“Let’s stop talking about this,” I said. “This is too sensitive a topic to have with an ex.”
But Satsuki-san had to have the last word. “If we were to approach this from the opposite perspective, are you saying that uncertain feelings don’t become romantic love until the moment you define it as such?”
What a difficult question. “Sorry?” I said. “You good, Satsuki-san?”
She looked up and shook her head. “Never mind. Thank you. I learned quite a bit just now.”
“Uh? You’re…welcome?”
If nothing else, I no longer felt like Satsuki-san was so hard to approach. I couldn’t have told you why, but it seemed like she got an answer for her question after all.
Anyway, it was high time for us to get back to work—but just then, my phone rang.
“Eep! Sorry, let me get that,” I said.
“Why did you apologize? It’s none of my business,” said Satsuki-san.
I grabbed my phone and saw from the notif that it was Kaho-chan. Unlike when I was home alone, I wasn’t in my “Shut out the world! Avoid all human interactions!” mode, so I picked up immediately.
But before I could get out a “Hello,” Kaho-chan’s cutesy voice bombarded my eardrums.
“Heya, Rena-chin! You free tomorrow?” she belted out.
She was clearly in a hurry, so I nodded frantically. “Yeah, I guess. I want to do so some studying, but that doesn’t take all day.”
And then, like a firecracker going off, she declared, “Great! Also, Serara finally got back to me.”
“Wait, are you serious?”
“Yup yup. So I made plans for us to meet. That’s why I was callin’ to see if you’re free.”
Aha. Kaho-chan was tireless in her efforts to contact Seira-san. A bit late in the game, as the thing with my sister had kinda reached its conclusion, but whatever. If Seira-san was willing to talk, I was all ears!
“Oh my god,” I said. “Thank you, Kaho-chan!”
“Just so y’know, there’s kinda like a… Hmm, how do I put this…”
“Put what?”
Kaho-chan searched for the right words for a couple of moments, and then her voice dropped. “I guess Serara had a good reason to give us the runaround, y’know? Oh well! You’ll get the deets once we see her.”
“Wait, what? Now I’m curious!”
“See ya later, paligator!”
And she hung up. I figured she would tell me where to go and when to meet her later.
Okay, but why had Seira-san come around after all this time? And what could she possibly have to say?
I stared down at my phone for a few more seconds before Satsuki-san asked, “Is it about your sister?”
“Oh. Yeah. Kaho-chan got in touch with one of her friends.”
“Good. Let us hope this brings about a change for the better.”
“Um. Yeah, I hope so.”
I had best batten down the hatches to weather whatever ominous thing Kaho-chan was alluding to. Besides, no matter what it was, I would find out tomorrow. But gaaaaahd was I dying of curiosity! Tomorrow was a good twelve plus hours away! Days were long!
I was going through it for real. Satsuki-san sighed at me like she was so done with my BS. “You can’t focus like this, I’m sure. Should we call it a day here?”
“No, I can do it,” I protested. “Besides, if I didn’t study at all, I wouldn’t be fit to be your very bestest friend in the whole wide world.”
“And receive that allowance, no doubt.”
I giggled and rubbed the spot under my lip in an ain’t-I-a-stinker gesture. “You got me there. Boy, you really know me too well.”
Satsuki-san frowned, again. “…Remind me what I did to deserve getting saddled with you?”
Excuse me?! What was that for?