Seishun Buta Yarou Series - Volume 11 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2 - Dissonant Notes

1

The third-period computer literacy class had ended, yet Sakuta lingered in the computer lab. He glumly tapped away at the keyboard, entering numbers in a spreadsheet. The assignment from class was almost over.

“That mixer yesterday was a blast!” Takumi whispered from one seat over. He was mostly talking to himself, spinning his computer stool while fiddling with his phone.

Everyone else had left as soon as the bell rang, so it was just the two of them.

“For everyone but me and Kamisato,” Sakuta grumbled, never taking his eyes off the screen.

The mess at yesterday’s mixer had been entirely unexpected. A genuine shocker.

Saki Kamisato had gone to the same school as him—Minegahara High. And dated his friend Yuuma. He’d had no idea she was even a student at his college, let alone attending mixers.

Yuuma hadn’t mentioned it, and he’d gone six whole months without spotting her.

And she was in the nursing school.

In his mind, she was the polar opposite of a healing influence, so her choice for major was downright mind-boggling.

Sakuta and Saki’s unexpected reunion had been a source of infinite amusement to everyone else there, making the party even livelier. The topic naturally turned to high school days, and Sakuta got peppered by questions until the end of the mixer.

Their high school had been located near Kamakura and Enoshima, with a stunning view of the ocean, and was accessible via the famous Enoden train. Add in the fact that Mai Sakurajima also went there and the topic never ran dry.

“An Enoden commute would be rad! Every day could feel like a coming-of-age film.”

“I lived close enough that I totally could have gone. I would’ve sat the exams if I’d known!”

“Seriously.”

Chiharu and Asuka had both lived in the area and were extra curious.

“So why didn’t you tell us, Saki?” Chiharu asked, shaking her shoulders.

Apparently, Saki had gone all this time without breathing a word about her high school. He could imagine why. Anyone who mentioned Minegahara would get asked about Mai Sakurajima. It wasn’t out of the question that people would beg for an introduction. Nobody wanted to deal with that.

“We never did get to the bottom of it! What have you and Kamisato got against each other?” Takumi asked, not once looking up from his phone.

“We’re on pretty good terms these days.”

They’d been at the same table for an hour and a half. In high school, that would have been unthinkable.

“You call that good?”

“Yep.”

She hadn’t put it in words or anything, but everyone could tell she didn’t like him much. Yet that hadn’t managed to spoil the mood.

Like Miori had said, both Sakuta and Saki were just better at these things now. They were in college, after all.

Everyone else had taken the hint and let sleeping dogs lie.

“And what do you actually think of her?” Takumi asked him in the computer lab.

“I’m aware she’s got it in for me.”

He shrugged before saving his work and attaching it to an e-mail addressed to the professor teaching the computer literacy class.

With that out of the way, Sakuta searched the “dreaming” hashtag. Here he was at a computer, so he might as well put it to use.

“And what’s the firefighter boyfriend stuck between you think?”

“I think he’d prefer it if we got along.”

No way Yuuma enjoyed hearing them snark about each other. Sakuta didn’t think he’d grumbled about her all that much, but he’d definitely said a few things.

And Saki had probably complained about him a lot. In high school, she’d hated him enough to explicitly order him to stay away from Yuuma.

“Okay, cool.”

Takumi seemed to have made up his mind.

“What is?” Sakuta asked, not really caring.

His attention was fully on the computer screen as he skimmed the list of tweets tagged #dreaming. He was definitely not about to read all of these. He limited the search to posts in the last twenty-four hours, and that dropped it down to three hundred—which was still a lot.

Unable to muster the enthusiasm to read through them, he realized Takumi hadn’t responded, and he turned to look.

“Fukuyama?”

He was still on his phone.

“You’ll find out soon.”

Takumi finally glanced up, but only to let out a sinister chuckle.

And before Sakuta could press the point, footsteps came through the door behind him.

It was the clicking of heels.

He swiveled around to look and found the girl they’d been talking about—Saki Kamisato.

She spotted Sakuta and came right toward him. On the way, she said, “Thanks, Fukuyama.”

“No problemo.”

Takumi spun his chair one last time, then got up, shoving his phone in his pocket. Like he was hiding the evidence that he’d leaked Sakuta’s location.

“I’m outta here!” he said, waving his hand. And with that, the snitch left the room.

Leaving Sakuta and Saki alone together.

“……”

“……”

An uncomfortable silence.

But not a long one. Saki spoke first.

“Don’t put ideas in Yuuma’s head,” she said.

“That’s a no can do.”

“Hah?”

“I left him a voice mail yesterday. Said you showed up late and introduced yourself as the girl with a hunky firefighting boyfriend, totally wrecking the mood of my first real mixer.”

And she’d refused to exchange contact info with Takumi and Ryouhei on the grounds that she was already taken. There had definitely been an awkward moment or two.

That was probably why she’d gone through Chiharu or Asuka to get Sakuta’s location out of Takumi.

“……”

She was giving him a cross look but didn’t lash out.

“They roped me into it to make up the numbers.”

“Tell that to Kunimi.”

“I will! I’m seeing him later.”

“Is that all?”

He couldn’t imagine what else she’d want with him, so her answer caught him off guard.

“From me.”

“From you?”

She made it sound like someone else wanted to talk to him. An interpretation that proved correct.

Saki ignored his question and headed to the door, saying, “I’m done. Go ahead.”

And she was replaced with the last person he expected to see: Ikumi Akagi.

“Thanks, Saki.”

“See you tomorrow, Ikumi.”

With that, Saki went home.

Ikumi waved her out and watched her go. Only when the footsteps faded did she turn to face Sakuta.

She worked her way through the tables toward him, but not all the way. She stopped a good three seats out.

“Azusagawa. You went to high school with Saki?”

“Akagi. You’re friends with Kamisato?”

He noticed they were on a first-name basis. It didn’t feel like they were strangers at all.

“Mm. Saki was the first person I talked to here. She helps out occasionally with the volunteer group I founded.”

“Educational support?”

“You’ve heard of it?”

“I saw you recruiting a few times.”

“Oh.”

Their conversation didn’t have much substance. They were just carefully feeling out the distance between them. The mood was kind of tense and both of them were obviously choosing their words with care.

They’d been in the same class in junior high but barely spoken. Neither of them knew exactly how they were meant to interact.

“Didn’t think Kamisato was the volunteering type.”

“Oh? I think it’s very her.”

“Really?”

“She’s in the nursing program so she can help support her firefighter boyfriend. Isn’t that cute?”

“She’s nice to everyone but me and cute when she’s with Kunimi, then.”

She was Yuuma Kunimi’s girlfriend.

“Oh, don’t tell her I called her cute,” Ikumi said.

“Don’t worry—we’ll likely never see each other again.”

Even if they spotted each other around campus, he certainly didn’t plan to initiate contact. Saki likely shared that reluctance.

“Why’d you choose the nursing school, Akagi?”

“Nurses help those in need.”

Where most people would be evasive or noncommittal, Ikumi was startlingly candid about her motivation. And if she was answering like that, Sakuta couldn’t exactly joke around, either.

But that suited his purposes. He was getting sick of tiptoeing around each other.

“So that’s why you believed the dreaming hashtag and did the whole hero thing? While in a nurse costume?”

He maintained the exact same tone, but that was a huge leap to make.

“I don’t always wear that costume! I was just dressed for a Halloween event with the junior high kids in the volunteer classroom.”

Ikumi didn’t seem rattled by his suddenly getting to the heart of the matter. Maybe slightly embarrassed that he’d seen her in that outfit.

“You save people a lot, then?”

She’d only denied the dressing-up part.

“Is that bad?”

No deflections. She just wanted to know what he thought.

“I had you down as someone who didn’t believe in the occult.”

At least in junior high, she hadn’t believed in Adolescence Syndrome. She’d been one of many students who’d refused to hear his pleas.

“……”

And she knew that. Ikumi pursed her lips, as if searching for the right thing to say.

“Azusagawa…,” she began, her lips trembling.

Guessing where that was going, he cut her off. “Don’t say sorry. I won’t know how to react.”

It was all in the past. She had nothing to apologize for. Dredging up that guilt now would just be a headache.

“Then I won’t,” she said, relaxing.

“So what did you want from me?”

She’d probably accomplished her main goal already. He figured she was here to suss out what he thought about yesterday.

“I imagine you won’t want to come, but we’re doing a class reunion at the end of the month.”

This, he had not anticipated.

“……”

And since Akagi was bringing it up, she didn’t mean elementary or high school.

“A junior high one,” she added softly.

“Yeah, I’m not interested.”

He’d meant to answer normally, but his voice sounded awfully far-away. Part of him was still dragging along some baggage. He laughed at himself.

“Since we ran into each other, I figured I’d at least pass on the flyer,” Ikumi said.

She stepped closer and handed over a folded piece of paper. It seemed like a hassle to refuse, so he took it off her hands. Inside were the details for the reunion.

Sunday, November 27. Four PM. A shop near Yamashita Park.

“Don’t worry about me. You go have fun.”

“I’m probably not going, either.”

“Why not?”

He didn’t really want to know. Conversational etiquette just demanded he ask.

“Girls with boyfriends’ll be boasting about them.”

“‘My boyfriend’s hot and he’s at a good school’?”

“‘When will you find someone, Ikumi?’”

“Is that what reunions are like?”

He’d never had a reason to attend one, so he had no firsthand experience. He didn’t feel like he was missing out, either.

“They’re fun if you’ve got stuff to brag about.”

That remark was definitely pointed his way.

“Well, I am dating Mai.”

“If you showed up at the reunion, you’d silence everyone.”

“But that’s not why I’m going out with her.”

“Then why are you?”

“So we can be happy together.”

This was the truth, phrased as a joke. The intent was to make her laugh.

“……”

Ikumi didn’t laugh. She just blinked in surprise. Then flushed slightly and fanned herself.

“Stop, I can’t handle the residual embarrassment!”

“You got nothing?”

“Nothing what?”

“To brag about.”

“Good question.”

She managed an evasive smile. She could have just gone for the same white lie, but she didn’t.

He was starting to feel like there was a distinct reason why she didn’t want to go. Maybe a big fight with someone he didn’t know about, someone she didn’t want to run into again.

Ikumi’s eyes flicked to the clock.

“I’d better leave.”

He didn’t ask if she had places to go. The look on her face alone told him what this was.

Her eyes caught his computer screen and the list of hashtag search results on it.

So he knew she was headed out again to save someone from misfortune, guided by the hashtag dreaming posts.

“Bye,” she said, shouldering her backpack.

As she headed to the door, Sakuta called, “Don’t save too many.”

She stopped and half turned, asking, “Why not?”

“Sometimes changing the future can lead to a worse outcome.”

Possibly the worst one. He was all too aware of that.

“I know. I’ll be careful.”

Ikumi smiled and left the lab.

Sakuta reached for his mouse.

“She doesn’t get it at all.”

He clicked the shutdown button.

He had a cram school class to teach and couldn’t be fussing over other people’s problems. Sakuta had his own life to lead.