After a brief afternoon homeroom session, our teacher left the classroom, and all the students relaxed.
It was still early days, but everyone was starting to talk about their Christmas plans. Amid the festive atmosphere, I put all my exam answer sheets together and tapped the bundle against the desk. My total score was 815—a satisfactory result.
“Hey, Saki!” Maaya called out as she strolled over to my desk. “Oh, I can tell by the look on your face—you must have received excellent marks, my lord!”
“My lord…? Have you been watching too much historical anime or something?”
“They call me the Samurai of Failing Grades.”
“Sounds like a guy who’s not long for this world.”
“Would it be cooler if I played a lone samurai without a master?”
“You’d probably be killed either way. Let’s drop this gag, okay?”
“Urk. In that case, I’ll have to decide myself…”
“Like I said, you’d be killed either way. Now drop it.”
I wasn’t sure why she was so hung up on this, but I figured her logic was beyond me and decided to just ignore it.
“Ooh, Saki, you’re as cold as ever. It’s already the middle of December; can’t you be a little friendlier? We could huddle together for warmth. I’d love to see you all snug!”
“Don’t try to use me as your heating pad. Anyway, what did you get?” I was talking about her exam score, of course.
“801! A number with no climax, resolution, or meaning!”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ll give you a piece of candy for being a good girl who doesn’t get the joke.”
“Sure.”
Maaya mimed giving me an invisible piece of candy, and I stuck out my palm and pretended to take it.
“I’m impressed, Saki! I’ll have to thank Asamura.”
“What does Asamura have to do with this?”
Maaya grinned. I realized too late that she’d purposely shifted the conversation. If I pushed back here, she’d just tease me, so I closed my mouth tight and endured.
“And what about you, Saki? How did you do?”
“815.”
“Aha! No wonder you’re looking smug. That’s great.”
“I’m not…,” I said, then paused.
Maybe I was looking smug. I had the feeling she was right; I could tell there was a smile on my face. I sounded a little more excited than usual, too.
That was when I noticed the buzz around me. I could hear people saying things like “Ayase’s kind of different today” and “I’ve never seen her smile before.”
That has to be a joke. I know I’ve smiled before. Right?
“Do people really think I’m acting that unusual?”
“Your attitude today is as rare as a metal slime.”
“I have no idea how rare that is.”
“People see you as a cool beauty. You’re not that cool, though, if you ask me. You just don’t care if other people like you. But you do care about what they think of you.”
Maaya’s words might sound harsh, but she was right. More than what my classmates were saying, what surprised me was their friendly tone of voice.
“A 14-point difference, huh?” said Maaya. “I was so close. Next time, I won’t lose!”
“Sure.”
“Dammit. Having you act so smug after a single win makes me doubly frustrated!”
“I’m not acting smug.”
“Anyway, Saki.”
Huh?
“Your birthday’s coming up, isn’t it?”
“Oh yeah. So?”
The frustration instantly disappeared from Maaya’s face, and her voice grew excited. It was tough keeping up as she switched topics again and again.
“I want to give you a present. What should I get, huh?”
“You don’t have to.”
“But I do. It’ll bother me if I don’t. I want to get you something.”
“Well, okay then.”
“Does that mean Asamura’s birthday is coming up, too? You said they weren’t far apart, right?”
“His is a week before mine.”
“His!”
“It’s just a pronoun. Please don’t pronounce it like it has some special meaning.”
I really didn’t mean anything by it. Honest.
“Oh? A week before yours? That means…”
“It’s on the thirteenth.”
“That’s the day after tomorrow! Hey, why didn’t you tell me?!”
“Huh? Uh…sorry, I guess.”
“That puts it on the weekend, like yours. Guess I can’t invite someone else’s boyfriend out on a Sunday and give him a present…”
“Like I keep telling you, Asamura is my—”
“If he’s only your brother, does that make it okay for me to invite him out on a Sunday?”
“…No, it doesn’t.”
I didn’t elaborate, despite Maaya’s smirk. I’d rather she just assume I had a bit of a brother complex.
“Okay, then how about this? I’ll have you give him my present.”
Asamura would probably tell her she didn’t need to go to the trouble. But knowing Maaya, she’d do it anyway. Not out of a sense of obligation or for appearance’s sake, of course. As she’d said to me, she just wanted to. Because I understood that, I couldn’t bring myself to keep discouraging her.
“You can take your time picking something out. Our parents are lumping both our birthdays in with Christmas on the twenty-fourth anyway.”
“A combined birthday party with your big brother!”
“Would you quit it already?”
“A family celebration. That’s lovely! But I guess that means we can’t meet up and wish each other a Merry Christmas…”
“You really don’t need to. Besides, aren’t you going to throw a party with our classmates or something?”
“Actually, I have plans that day…”
I guess no party, then.
“Come on, Saki. The only thing a Christmas party would do is smoke out all the people who are dating. I’m being considerate here! Mwa-ha-ha!”
Huh? “You are?”
“Yeah! We’re in high school now. Lots of people are in special relationships…right?”
…What was that pause for?
Could Maaya be in a special relationship, too? Maybe that was what she was doing on Christmas. Did she have a boyfriend she hadn’t told me about? Someone she couldn’t tell me about?
“Special relationships, huh…?”
“Interested?” She peered into my face, and I quickly shook my head. No way. “Well, Saki-poo, I guess it’s still too early for you.”
“Why do you have to make it sound like you’re older and wiser?”
She grinned again, and I realized what she was doing. I almost yelped.
These were leading questions. She wasn’t asking me anything suspicious, per se. But with a single expression, she’d almost made me slip up. I had to watch out for Maaya Narasaka. She was great at making other people reveal all their secrets while giving away nothing about herself.
Wait, what am I thinking?
I’d just assumed that Maaya would tell me if she had someone special. But if she wouldn’t even confide in me, maybe it was normal to keep things like that to yourself. I still didn’t know if she was really seeing anyone, of course.
Work was incredibly busy, and the hours went by in a flash.