Chapter 3: For what it's worth, Sanae Erika is kind as always (3-4)

Spoiler: Spoiler

By the time I got back to building's fourth floor, it seemed that the two had already wrapped things up. There wasn't a single word that could be heard from this side of the door.

I slid the door open and entered the room, only to be welcomed by a heavy-looking atmosphere.

Sitting in front of Segawa was no other than Sanae, looking around restlessly as if bothered by the silence. While Segawa on the other hand didn't pay the silence any heed, her attention fully focused on the book she had in hand.

Uh, a little small-talk wouldn't hurt right..?

I slowly closed the door with short sigh, causing the two to take notice of my return.  

"Ah, Hiro, welcome back."

"You sure took your time."

"Well, it did seem like you two might take a while," I closed in on the two and placed the bottles of café au lait in front of them. "Here."

The moment the bottles were left on the table, the two were left in a state of confusion.

"What's this for, I don't remember asking for a drink." Segawa asked with a puzzled tone.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not charging. I'd feel bad if I was the only one who had a drink after all." I answered back as I sat on my seat, taking a sip from my beverage of choice.

"No, but.." Still unsatisfied with the answer I gave, Segawa tried to throw a rebuttal, only to lose her words mid-way.  

"Take it, it didn't cost much anyway. Besides, if being the only male here already gave me this sense of seclusion, then at least I wouldn't feel left out in regards to having drinks."

"Oh.." Her uneasy look was suddenly replaced with disappointment. "That's one petty reason you have there."

"Can't be helped, I'm average after all."

Having heard my pet phrase-like response, a burst of suppressed laughter suddenly slipped past Segawa's lips, breaking into her usual smile that only me and sensei knew of. "I guess it can't be helped if that's your reason."

"Yep. I'm glad you see it my way." I couldn't help but smile myself with my bottle of tea in hand.

"Thanks for the drink," Segawa kept her book as she took the café au lait from the table, taking a quick taste with a satisfied look.

Having come to a mutual understanding, I took another sip from my bottle of green tea. It was then when I noticed Sanae at the side, shifting her gaze between me and Segawa with a half-confused, half-astonished look.

"What? If it isn't obvious yet, that one's yours." I said in an irritated tone. "Or is that you don't want to accept something from someone like me. If so then I'm sorry if I even bothered to buy you one, I hope the vending machine accepts refunds."

I sighed.

"Ah-! N-no! it isn't that…it's more like," She paused as she looked in Segawa's direction, then quickly whipped her gaze back my way with a smile. "Mhmm, it's nothing. Thanks for the drink, Hiro!"

She expressed her gratitude in a boisterous manner, brimming with cheerfulness with an awfully bright smile. In fact, her smile was too bright that I couldn't help but look away. Turn that brightness level down of yours a notch will you? Also, drop the whole Hiro thing already.

With the bottles finally in their respective owner's hands, I turned to Segawa as I sent her a question.

"How did things go?"

"Ah, well, it seems that Sanae-san wants help in writing a letter."

"Ehh…a love letter huh." I turned to the girl in question with a teasing smile. "Hah, it sure is spring."

"I-it's not a love letter or anything like that! Where did you get that!?" The flustered Sanae stood as she closed in on me, giving me a not-so-intimidating glare from the other side of the table. "I-it's just a normal letter okay!"

Uwaah..too close, too close! Also, I can kind of see inside your blouse with that button of yours undone so could you give me some space and wear your clothes properly next time? 

In response to this girl's tactless behavior, I moved a couple of inches back as I averted my eyes from the danger up front. "I-I get it already..I get it. So could you please move back and give me some space?"

Taking notice of her careless actions, Sanae backed away with completely flushed cheeks, holding onto her blouse as a faint "sorry" slipped past her lips. Thanks goodness. For a moment there, I thought I was about to get sent straight to nirvana.

Clearing my mind of unwanted thoughts, I cleared my throat as I sat up straight.

"So, what brought this letter thing up?" I sent Segawa another question.

"She said she had a fight with her friend, and she wanted to make amends through it, or so I believe.."

"You aren't too sure yourself…"

"W-well, it's somewhere along those lines," Segawa said with a weary smile.

Although she says that, her eyes were totally saying otherwise. Somewhere along the lines of 'it was kind of hard to understand what her request really was, but that's probably the gist of it' perhaps.

I sighed with the thought of this vague conversation. Even my innovator-style conversation with sensei was more concrete than this. Or should it be new-type?

"If you want to make up, then wouldn't it be better to just talk it out? Why bother doing something so troublesome in the first place..?"

"Well, I kind of want to show her that I really mean it by putting in some effort. I feel like it wouldn't get closure if we settled it with a talk."

"…isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"

Usually, when stuff like peace offerings were offered by one of the parties, the receiving end would feel entitled to do as the other end says. Whether it was a simple 'sure, I forgive you' or a 'please...just don't', it would only result in a vague conclusion regardless.

"Huh? What are you talking about. You really don't understand how girls think, do you Hiro.."

Hearing her response, I instantly gave up on progressing the topic any further.

"Well I guess you could say that. In fact, I don't understand how people think in general."

"That's not something to be proud of.." Sanae murmured with an uneasy look. "Ah, but I'm sure Segawa-san gets it, right?"

"I can't really say I understand either," Segawa paused, an indifferent expression on her face. "Even though I'm quite knowledgeable in any other aspect, I'm kind of lacking in that area."

"That first bit wasn't really necessary though.."

"Eh? What does that mean?"

"It's nothing, you don't need to pay it much heed." Segawa replied with a small smile. "More importantly, in what way do you want us to help?"

"Ah, I kind of brought something that I've been working on, but I think it's still not good enough.." Sanae dug through her things in search for the sample that she had, then later drew it out as she handed it to Segawa. "I was hoping you guys could help me out."

Taking the envelop from Sanae's hand, Segawa opened it wordlessly, drawing the letter out from the confines of the envelop. And the moment the letter was neatly unfolded, she began to read in her own leisure. 

Watching her silently read from the side, I could see her expression getting morphed by the second. And when she felt as if her true feelings were beginning to show, she would try her best to put up a stoic front in order to hide her emotions, only to break as she continued reading.

Curious to what caused that strange reaction, I closed in on Segawa to take a quick look. And after seeing the contents of the mysterious letter, I knew right then that we wouldn't get anywhere soon.

Stressing over this would be bad for my health, especially under this kind of ventilation. So I might as well suggest a change of place.

"How about we continue things at the library?"