How We Spend Time Together

"Amane, what have you been doing with Miss Shiina when you're alone

together?"

On the way home from school, Amane stopped by a bookstore to buy a

study book, and Itsuki, who never seemed to have any interest in such

things, suddenly asked him that question in a quiet voice.

It really was sudden, so Amane shot his friend a puzzled look, but he

saw that Itsuki was holding a magazine in his hands with a headline written

in big letters, "Recommended Ways to Spend Time Together on a Home

Date!" so that explained some things.

He's asked me something similar before. What is he thinking, when

we're not even dating?

Amane was annoyed, but he didn't have the slightest thing to feel guilty

about, so he decided it would seem more suspicious to avoid the question.

With that thought, Amane looked up a little, still holding the study book

he needed in his hand, and recalled how he and Mahiru had been spending

their time together.

They certainly didn't spend their time the way Itsuki was probably

thinking.

It should have been obvious, but Amane and Mahiru were just close

friends at the moment. They regularly ate meals together, but that was it.

There was absolutely no romantic involvement.

So there were none of the salacious details that Itsuki seemed to be

expecting, no lovers' embraces to speak of, like boyfriend and girlfriend

might do. All he could say was that they usually spent their time together.

"…Even when we're in the same room, sometimes we're doing different

stuff, or sometimes we do homework or something. At most, we watch TV

or read together… That's about it."

Both Amane and Mahiru were diligent students—Amane perhaps less so

than Mahiru. After they enjoyed whatever Mahiru made for dinner, the two

of them usually cleaned up and then completed their homework

assignments, reviewed and prepared their study materials, and got ready for

the next day's classes. If they had extra time, they relaxed and watched

television, or flipped through a comic book or magazine together, or

occasionally played a video game. That was about the state of things.

They also frequently sat beside each other doing their own things, as

Amane had described.

Mahiru had her lacework and embroidery, which served as a diversion

and hobby, and Amane spent his time playing social media games and

watching video clips on the internet.

They weren't necessarily always doing something together, and when

they were each engaged doing something they liked, neither of them ever

really bothered the other.

Amane explained this simply, and Itsuki opened his eyes unnaturally

wide, as if he had seen something he couldn't believe, and said in a

trembling voice, "Why aren't you making any progress, when you've got

the girl you love all to yourself?!"

"Shut up. First of all, I do love her, which is why I'm not forcing

anything along."

"Coward!"

"Be quiet! Anyway, if I did anything, I would only be inviting danger."

It was unthinkable, but just supposing that Amane were to act like an

animal and pounce on Mahiru, she probably wouldn't hesitate to attack him

in the most tender of targets.

He could be sure of that, since she had already told him she would fight

back if provoked.

He absolutely believed that he would be crushed, without a doubt.

"Miss Shiina would do that?"

"She told me she would, right from the start."

"Huh…"

Itsuki seemed to think that Mahiru was polite and quiet and wouldn't

ever do anything violent. But while Amane would agree that she was polite

and quiet, she was also a levelheaded person who was alert to the danger

around her and would not hesitate to deal with any threats.

Of course, it was only natural that she had the right to protect herself,

but Itsuki seemed skeptical.

"Would she really go that far?"

"Well, I don't want to hurt Mahiru in the first place, and I hate the idea

of forcing her to do something she doesn't want and having her despise me.

Why should I make her cry, when I want to cherish her? I don't want to

become the kind of awful guy who just takes what he wants, no matter

what."

Amane would be much worse off if he tried to force his desires on her

and she ended up in tears, hating him for it.

Amane wanted to treat Mahiru with kindness and sincerity, so he

couldn't selfishly force his feelings on her. That applied with Mahiru, of

course, but also with any other person as well.

"That's a good quality of yours, but you're still a coward, man."

"Oh, shut up… Seriously, it's fine. I'm having a perfectly good time just

spending the day together."

He wasn't in a rush to move their relationship to the next level or do

whatever Itsuki was thinking about.

Of course, he did want Mahiru to like him back, but he wanted her to

take her time and fall for him after she got to know him better. Particularly

with Mahiru, he wasn't just interested in her superficial qualities, so he also

wanted her to really get to know him, even if it took time.

After all, he figured she already knew about the sloppy and irresponsible

parts of him. So if she still wanted to take the time to get to know him, he

wasn't going to deny her the chance.

Itsuki looked pretty astonished by Amane's words, but Amane had no

intention of changing his opinion, so he ignored the look Itsuki was giving

him and carried his study book up to the register.

When Amane got home, he helped Mahiru make dinner as he always did.

They ate together, and then it was time to relax and study.

Really, nothing much was different, as Mahiru sat quietly beside Amane,

devoting herself to her studies. She was apparently already finished with

her homework, so she was going over the material for their upcoming

lessons.

It wasn't an especially romantic situation, the way Itsuki seemed to

imagine, and Amane also had his own studies to work on. He was quietly

engrossed in the reference book he had purchased earlier that day.

The only sounds were the scratching of their mechanical pencils across

paper, the turning of pages, and their breathing, resonating in the silence.

The television was off so they could concentrate, and night had fallen, so

the room was a really peaceful space.

Amane had been silently working through the problems in his study

book for a while. Feeling his concentration start to waver, he raised his head

to take a breather.

As he moved his shoulders gently up and down to loosen his muscles, he

happened to glance beside him, where Mahiru was still working away at her

study book. Her ramrod-straight posture was lovely and composed—anyone

would have thought as much.

Her expression was serious as she wordlessly moved her pencil.

There was an almost dreamlike, bewitching quality to her slightly

downturned eyes, and without meaning to, Amane let the pencil he was

holding slip from his hand as he stared at Mahiru, utterly absorbed.

"…Is something the matter?"

Mahiru had apparently noticed his gaze, and she twisted her body so that

she was facing him. A gentle, slightly discouraged smile drifted across her

lips. Amane suddenly felt embarrassed that he had been so captivated by

her.

"Ah, n-no, it's nothing."

"…Really?"

"N-no, I just, well, I was thinking, your posture is so nice."

He wasn't lying, so he figured that was all right. He had indeed been

impressed by her posture, after all.

Mahiru blinked several times at the mention of her posture.

"Is that so? This is how I normally sit."

"And I think it's amazing that that is your 'normal.' Your back is

absolutely straight when we're eating meals, too, which is proof that you

always maintain good posture."

"He-he, well, Miss Koyuki was very strict about that. She always said

that lovely posture and bearing gives other people a favorable impression of

you and that if your posture is good, you end up looking straight ahead, and

that's naturally connected to having self-confidence."

The idea was persuasive when Mahiru said it with an elegant smile.

Graceful manners were naturally more likable than coarse manners, and

people with good posture did seem to have more confidence. Those who

seemed confident were probably treated as such and gained more

confidence, too.

"You're usually a little hunched over, Amane, so you ought to think

about improving your posture and training your back muscles. Here, sit

up!"

With a sweet-sounding command, Mahiru reached over to straighten

Amane's somewhat curved back. She gently grabbed one of Amane's

shoulders, placed her other hand on his back, and corrected his posture.

"Having nice posture is proof that you've trained your body. If your

back muscles are weak, your torso will shift around, and you'll have a

tendency to hunch. You've been working hard at your training recently, so I

may be sticking my nose where it doesn't belong, but as important as

exercising your legs is, you should also properly train up the muscles on

your back. Consciously improving your posture is also a form of training,

you know."

Amane felt a strange chill as Mahiru slowly rubbed his back, which was

now straight, while whispering those words close to his ear. "S-sure," he

yelped in a shrill voice.

Mahiru let out a soft, easygoing laugh, like the tinkling of a bell.

"You don't have to be so stiff. You can fix your posture just by paying a

little bit of attention, okay?"

Amane was slightly relieved to realize that Mahiru had apparently

concluded it was the unfamiliar position that was bothering him.

Beside him, satisfied that he would keep his back straight this time,

Mahiru moved away a little…and then stared directly at Amane.

"…What?"

"Payback for earlier."

"I see."

Apparently, Mahiru was going to stare at Amane this time, which made

it extremely difficult for Amane to do anything.

Maintaining her lovely posture and smiling happily as she looked at

him, Mahiru gave off a kind of impish impression.

"…I can't imagine it's all that much fun looking at me."

"You're wrong about that. It is fun."

"What's fun about it?"

"Let me see; it's fun for me to make observations, like how your

eyelashes are surprisingly long, and that your bangs have grown out a little

and look like they might be in your way, and that your Adam's apple is

quite visible."

His embarrassment grew as she listed these unexpected details.

There was no way he wouldn't be embarrassed, having parts of him he

was hardly even aware of described like that.

He didn't exactly hate it, but being checked over in detail by the girl he

liked suddenly made him feel like running away.

"Don't look at me so closely, please."

"No way, you're adorable."

Amane wondered what exactly she was looking at that made her say

something like that, but before he could complain, he heard Mahiru's

tinkling laugh again.

"You've got plenty of charms, Amane, even in places you yourself don't

realize. I thought I would take a good look at some of them."

Mahiru put her hand to her mouth and laughed elegantly.

Unable to stand it, Amane grumbled, "Do as you please," and turned

back to his reference book.

Perhaps it was inevitable, but under Mahiru's scrutiny, his posture

quickly broke down, and he collapsed onto the table. Her amused laughter

increased even more.