Chapter 5 Part VIII

[Hey. Do you have time to talk for a second?]

It was about 6 PM, just before dinner. I had been watching my stove heat up a kettle of water when I received a call from Horikita. As she spoke, the water just began to boil, the sound of the kettle whistling as it did.

[Are you making dinner?]

"No, don't worry about it."

The water had only just started to boil, so I hadn't done anything special yet.

"What's up? What did you want to talk about?"

If she was looking to ask me for my help with sorting out the events, I would have to refuse.

[Don't worry, this isn't about getting your help with the events. I promise.]

Horikita immediately saw through what I was thinking.

[Though, well. If it's alright with you, can we talk in person? The conversation shouldn't take more than an hour.]

Was it something hard to explain over the phone? Or maybe she was looking to confirm something by meeting face-to-face?

An hour wasn't an unreasonable amount of time. It would be difficult to turn her down.

"Alright. Will you be coming here?"

[While that's fine with me, you've been getting involved in all sorts of things recently. How about you come over here instead?]

She seemed to be wary of any unexpected visitors that might come to visit me.

I had also been to Horikita's room before, so there wasn't any particular reason for me to refuse.

After turning off the stove, I went straight out of my room with my cell phone in hand. Then, I got on the elevator and headed toward Horikita's room. While the sun had already set, it was still early in the evening, so it shouldn't be that strange for a boy to be walking around on the upper floors of the dormitory where the girls resided.