Episode 18: Phone Call
When I got home, I dropped my bag on the sofa and let out a slow breath.
The time at the aquarium had been more enjoyable than I’d expected.
Something about that quiet, tranquil blue world had made it easy to lose track of time, and its afterglow was still settling warmly somewhere deep inside me.
I glanced at the clock on the living room wall. The hands had already moved into the night hours.
Noticing my throat was dry, I took a bottle of mineral water from the fridge.
The cold water moving through my throat was, somehow, calming.
After a while of sitting with nothing in particular in my head, I finally lowered myself onto the sofa and took out my phone.
(…Oh, that’s right.)
I remembered — I’d switched it off.
I’d turned it off partway through the aquarium, because I hated the way I kept checking the screen over and over, hoping for a message from Honoka.
I pressed the power button, and after a moment the screen lit up. Notification sounds rang out, one after another.
On the screen: several unread messages, and a missed call history.
All of them from Honoka.
Something stirred uneasily in my chest.
Without thinking, my fingertips trembled.
I opened the messages.
Yuna, are you okay?
Can we talk for a bit?
Can you pick up?
Beside Honoka’s name, missed call notifications were lined up one after another.
The moment I saw them, my heart lurched.
(…This many.)
I hadn’t thought there would be this many.
Had she wanted to talk with me that badly?
My fingers wavered.
Should I reply? Or stay like this a little longer?
At the aquarium, I’d managed not to think about Honoka.
But now that I was home, alone — here I was, thinking about her again.
In the end, I opened the messages and typed out a short reply.
Sorry, I didn’t notice. What’s wrong?
After I hit send, I sat there for a while staring at the screen.
In less than a few seconds, the read receipt appeared.
(…That fast.)
The moment I thought about what that meant, my phone trembled.
On the screen: Honoka’s name.
A call.
I caught my breath.
Should I answer? Or—
After hesitating for just a few seconds, I slid my finger across the screen.
“…Hello?”
“Yuna…”
The moment Honoka’s voice reached my ear, something deep in my chest pulled tight.
Her voice sounded, just slightly, more anxious than usual.
“Sorry, I didn’t notice.”
“No, it’s fine… more than that — can we talk for a bit?”
At Honoka’s question, I faltered for just a moment.
What does she want to talk about?
What expression is she wearing, on the other side of this call?
“…Yeah, it’s fine.”
The moment I answered, I heard a small intake of breath from the other end of the line.
“Hey, Yuna… where were you today?”
A quiet voice — and yet there was a pressure in it that left no room to escape.
I hesitated for a moment over how to answer.
I’d only just had cold water, and yet I could feel my throat going dry again.
There’s nothing to feel guilty about. And yet for some reason I could barely breathe.
But Honoka’s voice was anxious — searching for something, wanting to confirm something.
I let out a small, quiet breath.