I had the vague thought that I didn’t recognize the ceiling.
According to my phone, it was six in the morning.
Routine was a shocking thing. Even when I was far away from home, my body was tuned to its usual timetable. It was the same reason jet lag was such a pain. Not that jet lag could be a problem, since I’d only gone as far as Kyoto.
I, Ooboshi Akiteru, had always been determined to live as efficiently as possible, which was why I woke up at the exact same time every day. That was six in the morning unless something really out of the ordinary was going on, because lately I’d been getting into the habit of doing some early morning running or other exercise to get my mind and body into shape.
More recently, I’d had days where I ended up oversleeping thanks to Iroha turning her pestering up to eleven. That didn’t count, because it was her fault. She’d be the one the jury found guilty.
Now, though, I was on the class trip. I didn’t need to be awake this early, but my body didn’t get the memo.
I yawned. “Dammit, it feels like I barely got any rest at all...” My thoughts were floating around, disconnected. I shook my head and rubbed my eyes.
Correction. I didn’t actually wake up early. In fact, it was the opposite.
After Midori’s confession last night, the face of the girl I liked had kept flickering through my mind, even when my eyes were closed; I didn’t get a wink of sleep. Even though I prided myself on staying in tip-top shape, I messed up last night by going to bed way too late. At the very least, I’d heard that even just closing your eyes in the darkness was enough to give your mind some rest, so it beat pulling an all-nighter. I was glad to have that knowledge; it made me feel a little better.
“I guess everyone else is... Nah, there’s no way they’d be awake yet. Wonder what I should do...”
I looked around the room. My roommates, Ozu and the muscle maniac Suzuki, were both fast asleep in their beds. Ozu was as still and silent as a computer in sleep mode, but Suzuki snored more than loud enough for two. Even the way they slept matched their personalities to a T.
I decided to clear my sleep-fogged mind by going to the bathroom and washing my face. I studied myself in the mirror; I had light bags under my eyes. The sight of myself in less-than-healthy shape disgusted me, so I quickly pulled on a tracksuit and left the bathroom.
What do you mean that doesn’t make sense? It does. When your body’s out of whack, all it takes is an early morning run to fix it. That is not a guarantee, and I can’t take any responsibility for that claim, so don’t try it at home.
Yesterday, the Class Trip Committee explained that we were welcome to use any of the hotel’s various facilities during our stay. These included both the indoor facilities and the outdoor ones, such as the tennis court and running course, which meant I didn’t have to worry about getting in trouble or looking weird for running around outside this early in the morning.
I left the room quietly so I wouldn’t wake up my roommates, then sneaked to the hotel lobby. The lobby was deserted; there weren’t even any of our teachers here.
Perfect, I thought, hurrying past the empty lounge. I showed the receptionist my student ID, explained that I was going to use the running course, and then stepped outside. The receptionist had looked a little surprised. Maybe it wasn’t especially popular?
But the reason for that reaction was cleared up the moment I set foot outside.
“Can I run with you?”
Mashiro was sitting on the bench by the course’s start point, retying her shoelaces. She wore a tracksuit. No wonder the receptionist looked surprised.
“Sure.”
This was a class trip. What were the chances of coming across two health junkies heading out to run this early in the morning?
✦ ✦ ✦
We began our leisurely run around the hotel grounds, side by side. The leaves in the trees rustled in the cool fall breeze. To our right was the empty tennis court. It felt like we were the only two people left in a postapocalyptic world. It was strangely stirring.
I glanced at Mashiro beside me. Her face looked more beautiful than I was used to, possibly because of Midori’s confession last night. I knew I was being weird today the moment that thought struck me.
I was running at a much slower pace than normal so that Mashiro (who didn’t have much endurance) could keep up with me. That was odd behavior for me too—it was far from efficient.
While knowing it wasn’t like me at all, I teasingly asked Mashiro, “What’s gotten into you, then? You’ve only just stopped being a shut-in. Now you’ve decided you might as well go the whole hog and start exercising?”
“No. I hate exercise. Anyone who makes me do it can go die in a fire.”
“That sounds kinda extremist.”
“I needed to talk to you.”
“Thought so.” Otherwise she wouldn’t have gone on ahead to wait for me.
“Do you remember our reunion?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Wait, so you remember seeing my underwear? Gross.”
“You totally set me up there!”
If she hadn’t said that, I probably wouldn’t have remembered that whole incident in the first place. We’d had an unfortunate encounter in the unisex bathroom of the diner Tsukinomori-san had called me to—thanks to the lock being broken. It was a pretty awkward reunion, to put it mildly.
“We met again in the worst way possible. But apart from that, I was really glad to see you again.”
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t exactly—”
“I know,” Mashiro cut in. “You didn’t think about anything except the Alliance back then. You made that contract with dad for no other reason than to get its members a better future.”
“Pretty scummy, huh?”
“And do you remember when you started hounding me like a stalker—”
“Yeah, ’cause you were ignoring me. That welcome party was for you, y’know.”
“That didn’t mean you had to go that far, right? Stuffing my mailbox full of posters and following me around after school... You practically pushed me down in that river and got me all wet.”
“Uh, well, you know what it’s like, being young and impulsive... I really wanted you to be a part of our group.”
“Yeah, I know that too. That’s the kinda person you are.” Mashiro giggled, slightly out of breath because of the running. From her face, it looked like she could keep going. She was tougher than she had been back then, probably because she was no longer a shut-in and was following a healthier lifestyle. “And do you remember when we were at Canary-san’s villa...”
The memories kept on coming, one after the other. The path we’d walked together, just like a clip show. It was like coming across an open photo album while packing for a vacation, and taking a little trip down memory lane.
By the time we were done reminiscing, both of us were breathing quite heavily.
“You’re my boyfriend, Aki.”
“Fake boyfriend, yeah.”
“A boyfriend is duty bound to listen to his girlfriend’s wishes, right?”
“Not legally, no. But I do think it’s only fair to hear you out.”
“Good. Well...”
Until then, Mashiro’s voice had come from right next to me. Now, it came from a small distance behind where I expected it to, and I came to an abrupt stop. I turned around to see that Mashiro had stopped too. Her silver bangs shone in the rising morning sun, and between them I could see her eyes sparkling like jewels. They were fixed right on me.
“I want us to break up.”
Tsukinomori Mashiro.
My friend’s little sister, my cousin, my childhood friend, and my fake girlfriend, wanted to break up with me.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Guess she got tired of you being so indecisive all the time, huh?”
“Could be...”
“Only you would take that idea seriously. This is what makes you so useless and dense, y’know that?”
“You know, Ozu, I think spending so much time with Mashiro’s rubbing off on you. It’s not like you to insult me like that.”
“I’m just sayin’ what everyone’s thinking. And I mean everyone.”