“I was so scared, and I didn’t know what to do... but thanks to you, I was saved. Thank you... and I’m so sorry for causing you trouble...”
“Ah, well, it’s no big deal,” I said hesitantly. Being thanked and apologized to so politely made me feel ashamed too.
“I didn’t really do anything special. I mean... I’m sorry too. I feel like it would have been best to turn that guy over to the conductor or one of the station attendants.”
Really, that probably would have been the best thing to do. To make sure that the punishment fit the crime, that the molester was given a proper sentence by his peers, his crimes should have been brought to trial and judged by the law. However, my selfish decision spared him such a punishment.
“No! Please don’t apologize!” With a strong voice, she firmly denied my apology.
“To keep me from being shamed, you put yourself in harm’s way, right?”
“...Yeah.”
“I’m sorry. Because of me, you had to go through all of that.”
“D-Don’t worry about it. It’s something I did on my own.”
“...Thank you. I’m really glad that you saved me.”
She smiled cheerfully, her eyes squinting with tears. I felt too embarrassed, so I turned to face away.
“Oh no. It’s already so late,” she said while looking at the clock on the side of the station building, seeming panicked. The clock read that it was already past 8 a.m., and both of us needed to get on our way to our respective schools.
After we part ways here, we’ll probably never meet again...
I found myself overcome with an unavoidable feeling of loss. I wanted to talk to her more. I wanted to see her again.
What should I do...?
Is this an appropriate situation to ask for her contact info? It couldn’t be, right? It would be awkward for her. With this timing, it’d be like I was coercing her into doing it. I might as well be saying “I saved you from that molester, so the least you can do is tell me your phone number.” Even if she didn’t want to, she seems like the kind of person who would tell me out of sheer gratitude, which makes it that much harder to ask. Even still...
Just as I was really overthinking it, unable to move even a step forward...
“E-Excuse me,” she said, cracking into a falsetto from how nervous she was. When I looked at her, I could see that her white cheeks had turned red.
“If it’s alright with you... can you give me your contact info?”
She murmured that last part, and I was blinking from how stunned I was.
“Umm... well, I want to thank you properly for today sometime, b-but if it’s any trouble, please don’t worry—”
“It’s no trouble at all! I’ll gladly give it to you!”
We both took out our cellphones and exchanged our Line usernames.
“Momota Kaoru, -kun... is that right?” she said while looking at her phone screen.
“Yes,” I said, nodding my head in confirmation while looking at my own screen. It seemed like she and I were both the type to use our real names when using Line, so I finally got to know her name.
“Orihara, Hime, -san?”
“Yes,” she nodded shyly.
“Hehe... it’s kind of embarrassing, right? ‘Hime,’ like how you’d call a princess... When you’re little it’s okay, but when you get to be my age it’s—”
“No,” I said, without really knowing why.
“I think it’s perfect.”
Orihara-san’s face became red in an instant. I probably looked the same way. I was so embarrassed that I felt like I was gonna lose it.
“Come on... don’t say that, it’s embarrassing...
“...Th-Thank you Momota-kun.”
Spilling out those words, Orihara-san seemed both happy and embarrassed as she smiled. Her smile was so bright, I felt a pain like my chest was being bound up. At the time, I still didn’t understand what that pain meant.
❤
“...So, you found a girl you like? Drop dead.”
My friend Urano Izumi’s response was as harsh as I’d expected. It was lunchtime, and just like always, I was eating lunch with Ura in an empty classroom. Aside from us, no one was there. It was about a month after entering high school, and our classroom during lunch was devolving into a space for the more outgoing and social students. Unable to adapt to that kind of environment, I chose to come to this empty classroom at the end of the school building and have lunch with a friend who was easy to get along with.
“I didn’t say anything about liking her. Just... I’m kinda interested in her. All I’m saying is that there is a possibility that maybe I like her—”
“A guy big and tall like you talking like a girl is creepy. And you’re a traitor.”
“Traitor? What are you talking about, what exactly have I betrayed?”
“I thought that at least Momo would never betray me...”
From behind Ura’s long bangs I could see his eyes boiling with hate, cursing me.
“I thought we would proudly walk the path of the introvert together, unfazed by the deceit-filled illusions of things like ‘youth’ and ‘romance.’”
“The hell is the path of the introvert?”
“Remember, Momo! Back in middle school, during crappy events like Christmas and Valentine’s Day, we used to curse the world together, right? The idiots dancing to the tune of corporations and their marketing of the holidays were the targets of our laughter as we drank delicious champagne!”
“Ura, stop digging up such cringey memories. I’ve moved on from that since middle school. Now that I’m in high school, I actually want to get a girlfriend.
“...Also, we never drank champagne, that was just some kid-friendly stuff. I’ve had enough cursing the world while drinking fake booze on Christmas, thank you very much.”
“Bah. In the end you’re just a foolish commoner drowning in the foolish idea of romance. Get away from me, you idiot. Go get an STD and die.”
Ura turned his face away as he pouted and put the straw from his vegetable juice into his mouth. I sighed. Urano Izumi: his stature was short, and his build dainty. If you got a good look at him, you could see his face was well put together. However, this was all ruined by his unkempt hair and his lifeless eyes that resembled a dead fish. Occasionally his dark eyes would light up, but that was usually when he was engaging in some schadenfreude towards the more outgoing crowd. We’ve been inseparable since elementary school. Along with another friend of ours, we hung out a lot as a trio.
When Urano Izumi, aka Ura, was little, he was the type of bright and cheerful kid who would normally become the leader of his class. However, after a middle school career that was a hell resembling heaven, he descended into being one of the most antisocial antisocials.
“In the first place, what’s with the whole ‘you saved her when she was getting molested on the train’ thing? Is this a manga or something?”
“I’m sorry, okay? That’s just what happened.”
“Anyway, that Tourin girl was wearing an already proportionately short skirt and showing herself off, right? She’s a slut I tell you, a slut. A confirmed easy lay. With an outfit like that, it was only natural that a train molester—”
“HEY.”
My voice was so low I even surprised myself. Hearing Orihara-san being insulted like that made me lose my temper to some extent. I was probably glaring at him too.
Ura let out a shriek as he almost fell from his chair.
“Wh-What’s going on... v-violence?! Are you resorting to v-violence?! Putting your hands on me means that you admit that you can’t beat me with your words! I win! Argument refuted!”
“Relax, I’m not gonna do anything.”