Minami Akatsuki Won’t Talk About It
“Let’s go to the bathroom, Yume-chan!”
In what could only be described as a folly of youth, I had a so-called boyfriend during eighth and ninth grade. There were a myriad of different reasons our relationship started declining, so it would be hard to pinpoint just one.
If I had to guess, the decline began when I started to make friends. During the three months of our summer vacation, he and I lived in our own world. It was so comfortable and blissful that I didn’t want a single person to barge in. But ultimately, I was the one who tore it all down.
Before anything else, let me say that I don’t think I was wrong in the slightest, even if it might’ve been the catalyst for the end of our relationship. Sure, if it hadn’t happened, we might have stayed together, and our disgusting trysts in our own little world would’ve continued, but as soon as I learned about the world outside our bubble, I came to the conclusion that what we were doing wasn’t very healthy.
If either of us had decided to expand our world... If we’d been more open-minded... Basically, if our relationship had been even just a little healthier... If I hadn’t been so jealous then...
No. There was no point in dwelling on the past. The only thing that was certain was the fact that I’d known what the world outside our bubble was like. I knew what it was like to be jealous and to inspire jealousy.
At the very least, I could make use of that experience now. As a result, I’d be able to give at least some meaning to that embarrassing past of ours. That gave me some solace...but honestly, not too much.
◇
“Higashira-san, that’s not the right formula.”
“Huh? Oh... It certainly isn’t.”
“Don’t just go through the motions. When you take the test, stay awake and keep double-checking your work until the very end.”
Higashira-san made a very dissatisfied sound and blew bubbles in her orange juice. We were currently studying for our first semester finals at a family restaurant. It was Higashira-san, myself, and...Akatsuki-san, who was currently staring intently at Higashira-san from across the table.
Though she may have been mixing her drink with her straw, there wasn’t anything left but some ice. And she was apparently still on the same page as when we’d sat down. Akatsuki-san had placed within the top fifty on midterms, so there wasn’t really much that I could teach her, meaning I could focus on Higashira-san, but...
“Akatsuki-san? Um, your cup’s empty.”
“Hm? Oh, you’re right.”
“Is there something you want to ask?”
“No, not really. I’m all good! For reals! I’m gonna grab another drink. You guys want anything?” Akatsuki-san asked, and then headed to the drink bar.
I watched as she shrank in the distance.
“What’s the matter, Yume-san? Is your stomach in pain?” I must have made a sound because Higashira-san looked concerned.
“No... I was just thinking that she’s acting strange.”
On the surface, she may have seemed the same bright and cheerful Akatsuki Minami, but there was something off about her.
“Phew, it’s time to rest.” Higashira-san pulled out her phone as I turned around to look at Akatsuki-san.
“I’m confiscating that.”
“No, Yume-san! A phone is the very lifeblood of girls our age!”
You can play on your phone after we’re done studying.
The next day at school, after first period, Akatsuki-san came up to me and said with a full smile on her face, “Yume-chan, let’s go to the bathroom!”
My immediate reaction was that she didn’t have to ask in such a loud voice, but I peered over at my little stepbrother and saw that he was already deep in the world of books. Then again, there wasn’t much reason for me to hide that I went to the bathroom anymore, especially now that we were living together.
“Sure. I kinda need to go too.”
In the past, I’d never understood why girls went to the bathroom in groups, but now I did. The girls’ bathroom was a sanctuary for girls—one that boys weren’t allowed in. When I was in ninth grade, thanks to my friend, I learned how much time girls spent in the bathroom gossiping.
And it’s not just that there were no boys—there was also some privacy from the general public. All sorts of topics of discussion were possible in that semi-enclosed space.
“So, like, during gym...” Akatsuki-san started.
“Uh huh.”
“And that happened.”
“No way!”
“Not cool, right?”
“For real.”
After finishing our “business,” we stood in front of the mirror and touched up our makeup while chatting... Well, she did most of the chatting. I just kinda stood there and nodded. It was impressive how she could just go from topic to topic without stopping.
As soon as the bell rang, we went back to the classroom. When second period ended, Akatsuki-san immediately came back up to me.
“Yume-chan, let’s go to the bathroom!”
She has to go again? Or maybe she wants to talk more? Personally, I wanted to use our break time to study, but I couldn’t leave her out to dry.
“So, like,” Akatsuki-san began.
“Mm-hmm.”
“And that happened!”
“No way!”
“Not cool, right?!”
“For real.”
Then third period ended.
“Yume-chan, let’s go to the bathroom!”
Aren’t you peeing a little too much?! Of course, I knew her objective was actually to talk with me privately, but couldn’t she take it easy? Had Akatsuki-san always been this much of a bathroom person?
“Sorry, but I think I’m gonna study a bit...” I refused her invitation because there was something I wanted to look over.
“Oh, gotcha. Sorry, it’s all good! Good luck!” She smiled, waved her hand at me, and moved to a different friend.
I observed her for a bit, but she didn’t invite anybody else to the bathroom.
“There’s something wrong with Akatsuki-san,” I declared over the phone.
It was now nighttime, and I was in the privacy of my own room talking to the guy in the room next to mine. This was a precaution to prevent our parents from being suspicious about us talking at night.
“Seriously? I was wondering why you were calling me despite never calling me, and it’s for this? There’s always something wrong with Minami-san.” He didn’t even try to hide his annoyance.
“What do you mean? If anything, there’s always something wrong with you, Higashira-san, and Kawanami-kun.”
“To each their own.”
“Ever since we started studying for finals, she’s been strangely clingy.” I clutched my pillow against my chest as I explained my feelings.
“She’s always been clingy.”
“No! Not at all!”
“You really have no clue...” Even though I couldn’t see his face, I could tell he was furrowing his brows. “Actually, why the hell am I the person you’re talking to about this?”
“Kawanami-kun and Akatsuki-san are childhood friends, right? I thought you might be able to figure something out.”
“You want me to be your messenger boy? Hm, well I guess Kawanami might know something.”
“Right?”
“But, I dunno...”
“About what?”
“Well, he’s kinda in the fight for his life right now against finals.”
“Ah...”
“I’d rather not split his focus.”
“Right... You have a point.”
It wasn’t right for me to bother him about this, especially when all I had was a gut feeling.
“Well, if there’s anything observably off about her, let me know. For example, if she spam calls you in the middle of the night.”
“Are you talking about me? I don’t spam call you!”
“To each their own.”
Can he even breathe without exhaling sarcasm? I tried thinking of something to say back, and then I remembered something that made my lips curl into a smirk.
“Speaking of late-night calls, I seem to remember a certain someone calling me every night, and—”
Suddenly, I heard a beep, signaling that he’d hung up. I triumphantly smiled, reveling in my victory. Back in the day, he’d called me a whole lot more often after I made a friend, because we’d started to spend less time together. Could he have been jealous? Looking back at his behavior back then, I thought it was pretty cute.
“Jealousy...?”
Then suddenly, I started thinking about how Akatsuki-san had only started acting strangely after we began studying for finals—right when I started helping Higashira-san study.
“No way... Right?” I chuckled and put my phone on its charging stand.
There was no way that someone with a ton of friends like Akatsuki-san could be jealous of that. I was just being overly self-conscious for no reason.
Or so I’d thought. With each day, Akatsuki-san’s antics escalated.
“Akatsuki-san?” I prompted.
“What’s up, Yume-chan?”
“I’m a little warm.”
“Ah, my bad!” Akatsuki-san finally let go of my arm, chugged her water, and then clung onto my arm again.
“I cooled down my body temperature. All better, right?”
“Uh...” That’s not the point! I’m trying to study here, but I can’t even write like this!
This was not a normal distance for friends, unless you were using Mizuto and Higashira-san as a reference. Hm? Wait, does that mean that what they’re doing is actually okay? I’d based my assumptions off of them not having experience with friends, but if Akatsuki-san was doing this, then maybe their actions were normal?
“I see. Spectacular display of yuri. I’d expect nothing less of my mentor. When you do something, you do it correctly,” Isana Higashira said nonchalantly. “However, in my opinion, while being in such close proximity is nice, I believe that keeping a close distance but not exactly touching is much more stimulating.”
“Not happening! We’re such good friends that we can be as close to each other as we want! Right?”
“I...guess?”
She was right that we were good friends at least, and it made me happy to hear those words come out of her mouth. That being said, I felt like we had a different understanding of what being good friends entailed.
“But regardless of how strong of a relationship you have, it must be annoying to have someone all over you like that, is it not?” Higashira-san thoughtlessly asked while sipping her juice.
Both Akatsuki-san and I focused on Higashira-san’s expressionless face. I had three things we wanted to say to her. One: the word “annoying” shouldn’t be used so casually. Two: she needed a reality check, because she was all over Mizuto. Three: this really wasn’t the time for her to be drinking juice.
But Akatsuki-san jumped off of me before I could say any of this out loud.
“Wait... Huh? Have I...” Akatsuki-san was suddenly at a loss for words and squeezed her fists.
I figured I should say something to smooth the situation over, but Akatsuki-san continued before I could find the words.
“Y-Yume-chan... Have I asked you to go to the bathroom a lot recently?”
“W-Well... You ask me at the end of each period.”
“Have I been clinging to you whenever we walk together?”
“Well... Yes?”
“Have I been sending you more LINE messages than usual?”
“Probably...?”
I had no clue what constituted as “usual,” but at the very least, I could tell that there had been a lot of messages.
“Oh, uh... Ah ha ha...” Akatsuki-san began laughing embarrassedly and immediately shoved all her things into her bag. “Sorry, Yume-chan, but I’m gonna go home! Seriously, sorry,” she said in a soft voice.
She stood up, left enough money to cover all our drinks, and ran out of the family restaurant.
“Have I done something I shouldn’t have again?” Higashira-san asked while watching Akatsuki-san disappear. She finished off her juice.
“It would seem so.”
“Apologies...” Higashira-san said dejectedly.
Understandably, she felt pretty down after that, so I got a refill for her.
The next day, Akatsuki-san became a lot less clingy. She didn’t stop talking to me or anything, though. She greeted me in the morning, ate lunch with me, and walked home with me after school. It was as if everything was back to normal. In regards to the actual incident the previous day, she apologized and said that she’d apologized to Higashira-san too.
It was as if she was forcefully trying to end the conversation single-handedly, just like how she’d forced me to accept her paying for all of us at the restaurant. Everything was seriously back to normal, like nothing had happened. But even so, things didn’t feel like they’d actually returned to normal.
As much as I wanted to press this issue further, I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to do so, thanks to finals.
“Well, if it isn’t Ms. Second Place,” Mizuto annoyingly called out to me as we passed each other in the hall of our home that night.
“What do you want, Mr. First Place?”
“Things must be going well. I don’t see a single bag under your eye.”
“I didn’t have any last time either! Do you even have the time to study now that you’re tutoring Kawanami-kun?”
“I’m a master of time management. I’ve got all the time in the world, unlike someone who only knows how to cram their schedule and micromanage their every last second of time.”
“Hmph. I’ll have you know that I am following a proper plan. I won’t lose points just because I get some weird assumptions in my head, unlike a certain somebody.”
We stared at each other for a little bit before we went our separate ways. I left towards the stairs, and Mizuto headed towards the bathroom.
Ugh, why can’t you just tell me not to overdo it like a normal person? But I swore to myself that I’d keep to a normal schedule and overtake him.
When finals rolled around, I wasn’t sleep-deprived like I had been during midterms. I was in absolutely perfect condition. So when the results were posted, I looked up from the lowest to highest, making sure that I hadn’t dropped down. I continued this all the way up to the top spot, where I finally saw my name.
1st Yume Irido
2nd Mizuto Irido
“You did it!”
“You reclaimed the top spot!”
One after another, my friends congratulated me, but I still couldn’t believe it. My name was really above his. I suddenly felt shaky on my feet. I never thought I could win against him, but I had. I quickly looked around to try and find him, and finally saw him outside of the crowd of students. He was being patted on the shoulder by a smiling Kawanami-kun. He must’ve gotten annoyed, because he slapped his hand away.
Then, he turned around and silently left with Kawanami-kun, who shrugged his shoulders. Maybe it was just my imagination, but it looked like he was dragging his feet.
I did it! I did it! I did it!!! I screamed internally, before finally crying out, “I did it!!!”
I’d won. I’d finally won! I’d beaten him! I squeezed my hands against my chest as if to try and contain the happiness that was ready to burst out from inside me. Did you see? Did you see that?! I’m not going to be one step behind you forever!
I’d lost last time because I’d pushed myself beyond my limits. It was kinda ironic that I’d won this time even after splitting my time to tutor Higashira-san. Maybe this was because I hadn’t bitten off more than I could chew.
Oh, right. I needed to check to see how Higashira-san did. Had she made it into the top fifty? I hadn’t noticed because I had only been looking for my name, so I decided to check the results again. As far as I could see, though, her name wasn’t there. I told myself that the next time we studied, we’d make it a personal goal for her to score in the top fifty.
“Huh?” Then it struck me. I’d gone up and down the list, but I hadn’t seen Akatsuki-san’s name either.
“Yume-san! I passed!” Higashira-san held out her test score as if it were a badge of honor, tears in her eyes. “Now I have successfully avoided compulsory supplementary classes. You have my thanks!” She seemed very happy despite her below-average grade.
“How about we aim to get this up by about twenty points next time?”
“Huh? No, I couldn’t possibly trouble you again.”
“Oh, there’s no need to be so reserved.”
“I wish to study no longer!”
Higashira-san seemed very unwilling, but could she really show her parents her barely passing grades when report cards came out?
“Higashira-san, excuse me for prying, but...”
“Huh?! A-Are you going to continue this conversation? Does something about my face entice you to bully me?!”
“Hm, I guess so.”
“Really?!”
“No, that’s not what I was going to say. I’m just surprised that you got into this school with your test scores. You must’ve studied really hard for the entrance exam.”
As a student who came from a no-name public school, I had had to try really hard to pass the test to earn my scholarship, so I can only imagine what it had been like for Higashira-san. It was beyond me how someone as self-indulgent as she could have passed.
“Oh, that’s what you’d like to inquire about?” Higashira-san slightly hung her head and twiddled her fingers.
“If it’s hard to say, you don’t have to.”
“Oh, no, it’s not. It’s just... How do I explain this? I guess I had expectations or delusions?”
“Huh?”
“Well, I believed that if I went to a smart school, then I’d be able to converse with like-minded people. Heh heh...” Higashira-san giggled, slightly embarrassed. “You must think I’m quite foolish to have tried so hard just to be in my desired environment. Understandable, because I immediately realized once school began that I had difficulty making friends not because there was nobody like me, but because I’m a terrible communicator. I-I apologize for having such a senseless reason.”
“Not at all,” I immediately responded, warmly shaking my head in understanding. “It’s not senseless at all. I completely understand how you felt. Who doesn’t want to believe that there’s someone out there who completely gets them?”
“Y-You mean it?”
“Of course. Plus, you weren’t wrong, were you?”
“Huh?”
“Thanks to you working your butt off, you met Akatsuki-san, him, and me, right?”
Higashira-san blinked her eyes for a little in surprise before the ends of her lips bent slightly. She fidgeted. “Eheh heh heh.”
“Hey, don’t just clam up out of embarrassment! You’re making me embarrassed too!” I fanned my now red face with my hand.
“Hm, now that I think about it, where is Minami-san? She isn’t with you?” Higashira-san asked, tilting her head.
How are you already back to normal?!
“We’re not a pair, you know?”
“Oh, really? I thought you two were similar to Mizuto-kun and myself.”
“You have quite the imagination...”
When did she get that idea in her head? Then again, Akatsuki-san was undoubtedly my closest friend.
“I sent her a message earlier, but she hasn’t responded or even read the message.”
“C-Could she still be bitter about my words that day?”
“I doubt it. Didn’t she apologize?”
“Yes, but...she is all right, isn’t she?”
As much as I wanted to tell her she was worrying too much, I completely understood where she was coming from, as someone who used to be shy like her. The tiniest things you say can stick with you forever. It’d probably be best if Higashira-san saw Akatsuki-san sometime today too—
“Heya! You guys talkin’ shit?”
Higashira-san jumped and practically screamed at the sudden voice behind us, which belonged to none other than Akatsuki-san.
“Where have you been? I sent you a message.”
“Really? My bad. I’ve been all over the place.”
Higashira-san let out a sigh of relief. “Phew, I was under the impression that you...”
“That I what?”
“Oh, nothing! Forget I said anything!”
“You’re just makin’ me more curious!” Akatsuki-san said teasingly before wrapping herself around Higashira-san and making obscene gestures around the bountiful mounds on her chest.
She was acting exactly as she usually did.
“Oh, right! I heard that you got first, Yume-chan! Congrats!” Akatsuki-san must’ve had her fill because she let go of Higashira-san and turned her attention to me.
“Thank you. How did—” But before I could finish my sentence, I was interrupted.
“How were your final exam results?” Higashira-san asked.
“Me? Hm, well...” Akatsuki-san began laughing weakly. “I kinda let my guard down this time. I didn’t do so hot.”
“Oh, have I found a poor-grade comrade?” Higashira-san’s eyes sparkled in excitement.
“I probably did better than you, but I shoulda had Yume-chan teach me too.” Akatsuki-san snuck a glance at me. “But maybe I woulda just been a burden.” That was the single opening that Akatsuki-san showed me.
It was the one crack in the tough armor that was her “everyday facade.” If there really wasn’t anything wrong with her, there was no way she’d show even the slightest opening. Usually, she’d nonchalantly get my approval and trick me into promising to tutor her.
But right now, it was like she was afraid of something. But what? Fear of being rejected by me? No, that couldn’t have been it. I’d gotten a glimpse of her true thoughts. She was scared about being a burden.
This was the first time in so long that I was happy I’d had a boyfriend in middle school. Thanks to that experience, I could read between the lines.
“No.” I shook my head. “You’d never be a burden. Let’s get into the top ten together next semester, Akatsuki-san.”
“Really? Thanks! Top ten might be a teeny bit hard, though.” Akatsuki-san laughed normally.
She probably wouldn’t be honest with me no matter how much I asked, so it was up to me to try and guess her feelings. But I could do that, so it was fine.
“All right. I will be taking my leave now. I’d like to tease Mizuto-kun now that he’s dropped down the standings.”
“Don’t. He’ll get mad at you for real.”
“That prospect is equally as exciting! Farewell!” Higashira-san sped off to the library.
As usual, she wasn’t great at asserting herself, but she was resilient. She wasn’t quiet, but rather someone who moved at her own pace. After all, sometimes she could say the worst things because she wasn’t able to read the room.
“We’re alone, huh?” Akatsuki-san looked up at me and fidgeted a little.
“True. Let’s go home.”
“You’re so dense!” Akatsuki-san laughed and patted me on the shoulder.
I joined in her laughter. It’d been three months since the start of the first semester. It had taken that long for us to build our own conversational rhythm. It was doubtful we’d ever lose this comfortable back-and-forth, no matter what happened.
Akatsuki-san wasn’t awkward like I or he. Even if I was a little rude, showed my flaws, put on airs, or hid myself, she’d just treat me the same as normal the next day. But it was precisely because she was like that that I had the courage to say what I needed to.
“Let’s get goin’ then. Maki-chan and Nasuka-chan both have club today, so—”
“Akatsuki-san!”
“Whoa! What? What?!” Akatsuki-san whipped around, a surprised look plastered across her face.
I took a deep breath, steeled my will, and then courageously said these words for the first time in my entire life: “Do you want to go to karaoke?”
“Wow, this is the first time I’ve been here with just one other person.”
“M-Me too.”
“Why’re you so nervous?” Akatsuki-san asked, shooting me a teasing smile as she stood in front of our room while I entered. It was as if she was waiting for me to choose a seat.
I looked around and decided to sit on the right-hand side at the edge of the couch. Akatsuki-san followed suit and sat one space away from me. I was honestly surprised, given her track record. She’d clung to my arm at the family restaurant. Something was seriously wrong.
Something had changed in her ever since Higashira-san’s statement. Maybe she couldn’t get that out of her head, and that’s why her test score dropped. Suddenly, it was all clear to me. I took a deep breath.
I was not a skilled speaker. I could only say maybe ten percent of what I actually wanted to say. That’s why the first time I ever wanted to express my feelings to someone, I put it into a letter. In order for me to convey my feelings to Akatsuki-san and for her to convey her feelings to me, we needed to use our actions instead of our words.
“Akatsuki-san...” I used all the courage inside of me to confess to her. “I’ve actually never really sung in front of anyone by myself before.”
“Really? Oh, that tracks, actually. I guess you usually sing with everyone or duet with me.”
“Yeah...” I said, entering a song into the tablet.
I grabbed a microphone, much to the happiness of Akatsuki-san, who began clapping. When we were in middle school and had to do choir, I had put a lot of effort into making sure that I didn’t stand out. I didn’t care about being good, I just didn’t want to be heard. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be heard messing up, though. It had nothing to do with how good or bad I was as a singer. I just didn’t want to stand out in any way.
The last thing I wanted was for people to kick me out of their group. But I didn’t want to be revered by them either. I just wanted to blend in. That was my comfort zone. If possible, I didn’t want anyone to hear my weird, unpolished, uncool voice.
I couldn’t count all the times that I’d just blended in. Whatever I did never made an impression, and it hurt me. I’d get sad and lonely, and I’d want to scream at someone so they knew I existed.
I wanted to throw all my appearances away. I didn’t want to be the uncouth plain girl, nor did I want to be the intelligent and beautiful honor student.
Even I had times when I just wanted to let loose. When that happened, who do you think I wanted next to me? Mizuto Irido? Isana Higashira? No, I didn’t want either of them. The person I wanted to hear me scream was...
I bellowed into the microphone, filling the entire room with my emotions. I was angry. It was the same anger I’d had when I basically made him apologize to me for being jealous without even realizing that he was.
That’s when I made my decision. I took off my glasses, untied my hair, and promised that I would never go through that again. But I didn’t say those words. The lyrics I screamed had absolutely nothing to do with my feelings. Even so, I was able to put my heart on full display.
After I finished the song, I was gasping for air. My throat hurt a little. I wasn’t one to speak in a loud voice, so doing it so suddenly like this was not a good idea. But I felt...refreshed.
“Yume-chan...” Akatsuki-san said in complete shock.
“Akatsuki-san, w-wait—” I weakly smiled at her before coughing up a storm.
“A-Are you okay?! Here! Drink water!”
I downed the cup of water that Akatsuki-san gave me. I exhaled and sat next to Akatsuki-san. Finally, I felt calm.
“Thank you.”
“Y-Yeah, no prob, but are you okay? You seem kinda...” Akatsuki-san froze before she could finish her sentence.
“I sucked, right?” I giggled. “You don’t have to pretend anymore. Just act like you normally do.”
“Uh...”
I looked down at the microphone in my hands and glanced at Akatsuki-san, who had an ambiguous look on her face. Of course I didn’t sing well. I’d never really sung before. But if I’d kept quiet, Akatsuki-san would’ve said something to try and skirt around that. She’d try to keep up appearances. If there were other people here, there was no doubt that she’d liven things up. But right now, it was just the two of us.
“As your friend, I want to try and keep as few things from you as possible,” I said. “Of course, everyone has a secret or two that they will absolutely never tell, and I definitely don’t want you to tell me everything either.”
“Yeah, makes sense.”
“But,” I continued, looking straight into Akatsuki-san’s eyes, “I’ve never heard you sing by yourself.”
Whenever we’d done karaoke, she’d always sung with other people. She was a mood-maker, and because she was always trying to liven things up, it may have been hard for other people to notice that. But she couldn’t fool me. Not when we were the same.
Akatsuki-san was frozen, so I continued. “I won’t ask why. I won’t explain myself either, but—” I knew I needed to tell her exactly what she was to me. “You’re the only one that’s ever heard me sing. Not Higashira-san, and not him.” I held the microphone out to her.
It was obvious what I wanted her to do. If I wanted her to expose herself to me, I needed to expose myself first. This was the first thing I’d learned from the biggest success and failure of my life.
Akatsuki-san silently looked down at the microphone for a bit before a soft smile spread across her face, as if the ice had melted. “No fair. You’re pretty much strong-arming me into this.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine because it’s you, Yume-chan,” she said cheerfully, taking the microphone from me, standing up, and turning to face me. “You said I didn’t need to tell you the reason I don’t sing in front of other people, but I’m gonna tell you anyway.” Akatsuki-san’s voice echoed across the room as a smile spread across her face. “It’s because I don’t want to embarrass other people with how good I am. Take notes, Yume-chan!”
Akatsuki-san’s clean, serene voice filled the room. I was at a loss for words at how beautiful it was.
◇
“Ha! Ha ha ha! That’s horrible, Yume-chan! You stole his boxers?! You’re a total pervert! Ha ha ha!”
“I-I didn’t steal them! I picked them up! I’d never seen a boy’s underwear before. You haven’t either, have you?!”
“Me? I have that guy, remember? I’ve known him forever. I’ve seen his underwear. We even do laundry at each other’s places sometimes.”
“Huh? By ‘that guy,’ you mean Kawanami-kun?! I-I had no clue you two were like that.”
“No, we’re not! We only used to take baths together when we were little! Only up to middle school!”
“Up to middle school?! Shouldn’t that have stopped at elementary school?! D-Did anything happen? Are you okay?”
“Hm? Well, yeah, I’m all good, but in another sense I’m not?”
“That’s so deep.”
Akatsuki-san shot me a teasing grin. So this is how normal childhood friends act? Hm, good to know.
Now that we were tired from singing, we’d extended the time and were just chatting. At first, we talked about the stupid things that’d happened with the guys closest to us, but inevitably, the topic shifted to a racier tone. I’d intended to take the secret about his underwear to the grave, but I ended up telling her. I need to silence her somehow...
“Your room’s right next to Irido-kun’s, right? Do you ever hear any weird noises from him?”
“Weird noises?”
“Hm, let me rephrase that in a more roundabout way. Have you heard any porn sounds from his room?”
“What about that was ‘roundabout’?!”
“Ha ha ha! Well, back in middle school, there was a time that I snuck into that guy’s house.” Akatsuki-san entered into a heart-racing recounting of her past, and before I knew it, our time had run out, so we left. When we stepped outside, the sun had already set.
“Wow, it’s totally nighttime. Are your folks gonna be worried?”
“I think it’ll be okay. I let my mom know already, but I need to be home for dinner, so I should get going.”
“Ah...” Akatsuki-san sighed and looked at the night-filled town.
I had no clue what she was actually looking at, though. Was she thinking about the memories we made today? Before I could decipher her expression, my phone rang. Looking at the screen, I saw it was from Mizuto. Usually, I ignored his calls, but since I was out kind of late, I decided it’d be best if I answered.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?”
I froze a little after hearing his familiar voice. “I was at karaoke with Akatsuki-san. I’m about to come home.”
“Oh.”
You were the one who asked me. Why do you sound so uninterested?! But after that heart-to-heart session I’d had, I wasn’t too frustrated. Instead, I just gently smiled.
“What, were you worried?”
“...No.”
“Or did you think I was out on a date with someone?”
“...” At first, I thought that I’d gotten him, but I was proven wrong by what he said next. “If you were, I’d be worried about your date, not you.”
“Huh?”
“Worried whether you were being a burden to them or not.”
This guy was just as snarky as usual. Usually, this would end with me getting mad, but I glanced at Akatsuki-san.
“You don’t have to be worried about that,” I said.
“Hm?”
“I’ve found someone I can be a little bit of a burden on.”
Hearing that, Akatsuki-san clapped her hands happily, her eyes sparkling. She jumped onto me and then yelled into the phone, “That’s how it is. Sorry, Irido-kun!”
As if on cue, I ended the call. Akatsuki-san and I exchanged a look. We were silent for a few seconds before we burst out laughing. At what, I couldn’t exactly tell you, but we continued laughing as we walked home through the night crowd—just the two of us.
Getting stopped by the police was a real possibility since we were out past curfew in our uniforms. That definitely wouldn’t be great, but I was sure Akatsuki-san would handle it.
“It’s summer break. What do you want to do?” I asked.
“Hm. At the very least, I don’t want to go anywhere people’ll hit on you!”
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