Chapter 12 – Asanagi is So Cool

The reservation time was coming up, so Asanagi and I quickly left the station and headed downtown.

"Maehara, I don't mind you walking next to me, you know? If you walk behind me like that people will think that you're stalking me."

"A-ah, right. Sorry."

"Seriously…"

Asanagi was the one who knew the location of the restaurant, so I intended to follow her from behind, but as expected, walking three steps behind her was a bad move, huh? I involuntarily sighed.

I walked half a step closer to her, but she admonished me again.

"Jeez, I said, walk next to me, come closer."

"Wa—"

In the end, Asanagi pulled me by the arm and we walked half a step away instead, practically side by side.

Our shoulders were just barely touching. I felt uncomfortable.

She told me that the shop we were going to visit was located in a narrow alley. From the main road until we reach a certain drugstore on the left side of the road, turn left toward the alley right beside the drugstore. We wouldn't get lost looking for the shop because the route was straightforward and easy to follow.

"Seriously, I knew it was coming, but, Maehara, you're such a pain in the ass."

"It can't be helped, okay? This is my first time doing something like this."

I looked forward, my gaze stopped at the group of students wearing their uniforms in front of us, students from another school. As they strolled along, chatting happily with their group, consisting of both girls and boys, I couldn't help but think that they lived in a different world than mine.

And then I looked at Asanagi, who was walking next to me with her hands hidden inside her hoodie pockets.

"So, Asanagi, do you and Amami-san hang out around here often?"

"Well, yeah. Though, we just wander around aimlessly here. Depending on how we felt, we might go to the karaoke or if we got hungry, we'd go to a cafe, something like that."

"Hmm… As expected, I can't relate with that at all…"

Like I stated previously, I did come here once in a while, but whenever I did, I always had a purpose for doing so. Buying new games, books, or doing other errands. Even right now, I had a purpose for coming here.

If I didn't need to go outside, I'd rather laze around in my house.

"That's such a lonely way of seeing things. Maehara, you're just overthinking it."

Asanagi seemed to have a different opinion than mine though.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you don't need to have a clear purpose. For example, if we were hanging out with Yuu and she asked us to go to karaoke, but Maehara butted in and said that there's a new kind of dessert being released, and asked Yuu and I to go and try it instead. With that, we naturally made plans along the way. In this case, it's 'karaoke' and 'eating desserts', so even if we originally went out without a purpose, we'll still be able to have fun. Understand?"

"Ahh… That's… Yeah, I get it."

I could understand from their interactions in class that the reason why Amami-san kept inviting Asanagi to hang out with her was that she genuinely wanted to spend more time with her.

Things such as karaoke and the like were mere afterthoughts.

"That's why, even if we don't have a clear purpose, we've actually already achieved our goal, which was to spend our time with our friends. If you think of it that way, our activities wouldn't seem like a waste of time."

"…That's true."

"In that regard, we aren't really all that different from that group in front of us. After all, we're doing the same thing, hanging out with our friends. Whether it's outside or at your house, we are essentially doing the same thing."

The reason why Asanagi and I hung out often was not to 'play some games' or 'eat dinner together', rather it was because we wanted to spend our time together.

Something like 'eating dinner together' was a mere afterthought.

"Maehara, sure I spent less time with you than with Yuu and the others, but I still enjoy spending my time with you, even though I always get annoyed when you beat my avatar into a pulp… Also, you don't get annoyed whenever I make inappropriate jokes or call you a loner."

"No, I'm actually pissed off by that, you know?"

Yeah, I got pissed off whenever she did something like that, but I didn't mind it because it would be meaningless to say anything.

After all, I knew Asanagi was joking.

"Speaking of which, when you're in Amami-san's group you seem to be fully immersed in your role, huh? Like, I could totally see you wearing a suit, like a manager or something."

"Shut up… But well, you know, doing that is stressful sometimes, especially when I have to deal with a lot of people at once. That's why I need this kind of peaceful time once in a while."

"And said peaceful time is… Hanging out with a loner like me? Are you really okay with that?"

"Mhm, I'm okay with it. You've been a great help, thanks a lot."

"Ugh…"

"? What's wrong? You sound like an iguana that was crushed by a 4WD." (T/N 4WD is a toy car, if you play Yakuza, they called it pocket circuit in that game)

"No, well… Wait, what the heck? What's with that comparison?"

'Thank you for being honest with me'– I couldn't say that directly to her face, no way.

—Seriously, this person is so cool.

I hated myself for thinking that.