In the first place, I didn’t have any evidence that Makoto had been in my room. After all, I’d been half asleep. I could’ve totally thought I saw something that hadn’t actually been there. It might’ve been a mixture of a dream and reality.
Makoto really interacted with me like one of the guys despite being a girl. Though it wasn’t impossible, it was hard to believe that she’d do something straight out of Minami’s playbook. Has she been acting like we’re friends while secretly crushing on me this entire time? I don’t wanna let my imagination go out of control. I left that part of me in middle school. I’ll treat her normally like nothing happened. As long as I do that, I’m sure everything’ll work out.
“Hey, Kogure,” suddenly Makoto lowered her voice and brought her mouth close to my ear. “Did you hear about Maehara and Ozaki-san? Apparently at the graduation ceremony...”
She’s so close! I could feel hives breaking out underneath my sleeves. The blood was leaving my head, and my field of view was narrowing. My body suddenly felt cold, but I couldn’t stop sweating.
“Hmm? You okay, Kogure?” Makoto asked, confused as she took her hand off my shoulder.
“I’m gonna go say hi to the others,” I was somehow able to squeak out.
“Oh, sure.”
I left Makoto and was able to recover a bit. It was definitely a good choice to wear long sleeves today. It would’ve been easy to tell what was happening to me if I’d worn short sleeves.
There’s no doubt about it... The way she was casually touching me and getting close to me... Makoto’s trying to make a move on me. She’s probably been trying to do that since middle school. Despite acting like she just wanted to be friends, she was waiting patiently for her opportunity to strike. It’s been like that the whole time. She’s seen me as a love interest all this time! Dammit! I can’t believe her! She knows I haven’t noticed her feelings for me and now she’s acting all touchy-feely, breathing into my ear, and doing all these flirty things! She’s lust incarnate!
“Hey, you okay?”
As I shook with fear, disappointment, and rage, I heard a voice from right next to me, making me jump. Standing right there was Akatsuki Minami. She looked at me as if she was concerned. Dammit! I forgot that she was going to be here too! I already have my hands full with Makoto, but if she’s gonna act like she did yesterday again...
“Are you okay? You don’t look too good.”
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine. Just hungry.”
“Oh, okay then.” Hmm? She’s...behaving herself? After how unhinged she acted yesterday? “See ya.”
In the midst of my confusion, Minami left. What’s going on? It was hard to believe she was the same person from yesterday. Despite looking at me like I was a prime slab of meat yesterday, it was like she wasn’t looking at me at all anymore. It was a complete one-eighty. It was as if the world had turned upside down overnight.
Mizuto Irido: A Restless Outsider
Kogure: Sorry I hung up. My stomach hurt all of a sudden, but I’m good now.
He sounded like he was making it up. I wasn’t going to pry if that was what he was saying, but I wished he could come up with an excuse that was a little more believable. With that kind of crappy excuse, even someone like me who liked staying out of other people’s business couldn’t help but worry.
But based on what he’d said yesterday, it seemed like he’d figured out who the person in his room might have been. If it was someone he didn’t know, I hoped he’d report it to the police, but if it was someone he knew, I had a feeling he’d try to solve it by himself.
I looked at the time on my phone and saw that it was ten in the morning. It was early for someone like me who was on vacation, but dad had already gotten up and left the room despite drinking until late last night. I slowly got up and pulled out a change of clothes from my bag. After changing, I used my hands to fix my hair and then went to the living room.
“Morning,” Yume said.
She was sitting on a cushion and playing on her phone.
“Morning...” I said, my voice a bit hoarse from just waking up.
“Breakfast’s on the dining table.”
I nodded and went to the dining room. There, I found a bowl of rice, a plate of grilled fish, and a bowl of miso soup, all covered in plastic wrap. Usually I ate a piece of bread for breakfast, but as usual, there were real meals at the Tanesato household. Three dishes is a little heavy for me, but oh well. I’m sure I’ll work up an appetite while eating. I put the cold miso soup into the microwave and took the rice and fish back to the living room where Yume was.
As I entered, she looked up. “You’re eating here?”
“May as well.”
By the time I put the rice and fish down, the microwave was finished, so I went back to get my miso soup. When I came back and put it down next to the rest of the food, I realized I’d forgotten chopsticks, so I went back again and decided to get some tea while I was at it.
When I got back, I finally dug in. As I did, Yume put her phone down and watched me eat.
“Today’s the festival, right?” Yume asked.
“Yeah,” I said, sipping my miso soup.
“Well... What do you wanna do this year?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, are you gonna go off on your own again?”
“Oh...”
Last year, I’d gone off on my own when the fireworks started and watched them from a deserted shrine, but Yume had come, and...