“I, um, just wanted to talk to you for a sec… Am I bothering you?” asked Hasebe.
“No, you’re not a bother,” I replied. “I don’t have a problem with you, Hasebe.”
“…Thanks,” she replied.
I supposed Hasebe might have thought I had an issue with her thanks to the fact I was calling her by her last name, but that level of distance was good. It would be more problematic for me to go as far as to call her by her given name, Haruka, at this stage.
“Let’s move a little ways away from here, though. This place kind of sticks out,” I told her.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right…” said Hasebe.
We walked toward the end of the mall, near the wall, so as not to stand out. There was one student who was still somewhat watching me from a distance, but I didn’t think we’d draw too much attention if we talked here.
“We haven’t talked like this since the culture festival,” I remarked.
“Yeah, you’re right… Kiyo—um, I mean, Ayanokouji-kun. Has anything changed for you recently? Wait, that’s a weird question. What am I even saying?” said Hasebe.
I’m sure it wasn’t like there wasn’t anything that she wanted to talk about, but maybe it was just that her head was still a mess because we just started this conversation so suddenly. She couldn’t seem to get her words to come out right.
“Nothing’s especially changed, no. For better or worse, things are the same as usual,” I replied.
“I see… Well, um, I feel like I’m getting opportunities to smile a little more these days. Though I honestly don’t know if it’s because I’ve been able to accept what happened with Airi at the culture festival or if it’s simply because enough time has passed.”
No matter how sad past events were, wounds heal, albeit gradually. The more time passed, the more sadness would fade along with the memory. Of course, that wasn’t as easy as one might think. A painful past stays a painful past, and deep scars will remain, of course.
“Um, so hey, later, would you…um…” began Hasebe.
She was speaking in fragments. At that moment, I gently curled the index finger of my right hand two or three times.
“Well, I um… You see…” stammered Hasebe. She was struggling desperately to put words together but wasn’t connecting them well. “Um… So, later, would you… I mean, together with Miyacchi and Yukimu—”
“Oh ho? A clandestine meeting in a place like this, eh, senpai?”
Just as Hasebe was finally about to say the thing that she wanted to say, a shadow fell over her. It was none other than Amasawa herself who had run over and shown up with such magnificent timing.
“You’ve got Karuizawa-senpai as your girlfriend, and now you’re going ahead and plotting to make this big titty girl your next one?” asked Amasawa.
I’m sure that Amasawa knew OAA details and more for all of the students, but she seemed to be intentionally playing dumb.
“We’re just classmates,” I told her.
My own thoughts aside, I’m sure that Amasawa’s appearance here wasn’t a welcome development for Hasebe either.
“So, hey, I need to talk with my senpai for a minute. Do you mind?” asked Amasawa, in an almost melodic tone.
Amasawa’s aggressive, cloying attitude, which seemed to indicate something beyond the level of a casual inquiry, caused Hasebe to distance herself.
“I’ll just go… I’ve got two people waiting for me anyway,” said Hasebe.
After responding to Amasawa with a light nod, she turned and quickly walked away.
“Looks like I intruded, huh?” asked Amasawa.
“Oh yeah, incredibly so,” I replied.
“That’s so mean!” Amasawa said. “And you’re the one who called me over, senpai.”
I was being a little mean, but she was right. It wasn’t a coincidence that Amasawa showed up in the middle of the conversation. Amasawa had spotted me at the same time that I had approached Hasebe, so I signaled her with my finger to come over and join me. It wasn’t any surprise that Amasawa had noticed my signal and acted accordingly, without hesitation.
“Did you not want to talk to Hasebe-senpai?” asked Amasawa.
“It’s not like that. I just didn’t want to spend any more time on something that had no value,” I replied.
“That’s cold,” remarked Amasawa.
Amasawa was free to interpret that however she wanted, and Hasebe was quite free to think whatever she wanted as well.
“Looks like the first-years are busy with their End-of-Year Special Exam, huh?” I observed.
“Yeah, they seem to be kinda panicking and running around like chickens with their heads cut off. As for me, I’m just carefully supervising, pretty much,” said Amasawa, but she quickly amended her statement. “Oh, I didn’t really mean to be an unwanted annoyance today or anything… I just wanted to report on what happened at the training camp, when I attacked Nagumo-senpai but the tables got turned on me unexpectedly.”
I was somewhat concerned about whether or not something had happened, but since there wasn’t any particular mention of any students getting expelled, especially from the first-years, I just ignored it. I had thought that there was still a possibility that she hadn’t made direct contact with Nagumo, but apparently, that wasn’t the case. If so, then it sounded like Amasawa had been planning to withdraw from school during the camp. Ultimately, however, she had decided against it and was here before me.
“I still don’t have my answer yet. But I decided to stay here at school for a while longer with the hope for a better future, rather than taking out my anger on Nagumo-senpai,” Amasawa said. “I think that I’ll probably have more free time on my hands than I know what to do with, so if anything fun happens, please let me join in.”
“In that case, could you do me a favor during your free time?” I asked.
“Huh? Sure, that’s totally fine… What is it?” asked Amasawa.
“I’d like to know more about Nanase Tsubasa,” I replied.
“Hmm? That girl’s your knight, isn’t she, senpai?” she asked. “Don’t you already know plenty about her without having to go through the trouble of investigating? Are you saying she’s a threat?”
“I don’t really think she’s a threat. I just want to know what she’s really after,” I replied.