered down.

Gripping my hair and stroking it between my fingers, I could feel the

muscles around my mouth grow tense.

If yesterday was to be the last day Adachi ever came to school, would that

be my fault? No, that was a dumb question. What had I even done? Adachi

had gotten all flustered on her own, and in a way, I couldn't help but see her

as a cat, unable to get down from a tree it had climbed. Perhaps it was Adachi

herself who had caused this all to happen. Still, whatever the reason or cause

might be, the fact remained that she was unable to climb down. And if you

wanted to change that, your only option was to put assigning blame aside and

start working on moving.

What I really wanted to say was, stop being such a shut-in.

Not that I had any clue how much of one she was.

"You're weak, Adachi."

In the end, I waited till lunch break without receiving a reply from the

weakling in question.

Loitering into the classroom in the middle of lunch break earned me a few

looks. I obviously wasn't walking with my hands on my hips like some big

shot or anything like that, but even so, everyone whose eyes I met instantly

looked away. Were they afraid of me? I wasn't really good at telling. What I

did have a sharp eye for was whether or not my sister was making fun of me,

but that was a whole other issue.

I soon found the two people who weren't afraid of me.

"Ooh", Hino reacted as I approached her and Nagafuji. "So, you were

here, huh? Wait, I feel like I said something similar yesterday."

Holding a piece of onion between her chopsticks, Hino tilted her head.

"Yep, you did", I replied back while taking a seat next to them. The two

had brought their own lunches with them today which they had spread on the

desk.

Hino's lunch was mostly potato stew with meat and rice. I really felt like

she'd taken the leftovers of yesterday's dinner and shoved them all there.

Nagafuji's, on the other hand, consisted of multiple omelets. They looked

delicious and I asked if I could have one, but with a stern look on her face,

she pretended not to hear me. How rude. Had she already forgotten who ate

her carrots for her yesterday? Well, we were talking about Nagafuji, so there

was a chance. Did she scrub her head a little too hard in the bath each night?

Leaving that aside, I turned my eyes towards the classroom's entrance.

Adachi's empty seat really stood out.

"Adachi's not coming, is she?"

"She said she's taking a day off", Hino replied.

"Really?" Nagafuji tilted her head, as was the norm.

"She said she caught a cold."

"Pretending to be sick, are we?"

I sighed with relief. It seemed that Adachi was just being her usual self. I

had to admit, some part of me had been a little worried that she might have

gotten into an accident while rushing home. Thankfully, those worries had

been lifted.

"Since you were both missing, I thought you might have been skipping

class again at the gym", Hino spoke. I lifted my index finger to indicate that it

was just me today.

"It's not like we're always together or anything."

"Really? I think you mostly stick together, though", Nagafuji objected, in

a manner that invited misunderstanding.

"Not really", I denied, all the while feeling a little flustered. Did it really

look like that from the outside? Holding hands, sitting side by side... Maybe

we did stick together. Well, those were all things that Adachi had wanted to

do. At the same time, I'd been the one to accept them, so it would have been a

little odd to say that I was against it somehow.

"Did you eat anything, Shimaa?"

"Stop it with the nicknames already... Actually, no, I don't think I have."

Mom never made me lunch, and as she knew that I didn't take studying

seriously, she probably wouldn't have made it even if I had asked. It was

ultimately my fault, so I rarely even spoke about it.

I had never seen Adachi bring lunch with her either. Made sense; she

wasn't on great terms with her parents from what I'd heard. There really were

those parts to Adachi that I kept getting glimpses of, warped parts, or perhaps

twisted. She'd acted far less friendly when we first met, which had given me

the impression of indifference.

"Really now? You must be starving. Here, say 'aah'!"

Much like yesterday, it was a piece of carrot again. If you don't like them,

just tell them to not put them in.

Well, she probably did do that, but they likely just ignored her.

In turn, Nagafuji's chopsticks wandered above her lunch box.

"She'll eat anything!"

"Do you just see me as a walking organics bin?"

"No, no. I'm doing this out of love for you. Here comes eggs."

"Whoa!"

I spent the break surrounded by my sweet friends. That's what I decided.

Cleaning time came next, which I spent idling in the hallway with a

broom in my hands. I checked my phone when I thought no one was looking,

only to find that I still hadn't gotten a reply from Adachi.

I decided to try sending her another one myself.

It did feel pretty boring to just leave her be, after all.

"I was thinking about coming over to your place. Would you mind,

Adachi?"

No reply. Still, Adachi was nice, so she'd probably let me in if I went

there, right?

Probably.

I came up with various reasons for why Adachi hadn't replied during the

afternoon classes.

First: she was simply ignoring me.

Second: she still hadn't decided what to write.

And third: she just hadn't noticed my messages. This seemed like the

most likely option.

If it really was the first one, that'd be pretty depressing, even for me.

Although, realistically, it'd only take around three days for me to accept it and

move on. At the same time, I knew well how saying something like that made

me look, which is why I had no plans of telling anyone.

The map Adachi had drawn for me when I went to visit her house the

other day was still in my bag. I quickly found it, folded in half. It was a pretty

long walk there, but if I couldn't contact her through phone, my only option

was to meet her in person. I was sure that once we met and talked for a bit,

we could settle this issue.

Human relationships were always born naturally, by themselves, and in a

way, I couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong about spending

effort on them. Though I was reluctant to do so, once school ended, I set out

in the opposite direction of where I usually went. For a while, I'd just be

walking, with nothing to do. You'd think that this would be right up my alley.

Thinking about myself from an outside perspective, I stared up at the

cloudy sky. I couldn't see any blue today, just grey. Temperature-wise it was

also a bit colder than yesterday, which—combined with it being late October

—could indicate that autumn was finally about to kick in. Summer had

lingered pretty late this year. It was still warm at the second floor of the gym.

Once it eventually did get cold, Adachi and I would likely forget about that

place, like baby birds leaving behind their original nest.

I passed by a group of elementary school students at the road through the

residential area. They spoke in loud, high-pitched voices, completely

oblivious to their surroundings. Some of the kids were also playing the

recorder while walking, perhaps preparing for an upcoming test. What

freedom. I wasn't all that jealous, just a little intrigued. I'd been a good girl,

you see.

"Hello", I suddenly heard someone greet me.

"Huh?"

I quickly turned to the direction of the voice. I then took a step back.

Next to me stood a petite little girl. Pretty weird. What's weird, you ask?

Her hair, that's what.

Her hair was blue. I stood there frozen, completely taken aback.

Blue. And this wasn't an optical illusion or a trick of the light or anything

like that. No, that would've been a different colour. Her hair danced in the

wind despite it not even being all that windy, and I could almost see some

sort of tiny particles flowing from it.

That was the kind of person who had greeted me. Who was she? I had no

idea.

"Sorry, who are you?"

"Oh, you don't recognize me?"

The girl tilted her head before running off somewhere. She disappeared

behind the corner of a distant house, and after a few moments, returned with

a helmet on her head. Its visor reflected light, and I couldn't see through. And

yet, it was just the clue I needed to recognize her. Though she wasn't wearing

the space suit, this person was undoubtedly Yashiro.

"So, this is what was inside the suit, huh?"

" Khooh, khooh, khooh! "

Her breathing was heavier than usual. Running with that thing on her

head seemed to have exhausted her. This being perhaps too much for even

Yashiro herself, she removed the helmet, causing her blue hair to once again

become visible.

Though it was my second time seeing it, the sight still managed to

overwhelm me. Her hair was like a rift to an alternative dimension. That's

how much it stood out, how sharp the contrast between it and everything else

was. Now that I looked at it, her face was pretty cute, too. Her eyelashes were

the same vivid blue as her hair, and so were her eyes. A constant stream of

blue particles circulated inside her, and I could even see some shooting out. It

was those particles that gave various parts of her body their blueish colour.

They felt powerful, like a source of energy, but also fleeting.

"I really wish you would've recognized me just by my voice."

Yashiro tapped the helmet, now carried under her arm. She sounded like a

completely different being now that her voice was no longer muffled.

What she'd been wearing under the space suit was a dress. It exposed her

shoulders, emphasizing just how slender and pale she was. On one of her feet

she was wearing a sneaker with a manufacturer logo I'd never seen before,

and on the other nothing. Also, her free hand—the one that wasn't holding the

helmet—was placed on her hip.

She looked young enough for me to easily imagine her wearing an

elementary school backpack. And yet, no such backpack was anywhere to be

seen.

"I thought I'd show my face to you now that it's done. What do you

think?"

"What do I think? I'd... I'd prefer if you didn't ask me that."

I was at a complete loss for words. Looking at it closely, even her lips

glimmered with faint blue light. It was impossible to claim this colour to be

makeup. I tried wiping her lips with my finger as a test, but nothing came off.

Dim particles danced around the tip of my finger for a few moments after I

touched her before soon vanishing. My eyes once again opened wide. What

was this? I came close to gripping Yashiro's hair and interrogating her but,

but somehow managed to resist the urge.

"I modelled it after the face of an Earthling."

"You're trying to mock the Earth? So, umm... no more space suit for

you?"

I had to wonder where she'd gotten the helmet, but whatever.

"Hmm..." Yashiro murmured with her finger pressed against her temple.

"Yep. I was under the impression that everyone on this planet dressed like

that, but from the looks of it, it seems to be a bit more uncommon of an outfit

than I thought."

"'Uncommon'? Try 'non-existent'."

Well, I suppose there was one group of people who I sometimes saw

wearing one on TV: astronauts.

"As such— Oops."

Yashiro quickly placed her hands on her mouth. Then, after closing it, she

proceeded to hop up and down in place, all the while clapping her now-

extended hands together in front of me.

"What are you doing?"

"Please, your ear. No one else can hear."

" Sigh... "

Turns out, she'd been after my ear. She wasn't going to grab it and pull it,

was she? I wouldn't put it past her. I bent my knees and brought my eyes

down to her level, and Yashiro in turn brought her face close to mine. The

soft particles emitting from her enveloped my nose, as if visualizing smell.

Yashiro's face was now right next to me, and its outline shimmered, as if her

body was emitting light. Staring at her made me feel anxious that the light

might swallow me, but at the same time, there was something fascinating

about it.

"Whisper, whisper", she said, her mouth pressed against my ear. Was that

part really necessary?

"I'm actually an alien from the future."

"Yes, yes. You already told me that."

I had to admit, it would be bad if someone heard her say that. They might

start to question if she was sane.

Regardless, her appearance did lend some credence to her words. On

some level, I began to wonder if she really was speaking the truth.

"If people find out that I'm an alien, they're gonna dissect me."

"What? Dissect you? You have some pretty serious prejudices about

Earth people."

To be fair, I felt like I'd watched a TV program where the United States

released footage of an alien autopsy or something like that when I was young.

I remember my mom—who'd been watching it with me—laughing

hysterically and holding her stomach. Looking at it now, I could see why she

had found it so funny, but back then, I'd been really grossed out by the idea of

an autopsy.

"As such, I've decided to leave those clothes behind to make sure that I

don't stand out."

Done explaining, Yashiro pulled her head away. Sure, I get it. Just stop

looking so darn proud of yourself already.

"Hate to break it to you, but you still stand out."

A significant portion of the elementary school students passing us by had

their eyes on Yashiro. Made sense. She stood out like a sore thumb compared

to the rest of the townscape, as if someone had taken two photos and

combined them badly. Her hairstyle was pretty weird too, now that I looked

at it. It was tied into a bow behind. And I don't mean a decorative bow or

anything like that. No, it was a bow made of her hair.

She was beautiful enough to bring to mind the blue butterflies of faraway

lands. That's also what the bow seemed to be modelled after, and— Wait,

hold on. Was it really okay to tie your hair like that? The knot looked pretty

tight.

"Doesn't that hurt?"

"I tied it too tight, and now I can't undo it."

I yanked the knot, and she let out a sharp scream. Despite her miraculous

appearance, she didn't differ much from my little sister once you got past that.

Around the same height, too. They'd probably make good friends if they met.

On a second thought, no, that probably wouldn't work. She'd likely

shrivel and run away once she saw the colour of her hair.

"You're on your way home from school, correct? You don't smell nearly

as sweet today."

Pulling the sleeve of my uniform, Yashiro sniffed my fingers. She

probably meant the smell of doughnuts, huh?

"Hands off me!" I shouted as I shook her off, with a tone of voice like

something straight from a period drama. She'd been pulling pretty hard, and

my blazer had come close to falling off my shoulder.

"Lii-laa", was the sound Yashiro made as she spun off.

She was surprisingly carefree. Or rather, no matter how you looked at it,

she clearly wasn't an alien.

"Still. Hoo, hoo, hoo."

Having returned, Yashiro was now jumping around me, staring at me

intensely. She stood on tiptoes, rotated behind me. The passing school

children still had their eyes on her, as well as on me. One way or the other,

she really did stand out.

With every hop she took, blue particles scattered in the air, drawing a

river of stars. After a while, Yashiro stopped in front of me.

She then gave me an innocent grin, one that exposed her teeth.

"I can feel that we're bound by destiny."

"Is that so?"

There wasn't much weight behind my answer. I'd just said the first thing

that had come to mind. Really, how was I supposed to reply to something like

that?

Based on her appearance, I could definitely buy Yashiro carrying with her

a grandiose destiny or two. As for me, however, my goal was just to be a

normal high school girl. Dyeing my hair had caused my little sister to start

calling me a delinquent, and Mom had also used some words which in

retrospect might not have been quite so nice, but other than that, mostly

normal.

"You were likely born so that you could meet me. That's what I think."

It was quite shocking to have her suddenly start talking about destiny and

such.

While confused, I decided to think about her words, really chew on them.

Hmm.

"Huh? I was? Are you sure you're not the one born to meet me?"

Not that that would've been any less strange. Having a cute girl say

something like that to me, it felt kinda weird, honestly.

"No, can't be. I have plenty of other missions too, you see."

With a firm look on her face, Yashiro shook off my suggestion. I was a

little offended: it sounded like she was calling me an idler with nothing else

to do. I gripped her cheek, and pulled.

"Hohoho! Ih won'h worh!"

A fearless smile remained on Yashiro's face. No matter how much I

pulled and twisted her soft cheek, it didn't seem to hurt her; her face already

looked like that of a flying squirrel, yet she appeared to be completely fine.

At the same time, yanking her hair knot—which, looked at from the front,

resembled an ∞-symbol peeking from behind her head—had made her

scream. As one might have expected, her hair wasn't soft. I released Yashiro

after playing with her face for a while.

For the next few moments, a faint light danced on top of my palm.

This time, I was too enthralled by its beauty to wonder what the heck it

was. Although, I did do that too.

"Oh, right. I was in the middle of procuring dinner", Yashiro stated,

having stopped stroking her hair to look at the sky. She seemed to have done

so to check the time, despite the sun not even being visible due to all the

clouds. Also, "procuring dinner"? Just what kind of a life did she live?

She was far too clean for me to imagine that she lived on the street. That

seemed extremely unlikely.

"We'll probably meet again, I think. Now, unty unty, until next timey."

Those were Yashiro's parting words. She waved at me before turning

around and running off.

Her hair flapped like the wings of a butterfly as she ran.

The trail of fluttering particles she left behind her caught my attention. I

was reminded of a fairy, like Tinker Bell or something. Although, she was

pretty vulgar for a fairy. Or perhaps gluttonous would be a better way to

describe it.

Her free-minded attitude combined with the rest of her to form a pretty

mysterious package. I found it hard to believe that I shared a town with

someone like her.

"Now then..."

Should I go over to Adachi's place? Though my meeting with Yashiro did

make it feel like I'd finished something, the truth was, I hadn't even started

yet.

I reached Adachi's house without too much trouble. For one last time, I

checked my phone. Alright, no reply. Ding dong.

I did think about whether or not I should state my name into the intercom,

but before I could come to a conclusion, I heard the sound of the door

opening.

"Yes?" Adachi asked as she pushed the door open, sounding completely

unenthusiastic, as if she'd just woken up. Pretty careless of her to not check

who was on the other side of it first.

"Yo", I greeted her shortly, slightly lifting my hand. Adachi—who had

been rubbing her eyes—instantly froze.

I couldn't help but laugh at her appearance. She was wearing a worn-out

t-shirt with a picture of a trunkless elephant on it, and her bed hair was

horribly messy. It was clear that she'd been sleeping the whole day, and in a

way, I felt jealous of her. Little by little, Adachi's eyes grew larger and larger.

She then slammed the door on me without a word. Her movements were

the exact reverse of her previous ones, as if someone had pushed the rewind

button.

"Hey, wait."

"Give me 15 minutes!"

"Huh? That's so long."

I could hear her footsteps along the hallway as she sprinted back inside.

Looked like I really was going to be made to wait. I quickly surveyed the

surroundings for any neighbours; standing in front of someone's house for

that long was bound to make me look suspicious.

"Help me! Open up!" I yelled as a joke as I pounded the door. The lack of

reply made it clear that she wasn't going to open, however, and so I slumped

down against the door. Sitting there, I pulled out my phone and checked it,

only to find out that it was already past 4 O'clock. Just as expected, walking

here really had taken a while. In addition, I had also come across the weird

shiny person.

By this point, all those particles of light had vanished from my palm.

Seemed that the mystery surrounding Yashiro wasn't of the contagious type.

If I shone like that too I wouldn't need to wear makeup, I thought, though

whether or not it'd look good on me was a whole other question. In the olden

times, it'd been the pretty things that had shone, but nowadays, you could find

any piece of trash that did, and it didn't make them any more appealing. Wait,

no, that came out wrong. I'm not saying that I'm trash.

Anyway, back to reality. What was Adachi planning to do in those fifteen

minutes? Change her clothes? Fix her hair? Quite the overreaction, if you

asked me. She was just talking to me, not to someone important. At the same

time, I could understand her feelings, why she disliked being seen in such an

untidy state. There was a certain amount of discomfort associated with

tearing down the mental image of yourself from school, or in this case,

having someone tear it down for you.

I killed the time by playing repeated rounds of single-player rock-paper-

scissors and word chain.

After what felt like an eternity, I felt the door push against my back and

stood up. Adachi opened it in a far more reserved manner than the first time;

only her face peeked out through the gap.

She panted heavily, like she really had been rushing to get herself ready.

In a way, her choice of fifteen minutes felt like the worst of both worlds:

making me wait either zero or thirty minutes both seemed like they would've

resulted in far less shame for her. Though she had fixed her bed hair, it was

still quite messy due to all the running around she'd done. There was also

another factor that completely baffled me.

"Why did you put on your uniform?"

"Well, I just, grabbed something", she stated while combing her hair with

her hand, clearly embarrassed. Her cheeks were bright red and reminded me

of yesterday.

"You're going to school now?"

"Stop that."

At last, Adachi smiled a little. She then opened the door wide.

I lowered my hand that'd been resting against it and took a good look at

her. The expression on her face could best be described as a forced smile.

"Still, I hope you never scare me again by showing up without a

warning."

"What do you mean, 'without a warning'? I messaged you."

"Oh, really?"

"Figures. You didn't read it, did you? Damn Adachi", I poked her head

jokingly. After looking around for a bit, she nodded.

"Well, yeah. I forgot my bag in your room, so..."

"Oh, I see."

In other words, Adachi's phone had been ringing in my room for no one

to hear.

"I barely use my phone, so I figured leaving it there wouldn't be that

bothersome."

Her reactions thus far had been quite ingenuous. However, her eyes

suddenly shot wide open, as if she'd realised something. She took a step

forward, almost like kicking the door flying with her knee.

"My phone. Did you open it?"

"Nope. I didn't even know you'd forgotten your bag till now."

"Well, that's good."

Adachi sighed in relief. What sort of top-secret information did she have

stored in there? I found myself a little curious.

"So, is that why you didn't come to school? Were you like, 'I don't have

my bag, I can't go!'?"

"I was just sleepy. It's your fault... in part. Kinda..."

Really? Adachi dropped her gaze as if she had remembered something.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could swear that her ears were

slightly red.

"Darn. I wish I'd noticed your bag so I could've brought it to you."

"No, it's fine. I'll come to school tomorrow. You can give it to me then."

"Sure, got it. I'll bring it. I also won't touch your phone, so relax."

I laughed at my unfunny joke. Adachi didn't laugh at all.

She simply mouthed to me, you better not look.

Yeah, I won't, I nodded back. "What kind of message did you send?"

"I just asked if you were okay."

"Well then... I'm doing fine."

Adachi bent her arms and struck a muscle pose.

A split-second later she stopped, however, perhaps embarrassed.

"One more time."

"No."

Getting my phone's camera ready, I asked her to do it again, but she

instantly declined. Too bad.

"Anyway, can I come in now? I don't like talking while standing."

"Well, umm... I have work today", Adachi stated, like she was making an

excuse. She might skip school, but she didn't skip work, huh? Well done...

maybe?

"I see. Okay, bye then."

I'd seen her face, exchanged a few words, and solved the mystery of the

messages. That was everything I'd come to do, right? No more business with

her.

"Oh, you're going already?"

I'd already begun to turn around as Adachi pulled me back. Didn't you say

you had work, was the look I gave her. She hastily replied.

"There's still time. We could talk for a bit longer."

"Hmm... Do we have anything to talk about though?"

During moments like these, both Adachi and I always fell silent. Our

interests didn't match, or rather, I didn't have any interests to match with hers.

Most people of our age could at least complain about school and classes, but

as we barely put any effort into that stuff, even that wasn't an option for us.

"Bring up a topic or something, Adachi", I said, commanding her to fill

the silence. It only made sense; she'd been the one to pull me back, after all.

A worried expression quickly appeared on her face, as if the upper half of it

had frozen. I could also see a faint smile.

"A-Are you doing okay?"

"Yep, I'm fine."

I didn't strike a muscle pose. From how do you do into I'm fine and then

thank you.

"..."

"..."

In the end, I was the one to start a conversation.

"You sure look well rested."

I pointed at the bed hair she'd now combed away, causing Adachi to avert

her eyes.

"Yeah, I kinda happened to sleep late."

"I'm pretty jealous. I was super tired during class."

It'd felt like the teacher had been speaking gibberish, and it hadn't even

been an English class. The gap was so wide that the slight studying I'd done

simply wasn't enough for me to catch up. I really needed to bridge it soon.

"By the way, has your cold gotten better?" I asked her snarkily. Adachi

immediately coughed, clearly faking it.

"It gets worse every time someone asks about it. A real mean one."

"I better leave before I get infected then. I bet you wouldn't want that

either, Adachi."

"Oh, that was a lie. It's cured."

The cold itself had probably been a lie too, but whatever. We both

laughed before falling silent again.

Though under normal circumstances I would've accepted that, today, I

wouldn't allow it. No particular reason why.

"Alright. Next topic, Adachi", I demanded. I made beckoning motions

with my hand, and Adachi opened her mouth.

The way her eyes moved around, restlessly, left a mark in my memory.

"Umm, Shimamura."

"Yes?"

I didn't actually think she had anything to talk about. After a few

moments of waiting, she finally mumbled:

"Would you like to go on a da— go hang out with me? Next Saturday.

Somewhere, I don't know."

"Go hang out? Where?" I asked back. There were definitely parts of her

statement that I'd found curious, but I simply chose to ignore them.

"Anywhere's fine", she mumbled back.

"You don't have work on Saturday?"

"I do, but it's the night shift. I'll be free during the day."

"Well... Okay then. As long as you choose where we're going."

Adachi didn't seem to mind me leaving the tedious parts to her, and

nodded with a happy-sounding "sure".

"Anyway, I think I should get going. Good luck at work."

Though not all that much time had passed since my first attempt to leave,

it didn't seem like we had anything else to talk about. Adachi was perhaps

satisfied too, and didn't move to stop me this time. Her hand had lifted

against the door at some point.

Saturday, huh? This would be the first time I went out with Adachi on a

day off.

Although, as far as Adachi was concerned, today had been a day off as

well. Ahaha.

"One last thing. Where did you buy that elephant t-shirt you were

wearing?"

"Please don't ask."

With those as my parting words, I left her house.

I'd been walking for about five minutes as I asked myself the following.

"Just now, hadn't..."

Hadn't she been about to say "date"?

Could it really be?

A giant mall served as our meeting place. A bench and a large tree, those

were what we'd agreed to use as landmarks. I had thought about suggesting

we meet in front of a Shimamura (the store) like a true masochist, but that

didn't seem too fun, so I hadn't.

A group of old men sat on the bench next to the tree. They were sipping

coffee from paper cups, seemingly on a casual stroll. There were around six

of them in total. I did wonder what sort of group they were at first, but after

listening to their conversation for a while, I learned that they were heading to

the bowling hall located within the mall.

I'd gone there when it had first opened with my little sister. You could

also play billiards and darts there.

...Thinking that, I glanced to my side. She was still there.

"Why are you here?"

"Destiny."

The way Yashiro pronounced that word—elongating the first vowel—

always made me think she was about to say "delicious".

For some reason, Yashiro had been here at our meeting spot. She wasn't

wearing her helmet, nor the space suit for that matter. More precisely, she

was sitting on the bench, staring at me as I stood next to her. Her arms were

folded, who knows why.

"We met without knowing that the other would be coming here. Looks

like destiny really does exist."

She let out a strange laugh while puffing her cheeks. Destiny again, huh?

She sure liked throwing around that word.

"The way you speak, are you reading a script or something?"

"I've studied the basics of this country from these things called 'dramas'."

"Figures. Destiny is a pretty common theme in those."

In other words, she didn't really know what the word meant. Looking at

her youthful facial features, she seemed even more oblivious than before.

Her hairstyle was quite similar to the one from the other day, the only

difference being that the butterfly knot appeared to be tied a little looser

today. She possessed the ability to learn, huh? Her clothes, on the other hand,

were completely different. She was wearing a blue skirt, as well as a t-shirt

with the words "butt hair" written on its chest.

"Are you a foreigner?"

"No, I'm an alien from the future."

Yashiro pumped out her chest, further emphasizing the "butt hair". I

looked at it again. Wow. Butt hair. Of course, you were actually meant to

read the characters as "Shikke", which was the name of a place around here.

All the locals pronounced and spelled it like that without batting an eyelid,

but when looking at it from an outside perspective, it was definitely amusing.

Even I fell victim to it all the time.

"By the way, what are you doing here?"

"That's what I want to ask you... I'm meeting a friend."

"I see, I see", Yashiro nodded. I was a little suspicious about whether or

not she was even listening.

"And you?"

"I just happened to come. That's when I found you."

"Hmph."

"Destiny."

"Yeah, yeah."

Adachi soon appeared, putting an end to this meaningless exchange.

The mall was pretty far away from her house. I had thought she might

take the bus, but judging from how hard she was panting, it seemed more

likely that she'd come by bike. She stopped, and with her hands on her knees,

looked up to give me a smile.

However, that smile quickly disappeared as she noticed Yashiro, standing

next to me.

"Ah, you are the person from the other day. Hello", she bowed politely.

That's fine and all, but next time, try doing it in a way that your particles don't

sprinkle everywhere.

"Huh? Who's this?"

Adachi was confused. Couldn't blame her, really. There was definitely

more than one thing wrong here.

"Should have brought that thing..."

"Oh, great idea. Just one second, please."

Surprisingly, Yashiro seemed to have understood what I meant, and

disappeared behind a nearby corner. She then returned wearing the helmet,

just like the last time. What sort of a magic trick was that? Trying to figure it

out made my head hurt, and so I didn't.

"Remember? It's the alien girl from before."

"Hello!"

The helmet still on her head, Yashiro waved both of her arms innocently.

Something about it felt a little creepy, and so I removed it.

It definitely had a feel to it. And, weight. Contrary to what her pulling it

out from nowhere would suggest, this thing really wasn't an illusion.

"Hmph..."

I tried putting it on as a test. As I did, everything other than what was

straight in front of me became dark. It was also really hard to breathe, and my

head felt heavy. I turned towards Adachi, causing her to take a step

backwards.

"How is it?"

"Definitely doesn't bring out your best qualities."

Adachi took the helmet off this time. It was now in her hands, though it

didn't look like she was planning to put it on. She looked at me, distressed, as

if asking, what am I supposed to do with this?

Just give it to her, I said with my eyes as I pointed them towards Yashiro.

With trembling hands, Adachi presented it to her. Yashiro grabbed it and

placed it under her arm.

"What's your name?" she asked Adachi. Still trembling, she mumbled

back an answer.

"It's... Adachi. What about... you?"

She looked at me, and then at Yashiro. How are you two connected, was

what her eyes were asking.

Acquaintances? Sure. Friends? Still kinda iffy on that one.

"To put it simply, I'm an alien from the future."

"...Shimamura, translate."

"Just think of her as a quirky kid from the neighbourhood."

Her true nature was beyond even my grasp. I wasn't quite naive enough to

accept her words at face value, though at the same time, the blue particles

made it impossible for me to simply close my eyes and deny them. They

floated in the air near her hair and eyes, much like the last time I'd met her.

There were two things I knew for sure about this fairy-like girl: one, she

loved sweet things, and two, she'd taken an interest in me for some reason.

Had I done something? Not as far as I remembered. We didn't even talk

all that much. Was it because I'd given her that doughnut? Probably.

Unfortunately, I was never the one to randomly show up, like destiny had

brought us together.

The first time I'd seen her, she'd been wearing a space suit. Then, she'd

taken it off and revealed there to be a fairy inside. One shock after another.

How was I expected to pay attention to the details?

"Is this the friend you were waiting for?" Yashiro asked, pointing at

Adachi.

"Yep, that's her", I replied. As I did, Yashiro moved.

"Shall we go then?" Yashiro began walking, as if guiding us along.

"Huh?" I questioned, prompting her to look around her shoulder.

"I'll treat you for lunch as thanks for the dough-nut you gave me the other

day."

"Wait, you're coming with us?" I asked Yashiro. The look in Adachi's

eyes showed that she'd wanted to say something to that effect, so I thought I'd

take the initiative.

"Oh, I can smell something sweet over there", she stated, completely

ignoring my question. Her egocentrism reminded me of my little sister.

Adachi knitted her eyebrows, clearly confused. It didn't seem like she was

able to keep up with what was happening. Don't ask me; I didn't have a clue

either. All I knew was that Adachi seemed less than satisfied.

"Stay close or you might get lost!" Yashiro waved at us, having walked a

bit ahead by herself. If anyone here gets lost, it'll be you, I wanted to say, but

whatever. I guess we'd have to follow her.

"Ah!"

It was there that I realised it. I grabbed Adachi's wrist, causing her to

flinch as if a current of electricity had just run through her body.

"Wh-What?" she asked, shocked by my abrupt grab.

"I thought you might run away."

"Huh? Oh..."

She seemed to realise that I was referring to what had happened in front

of the station. The pairing this time was quite similar to the one back then.

Paying no attention to the awkward expression on Adachi's face, I laughed.

"We just got here. It wouldn't be fun at all if you left right away."

How was I going to spend the rest of the day?

Looking disheartened, Adachi rubbed her cheeks with her fingers. It was

like they were itchy or something.

"I wasn't... going to run away though."

"But, you do have a lot of questions, don't you? Well, not that I don't as

well. Anyway, let's follow her for now."

Pulling Adachi's hand, I walked briskly towards Yashiro. If she really was

going to buy us lunch, I didn't have any special reason to refuse. Rather, I

was more interested in her having money.

"Oh, also, good morning", I greeted Adachi while walking. She seemed

completely lost, but after blinking twice, she replied to me with a "good

morning" of her own. The expression on her face was pretty difficult to read,

but I suppose you could call it a smile. After that, she too began walking.

We followed Yashiro's tiny back, sparkling so intensely that we likely

wouldn't lose sight of it no matter how many hundreds of meters long the

distance between us grew. It kinda felt like we were chasing a fairy—hand in

hand—and would soon find ourselves lost in the world of a fairy-tale.

Yashiro had led us to a restaurant located before the mall's supermarket.

According to the sign in front of it, they served not only pizza and pasta, but

omelette souffles as well. I was honestly relieved by her choice of

establishment. If I had told Yashiro that there was a doughnut store near the

entrance, she'd probably have gone there.

"Good, good."

As if drawn in by the smell, Yashiro entered the store. The waiter was

momentarily taken aback by the pseudo-fairy, but nevertheless, welcomed us

in with a smile.

"Three people", Yashiro stated with three fingers lifted. Why hadn't she

waited for the waiter to ask? Who knows.

The restaurant was quite popular with old ladies, it seemed, judging by

how many of them were eating here. We were guided to a table right in the

middle of them. Yashiro was the first to slide onto the seat. I began to sit

opposite of her, but just then...

"Come here. Sit next to me", she said, beckoning me over to her.

"Huh? Sure. Sigh... "

I sat down next to her. The innocent smile on her face reminded me of my

little sister, and before I knew it, I found myself patting her head lightly. As I

did, an endless number of particles spilled out from between her hair and my

hand.

Sitting down had made the angle between me and Adachi grow larger,

causing my palm to rub against her wrist. It was there that I remembered that

I'd been gripping her hand this whole time. She wouldn't be able to sit down

before I let go.

"Oh. Sorry."

I released her wrist. She probably wasn't going to run away, right? She'd

said she wouldn't, at least.

Adachi didn't move right away, however. She stared at Yashiro, looking

kinda pissed off. With that look on her face—the expression of a pouting

child—she stood there next to me. Then, she pushed my shoulder lightly.

"Slide in a bit further, Shimamura."

"Huh? Sure. Sigh... "

I reacted exactly as I'd done with Yashiro. Once she was done jamming

me deeper in, Adachi sat down next to me.

"Wait, wait..."

Something was wrong here. Why were we all sitting on the same side of

the table? It wasn't like someone was going to come later on and fill the

opposite side. Simply put, this was unnatural. The waiter bringing us water

was definitely weirded out too, I bet.

With someone sitting both on my left and my right, trying to change sides

seemed like a huge pain to say the least. Furthermore, I didn't get the feeling

that Adachi was going to move anywhere. She stared at us two, awkwardly.

If anyone here was feeling awkward, it was me. Yashiro simply gulped

down water.

"So... Call me when you're ready to order."

Having given us the menus, the waiter left in a hurry. Seemed that the

strange atmosphere surrounding us had gotten to her. People certainly did

have the ability to sense things that couldn't be seen with the naked eye. If

you thought about it that way, would it be that much of a leap to say that

ghosts might exist? I found my mind drifting to thoughts like those,

completely unfitting to the occasion.

"I've chosen. I will take this 'fluffy souffle omelette'."

Having finished drinking her water, Yashiro pointed at a picture on the

first page of the menu. It was a browned, fluffy omelette on a tiny plate, and

looked delicious. I considered ordering that myself as well, but looking at the

fancy pizzas the people sitting at the table next to us were eating, those didn't

look bad either. Pasta sounded good, too. In short, you like everything, one

might say, and, well, you'd be right.

"What are you gonna take, Adachi?"

"Take what you like", Yashiro stated, looking extremely proud of herself.

Adachi gave us a glance, and then extended her hand.

"I can't see the menu well. Give it to me for a sec."

"Oh, sorry."

I handed the menu to Adachi. She spread it open in front of her, making it

impossible for me—not to mention Yashiro—to read it. Not that Yashiro had

to, considering that she'd already decided what to order. For now, she was

solely focused on flapping her feet below the table, like a child who just

couldn't calm down.

"What will you order, Shimamura?" Adachi asked, pulling my sleeve.

"Which one, which one..." I muttered, looking at the menu with her.

I glanced at the pizza that'd been brought to the table next to us, and could

instantly tell that that thing was way too big for me to eat by myself.

"Wanna order pizza and pasta and then share?"

"Sure", Adachi nodded to my proposal, delighted. Just then, something

stabbed my side. I let out a small scream and looked around, only to find out

that Yashiro had poked me with her index finger.

"You little..." I pinched her cheeks. "Why did you do that?"

"I was bored."

"Is that what you do when you're bored, you start poking people's tender

spots?"

She might have looked like a blockhead, but this girl was dangerous. I

played with her cheeks for a while, until suddenly...

"Eek!"

This time, Adachi had squeezed my side. Were my sides really that

attractive? That didn't make me happy in the slightest. Still pinching

Yashiro's cheeks, I looked around, and saw her staring at the menu

nonchalantly. I didn't really mind, though I wish she'd tell me what her goal

had been.

"You take the pizza, Shimamura. I'll go with the pasta", she stated, as if

nothing had happened. Just so that you know, she was still squeezing my

side. Yashiro was still being squeezed as well, though by me.

"Okay, let's go with this", I chose the pizza—the bacon-zucchini one—

not sure what was happening anymore.

"Well then, I'll take this", Adachi stated back, choosing a ripe-tomato

pasta. We signalled to the waiter with our eyes that we were ready to order,

and she quickly walked over to us.

There was a smile on her face this time, as if she was holding back

laughter. Me pinching Yashiro's cheeks was most likely the reason why.

Don't tell me, we looked like a pair of sisters to her? Being closest to the

waiter, Adachi was naturally the one to speak to her. Her voice sounded cold

and uninterested, the complete opposite of us two.

Feeling the weight of the atmosphere, I released Yashiro's cheeks.

"You could have ordered more", she stated proudly after rubbing her sore

cheeks for a moment. I replied with a forced smile.

For a short while after ordering, silence fell upon us. Yashiro was playing

quietly with her napkin, as if doing origami. Adachi and I were like we

always were. That being said, I felt as if Adachi was in a slightly worse mood

than usual.

Did she perhaps not like Yashiro? If so, then what part of her? I glanced

at the girl in question.

Even when she was merely sitting, there was something extraordinary

about her presence. She didn't match the wall behind her at all. The strange

colour of her hair as well as her well-proportioned facial features gave off the

impression that she might hold the fate of the world in her hand, or perhaps

possess the ability to operate a giant, mega-powerful robot.

"Hehehe. What do you think? It's a grasshopper", Yashiro proudly

presented to me her randomly folded napkin—a so-called grasshopper—

snapping me away from my delusions and reminding me of what sort of

person we were actually dealing with here.

Even I could've made that. To prove it, I picked up a napkin and began

folding.

"Oh, is that a chopstick rest?"

"No, it's a grasshopper. It looks exactly like yours."

"What part of it?"

She tilted her head, looking genuinely puzzled. Now I was pissed.

"Doesn't mine look way more like a grasshopper?" I asked Adachi for

support. With her chin resting in her hand, she gave us a bored look.

"Neither of them does", she stated coldly. Dammit.

"I see. Earthlings truly have no eye for these things", Yashiro grieved. I

decided to leave her alone for a moment.

"Adachi."

I placed my hands on her shoulder, and just as she turned around, pinched

her cheeks. I'd caught her by surprise, and it had been quite easy to get a grip

on them. At first, Adachi stiffened up with no change to her expression, but

soon her cheeks grew red, as if blood was rushing into them.

"Is something bothering you?" I asked her, gripping her cheeks and

forcing her to look me in the face. The aura of bad mood she'd given off till

now was gone, and I could feel through my fingers that she was confused. I

squeezed her cheeks. They'd grown soft, and so had her eyes.

"Ihh... nohhing."

"Well then, do that thing. Do it while you smile."

"What thing?"

"That thing from the other day. Say it. Are you okay?"

Saying that seemed to have brought our exchange from earlier back into

Adachi's mind. She averted her eyes for a while, not wanting to do it, but as I

was in control of her cheeks, she had no choice but to eventually give in. Her

eyes were still desperately trying to avoid mine, though.

"I-I'm doing fine."

She even bent her arms and struck the pose and everything. Then, much

like before, she instantly pulled them down.

I was satisfied. Good enough for me.

Speaking of which, Yashiro was being awfully quiet. I glanced at her, and

saw that she was currently in the progress of making her second grasshopper.

Was it her goal to turn this table into a grasshopper nation? The one I'd made

stood there too.

Well, whatever, let her have fun, I thought and finally released Adachi's

cheeks. She immediately placed her head in her hands, clearly embarrassed.

"There's no knowing what goes on inside the heart of another, why they

are dissatisfied, what they desire. However, if we are going to meet, I'd like

to have some fun. That's how I want to be, and that's how I want you to be as

well, Adachi."

I could feel Adachi's gaze through the gaps between her fingers as I spoke

to her, and saw her nod slightly. Though it wasn't a clear answer by any

metric, it still filled me with a strange sense of satisfaction, one that stayed

with me as I waited for the food to arrive.

"Oh, it's here! It's here, it's here, it's here!" Yashiro waved her arms at the

waiter, like a child. I felt a little embarrassed on her behalf. At the same time,

due to her supernatural appearance, I could neither complain, nor laugh at her

immaturity. Food was placed before Yashiro.

As expected, it was a souffle omelette on an iron plate, though unlike in

the picture, this one was quite flat.

"Pour!"

Yashiro poured the entire cup of maple syrup that'd been brought with her

food on it. Ignoring the cup of tomato soup next to it, she plunged her fork

into the omelette. There appeared to be scraps of French bread buried within

the fried egg yolk. I kinda wanted to take a bite.

"Sloosh, sloosh! Ooh! Sloosh!"

She kept repeating that as she cut the omelette with her fork. I guess it

was fair; that was kinda the sound the syrup was making. Before I knew it, I

found myself being pulled in by the soaked goodness.

Yashiro opened her mouth wide before biting in. The look of happiness

on her face, as well as the lively way she savoured the taste further built up

my curiosity. I waited for her to drink, and then asked.

"Let me have a bite of that."

"Sure thing."

Yashiro cut off a piece of the omelette, just like she'd done earlier, before

scooping it up with her fork.

"Here you go."

"Huh!?"

Adachi reacted before I did. I turned around to look at her, and saw that

she was clearly flustered.

"What's wrong? You want to taste it too, Adachi?"

"That's not the issue here..."

Her eyes jumped around, as if there was something that she wanted to

say. One of the points they jumped to was the fork Yashiro was holding.

Knew it. She did want to taste it, didn't she? Although, if that really was it,

the timing of her reaction had been a bit odd.

"Hurryupanddoitplease."

"Yeah, yeah. Why are you talking like that?"

I turned back to Yashiro, now pretending to speak like an alien. While I

was at it, I decided to specify my order.

"No, I want the part with the French bread."

"Aren't you the selfish one, Shimamura."

"I do get called that sometimes."

After eating the piece she'd cut originally, Yashiro cut me a new one,

matching what I had requested. She presented it to me, and I ate it off her

fork. I didn't have to push my teeth far for an overwhelming sweetness to fill

my mouth, seeping all the way to my gums. There wasn't much flavour to it,

though, just sweetness, to the point that I had a hard time telling whether it

tasted great or horrible.

"Damn, so sweet. I think you overdid it with the syrup."

"Oh, really?"

Yashiro seemed to have quite the sweet tooth, and judging by the look on

her face, even this wasn't enough for her. I laughed at her a little, but just

then, I felt someone once again touch my side. More precisely, my shirt—

along with my flesh—was being pulled. How rude. I wasn't even floppy there

or anything.

"Hey, Adachi. Could you please not pinch me?"

"Oh, sorry. I'll give you a bite too."

Was there a half of a conversation I'd missed here? I turned around, and

saw that Adachi's pasta had arrived as well.

"What are you talking about? Wasn't half of it supposed to be mine

anyway?"

"Well, true, but... I'll give you an extra bite."

Adachi hurriedly wrapped pasta around her fork and presented it to me.

An extra bite, huh? Was she trying to fatten me up? Though a little worried, I

did understand this to be a favour, and so, I ate it. Flavours of tomato and

olive oil soon spread through my mouth.

Yashiro had a sweet taste, and Adachi a firm and tomatoey one. For some

reason, it kinda fit.

As I munched the pasta, Adachi stared at Yashiro. Not sure why; the area

around her mouth was covered in pieces of her omelette, and there wasn't

really anything appealing about her. Yashiro, in turn, was completely focused

on eating, and didn't even seem to notice that Adachi was looking at her.

Adachi's eyes were filled with... Well, "hostility" might have been too

strong of a word. "Rivalry", perhaps?

That really felt more like a Yashiro thing. There were surprisingly many

child-like parts to Adachi, huh?

She wouldn't calm down even after I finished eating the pasta. She stared

at the fork, shook her head.

And let us not forget about the long stares she gave Yashiro.

I sat in the middle of those stares, and let's just say, it was quite

exhausting to have to worry about her feelings as well. This dinner definitely

wasn't good for my stomach. I felt small and all curled up, to the point if

someone had asked me where we were going next, I would have probably

answered "to a pharmacy". Why had it gone like this? I had an idea, but in the

interest of not having to confront it, I instead chose to turn my eyes towards

the counter to see if my pizza would be here soon. A fragrant scent drifted

from the depths of the kitchen, teasing me lightly.

Adachi, Yashiro, and I.

We hadn't yet seen all that there was to this day.

With no basis for doing so, I chose to believe that was the kind of destiny

that awaited us.

I'd once heard that a bowling ball and a human head weighed

approximately the same.

I didn't actually know if that was true or not, but if it was, it sure would

explain why my shoulders were always so sore.

"So heavy", Yashiro stated as she staggered towards us. You didn't have

to look any further than at the bowling ball she was carrying with both of her

hands to see why. She eventually made her way to us, and I immediately took

a step back; I didn't want that thing dropped on my toes. For some reason,

Yashiro only got closer as I did.

"It must be because of destiny that I was able to do that."

Stop making everything about destiny.

We'd headed for a game centre located within the mall after finishing

lunch. I'd talked with Adachi about how boring it would be to leave

immediately after eating and how we should go hang around the stores and

do some shopping. Just then, a certain child had butted in, stating that "this

place looks fun". As Adachi and I were both quite lacking in the autonomy

department, we'd simply gone along with it and allowed Yashiro to guide us

to the game centre.

It was quite a large place, and bowling wasn't the only thing that you

could do there. They also had karaoke, billiards, darts, table tennis, and bunch

more stuff. Table tennis. Yes, almost like fate. I'd suggested that we play it,

though because it wasn't really a game for three people, we'd ended up going

with bowling instead. The darts section had been occupied by a bunch of

scary looking men, and I refused to go anywhere near it. As for billiards,

Yashiro wasn't tall enough for it, and so that had been rejected as well. A

process of elimination, I suppose you could've called our selection method.

It was 690 yen for a game. Yashiro had only offered to treat us for lunch,

meaning that the cost would be split.

Adachi paid her share without any hesitation, though she still wasn't

talking. Every now and then I could feel her staring at me, but as I turned

towards her and asked what it was, she'd just shake her head, say that it's

nothing, and not talk to me any further.

...Honestly, Yashiro taking the lead might have saved us. I had a feeling

that otherwise we'd have just been standing there, aimlessly.

"By the way, what is this thing used for?" she asked me, holding a blue

bowling ball in her hands.

"You were so eager to do bowling, and now you're telling me you don't

even know what it is?"

"Yep. And, I still figured that it was fun. I'm pretty amazing, don't you

think?"

"No, I don't", I answered before gripping her head and turning it.

"That's how you do it. You roll the ball and knock down the pins."

I twisted Yashiro's neck so that her eyes were pointing towards the lanes.

Video from each individual lane was broadcast on a large monitor located

above the pins. The father of the family next to us had thrown his ball just at

the right time, and I adjusted Yashiro's head so that she was looking at him.

Though the man was wearing gloves that seemed like they were made

specifically for bowling, the trajectory of his ball was just about the most

amateurish one I'd seen. That was to say, it curved straight towards the edges.

Nevertheless, the bumpers meant for family use stopped the ball dropping

into the gutter where it belonged, and instead bounced it back to the centre of

the lane where it knocked down the pins.

In conclusion, it counted as a strike, even if the sound of the pins being

knocked down did leave something to be desired. The father cheered.

"That's pretty much it. Got it?"

"Actually, I already knew. Hahaha! My ninja tricks got you good."

That earned Yashiro a smack on the head. A cloud of particles puffed in

the air as I did that, which then drew near me, as if chasing my hand. I was

pretty shocked to say the least, and almost fell on my butt.

Looking at those particles move, it almost seemed like they all had a

mind of their own. Once again, I could feel just how different Yashiro was

compared to us.

Never mind the particles, I couldn't even get the girl herself off me.

It seemed that she had really taken to me. She only talked to me, and

didn't even attempt to make conversation with Adachi. Same went for her

too, of course; I didn't get the feeling that Adachi was planning to get friendly

with Yashiro any time soon. Still, even if they weren't on the same

wavelength, I wished they'd at least acknowledge each other's existence or

something so that I didn't feel quite so trapped in the middle. There was

something bothersome about being made to have two separate conversations

at the same time.

I didn't even like talking to people. I was horrible at chitchat. My throat

felt like it'd turned into a desert.

"Shimamura!" Yashiro called to me, having observed the neighbouring

lane for a while. "Can I go first?"

She was now holding the bowling ball above her head, or at least trying

to. Was everything really okay with this girl?

"Sure, I don't mind."

"Hehehe. I just had a great idea", Yashiro stated proudly, her eyes

shining. Convinced that it was probably something worthless, I moved over

to Adachi next. She stared into the distance, out of it, as if thinking about

something completely different. I sat next to her, and decided to give her one

more reminder to really drive the point home. Not in a mean way, of course,

but with a smile.

"Don't run away now."

"I told you, I'm not gonna."

Her lower lip stuck out a little, like that of a pouting child. Even so, her

expression soon grew slightly softer.

"You're pretty good with kids, huh, Shimamura?"

"Yeah. My little sister is like that too, restless. I guess I've gotten kinda

used to it, having to deal with her all the time."

"What about me? Am I your little sister too?"

"Sure, you can call me 'Big Sis' if you want", I joked, going with the flow.

I expected Adachi to giggle, or perhaps to reject the offer outright, yet she did

neither. For a while, she simply sat there, silent, until finally...

"...Big Sis."

She actually called me it? What the heck was up with the obedient look

on her face? And why had she paused for so long, like she'd been

embarrassed or something?

"Wh-What is it, Little Sis?"

Did my actual sister have a new challenger? I turned to face Adachi, and

she instantly lifted her gaze.

"Shimamura, look."

Adachi's expression changed in an instant as she pointed towards the

lanes. What was it? I looked around, and saw Yashiro running towards the

pins with a bowling ball in her hands. A lot of other people were also staring

at her, and I couldn't really blame them; it wasn't every day that you saw

someone choosing to not roll the ball and instead run down the lane with it.

Not only that, she'd taken her shoes off at some point as well, and was now

barefoot.

There was obviously no way that I could leave this little rascal be, and I

immediately ran to stop her. Why do I have to take care of her, I muttered to

myself as I grabbed her by the neck.

"Hmm?" she looked around her shoulder, as if unable to understand why I

had stopped her.

"What the heck are you doing?" I demanded an explanation.

"From watching others do it, I could see that it's really difficult to hit the

pins from far away."

"Huh?"

"It'd be way easier to hit them if you got closer, would it not?"

Yashiro stared up at me proudly, as if seeking praise for her incredible

idea. I felt exhausted.

" Sigh... Yeah, that's pretty smart."

"Right?!"

"However, this place is a bowling hall. So, let's bowl, shall we?"

Build your own lane at your home and you can play all the weird sports

you want there. I dragged Yashiro away from the pins.

"Hey, no fair. Cheating."

"You're the one who's cheating. Just toss it from the other side of the line

like everyone else, okay?"

Having moved Yashiro outside of the lane, I once again asked her.

"You don't actually know what bowling is, do you?"

"Nope. We don't have games like these in space", she stated, completely

naturally. Furthermore, it didn't seem like she was joking about not knowing

what it was.

If Yashiro was raised, say, in a foreign country where they didn't do

bowling, I could see how that could be possible. Although, in that case, her

Japanese was pretty damn impressive. It was this mismatch that made it so

hard to judge whether or not she was speaking the truth.

"By the way... Your hair, what's up with it? Have you dyed it?" I decided

to ask her, because why not.

"You mean, this?" Yashiro asked back, holding up a strand of her hair.

"Yeah, exactly. No one has hair of that colour."

"Pretty stylish, huh?"

"Absolutely not."

"I was actually planning to use the head of one of my brethren as

reference, but accidentally got them mixed up with the person next to them."

What the heck was she talking about? Leaving out all the stuff that made

absolutely no sense, it sounded like she'd wanted to imitate the hair of a

sibling or relative of hers, but before she knew it, she'd been influenced by

their acquaintance's hair and had ended up like this, or something like that.

Still, this explanation assumed that there'd been someone with this colour of

hair in the first place, and that was quite weird in and of itself. If that person

really did exist, they must've been an alien for sure. And that left just one

question: what was Yashiro? But, I digress.

"Well, that's probably not something I need to think too much about. Hey,

toss the ball normally this time, would you?"

I tapped her back, telling her to get going.

"Well, if you insist..." Yashiro lamented as she began running.

At last, she tossed the ball. Although, the way she did it was pretty weird

too.

Yashiro ran towards the lane and lunged forward, head first, and at the

end of her slide, gave the ball a push. This wasn't a normal technique, like

spinning the ball before releasing it; never in my life had I seen someone toss

a bowling ball like that. She just lay there, watching it roll, which was pretty

weird too, honestly. The ball hit the bumper hard, but strangely enough,

bounced right back towards the pins, which it then proceeded to topple over a

few seconds later. Would you look at that. A strike.

A lot of people were staring at her, in part due to her eccentric technique.

And yet, Yashiro wouldn't get up until I lifted her. As I placed my hands

under her shoulders and picked her up, she turned to look at me.

"Did I do well?"

"I suppose. Still, the way you tossed it, what was up with that?"

"I thought getting just a little bit closer might be advantageous."

"...Does this really count as 'eccentric'? Are you sure there's not

something wrong with your head?"

If Nagafuji tried doing that, it'd no doubt be painful. On her breasts,

mainly.

The frontside of her shirt had gotten all messy due to the slide, and I

brushed it clean for her. ...Yeah, I guess I really was good with kids.

Just the regular amount, though. Holding Yashiro in my arms, I returned

to Adachi. Her feet dangled in the air with every step I took, making me want

to tell her to walk by herself. Nevertheless, she was unnaturally light and

quite easy to carry, and as such, I had no complaints. Was her body filled

with meringues, or was the cluster of particles she emitted from her hair the

real Yashiro? I had quite a few theories, some even more ridiculous than that.

Leaving cosmic mysteries aside, Adachi seemed quite dissatisfied. I'd had

a hunch that she might. A wry smile appeared on my face. Having a little

sister your own age was quite troublesome, wasn't it?

Yashiro, who I'd been carrying like a pet, sat down on my lap, showing

no signs of ever getting up. I didn't really mind as she was quite light,

although the particles gushing from her hair did make it feel like I was about

to choke.

"Wanna go next, Adachi?"

"No, I'm good."

"Please, I insist."

Not taking "no" for an answer, I picked up one of the balls next to us and

handed it to her. For kids like her who wouldn't listen, going pushy was

always effective. That was something I'd learned recently. Though Adachi

clearly still had her doubts, she took the ball off my hands, her stubborn

attitude nowhere to be seen. Was this the kind of person she was, easily

pressured? Not that I was much different.

"By the way, do you get anything good if you win this game?" Yashiro

asked, staring at the ball she'd tossed as it returned via the machine. The

question came out completely calmly and didn't seem to have anything to do

with the fact that she'd just gotten a strike. She stared at me with eyes of

innocence, as if the concept of winning and losing didn't exist to her, making

it quite difficult for me to come up with a proper answer.

"When you beat someone, doesn't it make you go all 'Woohoo! I did it!'?"

"But I love you, Shimamura. Beating you wouldn't be fun at all."

I flinched. I love you. Now that was something I hadn't been expecting to

hear.

Incidentally, I heard something thud against the floor. For some reason,

Adachi had dropped the bowling ball she'd been holding. The ball began

rolling away from her, and she rushed after it. You know, kids... I wanted to

say as I stared at her back.

"Well, hmm... I see."

I averted my eyes. It was quite difficult to look straight at someone who'd

just said "I love you" to your face. Even as a child, I'd never been one to say

something like that, so perhaps I was overreacting.

Having caught the ball she'd dropped, Adachi now returned to us. She

stood there, directly in front of me. Her eyes weren't pointed towards me,

however, but towards Yashiro. I couldn't help but sense tension in the air.

"Alright. Why don't you play against me then?"

Holding the ball in her hands, Adachi challenged Yashiro. Though the

lack of expression on her face made it hard to grasp her true motives, she

clearly held no pleasant feelings.

"Hoho! You think you can beat me, a pro bowlinger?"

"Pro bowler" seemed to be the word she was looking for. Either way, it

was a massive lie.

"Of course I'm going to win", Adachi stated, stroking the surface of the

ball. There was much dignity in the way she moved her hand. "And once I

do..."

She cut her words short and gave me a look. That pretty much confirmed

it. For whatever reason, she was planning to tell me to do something if she

won. The last thing I wanted was to become the subject of a bet. For

goodness' sake, it wasn't like I was Yashiro's guardian or anything.

"Lend me your ear for a second."

Adachi pulled Yashiro's hand, dragging her off my lap to the corner of the

bowling hall. The way they held hands looked more like a kidnapper and her

victim than a pair of loving sisters. Was it because one of them had hair that

was black and the other's was anything but?

Bent over, Adachi whispered something to Yashiro. She nodded

randomly as she listened, stroking her chin. Yet, as soon as Adachi was

finished speaking...

"Hmm. Nope", I heard her say. What a straightforward refusal. She

turned around and hopped back to me.

I could sense such liveliness as I watched her jump up and down. In

comparison, Adachi's shoulders sagged, likely due at least in part to her

complete inability to get through to the girl. Her steps were heavy, too.

Having returned, she threw the ball. No fancy tricks from her, just a regular

throw. Six pins, she knocked down. I felt relieved seeing this after Yashiro's

weirdness. But, at the same time, I wasn't sure how to properly react.

What was I supposed to do at times like these? Praise her? Encourage

her? Without a word, Adachi took her second throw.

Two pins still remained afterwards. Scratching her head, she sat next to

me.

As far as the competition went, she was currently losing. Perhaps the

right call was to comfort her.

"Too bad."

"Not really that much of a bowler."

Excuses. Although, she had said that she wasn't close with her family,

meaning that she wouldn't have had many opportunities to go. Perhaps she

was speaking the truth after all. Furthermore, she didn't seem like the kind of

person who'd insist upon going bowling with her friends.

"Anyway, you're next, Shimamura."

"Oh, me?"

Though a little lost, I picked Yashiro up off my lap, placed her on the

chair next to me, and stood up.

Was it really okay for me to throw in the midst of their battle? Though I

had paid the entry fee, I also had a feeling that refusing might be the option

someone capable of reading the room would take. I watched the two,

wondering what to do, when...

"Just throw the ball already, Shimamura."

"Huh? Oh, right."

I threw the ball as I'd been urged to do, not really caring what I hit. It

rolled, rolled and rolled. And then, it was over.

It didn't matter what the result was. Strike, gutter, it was all the same.

Only things of importance needed to be understood.

I sat down on the chair, and Yashiro immediately climbed on my lap.

Like a dog.

Furthermore, she showed no signs of moving anywhere. She really liked

using people as her chair, huh?

"Hey, don't sit. It's your turn next."

"Ohh, you're right", Yashiro said as she hopped off. Come to think of it,

she wasn't carrying her helmet with her anymore. I wondered where she'd

stashed it. I felt like I was going to get dizzy if I spent too much time thinking

about it.

"Well then, time for the pro bowlinger to go for round two."

Again, "bowler", not "bowlinger".

Yashiro trotted towards the lane. Particles scattered around as she did,

drawing her tracks in the air. The people on either side of us—a family on

one and a group of high school boys on the other—stared at her unanimously.

Well, couldn't blame them.

With all eyes on her, Yashiro threw the ball as she'd done before, even

did the slide and all.

The ball left her hands as she bent backwards, to the point that I became

worried she might twist her neck. Nevertheless, as she didn't cross the line,

her throw likely wouldn't be counted as a foul. The ball swayed, curved, hit

the bumpers, and yet, through some miracle, didn't miss its target. Incredible.

"Wow!"

Even with the bumpers, it was quite the achievement to get two strikes in

a row with a throw like that. I began to wonder if she perhaps possessed some

supernatural abilities to match her looks. I wouldn't be surprised at all, to be

honest. Then again, if she did, she wouldn't have needed to throw the ball like

that. But, regardless.

"Well done again, huh?"

Yashiro returned to me, walking in a weird way with both of her hands

extended forward. Her knees had gotten awfully red, and though I hated to

admit it, somewhere deep inside me I did worry about her.

"Won't your knees get scratched?"

I touched them to check, but much to my surprise, it seemed that her skin

was still perfectly intact and without a scrape. Yashiro herself showed no

signs of being in pain, either. Still, touching her knees made me see just how

tiny they really were.

This small child had bought me lunch. I couldn't help but feel a little

guilty.

There was someone who didn't seem too pleased by the turn of events,

however. That someone was Adachi, her opponent. There was a deep frown

on her face. Made sense: Considering the atmosphere surrounding Yashiro, it

was easy to imagine her scoring nothing but strikes till the end. And trying to

beat that... well, it was impossible.

"Aren't you glad you didn't bet anything?"

That seemed like a good thing to say to smooth things over. Adachi

grunted in response.

"Hehehe. Feel free to imitate me if you wish."

It was Yashiro who spoke this time, her voice filled with pride as she

advised Adachi, though it barely counted as advice. Adachi merely shifted

her attention.

"I think you'd do just as well if you did it normally."

At the same time, the results spoke for themselves, making it quite

difficult to deny there being something to her technique. Furthermore, she

hadn't stepped over the foul line, and so it was impossible for an amateur like

me to tell whether or not a rule had been broken. Well, not that I could tell

anything when Yashiro was around. What was one more mystery in the pile?

Adachi picked up a ball. She must have had some serious guts to keep

going. Just as I admired her in my heart, she walked in front of me. Hiding

her mouth behind the ball and her eyes looking elsewhere, she spoke.

"Which one are you cheering for, Shimamura?"

"Huh?"

Did you really have to ask me something like that?

"Which one is it?" Yashiro asked cheerfully from my lap.

I really wished they hadn't asked me that.

I want to pick neither, I wanted to say.

I might have been good with people, but that was just a front; in my core,

I found most things bothersome.

Effort and experience alone weren't enough to overturn reality. And in

that reality, being thought of dearly, being relied on, being loved, those all

came with negatives. I just wanted to hunch my back and crawl away.

I bet everyone found me a curious thing. Poking my back as I tried to run

away, chasing me, that was fun for them. You run away, and someone chases

after you. That was all there was to it, I thought.

Even if I did become defiant and ask the people around me, my face from

when I was chased was gone, and as such, everyone simply ignored me, like I

didn't even exist. That's how I had felt, whether or not it was merely an

assumption didn't matter.

Based on the way my mind worked, I knew well I was a person meant to

live alone.

And yet, here I was here.

"Shimamura!" said one.

"Shimamura", followed the other.

"Yes, yes", I quickly answered to both of them.

It was like I'd become the main character of a romance manga, and let me

tell you, it was exhausting.

I returned home after this day off—filled with ups and downs—yet the

clock had barely turned three in the afternoon. Our group had slowly begun

breaking up following the bowling game, and after parting ways with Adachi,

I'd gone straight home. I probably don't even have to say who won. Someone

was left disappointed, let's just leave it at that.

That sure had ended sooner than I had expected, I thought, though as soon

as I reached my room, my knees gave out.

"I'm done."

No more thoughts left my mouth. I lay there, collapsed on the futon. I

wanted to bury myself inside, fuse with the pillow, and sleep for at least six

hours. Nevertheless, much to my surprise, I wasn't feeling sleepy in the

slightest. I rolled around for twenty or so minutes, until finally getting bored

of it and opening my eyes. As I did, there was a manga book in front of me.

It was what my sister had been reading last night before going to bed. I

picked up the book and flipped through the pages, before landing on one

where the main character said something that seemed like an excuse.

Laughing, I closed the book and turned over.

"I'm more tired than a day when there's school. That's not good..."

Meeting people, talking to them, considering their feelings and all their

quirks.

I was... wounded. Was that a good way to say it?

No, probably not. Worn, perhaps? A part of me had been shaved off,

vanished. That seemed about right.

Avoiding hurting each other, sitting awkwardly in the wind to make sure

that we don't touch.

It was obviously going to be tiring. I wanted to stop, to hide, sometimes

even run away. And yet, it was when I'd gone to hide that I had met her, met

Adachi. That was probably a good thing, that much I could acknowledge.

Being alone was boring. It was far worse than isolation, like a disease you

couldn't endure. And the only medicine to cure this horrible disease, to

change me, was something invisible born between people.

For this reason, my days of wear would continue.

I'd lose more and more, all for my own sake.

I muttered to myself the words I'd just read in the manga, as if licking

them with my tongue.

Even when things don't go well,

even when it hurts all around,

don't bear a grudge.

"Karaoke, eating out, or the river. Which one would you prefer?"

The first time Shimamura had ever called me, and she'd started the call

with a question. I'd come home from school, finished work, and just as I'd

rolled into bed, my phone had rung. I'd picked it up and who'd been calling

me but Shimamura.

And it wasn't just any call; she had asked me where I'd like to go.

Could it be, she was inviting me on a date? No, probably not.

"What are those options?"

"Karaoke is what I chose. Eating out, that was Nagafuji. As for the river,

Hino suggested that one."

A proposal to go out. Not that far off, I suppose.

There were names other than Shimamura's mixed in, however. All names

I knew.

"Hino asked if I was free next Sunday, and I thought I'd ask you too."

"Oh, yeah, right... I don't know, I might ruin the atmosphere if I come."

"Huh? Really? You care about that sort of stuff?"

Shimamura pretended to be shocked. I laughed lightly, cursing her in my

mind.

"Just what kind of a person do you see me as?"

"Inse—... As someone who doesn't value harmony?"

Had she just been about to call me "insensitive"? Seemed like a pretty

insensitive thing to do, to call someone else insensitive.

"Well, you'd be wrong. I care surprisingly much about those around me."

Especially about you lately, I wanted to continue, but couldn't.

"I see", Shimamura replied, sounding hesitant to agree. "Anyway, you're

coming with us."

Apparently asking for my opinion wasn't necessary for her. I thought

about saying no for a moment, but decided against it.

"Sure, whatever."

After all, this was going to result in an opportunity to meet Shimamura

during the weekend.

If I were to decline her, she'd go have fun with two other people, all while

I sat alone in my room.

"So, where do you wanna go? Feel free to suggest a place if you want."

"If I say a place, that's gonna be where we go, isn't it?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Is that really okay? I wasn't the one who was asked first, you know?"

"Well, that's because Hino doesn't have your number. If she did, I think

she would've asked you."

"Really now?"

Though Shimamura likely didn't think much of what she'd just said, for

me, it was enough to make me smile.

Only she knew my number.

What did those feelings really mean? I had no idea.

"The third option, river. What'd we do if we went there?"

"Fish, probably. That's Hino's hobby."

"Fishing, huh?"

It didn't quite click with me. Four people standing by the river, their lines

cast. Sun scorching their backs on a cold November day, their ankles exposed

to the cool river water. Having never visited a zoo with my family, I was

haunted by a prejudice that coming into contact with nature was bothersome,

or perhaps "difficult" was a better word.

As for eating out, that likely entailed going to a family restaurant or

McDonald's and suffering through endless chitchat while eating whatever.

The question was, would that really be any place for me? I couldn't really

imagine there being any room for me to participate when it came to

discussing hobbies or school problems. Sitting there bored, not saying a

word, now that was something that I could imagine very easily. Talking with

three people was simply not something I was used to, even if one of them

happened to be Shimamura.

"Well, let's go with karaoke then."

That felt like the safest choice out of the three. Songs offered a great

many things to talk about, meaning that finding ways to kill time wouldn't be

an issue. Of course, the main reason I'd approved of it was because it had

been Shimamura's suggestion.

Not that I had any reason to believe that Shimamura particularly cared for

songs. Most likely, she'd suggested karaoke because it had been the first thing

that came to mind when she'd been asked.

"Okay, got it. I'll tell Hino and Nagafuji."

I could hear her breathing grow distant as she said that.

It felt like she might end the call any second now. Not wanting that to

happen, I spoke hastily.

"Umm, Shimamura."

"Yeah?"

Her voice sounded a little distant. Just as I expected, it seemed like she'd

already taken the phone off her ear.

If I were to hesitate now, she'd really end the call. That's how I felt. I gave

my chest a tap as encouragement, and then spoke.

"Why don't we sing something together?"

"Sure, fine with me. Sing what though? You're not really into that sort of

stuff, as far as I know."

Whereas I'd been mighty nervous, Shimamura's reply was completely

calm.

Wait, when had we talked about that? Had we? I tried looking back.

...I think we had. Although, I doubt that Shimamura remembered.

"Just something normal."

"What's a 'normal song'?"

"Umm... Something that you like."

As I couldn't come up with a specific song, I decided to leave all the

decision-making to her. Deep inside me, I felt like this was all I ever did.

"No, you don't want that. Trust me. It's gonna be some super old song."

"How old are we talking here? Before we were born?"

"Yep. Like, Robinson by Spitz or something?"

"Oh, in that case, I could probably sing it."

Was that really that old of a song? It did play on the radio from time to

time, but as it didn't sound old, I had never noticed. Regardless, I didn't know

the lyrics, meaning that I'd need to look them up and study.

"I'll call you back once Hino decides when we're meeting."

"Okay."

If I gave Hino my phone number, Shimamura wouldn't call me.

As such, her not knowing it seemed like a good situation to be in. For me,

at least.

"Well then, see you on Sunday."

"Huh? No, we have school tomorrow."

"Oh, right. Well, see you tomorrow."

Shimamura hastily ended the call. Personally, I was pretty bad at judging

when to end a call, making awkward silences between me and the person I

was talking to quite common. Shimamura had no such problem. She simply

pushed the button and was done with it.

Was that just her personality?

I put the phone down, after which I sat back down on my bed and looked

at the calendar pinned to the wall.

First week of November, Wednesday. There were still plenty of days left

till Sunday. I had begun attending class daily, and around once every three

days, I ate lunch with Shimamura. As for the rest, not even worth mentioning.

At work, it'd become an increasingly frequent occurrence for me to turn

my eyes towards the parking lot, wondering what I'd do if Shimamura's

family came to visit again. They never had since their first visit. Shimamura

would probably dislike it, too; her mother had attempted to ask all sorts of

questions, after all. Such feelings came to all adolescents, I'm sure, and yet,

as time passed, you simply forgot about it all. Perhaps that was the essence of

growing up.

" Sigh... "

I felt like I'd been sighing more than before lately. A small improvement

over those days when I was bored all the time, I suppose.

I was definitely glad that she'd invited me, no doubt about that. It was the

presence of other people that made me sigh. A part of me accepted it, though

there was also another part, smaller, that found it annoying. It had likely been

Hino who'd told Shimamura to invite me. If not for that, she would have

never called me. That's what I thought.

Of course, she hadn't done so to be mean or anything. It was simply

Shimamura's way of being considerate, for which I was very grateful.

When someone is keeping their distance, fussing about it will only make

things more complicated.

That night, I lay on my bed, thinking back to how I first met Shimamura.

The first one of us on the second floor of the gym had been Shimamura.

She'd sat there grasping her knees, if I remember right.

We were still wearing summer clothes back then, and the sun had made

our arms faintly brown.

Having noticed me, the girl turned her face towards me, and our eyes met.

The aura surrounding her was that of a middle school girl, allowing me to

guess that, like me, she too was a first-year student. I didn't know her name,

yet she tilted her head as if she knew mine before opening her mouth.

"You're... Adachi, right?"

"Yeah, and?"

"I'm in your class."

After saying this, the girl waved at me. Though I tried, I just couldn't

remember having ever seen her. Well, made sense, I suppose.

The second semester had only begun that day, and as such, it'd been far

more sultry than in October. The warmth there differed from that of the

scorching sun outside. It wrapped around you, suffocating you. By no means

was this the good place I'd been looking for. Furthermore, there was already

someone there, and a part of me wanted to step back and leave.

Yet, the girl had stated my name and said that I was her classmate. It was

quite difficult to simply say goodbye and walk away in that situation. Us

being here when we were meant to be in class, that was something we shared.

A seed of interest had also begun to slowly plant its roots into me: why had

she decided to skip class?

Since there were no other places I could escape to, I chose to stay, and sat

down on the edge of a ping-pong table. As I did, Shimamura—sitting on a

seat formed by the green net—stated her name.

"Like the store", she added jokingly. It was due to this joke that her first

name left no impression in my mind. Rather, the store and the person became

intertwined in my mind, and soon enough, the only way for me to remember

the exact spelling of her name was to think of the store first.

"You come here regularly?"

"Nope, just happened to today."

I'd been on my way to my usual spot when I'd almost run into a teacher,

after which I'd sneaked my way here. Thankfully, no lesson had been taking

place in the court below.

"And you?"

"Same."

Though I hadn't known it back then, that had actually been the first day

that Shimamura had ever skipped class. She'd explained that she'd gotten too

used to the summer break, though I didn't know if that was what she really

felt. There might have been a larger dissatisfaction behind it all. Perhaps

something had happened during summer. Nevertheless, as I hadn't been all

that interested in Shimamura back then, I'd simply brushed it off.

I sat quite a distance away from her, our conversation came to a stop. In

that silence, the only thing that rose was sweat. Shimamura pulled out a hand

towel and wiped her forehead. I did the same with my own, wiping away

both sweat and what makeup had come off.

Feeling a little bored, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the

menus, with no particular goal. I checked the clock and was instantly

disappointed when I saw how much time was still left until lunch. I also gave

Shimamura a glance. She stared out of the window, looking completely

dazed. It was impossible to even begin to guess what she was thinking about.

I later learned that she hadn't been thinking about anything.

Being alone was boring, and being with others meant having to constantly

think about their feelings. For a moment, I considered pretending like I had

business elsewhere and leaving, but before I could turn those thoughts into

action, I heard a noise. I panicked and looked up, only to see the silhouette of

a cicada outside of the window.

Shortly after, it made the noise again.

The sound the insect made was full of vigour despite August already

being over, so loud that it sounded like there were at least five bugs singing

in harmony. Unconsciously, I exchanged looks with Shimamura. Her face

turned into a troubled smile.

"Pretty loud."

"Sure is."

Shimamura pushed herself up from the floor, after which she walked over

to the window with the cicada and lightly tapped the glass under it. The

cicada fell. Though I did see it flap its tiny wings, considering the speed at

which it fell, I would've been extremely surprised if it didn't hit the ground.

Shimamura seemed to share my feelings. She pulled away her finger and

gave me a distressed look, the kind you'd make after doing something bad. To

think there'd been a time when I wished she wouldn't look at me.

No longer could the cicada's song be heard. For a moment, Shimamura

stared at the window, motionless.

Then, at last, she pointed her index finger towards the stairs.

"Wanna go see?"

She likely wanted to see if the cicada had died because of her. Seeing as I

had nothing better to do, I accepted her invitation. Nothing wrong with using

this as an opportunity to leave this place, I thought.

We stepped down the stairs and quickly circled behind the gym, making

sure to avoid the eyes of the boys walking lazily around the sports ground. A

single massive tree stood in the shade between the gym and the dojo used for

club activities, as if forgotten there. It was visible from the window on the

second floor, and at its root, lay something resembling a cicada.

The cicada lay face up on the ground. It appeared to have grown quite

weak, and no matter how much it moved its wings, it couldn't get up. The

other cicadas I heard singing above my head didn't seem too interested in

their companion on the ground either. Being currently in the process of

skipping class, I could feel a certain affinity towards it.

Shimamura crouched next to the cicada and reached towards it.

"You don't mind touching it?"

"I think I can manage with a cicada. If it was an earthworm or a

woodlouse, then no way."

I couldn't comprehend how exactly she decided which insects she could

touch and which she could not. Shimamura pinched the cicada. It struggled

between her fingers, causing her to jump a little. It looked like she wanted to

keep her distance, but as she was holding the bug, that wasn't really possible.

The two—Shimamura and the cicada—eventually settled down, after which

she stood up, shook her head slightly confused, and then approached the tree

trunk.

"Will it fall again, I wonder."

Shimamura clearly had her doubts, yet still placed the cicada against the

tree. Its tiny little legs moved frantically. As it turned out, the insect did stay

in place as she pulled her hand away. It once again began singing, allowing

us to return to the gym satisfied. At some point, I'd forgotten all about my

plans to slip away, although I suppose I had nothing against the way things

had ended up turning out.

As we walked up the stairs, Shimamura asked me:

"That cicada, how many more days do you think it'll live?"

"Dunno", I answered her. I really didn't know.

"I see", she nodded.

After we'd climbed the stairs, I asked her in turn:

"How many days would you want it to live?"

She thought for a while, and then spoke:

"Fifteen days, maybe."

Fifteen days after that, Shimamura came to the second floor with her

hands covered in dirt.

I bet she had made a grave for the cicada.

And that's how I met Shimamura.

A story from a time when I'd not yet begun thinking of her as a friend.

All the reasons in the world didn't change the fact that I was nervous.

That's just the way Shimamura affected me.

I passed through a shopping district with no meaningful establishments

besides a sweets store and a bike repair shop, crossed an abandoned railway,

and after a left turn, caught a glimpse of the post office that served as our

meeting place. Shimamura was waiting in front of it, leaning against its sign,

and as I passed by the bank and bus stop on my left, she waved at me.

She was strangely diligent in a lot of ways; I'd noticed that whenever we

decided to meet, it was quite frequent for her to be the first to arrive. Waving

back, I parked my bike in front of her.

"You always come late to class, but when it's to have fun, you're right on

time."

"Please, have mercy, Ms Shimamura."

I quickly checked either side of Shimamura as we talked, and as soon as I

did, a sigh of relief left my mouth; that tiny, glittering thing from the other

day was nowhere to be seen. I'd been waiting anxiously for Shimamura to say

how she met her along the way and that she'd be joining us, but fortunately,

no such thing ended up happening. What had that thing even been?

Shimamura was very open-hearted (in a good way) and seemed to have more

or less accepted her, though at the same time, the colour of her eyes and hair

was a step too far for me. There was such a thing as being too unique. Not in

a million years could I think of that shine as something that belonged to a

living creature.

"Did you buy those clothes at Shimamura? They look really good on

you."

"Why does everyone have to make that joke?"

Gripping the tips of her white, knitted sweater, she frowned. By

"everyone", she likely meant that Hino and Nagafuji had said something

similar as well. Really shouldn't have said that, I thought; that just wasn't the

kind of friend I wanted to be to her.

"If we're making jokes about each other's clothes now, I still think it was

pretty funny when you wore that China dress."

"Sorry."

There was no bike next to Shimamura. It seemed that—much like when

she came to school—she had walked here. Looking bored, she circled the

post office's parking lot. I followed her with my eyes, and though I did think

that it might be better to talk about something, no suitable topic came to

mind. It was pretty weird to think that I'd been completely indifferent to

Shimamura when we first met considering that at some point, even her

faintest movements had begun standing out to me.

Recently, I'd also become increasingly aware of her appearance. She

was... cute.

"H-Hey."

"Yeah?"

Walking in a figure of eight, Shimamura turned to face me.

"Don't worry, I memorized the lyrics."

"Lyrics for what...? Oh, right, the song we're singing together."

It took a moment for Shimamura to get what I was talking about.

Regardless, she continued, and the words she spoke next reassured me.

"If you have any other songs you think you can sing, let's sing those ones

too."

"Sure."

The other two weren't here yet.

A thought crossed my mind: couldn't Shimamura and I just leave and go

somewhere else together?

Speak of the devil, Hino and Nagafuji suddenly appeared, as if having

read my thoughts. Riding on a single bike, they crossed the bridge to our

right. Hino—the short one—was the one pedalling, with Nagafuji—as

expressionless as always—standing behind her, her hands placed on her

shoulders. I really felt like they should have been the other way around. It

just seemed so unbalanced, the way they currently were.

"Oh, they're here."

Shimamura leaned forward over the road and waved. Hino and Nagafuji

waved back with both hands and—wait, isn't that really dangerous? With not

a single hand on the handlebars, the bike crossed the bridge and rode down

the gentle slope in front of it, after which it pulled before us. As their hands

were in the air, the two had to brake by pressing the bottoms of their shoes

against the ground. What a strange lot. Hino's face twisted into a smile just as

I thought that, as if she'd seen into my mind.

"You still can't ride a bike?" Shimamura remarked to Nagafuji, who'd just

jumped off.

"Yeah, obviously", she replied nonchalantly. It was there that I noticed it:

she wasn't wearing glasses today. That further emphasized how long and

narrow her eyes were, giving off the impression of intelligence. It was quite

rare for glasses to blur the features of your face. Soon enough, Nagafuji and

Hino were standing next to me.

"Yo, Adacchi", Hino called out to me casually. "Adacchi"? I was

suddenly reminded of a nickname I had in elementary school.

Wait, thinking about it now, what was the point of a nickname that was

longer than your actual name?

"Oh, if it isn't Adacchi", Nagafuji stated as if we were best buddies, going

along with the joke. Even Shimamura found it amusing and threw a quick

"Adacchi" at me, causing me to instinctively look away. It was difficult to

resist the temptation of pulling down the hood of my cardigan and hiding my

face. I didn't really mind the other two, but Shimamura calling me by a

nickname while grinning, that was something I felt a certain bit of reluctance

about.

"Reluctance"? No, I think the problem was more how self-conscious it

made me feel. In other words, I was embarrassed.

I hopped on my bike to hide my shame. Just a gust of wind and my

burning cheeks would cool down too.

"So, which one is the karaoke place?"

"That one over there", Hino stated, pointing at a building on the other side

of the road I'd come down.

"Something" Village, that's what was written by the entrance. Inside, the

building housed not only a karaoke place, but a kindergarten, barbecue shop,

and a restaurant as well. "Consistent" was definitely not the word I would've

used to describe this combination, but even so, the parking lot was full of

cars.

Pretty close by. Walking there wouldn't even take ten seconds. I had to

wonder, what had been the point of choosing the post office as our meeting

spot? I decided to hop off my bike and walk it. Real uncool.

"Still, I really didn't think she'd come."

"Me neither", Shimamura stated, agreeing with Hino. The eyes of the two

turned towards me. I could assume based on the flow of the conversation that

they were talking about me, though how to answer their stares—seeking for a

comment—I had no idea.

In any case, it was clear that if I answered them honestly, they'd look at

me weird, or perhaps be repulsed.

"I got nothing else to do."

I decided to play it safe and lie. The lie came out a little blunt, possibly

giving off the impression that I was unfriendly and bad at socializing. Yes, I'd

certainly started to realise just how difficult it was for me to blend into a

group.

Perhaps my lack of experience was the issue? If so, then this would be a

good way to rack up some.

"Oh, so you were bored, huh? A good motive for high school students

and shinigamis alike."

It didn't take long for Hino to grasp the situation. Where had that

shinigami part come from? I didn't know.

The interior of the karaoke place was decorated with pumpkins and

mantles; orange pumpkins covered the dimly-lit walls, and dark mantles—

coated in glitter—hung before the windows like curtains. It seemed like no

one had bothered taking off the Halloween decorations. Two old men sat on

the waiting sofa to our right, casually playing Othello. Wherever I looked, I

could only see old people. The four of us definitely stood out. It wasn't like

anyone was looking at us in a bad way—due to our age, perhaps—but

regardless, having people stare at me didn't feel nice.

The entry fee on weekends was 180 yen for 30 minutes. In other words,

360 yen for an hour. Way cheaper than the karaoke place in front of the

station. They also offered 9-hour-long bargain courses, though all I had to say

to that was "no thanks".

If we spent the next nine hours singing, it'd be night when we were done.

And that was bad because I had work tonight.

"By the way, is everyone good with four hours?" Hino asked us over her

shoulder. That still seemed pretty long to me, though Nagafuji answering that

it worked for her forced me to reconsider. Shimamura didn't say anything,

and simply stood there gripping the tips of her hair. Hino went ahead and

booked us for four hours, and it was there that I noticed that the person

behind the counter was also an old man. I'd heard that Hino had been the one

to choose this place, and I had to wonder, just what had her criteria been?

We passed deeper into the building through a hallway and—with Hino in

the lead—entered our room. No one else probably thought this way, but for

me, this moment was accompanied by tension. An important decision needed

to be made soon: Where was I going to sit?

The room was a bit cramped, and by its white walls stood two black

sofas. Watching Shimamura head towards the right side, I followed suit. I

tried acting all casual, but as my feet were pretty clumsy, that plan didn't

really go anywhere. It kinda felt like I was moving in 90-degree turns.

Regardless, I managed to sit down next to her. In turn, Hino and Nagafuji

took the sofa opposite to us. Though there was a good chance that we

would've ended up in a similar configuration even if I had let things resolve

naturally, it really wasn't something I could afford to risk.

"Want me to put your bag over here?" Shimamura asked me, sitting by

the table. The fact that I'd sat down next to her filled me with immense

satisfaction, to the point that I came real close to grinning. Trying my best to

stop myself from doing so, I handed her my bag. It wasn't like anyone was

going to call me, and I also didn't have anything I needed to keep at hand.

The keys to my bike might have been one such item, but those were safe in

my pocket.

I reached for the menu sitting on the table, though I wasn't really in the

mood to eat anything; no, I just felt like I had to do something. Yet, just I was

about to grab it, Nagafuji, who was sitting across from me, did so first. She

asked for my approval with her eyes as I pulled my body and hand away, and

I nodded.

Meanwhile, Hino lifted the mic she was holding in an exaggerated motion

and flicked on its switch.

"Alright, I'll go first. Toki no uzu~. "

"Stop that", Nagafuji said authoritatively before taking away her mic. It

kinda felt like I shouldn't try either.

Also, what was up with her starting to sing before she'd even set the

song?

" Hmh. Should I sing something else?"

Hino gave up without further resistance. As she did, the mic was returned

to her. She performed a quick mic check before picking up the remote and

choosing a song. A nursery rhyme was what she ended up going with, for

whatever reason. While Hino sang, I quickly glanced at the menu Nagafuji

was holding open. Using my left hand, I pointed at a certain part of it.

"If we're gonna order a pitcher of something, it should be green tea. It's

better to drink green tea while singing than oolong tea, a certain great teacher

once said."

"And who might this 'great teacher' be?"

"Ms S, known for her love for karaoke."

"Giving us an initial doesn't make it any less suspicious."

Shimamura looked pretty confused. Just so you know, I wasn't talking

about our class teacher. It would've been Ms T in that case, if I remembered

right.

"Who's singing next?" Hino asked as she held up the mic, having finished

her nursery rhyme. I glanced at Shimamura. She'd been looking at the leaflets

that had been left on the table, but quickly lifted her head, as if having

noticed my stare. Our eyes met. The expression on her face looked like she

was asking me if I wanted to sing with her, but to that, I shook my head, as if

to say "not yet".

"Well, I'll go then", Nagafuji stated, taking up the offer.

"Sure thing", Hino said back, her hands on her hips. "I just wonder, do

you really have a song you know the lyrics to?"

"Hm... Hmm..."

Her vague reply—neither denying nor confirming the statement—didn't

exactly scream self-confidence. And yet, the look on her face remained

gallant.

"I'll just have you sing the parts I don't know."

"Two songs back to back, huh? This is quickly turning into a one man

show."

Hino's obvious sarcasm didn't seem to matter in the slightest to Nagafuji,

as indicated by the complete lack of change in her expression.

Nagafuji seemed to have trouble remembering things. Same went with

my name too, now that I thought about it; she'd heard it plenty of times by

now, yet it appeared that she still didn't remember it. Meanwhile, Nagafuji

had begun looking for her song's number. Right, that's how it worked. It now

made sense why Hino had sung a nursery rhyme; she'd just inputted a number

at random without looking it up first.

A little while later, the pitcher of green tea we had ordered arrived. The

person who brought it was—naturally—an old man. I found myself wanting

to calculate the average age here. We raised a toast of tea as if this was a

formal occasion, after which Nagafuji entered the number of her chosen song.

It was a slightly old one, from a singer named Owari Nijou.

Though the song itself was pretty noisy and not my type, I did like the

piano that went along with it, as well as the kimono-wearing pianist playing

it. I remembered reading an interview with her in some magazine once, and

it'd definitely left me with the impression that she was easygoing. All she and

the singer had talked about for the whole interview was dogs. Even recently

when she'd been asked about her songs, she'd gone off on some tangent about

a family restaurant.

"You know this one?" Shimamura asked me while sipping her tea.

"Yep", I nodded back. "Not the lyrics though."

"Oh, really? I don't", she stated, not sounding all that interested. She then

placed the cup on her lips.

She wasn't drinking because she was thirsty but rather because she was

bored, which is why she gulped down the tea so fast. That was easy for

anyone to tell. It seemed that even Shimamura was still in the process of

getting used to this atmosphere, and I got the feeling that she might have been

pushing herself a little. Thinking back to her idling away on the second floor

of the gym, I couldn't help but wonder if that was more normal for her. The

way she behaved didn't really support that theory, but regardless.

While there was undoubtedly a difference in skill between me and her,

perhaps our attitudes towards socializing weren't all that different. Could that

similarity be the thing that attracted me to her?

In any case, hanging around with the four of us had made me realise

something: I much preferred being alone with Shimamura.

Much like the first one, the majority of the second song ended up being

sang by Hino as well. Smiling, she offered the mic to our direction.

"Here, you go next."

Our eyes instantly met. We were both trying to make the other person

pick up the mic.

"Going by the order, you'd be next."

"...Hm, got it", Shimamura said before taking the mic.

"Give me one more", she then asked Hino. "We're singing together."

Next thing I knew, I'd been pulled on my feet. Huh, already? I panicked

as Shimamura dragged me around the table with her. Well, I say that, but it

wasn't like she was physically dragging me. It was more that her actions and

behaviour had naturally pulled me along.

She input the number quickly, leading me to assume that she had looked

it up beforehand. Did you really have to do it that fast? my restless heart

complained. It felt like someone was pushing my back with their hand.

Singing in front of people really wasn't for me. I'd always despised those

singing tests they made you take in music class. However, today I was going

to be doing it with Shimamura, giving me something far greater to be

conscious about.

There we stood, side by side. I felt tension in my stomach, similar to what

I would've felt if the two of us were standing on a stage in school. The

prelude to the song started playing, and as I listened to it in silence, my head

began spinning. Was everything really okay with me?

Just then, as if having noticed that I was uneasy, Shimamura spoke to me.

"Honestly, you really saved me by agreeing to sing with me."

"Huh?"

Laughing, she flipped the switch of her mic.

"Singing in front of people just isn't for me."

"Don't say that before you sing! It ruins the mood!" Hino yelled at us,

jokingly. As for Nagafuji, she had begun ordering something. I couldn't help

but smile a little at Shimamura's sudden confession.

You and me both, huh? I felt a step closer to her, and the resulting

happiness caused my chest to throb.

"I'm glad too, to do it with you, Shimamura", I replied, after which the

prelude ended and the lyrics kicked in.

My emotions now fully exposed, they poured into my singing.

In the end, we took a small extension as our time ran out and ended up

singing for five hours in total. I was made to sing by myself a few times too,

and though there'd definitely been multiple occasions when I just wanted to

bury my face, thanks to Shimamura praising me, I couldn't say that I had

completely disliked it.

I felt like my embarrassment had let Shimamura know exactly what I

wanted from her.

I checked the time as we exited the karaoke room and saw that it was past

three. The sun still shone warmly, but compared to the last month, the

temperature had clearly dropped. Winter would soon come, and so, another

year would be over. Then again, I suppose that the whole concept of a year

ending was just something we'd made up; be it this year or the next, the cold

remained.

"Did you have a good time, Adacchi?" Hino asked me. Did she really

need to ask me separately? It felt like I was being handled with kid gloves.

No, I didn't just feel that way; I totally was. "Adacchi" and all.

"Yep, I did", I answered while glancing at Shimamura. She looked back

at me and smiled, as if saying well, that's good. It was like she was

pretending to be my guardian or something, and had it been someone else

doing it, I likely would've said something back. Strangely enough I didn't,

however, and in a way, almost admired her.

"Glad to hear. Maybe we'll be invited again before long. Wink, wink,

Shimamura."

"Me? Well, I guess."

For an instant, you could see it on her face that she was wondering why

Hino couldn't just handle the inviting. That right there really was Shimamura

in a nutshell. Got it, the look on Hino's face said as she tapped my shoulder

instead of Shimamura's for some reason. ...What?

"Well then, see you tomorrow", she waved at us from her bike. I waved

back slightly, after which Nagafuji glanced at her.

"You know the way to my house?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot? I wonder, who was the person that I picked up

in front of their house this morning?"

I could still hear them arguing as they crossed over the bridge. Such a

good relationship between those two. Although, perhaps that was what led

them to acting so overly familiar with me. I'd been keeping my distance from

them, yet at this point, they were already treating me like a friend, at least to a

certain extent.

Not that I disliked it. No, I just wasn't used to it as I'd never been friends

with someone like that before.

"Now then, I should head home too. Probably need to deal with my little

sister next, hehe", Shimamura laughed jokingly, after which she began

walking. That really was her style, just slipping out without a word. It also

happened when we were talking on the phone; she was way too eager to end

the call. My head was always full of all sorts of thoughts and I needed time to

decide what to say, time that she wouldn't give me.

"Want me to give you a ride?"

Shimamura stopped in her tracks. My finger slipped off the brake,

causing the bike to roll an inch forward.

"You don't live far from here, after all. I just mean, walking alone is

kinda... you know."

Yes, I did realise the contradiction, that her living nearby meant that there

was no need for me to give her a ride. Shimamura tilted her head, having

perhaps also noticed that there was no connection between the former and

latter halves of my statement. It really did feel like that was a natural part of

me, being bad at making up reasons.

Glancing over at the bridge where Hino and Nagafuji grew ever more

distant, Shimamura laughed.

"So, you'll give me a ride?" she asked, placing her bag in my bike's

basket. I sighed in relief. Soon, her hands were on my shoulders.

"Shall we get going, Adacchi?"

"No, please, not you too. Just say it normally", I requested, my head

turned around. Shimamura's eyes opened wide.

"It's not really that different from your real name, though. Is it just that

you don't like nicknames? Wait, now that I think about it, you didn't stop

Hino from saying it. Why are you singling me out?"

"No, you have it all wrong. I'm not singling you out or anything. Sorry if

it came off like that."

Rather, I wouldn't mind having a nickname at all if she was the only one

using it.

My reply left purposefully vague, I stepped on the pedal. It was slow at

first, but once the pedals started turning, we began picking up speed. I

could've gone even faster and it would've been easier on my feet, but

knowing that this would result in us reaching Shimamura's house sooner, I

instead chose to go a little slower than my top speed.

Shimamura's house. I could feel my mind blanking out just trying to think

back to it. As you might have expected, I simply couldn't bring myself to step

inside today. Hell no. Even after a month or two I might not be able to. That

really had been my greatest blunder.

"Take a right turn there, and then straight ahead."

"Okay."

Following Shimamura's directions, I turned right. We crossed the

abandoned railway and passed through the shopping district. After that came

a super narrow road, so narrow that even two bikes would've had trouble

passing each other. As we were riding through it, Shimamura spoke to me.

"Did you really have fun, Adachi?"

"Could've been worse, I guess."

Since Shimamura was the one asking this time, I decided to answer

honestly. No, it hadn't been fun enough for me to stop worrying and start

enjoying myself, not even close. If not for her being there, I would've made

up some excuse and left early.

This experience only reinforced what I'd known before; the way I felt

towards Shimamura was different than other people, than Hino and Nagafuji.

Not that I hated the idea of becoming friends with them or anything, but that

was all there was to it, friends.

Going out to have fun on a regular day off? Nothing weird about that.

During Christmas? Definitely strange.

That's what it felt like to me to be friends with someone. I did find myself

wishing I could go out with Shimamura during Christmas, though. It didn't

even have to be Christmas; New Year's or any other winter holiday would do

just fine.

I just wanted to close the distance between us. And once it was closed,

what then?

I felt like deep down, I already knew the answer.

What I wanted from Shimamura was something sisterly, something

motherly. That's what I thought.

It was a little difficult to put in words, but I suppose you could say that I

wanted Shimamura to look after me, to embrace me, to accept me. My

relationship with my own family was quite lacking, and I yearned for

something to fill that void, I felt.

Of course, saying this out loud would show everyone just how immature I

truly was. If that happened, I could no longer continue living.

Please, become my big sister. No way could I ever say something like

that to Shimamura.

"Oh, never mind. Left from here", she suddenly stated, giving me new

directions. I did wonder what was up with that, but turned regardless. As I

did, a deserted orphanage appeared before us. The ground surrounding the

building was covered in fine sand, with no children anywhere to be seen—not

a single one. Even so, this had originally served as somewhere for children to

play, a place that I too had visited frequently in my preschool days.

More typically known as a public park.

"Your home sure has good ventilation. So open."

"The views are also excellent, hahaha. Come on, stop being silly. Get

off."

I stopped the bike in front of the playground equipment, and Shimamura

hopped off. Kicking the sand, she walked over to the nearby vending

machine. I hopped off too, and just as I locked the bike, I heard Shimamura

calling to me from the vending machine in a slightly-raised voice.

"I'm really thirsty, so I thought I'd drink some soda. You want anything,

Adachi?" she asked me before adding: "I'll pay."

This conversation brought me back to the lunch breaks we'd had while

skipping class.

"Do they have mineral water?"

"Not canned. Is Pocari okay?"

"Sure, that's fine."

Shimamura returned holding two cans. For a while, we circled the nearby

playground equipment before heading deeper in towards the swings. Though

there were benches as well, for some reason, we both ended up sitting on the

swings instead.

Shimamura's swing was yellow, whereas mine was red. The paint was

super old and felt like it was about to peel off, and as I touched the chains,

rust peeked through. It got stuck on my fingers but quickly crumbled away

and disappeared as I rubbed them together. Faded away, like memories.

Nothing wrong with that. It was the persistent ones that refused to go away

which were the troublesome ones.

"Good job today."

"Huh? I thought we were just having fun."

"I just mean, this isn't really your thing, right?"

"Hmm... I guess you could say that."

"Oh, come on. I know you said you had fun to Hino, but if you don't want

to, I won't invite you."

It really felt like I was being treated like an elementary schooler.

Regardless, I shook my head.

If Shimamura was the one doing the inviting, then that meant that she'd

be coming too.

In that case...

"I'm fine. It wasn't that bad. Please, do invite me again."

"Oh?" Shimamura replied before placing the can of soda on her lips. She

then began rocking the swing slightly, and soon enough, started moving back

and forth. Something to help her stop feeling bored, I guess.

As for me, I turned my eyes towards the ground and likewise took a sip of

my Pocari.

Being the weekend, there was no one else in this park. Just us two,

Shimamura and I. Even so, I couldn't help but look around restlessly; I was

confident that if I let myself get too relaxed, that tiny, glittering thing would

jump out from nowhere. That thing was like a ghost, something that formed

from sunlight and appeared when you least expected it to. That's what it

looked like, at least. Anyway, I couldn't let my guard down.

"...So?" Shimamura suddenly asked, examining my expression. Her

swing squeaked as it moved.

I tilted my head, not sure what she meant.

"Umm... You were looking at me the whole time we sang karaoke. I was

just thinking, did you have something that you wanted to say?"

I came this close to springing up.

She'd noticed. Sure, I had felt our eyes meeting on multiple occasions, but

you're telling me that she'd seen me staring at her even when that didn't

happen? My body shook, causing the swing and chains to do so too.

I looked away from Shimamura. My head grew hot as I desperately

searched for an answer.

...Alright, first, let's just feign ignorance and see what happens.

"Oh, was I really staring at you?"

"Yep", she nodded. I could feel my shoulders grow narrow. Let's keep

pretending.

"Probably just your imagination, I think."

"What about when our eyes met? That happened like a dozen times."

She knows. I had always tried turning away and pretending like I hadn't

been looking when that happened, but it didn't seem like it had worked.

"Just like that", Shimamura said and pointed as I went to peek at her to

see how she was reacting. Yep, definitely didn't work.

Something that I wanted to ask Shimamura. Yes, I had loads of those

kinds of things. And yet, I couldn't help but feel that if I were to ask her any

of them, she'd either look at me weird or straight up run away, which made it

so incredibly difficult to do so. I was stuck. Stagnating.

There were so many different thoughts stuck in my head. It was like a

fruit tree; the fruits grew more nutritious as they became ripe, but too ripe and

they'd rot and splatter on the ground. That was my impression of it. Just then,

one of those thoughts pushed out, like a fresh branch peeking from a tree

trunk. I tried stopping it before it got to my mouth, but I didn't make it in

time.

Breathing hard like a dog, I asked Shimamura the following:

"Could you pat my head?"

I turned my cast-down head towards her as I said this.

Oh no. That was all I could say to myself at this point. I'd known well

what I'd been saying, yet it still managed to shock me. It scared me to just

think about what sort of face Shimamura was making. Thanks to that, I was

no longer capable of lifting my head, and I felt like if I let go of the chains I

was gripping tight, my chin would hit the ground.

"Hmph."

Shimamura's reaction was quite short. It sounded like she was keeping

her distance, observing me. At the same time, I could feel her gaze on my

head. I began sweating and my throat trembled, wanting to scream something

to the effect of "just forget that I said anything." That tremble soon reached

my arms. I just wanted this to stop.

Climbing over something that causes you to freeze up and feel regret

might be a process filled with despair, but it also means that you're facing

forward.

Gently, like a feather fluttering down, Shimamura's fingers touched my

head.

A small gasp escaped my mouth. My heart throbbed, like a blooming

flower.

At first, her fingertips tapped against my head, confirming that it was

there. After that, her tiny palm embraced me. She touched me slowly, and it

was hard to tell which one was the one flowing smoothly, her hand or my

hair.

"You're such a baby, Adachi."

I felt like this wasn't the first time she'd pointed that out. I'd also been

looking away back then, and as such, had no idea what sort of expression had

been on her face as she said it. Shocked, smiling, it was impossible to tell

which from her voice alone. There was no wind, no one to interrupt us, as if

time and the planet had stopped to observe us.

My heart was no longer pounding fast. Quite the opposite; it had calmed

down to the point where I felt like I was going to start shedding tears.

I could feel that my heart was no longer in my chest.

I bet it had travelled higher, to the top of my head, wanting to be closer to

Shimamura's palm.

"A bit longer?" she asked, her fingers stroking my bangs. I nodded

silently, and her hand moved softly around my head. With each touch, each

time her fingers combed my hair, I could feel the insides of my head growing

clearer and clearer. If I had a tail, it'd probably have been wagging. What was

wrong with me? Why did it make me so happy to have a girl from the same

year as me pat my head?

Stupid, or just weird? I had a feeling that it was a mixture of both, and all

that was left to figure out were the percentages.

"Is that enough?"

"...Yeah."

I wanted to say "more", but didn't.

Shimamura pulled her hand away. It took a lot of courage for me to lift

my head, but I managed to do it.

Rubbing her fingers together, Shimamura smiled gently.

"Don't call me 'big sis' in class, okay?" she warned me as a joke, before

adding: "I mean it."

Shimamura gulped down her soda, possibly a little embarrassed herself.

Gripping the now-empty can tight, she extended her free hand towards

me.

"Your can. I'll go toss it away with mine."

"Oh, this? I still have some left. I'll finish it once I get home."

"I see", she said before setting out for the trash can. Watching her do so, I

turned the can I was holding upside down.

Not a single drop came out. It was empty. In other words, I'd been lying.

What I was actually planning to do with it once I got home was to put it

on a shelf. ...Was that gross?

Well, whatever. It wasn't like Shimamura was ever going to come to my

room. As long as it made me satisfied, there was nothing wrong with using it

for such a purpose. What was and wasn't treasure was for the person

themselves to decide.

The top of my head still felt fluffy as I placed the can in my bike's basket.

I got the bike ready as Shimamura returned. I took the lock off and

hopped on the saddle, and she got on too. She then placed her hands on my

shoulders, reminding me of that time when we had held hands. I could feel

my cheeks growing hot, and with my head hung, I began pedalling.

There was a reason why I didn't want her to see my face; my cheeks were

bright red, and as the sun wouldn't set for a long time, I couldn't blame it on

sunlight.

The bike carried us away from the park.

What this really meant was that I'd blown through our time alone. We

could have easily spent an extra ten minutes there, though now that I thought

about it, it was the fact that they didn't last long that gave treasures their

charm.

Dive in, swim around, come back to the surface to take a breath. Then,

dive back in and search for it again.

I wanted to be special to Shimamura.

Not in a weird way, and I really meant that. Although, I wouldn't

necessarily mind it being weird as long as it was special.

Simply put... I might have been in love.

Afterword

Don't worry, no one dies in this one.

Hello. My editor asked me to "write something like Yuru Yuri, " and this

is what I wrote.

Though, thinking about it now, there might have been one letter wrong in

the title of the manga I used as reference.

Either way, this is my first new book for the year.

I know this is a little late, but I hope you stick with me for another year.

That's all I have to write.

"I saw a Zashiki-warashi! Someone passed by my room while I was

sleeping! They were sneaking around in a red kimono!" That was me. To my

father—with a tendency to ramble half-asleep as you just heard—to my

mother—always so ......—and to all of those who read this book, I say thank

you.

Hitoma Iruma