Episode Twenty-Two
Nothing forgotten, I think. Dinner’s already prepped, and I got tomorrow’s school things ready yesterday. I finished washing the mug I’d been drinking from and was heading for the front door when Ao came down the stairs, rubbing sleepy eyes.
“Morning. Breakfast’s ready, eat whenever you’re hungry.”
“Going out?”
“Yeah. I’ll be back by tonight, but eat without me. Oh, dinner’s curry—”
“With who? Where are you going? And, that outfit—”
Ao’s usually soft and unfocused right after waking up, but today her voice came out unusually clear.
“Just going out with Fuuka. Sorry, I need to head off.”
I checked my phone while talking and realised it was already time to leave. I’d meant to leave a little earlier, but I must have taken too long getting ready.
“I’m off!”
I slipped into shoes with a slight heel and pushed open the front door at a quick pace before I could hear Ao’s reply.
Midterms were over and June was getting close under a sky that already felt like it. I walked briskly toward the station, careful not to look away from my feet too often or I’d trip. I really shouldn’t have worn these shoes.
If I were with Ao, I could use almost-tripping as an excuse to ask her to hold my hand—
I caught the sigh threatening to escape and dropped my eyes to my phone instead. There was still time before my train, I’d make it. A bit of lateness would probably be forgiven, but since this whole outing was meant as an apology, I wanted to arrive before her.
The train heading the opposite direction from school was more crowded than usual. The couple cuddling in the seats across from me felt a little irritating to watch, but it was Sunday, so I told myself that was just how it was. If I ever got to that kind of relationship with Ao, I’d probably end up doing the same thing. No — wait, it wouldn’t be me doing it, it’d be Ao doing it to me. Which would it actually be?
An unattainable little fantasy spread through my head and started dragging my mood down with it.
It’s been like this constantly lately. Whatever I’m doing, Ao surfaces in my thoughts. If someone said this has been true since last year, that’s fair, but it feels different from before somehow.
I let out a breath and tried to reset my mood.
If I showed up to Fuuka looking like this, it wouldn’t be fair to her, and even though I’d never say it to her face, I’d actually been looking forward to today. With her I don’t need to watch myself, and I can probably enjoy things without thinking too hard about anything. Opportunities for the two of us to go out had been thinning out since Ao moved in, so today at least, I figured I could indulge her a little. If I don’t get a release valve like this every so often, I have no idea when I might burst in front of Ao.
I watched the scenery thicken with tall buildings and got off the train along with a crowd of other people. After some confusion at the multiple exits, I found my way out and climbed the stairs a little awkwardly.
The strong sunlight the moment I reached street level made me wince for a second. Still only May, even if near the end of it, but the heat was strong enough to be mistaken for summer. The foreign tourists passing by looked equally unable to hide their surprise at it.
A district I’d heard the name of often but never actually visited — my eyes kept darting around without meaning to. Everyone walking around was an adult, and I, still a kid by comparison, felt like I stood out badly.
Is that why Fuuka had specified this particular outfit for me?
I was checking my phone in the shade when a familiar voice reached my ears.
“Sorry for the wait! Wait—”
“Morning. Something wrong?”
Fuuka had arrived with her usual bright morning energy, then froze for a moment looking at me. I gave her a flat look back. Did I really look that strange?
“…Huh? Oh — no, it’s nothing.”
Something about her seemed off. Was it that strange to see me blending in with the adults, or was she hiding something? An answer this noncommittal wasn’t like her at all.
“What? If you’ve got something to say, just say it.”
“I said it’s nothing. Let’s go.”
With that, she took my hand and gave me a soft smile.
“You’re super cute today, Yuna.”
“Well, I did put in some effort for it.”
The two of us laughing together dissolved into the noise of a big city I was visiting for the first time.
Whatever sinking feeling I’d been carrying had vanished somewhere along the way. Today was apparently hers to direct, so I figured I’d let myself relax completely.
First up, apparently, was an early lunch. When I asked where, she said the famous pancake place I’d also seen on social media and had been curious about. Always packed no matter when you went, as far as I remembered — but she talked about somehow getting a reservation with such obvious delight that her face was almost blinding. Usually so sloppy about everything, and then properly on top of things for occasions like this — slightly annoying, if I’m honest.
What should I get. Maybe I’d send Ao a photo, since I was here anyway. I was turning that over in my head when something else caught my attention instead — the hand that showed no sign of letting go of mine, no matter how much time passed.
“Hey, how long are you planning to hold my hand?”
“How long? Until we go home, I guess.”
“Ehh… it’s hot though.”
I lifted our hands, fingers interlocked without a single gap between them, and gave a small grumble. Holding hands as a joke now and then is one thing, but in a district full of couples like this one, it felt a bit much. And the way she was holding it was strange too.
“Weren’t you going to do whatever I asked? I was really sad about you cancelling on the sleepover, you know.”
“…Fine, don’t complain if I get sweaty.”
“Sweat’s fine if it’s yours, Yuna~”
Watching her shoulders shake with amusement, I let out an audible sigh on purpose.
“Fine, never mind about the hand. But was this really okay? We could go out together anytime.”
“That’s. Exactly. The point. Today’s date practice. How many times do I have to say it’s different from usual before it clicks?”
“I get it, but…”
What Fuuka had asked for, as her price for forgiving the cancelled sleepover, was for me to go along with a date-practice session for her future boyfriend. I understand wanting to have some experience under your belt for when it counts, but I don’t see why that requires holding hands.
“You don’t need practice for that — can’t you just follow whatever your future boyfriend does? Fuuka doesn’t need to be the one leading.”
“You really don’t get it, Yuna. The person I like isn’t the type to take the lead.”
“Huh. Well, fine, I guess.”
So there is someone she likes. We’ve been together for about ten years now, and I’d never heard this before, which surprised me more than I expected. I really wanted to know what kind of person it was, but something told me not to ask right now. Better to wait until she wants to tell me herself.
Minding the sweat creeping into the gaps between our fingers, we kept up the idle chatter, until a long line appeared ahead of us, oddly out of place on the quiet street.
“Whoa, that’s a lot. This the place?”
“Yep. Quite the line for this time of day. Glad we actually got the reservation.”
Pulled along by Fuuka’s hand, I made my way toward the front of the line. The attention I kept feeling might have been because we looked young, or because of how tightly our hands were linked together. If this hadn’t been an apology, I think I’d have let go immediately. It was deeply embarrassing, and my face was almost certainly red.
The staff showed us inside, white and beige tones throughout, the whole place carrying a grown-up atmosphere. The chairs, the lighting, every object in the room felt carefully chosen, nothing like the mass-produced feel of a chain.
Fuuka, tall and with a properly womanly figure, could probably pass without a second look — but me, who looked every bit a high schooler however you sliced it, might have been getting laughed at quietly from somewhere.
“What should I get~”
I glanced sideways at Fuuka happily scanning the menu and looked down at my own, nothing but text on the page. Too stylish to easily tell what anything actually was.
“Blueberry… chocolate…”
Both sounded definitely delicious. It was hot outside, so maybe something like blueberry would be the refreshing choice. But the chocolate at a place like this was bound to be good too…
I ran through the flavours in my head over and over, unable to settle on anything. The French toast was tempting too—
Click.
I looked up at the familiar sound and found Fuuka, eyes narrowed, pointing her phone at me and taking photo after photo. I felt like I’d seen this exact scene somewhere recently.
“Delete the ones where I’m making a weird face.”
“They’re all cute, don’t worry. Take your time deciding.”
“…If you say so.”
Despite Fuuka’s interference, I managed to give the staff my order and turned back to face her properly.
She kept calling it date practice, but the conversation we were having in this stylish café was no different from any ordinary school lunch break.
No matter where we are, it just becomes an unremarkable, everyday moment. That’s probably exactly why we’ve never once fought in all this time. Watching Fuuka chatting happily across from me, I found myself thinking that all over again.