The best of friends, those two sounded.
“Also!” she coped. “Who knows? Maybe he’ll change his mind at the last minute or something.”
“I’m sorry to say the eleventh hour has passed.”
Yeah, I was a bit of an expert. I’d read my fair share of rom-coms, and her goose was downright cooked. I sipped my melon soda. With reverence.
“You wanna know something?” Yanami asked. “Just between you and me, Sousuke and I have bathed together.”
“Uh-huh. When you were four or five?”
Sousuke and his new girl would hit that base in no time.
“Okay, but our families are close! We practically have their blessing already! That’s, like, one of the most important parts about having a wed…ding.” The tears returned with a vengeance.
“Sh-should I be concerned?”
“The wedding…” Yanami whined. “I had a dress picked out and everything. And that tits-for-brains stole it from me…”
Oof, that one was on her. You never picture the dress that far in advance, or your rival wearing it instead of you, for that matter. I wondered what the rejection bus’s schedule looked like, because I was over this passenger.
“I know. I know, okay? It’s my fault for sitting around for so long. I should have been brave,” she said.
“You, uh, need a refill? The mint tea here’s pretty good.”
“No… Tastes like toothpaste.” Yanami pouted, then smiled. She wiped her eyes clean. “Sorry. Bit much, huh?”
“Hey, no worries,” I said. That wasn’t the apology I was personally waiting for.
“I’ll be okay. As long as Sousuke’s happy, I can settle for best friends.”
“Y-yeah. Okay.”
Yanami was a roller coaster of emotion. She went on and on, and I just sat there eating french fries. Listening. Doing my best to be as patient as possible. There was a word for heroines like her whose ships wound up lost at sea.
They were the losers.
Yanami Anna was a losing heroine.
✦ ✦ ✦
Three days went by. It was Monday now, back at school. I leaned back up from the faucet, shut off the water, and wiped my mouth. City water was never any good, although that depended on who you asked. Granted, most didn’t know what I knew. Most were blind to the fact that water could, in fact, taste different from tap to tap, even within the same building. I, Nukumizu Kazuhiko of Tsuwabuki High School’s class 1-C, fancied myself one of the enlightened few.
“Now that’s the stuff,” I muttered.
It was just before fourth period. The first-floor sink in front of the library in that new annex was my current sanctuary. Early in the morning, this was the place to be for top shelf tap water. Being further from the rooftop water tank meant the chlorine levels were minimal, and you didn’t want any of that swimming in your stomach right before lunch.
My thirst quenched, I started on my way back to class, calculating in my head the perfect pace. Arrive too early, and there’d doubtless be a conversation happening right at my desk, and I wasn’t about to deal with that. A leisurely stroll would get me there just in time.
I thought back to last week—to Yanami Anna. The boys had made quite a fuss over her on the first day of school. She was pretty, I gave her that, but it was clear to me from the get-go that we lived in different worlds. I was content occupying mine and she occupying hers. Apparently, though, as evidenced by recent events, that understanding didn’t run both ways. I genuinely couldn’t remember the last time I’d spoken with a girl for that long. She showed me flashes of charm, and she showed me flashes of insanity. I couldn’t make heads or tails of her.
But that was all in the past. Once I got my money back, that would be the end of it. I’d go back to my world, and she’d go back to hers, and I’d look back and think, “Yep, that sure was a thing that happened.”
I checked my watch as I slid open the classroom door. Thirty seconds to the bell—perfect.
I clicked my tongue. Not perfect. Yakishio Lemon of all people was sitting on my desk, that happy-go-lucky, tan girl on the track team. We’d come from the same junior high. She was literally always smiling, always talking with someone. She was magnetic. And she wouldn’t budge an inch until the bell sounded.
Taking the long way around the room, I slipped by my currently-colonized desk and reached into my pocket for the old receipt I kept specifically for times like these. In the time it took me to toss the thing, the bell rang. I made my way back, assured of my victory.
No one moved. The invaders remained. I glanced at the chalkboard. “4th period—World History, 10 minutes late, self-study,” it read.
I had miscalculated. None of these people were going to study. They’d just gotten an extra ten minutes added to their break. I wandered over to the notice board, wiping away the nervous sweat on my brow.
Wow, an inter-high rally? Boy howdy, and the archery club had made nationals for the third year in a row. I was so incredibly invested in this information. With enthusiastically feigned interest, I scanned the schedule for that rally thing: opening ceremony, July 22nd. Girls volleyball, 22nd to the 25th. Canoeing, 28th to 31st.
“We should totally do lunch together!”
I knew that shrill, immersion-breaking voice anywhere. It was Himemiya Karen. I snuck a peek and, to little surprise, saw Hakamada and Yanami with her. Honestly, though, I could feel the main heroine vibes from here. She had the looks, the presence, the…personalities.
Yanami had on her best smile. That was the biggest surprise. I’d expected, well…I wasn’t sure what I expected. Different worlds. Maybe in hers, relationships coming and going was the norm.
“I’m good.” Yanami kept smiling. “Don’t wanna be a third wheel or anything.”
“Don’t be like that,” the transfer student argued. “We’re still friends, you know?”
“That’s right,” Hakamada agreed. “You don’t have to try and be considerate. I see right through you.”
Yanami gave him an awkward elbow poke. “Speak for yourself. I’m trying to do you a favor here, bud.”
“Anna…” Himemiya Karen sighed.
“Yeah?” Before Yanami could get her next few words out, Himemiya threw her arms around her. “C-come on, now, Karen-chan. What’s all this for?”
“Thank you. You’re my best friend in the whole world,” said tits-for-brains (not my words).
“Come on, people are staring.” She patted her dear friend on the shoulder.
Evidently, I’d been worried for nothing. Yanami seemed pretty much over it—at a glance. That was when I noticed her legs trembling and her fists clenched white behind Himemiya’s back. Oh, she was over it. In an entirely different sense entirely.
“So, lunch,” Himemiya pressed. “How about we—”
“E-excuse me.” Just as I was starting to see steam billowing out of Yanami’s ears, I cut in. “Yanami-san?”
All three pairs of eyes centered on me. This, right here, was exactly what I was talking about with different worlds. Oh, the sin I had committed—the absolute travesty it was for the background character to butt into the main plot.
By some miracle, I managed to keep myself composed and my voice from cracking. “You’re on duty today, right? Amanatsu-sensei wants your help in the printing room.”
“Oh.” Yanami slipped away from her prison. “Yeah, sure. I’ll be right there. Thanks.” She made for the door but turned around just before leaving the classroom. “You know what? I could actually use a hand.”