Episode Twelve: Are They Dating? The Two of Them
On sweltering summer afternoons, iced coffee sells fast.
The café uniform switched from long sleeves to short, and shaved ice joined the menu.
Even in summer, the shop’s still mostly regulars, but the higher the outdoor temperature climbs, the more the cool-looking aquarium draws customers in.
My favorite is this tiny pufferfish. The way it drifts around the tank is adorable. What was its name again? The owner told me once, but it was long, and I forgot it.
Watching this little guy makes me itch with impatience to get to the aquarium with Yui-san.
I can hardly wait, I’m so excited.
Once I get through the exams a few days off, summer break would finally be here.
*
Right after I’d finished feeding the fish, the entrance bell jingled. Reflexively I turned toward the door — welcome.
“Kanata-chan, long time no see~”
The voice, bright and energetic, belonged to Ritsu-san, her long pink-ash hair pulled back, stepping into the shop. A tank top with a shirt thrown over it, casual, unmistakably summer.
“Ritsu-san, it’s been a while.”
The last time I saw Ritsu-san was during the whole Yui-san-getting-drunk incident.
Why had she gone out of her way to come to the shop today? I showed her to a counter seat and handed over the menu.
“…Um, I really am sorry for all the trouble that time.”
“Ah, the running-away thing? That wasn’t trouble at all, I’m glad you two made up.”
I really had been worried about how that would turn out. Since then, I’d reflected a little on how I shouldn’t drag other people into things like that.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Yui that panicked.”
“Really?”
When Yui-san showed up at Yuuri’s place, she’d looked so composed. Ritsu-san flipped through the menu, laughing softly.
“She kept going ‘what do I do, what do I do,’ holding her head the whole time she was looking for you, Kanata-chan.”
I couldn’t picture it. Knowing she’d worried that much left me feeling oddly warm inside. But that was probably a face she only shows to Ritsu-san, and it stung, just a little, with envy.
There’s a real bond between the two of them. So then, what exactly is there between me and Yui-san?
I’ve already laid bare every weak, pathetic part of myself to Yui-san. So it’d be nice if she showed me a little more of her own weak side too.
“Oh, this looks good. I’ll get the iced coffee and cake set.”
“Coming right up.”
This shop’s cold-brew coffee is crisp and delicious.
Yui-san likes coffee too, so I found myself thinking I should serve her some next time she comes by, when I noticed Ritsu-san studying me intently over the counter.
“You know, Kanata-chan, you can really throw down when it counts. I’m impressed.”
“…What do you mean?”
Setting the glass and cake down on the counter with a small clink, I looked back into her drooping, dark-brown eyes, and Ritsu-san grinned, bold.
“Not many women out there would dump a glass of water on Yui like that.”
“…Ritsu-san, how much do you actually know…?”
“I asked her what on earth she did to make you that mad, and she spilled everything. Kissed you drunk, got shoved off, got water dumped on her.”
I felt my cheeks go hot in a rush. Yui-san, honestly, why would she just tell someone that so easily. Even if it’s Ritsu-san, having the fact that we kissed known is more than a little embarrassing.
“That was, um… I was startled, and it just kind of happened in the moment…”
“It’s fine, a little of that’s good for her. Yui needs to get burned every once in a while too.”
Honestly, I agree with that. No matter how popular she is, it doesn’t give her the right to do that to just anyone. That kind of thing only works when both people actually agree to it.
“Anyway, the reason I came to see you today is I wanted to confirm a few things.”
Ritsu-san took a bite of shortcake. She made a happy little hum, and it made me a little hungry too. Lucky, I want some too.
While I was thinking that, a question dropped on me like a bomb, without mercy.
“Are you two dating? You and Yui?”
“Huh…?”
The question came from such an unexpected angle that my thoughts just stopped. Ritsu-san’s eyes were completely serious, staring right at me.
“Dating — who and who, exactly?”
“Yui, and you, Kanata-chan.”
“W-why would you think that?”
“Hmm… didn’t you ask me the other day how two women even do it together?”
That’s true, that did happen. But that wasn’t about anything between me and Yui-san specifically, I’d just been curious in general about how sex between women worked.
“And then Yui kissed you and you two fought, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
“But you made up in the end, safe and sound. So I figured, maybe that meant you two got together.”
Ritsu-san asked it like it was nothing at all.
She doesn’t seem to think much of Yui-san being gay either, so she’s probably asking purely out of genuine curiosity, not to tease or anything — but my heart had been pounding, fast, this whole time.
“We’re not dating. Yui-san doesn’t do girlfriends anyway, does she.”
“Yeah, that’s true. Kanata-chan, you’re such a serious type, not really cut out for playing around — makes me wonder why Yui even did something like that.”
That’s… I want to know that myself. Maybe something upsetting had happened, maybe she was just frustrated about something, some reason like that.
The real reason she’d kissed me — I never actually asked, in the end.
“…Um, Ritsu-san.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“Has Yui-san ever kissed you, Ritsu-san?”
It was pure curiosity. Because Ritsu-san has plenty of allure too, and I couldn’t imagine someone as into women as Yui-san never once making a move.
But that question got shot down flat by Ritsu-san, who made a thoroughly displeased face.
“No way. To begin with, Yui’s type is more like… a sweet-featured face like yours, Kanata-chan, the kind that gives off a cat-like vibe…”
“Cat?”
“Mm, no, never mind. Sorry, forget I said that.”
Ritsu-san laughed, flustered, and I tilted my head. It’s true Yui-san once told me I was like a cat unused to people, but I don’t think I actually have a cat-like face.
“Can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but — who are you attracted to, Kanata-chan? Men, or women?”
“Men.”
“…Figured. Well, that’s fine then. Anyway, if anything comes up, feel free to contact me anytime.”
She said that and hurried off, saying she had to go study for exams. My heart was still pounding, strangely, and kept on.
Are we dating, huh. If she thought it was some kind of lovers’ spat, that’s more than a little embarrassing.
When I ran away from home, Yuuri hadn’t said a single word about it when I asked to stay over.
But the next time I saw her at university, I decided I should make a point of clarifying, just to be safe, that we’re not actually in a romantic relationship.
＊＊＊
By the time I got home from work, Yui-san had apparently just gotten back too. She was reaching up behind her neck, unclasping her necklace.
“I’m home.”
“Ah, welcome back, Kanata.”
The single-diamond necklace caught the living room light, glittering.
Something I’ve noticed lately.
Yui-san changes her nail polish, her earrings, all the time — but the necklace is always the same one.
Something someone as prone to boredom as Yui-san keeps wearing, carefully, without ever switching it out. That necklace, carrying some hint of significance I can’t place, has been nagging at me.
I settled onto the sofa and checked the clock. Just past eight. No wonder I was hungry.
“Hey, Yui-san, I’m hungry.”
I said it in a voice deliberately wheedling, and Yui-san glanced over at me while unclasping her watch.
The watch, tossed casually onto the accessory tray, was different from yesterday’s too. Sure enough, only the necklace stays the same, always.
“You didn’t eat before coming home? Should we order something?”
The way she said it, Yui-san had probably already eaten on her way back.
We generally eat breakfast together, but dinner’s usually separate. We eat together when our schedules line up, but I often work evening shifts too.
Standing by the sofa, her thumb sliding across her phone screen, she was probably browsing a delivery app, but that wasn’t what I felt like tonight.
“…I want Yui-san to make something.”
At that, her thumb went still. Yui-san’s eyes went round, looking at me, puzzled.
“What’s gotten into you? You’re being extra clingy today. Did something happen?”
“Nothing happened, it’s just delivery takes too long.”
“You’re that hungry?”
Asked that, I nodded, small. It wasn’t just hunger — I found myself wanting, badly, to eat something Yui-san had actually made.
Having said it out loud, I figured she’d probably turn me down. She’d just gotten home, she must be tired, and this was probably too selfish a request even for me to make.
“Got it, sure.”
She said it easily, and headed for the kitchen, so I scrambled to follow behind her.
“Um… are you sure it’s okay?”
She opened the fridge, checked what was inside, and turned back to face me.
“I could probably manage pasta, is that alright?”
“I like pasta.”
“Yeah? Good.”
Even though she hadn’t rested once since getting home, Yui-san pulled out a pot and got to work briskly, and I felt a stab of guilt for having made such a selfish request.
“…Um, is there anything I can help with?”
“You’re hungry, aren’t you? You can just sit.”
Why is this person so kind. Well, I already knew that. Even so, told to sit and wait, I couldn’t quite manage it, and Yui-san laughed and said,
“Then make me a highball. Glasses are behind you.”
Turning around, I found the glass Yui-san always uses when drinking. According to her, she likes a three-to-one ratio of soda water to whiskey.
I’ll remember that, I noted, tucking it away in a corner of my mind.
While the pasta boiled, she chopped ingredients briskly and tossed them into the pan with practiced ease. Watching her, I thought again — this person really has been cooking for herself all this time.
Realizing I shouldn’t just stand there staring, I reminded myself to do the job I’d been given, dropped ice into the glass, and poured soda water and whiskey in a three-to-one ratio.
Earlier I’d tried to measure it out exactly with a measuring cup, but she’d told me eyeballing it was fine, so now I was worried I hadn’t actually gotten it right.
“Grab a lemon from the fridge. It’s already sliced, just drop it in and you’re done.”
I did as told and set the lemon in. Handing her the glass, carrying a faintly grown-up scent, Yui-san smiled and thanked me, bright.
“Alright, cheers~”
She held her glass out to me, but I had nothing in hand to toast with, and grabbed the measuring cup sitting nearby in a panic, clinking it against her glass.
Watching the pale line of her throat move each time she drank, gulp after gulp, I thought it looked oddly alluring.
“Is it really that good, that drink?”
“It’s good. When are you old enough to drink, Kanata?”
“Twenty, next April.”
“Huh, April? Your birthday this year’s already passed, then. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Isn’t it weird to bring that up yourself? What about you, Yui-san, when’s your birthday?”
“Mine’s October.”
The timer beeped. With practiced hands, she drained the pasta and tossed a single portion into the pan. Bacon and king oyster mushroom for the ingredients — both of which had probably been meant as her own drinking snacks. The rich smell of butter and soy sauce set my stomach growling loudly.
*
“Here you go.”
I felt genuinely moved, seeing the pasta set down on the dining table. I said a proper itadakimasu, hands pressed together, and Yui-san smiled across from me — dig in.
“Was something this thrown-together really okay?”
“It’s delicious.”
“Yeah? Good, then… I honestly can’t tell myself. I’ve never eaten anyone else’s home cooking.”
I remembered her saying before that her father couldn’t cook either, and hearing that Yui-san had never once eaten a home-cooked meal made by someone else struck me as faintly lonely.
“…I want you to make it for me again.”
“Sure. If I actually have proper ingredients around, I can make something better than this.”
The pasta was more than enough, honestly. Hungry as I was, I polished off the whole plate, and Yui-san watched me the entire time, smiling.
“…Exams end next Friday, right? Let’s go to the aquarium on Saturday.”
I’d been looking forward to it for so long that I nodded without a second’s hesitation.
Going to the zoo with Hayakawa-kun had never made my heart race like this. And now, my chest was fluttering, so much.
Please let it be sunny. I couldn’t help but wish for it.