Saturday, April 8.
That morning, Sakuta was woken by the sound of rainfall outside.
He crawled out of bed and parted the curtains, feeling gloomy.
This was no April shower.
“Perfect day for a drive,” he grumbled, feeling grayer than the clouds above.
He hauled himself to the living room, where he found Kaede in panda pajamas, getting breakfast ready.
When she spotted him, she called, “Good morning, Sakuta!” with a cheery smile.
On the table was the usual breakfast, and two stuffed lunch boxes. She must have been cooling them down before putting the lids on.
“You made lunches?”
“I’m a third-year in high school now, so I can handle this much before breakfast!”
“But it’s a Saturday.”
“The Animal Club is going to the zoo to see the pandas!”
“Hence the lunches. Wow. You’re even making crab cream croquettes?” he asked, peering in.
The oblong croquettes were resting on a bed of lettuce.
“Those are frozen.”
“And these tasty-looking chicken nuggets?”
He pointed to the next dish over.
“Delicious frozen food!”
“And the rolled eggs?”
“I made those!”
“Can’t wait for lunch.”
“It’ll be great!”
Kaede was certainly a morning person. She left at eight, all eager and excited.
“I’m outta here, Sakuta!”
“Say hi to the pandas for me.”
Kaede was in her Minegahara uniform, going to high school. She’d said she wanted to go to the same school he had—and now she was, keeping busy with her club.
Even if this was an illusion conjured up by Adolescence Syndrome, he couldn’t help but have feelings about the reality before him. It made him feel all warm and fuzzy. And he knew those emotions were real, so he couldn’t pretend they weren’t happening.
✦ ✦ ✦
Once Kaede was off to the zoo, Sakuta did the dishes and took care of the laundry. He cleaned up Nasuno’s litter box and brushed her fur.
He still had plenty of time before he’d agreed to meet Miori, so he took the schedule planner out of the rucksack he used for college and sat down at the living room table, scowling at the syllabi.
First, he put down everything required, then began filling in the gaps with electives. And he added in classes required to get a teaching license.
This killed a shocking amount of time, and before he knew it, the clock showed eleven AM.
He ate an early lunch—every bite of the box Kaede had made for him. He changed clothes in his room, grabbed an umbrella, and went out.
The rain had died down a bit but was still a steady drizzle.
With the rain drumming on his umbrella, Sakuta walked to Fujisawa Station, avoiding the puddles.
He went through the JR gates to the platform below. About the same size crowd was waiting in either direction.
The inbound train came first, and Sakuta got on, then got off a station later at Ofuna.
He went up the stairs and out the biggest set of gates. This was within the range of the pass he’d bought for school—handy.
He looked around for Miori, but there was no sign of her.
Not wanting to get in the way, he moved to the side of the green booth.
Foot traffic was relatively light. There was still a decent number of passengers disembarking when a train pulled in, but at this hour, the station was never too crowded to meet up with people.
He’d know if Miori showed.
The clock had almost hit twelve.
The needle moved, and it was officially noon.
No Miori.
“……”
He checked the station exit, left, then right.
Miori had not arrived.
He checked the right exit—the east side of the station—once more, then the left exit—the west side.
While he repeated that, time marched on.
It was now 12:05.
Still no Miori.
Ten minutes passed, fifteen, twenty.
When the clock showed 12:25, Sakuta briefly left the south gate and headed for a different exit around the outside of the station.
He went up the stairs to the north gates, but no signs of Miori.
Just to be extra sure, he checked the gates of the Shonan Monorail, too.
All he’d actually said was “Meet me at the gates of Ofuna Station.” He’d hoped she was just waiting at a different exit. It did seem oddly plausible that Miori might deliberately go wait at the monorail gates instead.
But sadly, she was nowhere near the Shonan Monorail.
Shrugging, Sakuta went back to the main exit, to the south.
She was already forty minutes late.
“Maybe she’s not coming.”
This was certainly beyond running “a little behind.”
Best to assume this was deliberate. Intentional.
Potentially, he could wait all day, and she’d never show.
Aware of that possibility, Sakuta decided to tough it out.
By this point, he’d been waiting at Ofuna Station for well over an hour.
It was now 1:26.
He’d given up on scanning his surroundings.
He was just staring into space.
Another ten minutes went by…
“Wow, he’s still here.”
A wooden line reading from close at hand.
Sakuta turned toward the voice.
The very person he’d been waiting for had finally arrived. She wore a military jacket over a collared dress. Her hair was loosely half-up, like she’d just gotten out of the bath. As he took in her usual bored expression, Sakuta could see himself reflected in her eyes.
“You know, Mitou.”
“What?”
“Is that really what you say after showing up an hour and thirty-six minutes late?”
“Sorry, I just wasn’t sure what to wear,” she explained, sounding like a girlfriend late to a date. “But who waits that long? I was just here to make sure you’d already left.”
“Mai waited an hour and thirty-eight minutes for our first date.”
“What the hell were you doing?”
“Exchanging butt kicks with a high school girl and getting yelled at by the police.”
“That’s preposterous,” Miori cackled.
Her laugh always seemed like she was having fun.
And didn’t let anyone else get closer.
“Azusagawa,” she said, lining up next to him.
“What?”
“You want me to come forward, right? Tell everyone I’m the real Touko Kirishima?”
Her eyes were on the station crowds.
“If you don’t, Mai really will become her.”
“Everyone seems happy about it. It’s all good.”
“It’s not good,” he insisted.
“But it’s not hurting anyone.”
Miori wasn’t backing down.
“If Mai’s workload gets any worse, I’ll never get to flirt with her.”
“Ah-ha. That is a serious concern,” she said, sounding not the least bit concerned.
“Mitou, are you cool with it?”
“Cool with what?”
“With Mai stealing Touko Kirishima from you.”
Sakuta looked her right in the eye, and she shifted her gaze—but without a trace of awkwardness.
“Touko loved Mai. She’d be delighted.”
It didn’t sound like she was making excuses.
But it also didn’t sound like she really meant it.
“Then is this what you sang for?”
“……”
“It isn’t.”
“First, can I ask one thing?”
“What?”
“Weren’t we supposed to take a drive?”
“I’ve got a rental car reserved.”
They could talk more in the car.
Sakuta led the way away from the gates and toward the station’s east exit.