Episode 3: No Last Train — Wanna Stay at Mine?
Toward the end of drinks, when the ice was starting to crack and settle.
“Mio-chan, you’re so cute. I wish you’d talk more.”
The voice, sudden and soft, came aimed at me — loose, sweet.
Even with the alcohol slurring things a little —
“You’re going to get sued for harassment, Riwa-san…”
“Hmm~? Cute. Super cute. Isn’t Mio-chan the one being cruel-and-unusual~?”
Even with Shiho-san trying to rein her in, she kept right on like that.
“Hey, Ashida, don’t go after Kishimoto-san~”
“Mio-san, if she’s genuinely bothering you, leave her to us and go ahead without her.”
“Yeah, feel free to head out.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine — booze is my best friend, and I only lose if I get knocked out~”
“Nobody was talking to you!”
Voices bouncing around in every direction, and Riwa-san was still right there beside me.
That smile, that distance, that loose posture — all of it covered by she’s drunk.
“I’m fine, really…”
The distance is — just always, always close.
Part of it was the sunken table. Cramped space, fixed width.
But — even so. Even so.
“Riwa-san, hang on — your leg — “
“Hmm~? Oh, sorry, sorry — our legs touched, the space is so tight~”
She said that,
and then her thigh pressed against mine, and stayed there.
Soft. Slightly cool.
…And didn’t move.
(okay, was that actually ‘by accident’? You say sorry but you’re not moving — ?)
‘I’m open to anything, so if you know anyone who seems interested just let me know. I’ll think about it from there!’
Her words from earlier floated up and started turning slowly in my head.
Wait — is that what this is?
Riwa-san, I can’t figure you out.
(…what, what am I even thinking?)
“…Mio-chan getting tipsy too?”
“Huh?! Oh — no, I’m not — “
“Your cheeks are red. So cute~”
That voice. Easy and soft.
The voice of someone who knows, somewhere underneath it, that they can always pass it off as a joke.
And then, like that, the night wound down.
◇◆◇◆◇
“Just us girls — wanna do a little second round~?”
Right after splitting off from the guys on the way to the station.
“There’s a nice little park around here and it’ll be empty, so~”
“Oh — ah — “
Before I could get a word out, Riwa-san spun around, pressed her hands together, and grinned.
“Just till the last train! Just till the last train, I promise! Please~!”
She always knew when to time it.
That bothered me, somehow — in a way I couldn’t quite place. A mix of something like frustration and something like being teased.
“But isn’t it kind of cold though?” “Just a little~”
Shiho-san and Riwa-san bickering ahead of me, and I walked quietly behind them.
Nobody was pushing me. But my feet kept moving and wouldn’t stop.
It was a small park behind the station.
We sat on a bench, cracked open canned cocktails from the convenience store.
After the loud izakaya, the only sound here was the wind.
“…Riwa-san, how are you still okay after drinking that much?”
Shiho-san asked, laughing.
“Hmm~? I’m used to it. Besides, that in there was basically water~”
Riwa-san leaned back against the bench, smiling at something far away.
“No it wasn’t, your face is bright red.”
“Okay, ask Mio-chan — right? I’m not drunk, am I~?”
An arm dropped around my shoulders.
“Wh — hey — “
My voice pitched up. No room to escape, no room to think.
“Right? Mio-chan’s on my side, at least~?”
Teasing tone. But somehow it sounded like she was leaning into it for real.
So her face was — close.
Closer than back at the izakaya, by a lot.
In the dark and quiet, her scent was all I could make out, and the warmth of where our skin touched was seeping slowly in.
“You know — it’s kind of weird that you and Shiho call me Ashida-san when you two call each other by your first names. So unfair~”
“We’re colleagues who started the same year, even if I’m older. You can both call me Riwa-chan~”
“Hmm, chan feels a bit much… but Riwa-san, sure…”
Shiho-san shrugged.
“Ooh, just Riwa-san, that’s a little sad~. …What about you, Mio-chan? You’re not gonna call me that?”
“I — well… okay, I’ll call you… Riwa-san too…”
Just saying the name made my throat feel strangely tight.
And then the talk drifted off into work complaints and idle chat,
and the fact that I’d been turning things over in my head all evening dissolved, somehow, into just — laughing.
◇◆◇◆◇
“Hey, Riwa-san — don’t you think you should try actually staying with someone for a while?”
“Hmm, it’s not like I want to be on my own… I just — there’s never quite that thing, you know? That deciding factor.”
Shiho-san’s probing, and Riwa-san picking it up.
“You want to know things before you commit, right? Figuring it out after getting together is… kind of a lot.”
“…Um.”
“Hmm?”
“…Do you always — I mean — is that just how you are with everyone?”
The moment it left my mouth, I knew it was a weird thing to say.
“Hmm~? I mean, yeah, I guess I tend to go pretty open with most people.”
“Oh. …I see.”
Right. Of course.
All the stuff at drinks tonight.
And right now, being here beside me —
all of it is just “everyone,” just another one of those easy jokes that passes for nothing.
…Why.
Why am I unsettled by that. I have no right to be.
I couldn’t work out what the feeling meant.
It had nowhere to go, so it came out pointed.
“…Is that just — normal for you?”
“Huh? Mio-chan — what do you mean by that?”
The air on the bench went still,
and something awkward drifted quietly down between us.
◇◆◇◆◇
“— Oh no!!”
Shiho-san’s voice cut through the night.
“The last train — it’s already gone!”
“Whaaat! Seriously?! Sorry~!”
Riwa-san… not remotely bothered.
“Okay so, Shiho’s at the next station over… and I’m at the one the other way…”
(…wait, hold on.)
I stared at my phone, mind going blank.
A fuzzy, unreal feeling.
I never thought I’d be the kind of person who missed the last train — it hadn’t even crossed my mind.
“Mio-chan, can you walk me back? I’m starting to sway a little~”
“Or you could just stay over, it’s fine~?”
— What?
Riwa-san leaned her weight into me, and my body lurched back from the shock.
The warmth of her, the realness of her weight — I couldn’t find my voice.
“Hey, that’s a lot to ask! Riwa-san!” Shiho-san’s voice jumped.
But in the middle of all that —
my lips opened on their own.
“…Oh.”
Before I knew it I’d taken a step toward her.
My body moved first, and the words came catching up.
“Um — I’ll walk you back. I can’t get home now anyway, so — “
Even I didn’t understand why I said it.
But once it was out there, I couldn’t take it back.
“…Really? Okay. Text me if anything, yeah?”
Shiho-san gripped her phone tight.
“Sorry, Mio-chan — thanks~”
Riwa-san leaned her weight into me even further.
“Ugh, you’re — heavy — !”
“That’s mean~, I’m genuinely hurt~”
“I — that’s not what I meant — !”
Half-carrying her, I got Riwa-san’s arm over my shoulder and we started walking.
The night breeze drifted across my back.
— Carrying the warmth away, just a little, like it was gently lifting something off me.