Chapter 6

That day, once classes had ended, I called out to Yumiko, who was preparing to head home. She turned around, and her eyes, shaped like black gems, looked at me. It felt like the atmosphere around us changed simply because of that. Her presence is no joke, as always.

"There's something I wanna talk about. Think we can go home together?"

"Oh my, without Shinomiya-san?"

"Yeah."

I asked her to let me walk home with just Yumiko, and she agreed obediently.

"Ah, well. It's okay if you don't want it to be just the two of us."

She might just have a certain level of resistance toward walking home with just a boy. I regretted asking her this bluntly, but she showed no signs of hating it.

"No, I don't mind. Let's go home together, Yamada -kun."

We stood next to each other and started walking down the hallway. Until a few days ago, I would have never imagined something like this. But after talking to Yumiko once, I realized that she's easy to talk to, so I don't feel nervous anymore…Well, the gazes of jealousy and killing intent coming from our classmates did hurt a bit, but that's beside the point. We walked through the school gate, and after confirming that nobody was around us, I cut into the main reason I invited her.

"Yumiko…what do you think of Ayaka?"

"I think she's adorable, and I do like her quite a bit."

"Oh…Maybe I was in the way all this time?"

"That's not exactly what I meant, but you could take it that way."

"Which is it…? But, anyway, I'm glad she's not being a bother, at least."

"Hee hee, were you worried that I was just thinking of Shinomiya-san as a weird person?" Yumiko grinned at me, having seen through all of it.

"I mean…Something's been off about her lately. I can't tell what she's thinking. I want to help her, but she won't tell me what's on her mind. I was wondering what you thought about all that."

"Yeah, I realized there's something going on. She seems awfully desperate to get us both together."

"…Guess it was pretty obvious."

"But in reality, there's no way she would actually want us to start dating."

"Huh?"

"More importantly, I'm a bit curious, assuming there's an actual reason. She doesn't tell you anything?"

"Yeah. She's always so…squishy and above the clouds, but she can be a bit stubborn. And once she's decided on something, she won't tell me no matter what."

"I see…It must be something she desperately doesn't want to tell anybody. But in that case, we shouldn't force it out of her. But leaving her to deal with it by herself isn't an option, either…We should carefully watch over her to not pressure her either, as we create an atmosphere that would make it easier for her to bring it up…? Or maybe I should introduce her to a place with delicious food, so that she can forget some of the stress weighing down on her…" Yumiko mumbled to herself with a serious expression.

To my surprise, she took this much more seriously than I thought.

"…Yamada -kun?"

"Ah, well, I was just admiring how serious you were."

"Why would I not be? She's my…very first friend."

"I see. As I thought, you're such a kind—Wait, first?"

"Yes," she nodded and continued like she was confessing something. "I…never had any friends up to now."

"You? For real?"

If it was anybody else, I probably wouldn't have reacted the same way. The only real two friends I have are my childhood friend Ayaka and that weirdo Kazama, after all. I don't think that the more friends the better, either. But…Yumiko's, well, Yumiko. She's rich, admired by everyone, and like a school idol—That's who Yumiko Hotaru is. And hearing that the person at the center of attention has no friends…surprised me.

"Do you think I'm lying? Well, do you know any friends of mine?"

"Well…"

When she says it like that, I really can't think of anybody. It's true that everybody admires her, but at the same time…whenever I see her outside of class, she's usually reading a book or admiring the scenery outside the window. I never see her with anybody else. But since she always looked like a drawn painting, I failed to see that as weird.

"I bet I'm hard to talk to. Like I build a wall between myself and the people around me. I can't get inside the circles of people in the class. Because they get nervous when I'm there."

I could sense a feeling of loneliness from her dropped gaze. Maybe Yumiko…was a lot more lonely than I assumed she was.

"Yumiko…" I didn't know what I should say, seeing her speak in such a self-deprecating manner.

"Basically, I'm what they would call a loner."

"I don't think you need to go that far, really."

"But I found this word online, so I wanted to use it at least once."

"Are you some kid in elementary school who heard a cool word online and chooses to use it all day?!"

It felt like all the tension escaped my shoulders. The serious mood had completely vanished.

"I swear, you're talking nonsense. How could anybody feel stiff and nervous with you around."

"Hee hee, thanks. But, I'm pretty sure that's because you're here with me."

"Huh?"

"Like I said before, that one exchange you had with Kusama-kun I witnessed really stuck with me."

"Oh yeah, right."

She mentioned something like that at one point. Saying I offered to help (?) Kazama after he was getting scolded by a teacher again.

"Just as I stated earlier, I don't have any friends. That's why I felt a bit jealous watching the two of you banter back and forth."

"Huuuh?"

The hell is she talking about? What could be so heartwarming about an argument between me and that occult freak?

"You call each other idiots, but actually don't feel that way in the slightest. Just spending your days, causing a ruckus and laughing…That kind of distance and relationship is something I never got to experience. Doing stupid things together, laughing about the smallest things. I had no friends to do these things with, so watching you like that felt so…dazzling. And also…"

"And also?"

"…No, don't mind me. Anyway, it's because of these things that I found myself interested in you."

"It's an honor to hear you say that, but I'm not some amazing superhuman, y'know?"

"You don't have to be so modest about it. You're a wonderful person."

"You're exaggerating, you loner rich lady."

"…Hehe, did you say something just now?" She may have smiled while saying that, but she emitted a dense and ominous pressure as she held onto my shirt.

"You just said it yourself, right?!"

"Saying it yourself and being told are two different things. I'm allowed to call myself a loner, but you are not. You need a punishment."

"You're some sadist, I swear. You're probably more of a loner queen, then."

"And yet you continue to make fun of me like this. I wonder if you have slight masochistic tendencies?" She kept holding on to my shirt—and then burst out laughing.

"…Haha," She snickered loudly, as her shoulders quivered. "I see…This is how those mundane exchanges work."

"Yeah, exactly. See, I knew you could do it."

"…And again, it's because you're here with me. You're interesting. You don't hold back around me. The wall I feel between myself and others…feels a lot thinner with you."

"But then you should be able to do the same with others. I'm nobody special. Isn't it just a routine and getting used to it? I know I might just be meddling with your business, but if you think people struggle to approach you, then why don't you take the first step? Anybody would be happy to talk to you, and once you open up a bit, it'll bring more and more people in because they realize how easy it is to talk to you."

"…Easy to talk to? Me?" She looked at me in surprise, tilting her head.

"Yeah. Once you break through the initial wall, it's pretty easy to chat with you."

"…R-Really? Oh…Hehe…"

Ah, she's happy about that one. She's even grinning a bit, and her face is red. How adorable.

"…A-Anyway, to get back to the topic at hand. We were discussing Shinomiya-san, right?"

"Right…Well, if you didn't hear anything from her, then I'll just be on the watch for a while. If she really doesn't want to tell us, then I'd feel bad forcing it out of her."

"That's right. It's still a mystery as to why she's so desperate to get both of us together, and if she's in pain, then I wouldn't want to leave her alone…But I have to say, the way she gets flustered all the time is quite adorable."

"I knew it! You're so into yuri, and you'd definitely be the dominant queen!"

"She's got such an abundance of reactions and expressions, which makes her incredibly easy to see through. And that being the case, she's quite straightforward, too."

"She sucks at lying, yeah. And yet, she keeps on hiding things. I swear…"

"You really treasure Shinomiya-san, I see."

"Well, duh. She's my childhood friend."

"Hehe…I'm a bit jealous."

"And that's how much you've come to like Ayaka?"

"Oh my, you're not even considering that I might hold affection towards you and feel jealousy toward Shinomiya-san?"

"No worries, I'm not so much of a narcissist."

"I think you're just looking down on yourself a tad bit too much. A bit of conceit never hurt a Akil."

"Huh? What are you…"

Yumiko suddenly moved closer to me, as her black hair swayed, her sweet scent drifting up to my nose.

"Yamada -kun…"

She stuffed something she held between her fingers into my mouth, touching my lips to forcefully close them. Immediately after, the salty taste of a sweet candy filled my mouth.

"…Sweet."

"It's a konpeito2 I bought at the sweets store before," she smiled and gave me an explanation as her index finger still touched my lips. "Hehe, I tried the fortune-telling Shinomiya-san mentioned this afternoon. It might not be lunch, but it should be in the margin of error. That being said…" She then moved her index finger on her own lips. "Shhh…Keep this a secret from Shinomiya-san, okay?" She said and gave me a wink.

Her expression had an emotion mixed with a seductive woman and a little child who just succeeded in pulling off a joke, which made my heart skip a beat.

"I've been a loner this whole time, so having a 'Shared secret' was something I had always admired."

Chapter 5

Because I was scared of the crazy electricity bill, I layed on my bed in my dark room, with the AC barely running, as I gazed up at the ceiling. It was currently 8pm, and I wasn't sleepy in the slightest, but I also had nothing really on my agenda. Instead, I was thinking stuff such as "Girls are so complicated!", acting like I was a teenager…Well, I am in high school, so that's exactly what I was, but still. A sigh left my lips as I scratched my head when my phone vibrated. And it wasn't just a regular message, but an incoming call. Swiping on the screen, I realized that the person calling me was one of the two individuals I had been thinking about this whole time.

"Aki-Kun, Aki-Kun."

"Ayaka? What's up, calling me like this?"

"Can you look outside the window right now?"

I listened to the order given to me, got up from the bed, and opened the window. It wasn't completely dark outside, as a bit of heat remained. On the opposite wall was also a window, opened just as mine, with Ayaka poking her head outside.

"Hee hee, sorry about this. I just wanted to ask you something while looking at your face."

"Ask me something?"

Granted, we weren't exceptionally far away, but because it was fairly late, we chose to keep talking on the phone. Can't bother the neighbors.

"You walked home with Yumiko-san today, right? What happened, what happened?!"

"Now listen here…Nothing much ha…" I spoke that far, only to remember her white finger touching my lip, which had me stuttering. "…Nothing happened."

"Huh?! What was that short break about?! Something must have happened, right?!"

"I'm saying it didn't! I swear, something's not right with you lately. You weren't like this before."

"You…think so? I'm just me, really. I'm not a different person."

"Well, duh. But…something's off."

"Then…Ah, I know!"

"What?"

"My 'precious self,' or however you wanna call it…what was I like? What image do you have of me?"

"What were you like…?"

Ayaka looked at me, desperate for an answer. Despite our windows open, our home's so close, we wouldn't be able to reach each other no matter how far we stretched out our arms…I wonder why. Maybe it's because the summer nights always make you feel melancholic, but…I'm feeling so empty right now. And at the same time, a certain image popped up in my head.

"…A field with sunflowers."

"Huh?"

"Ah, well…I just remembered that field of sunflowers we went to when we were kids."

Why do I remember that now? It's a mystery. However, when she asked me for my image of her, that's what came to my mind. That smile she showed me back then, it's just so…great, really.

"We went to that sunflower field at one point, right? I don't really remember why we even went there, though…"

Memories sure are weird. Like the bubbles of ramune. That's why I don't even remember the date or the exact location. I just remember the clear blue sky, and that smile, like it was burned into my retinas.

"Ah…Back then? When we were in third grade, we came to that field because Kazama-kun talked about there being a witch in the town next to ours. That's why we went there to look for it!"

"Right…he was always completely crazy about occult stuff."

That sure takes me back. I remember it now. Back then, Kazama came to me and said "Listen to this, Kazama! There's a rumor going around about a witch who came here from another world! Don't you wanna go meet her?! I bet you do! Let's all go see her together!" He really has not changed since then, I swear…

"But on the day we promised to meet, Kazama-kun had eaten too much ice and was stuck at home. That's why we went there as just the two of us. We never even went to that town before, so it felt like an adventure! And while we walked around there, a ribbon came drifting down from the sky. You found it, remember? We ran after it, and then eventually encountered that sunflower field."

"Oh yeah. I think I wrapped that ribbon around your wrist…"

It was a single ribbon. Since the sky was clear and blue, that red ribbon stood out to me, and after picking it up, I gave it to Ayaka.

"Hee hee, I still have that ribbon even now."

"Yeah, I think you're still wearing it as a bracelet from time to time, right? Why are you even keeping this still? You could just throw it away considering how old it is."

"Whaaat? No way! I can't just throw away things I got from other people."

"It's just some old thing I didn't even buy, you know."

I only happened to pick it up and wrapped it around her wrist.

"Honestly, looking for a witch only to end up at a field of sunflowers sure is weird. And of course, we couldn't find this witch, instead getting scolded by Mom and Dad when we got home…But, that day was a lot of fun for me."

"Oh, right. That's what happened."

The memories of that distant day were hazy, but I remember chasing after that idiotic something, only to come back with empty hands. But in return, I received a beautiful image of the scenery and that alluring smile. Then, I happened to remember what Yumiko told me before. Even if you lose your loved one, assuming you can spend the rest of your life with someone else, it can still be regarded as a happy end. It's a bit different from that, but by sacrificing something, we obtained something else. It's a substitute or even a high-level exchange.

"…Now I'm feeling nostalgic. Back then, I actually believed in this witch."

"But not anymore, huh?"

"Rather than that…I'm sure that magic isn't anything particularly special."

"Huh?"

"What's really special is this mundane time we spend with the people we care about."

"…Hey, what happened? You're suddenly Akinding like a philosopher."

"…Hehe. Summer nights like these are what turns a maiden into a philosopher."

"That makes no sense."

"…Don't worry about it. Sorry to call you out of the blue like this. Good night, Aki-Kun," Ayaka hung up and closed the window, pulling the curtains close.

I gazed at my phone and then mumbled to myself.

"…There's no way nothing's going on, you dunce."