“S-Satomi-kun and I aren’t...”
As Harumi muttered his name, Koutarou finally met up with Kenji and turned back towards Harumi.
“Senpai! I know it’s sudden, but I have to go now! I’ll see you the day after tomorrow!”
“Y-Yes! The day after tomorrow, then! Goodbye, Satomi-kun!”
Despite being caught off guard by Koutarou’s timing, Harumi was still somehow able to answer.
“Goodbye!”
Koutarou bowed his head and left the courtyard with Kenji.
“...”
Harumi clasped her hands to her chest and watched Koutarou as he walked away.
“...I get it. You’re not dating, but you’re interested in him, right?”
Studying Harumi’s behavior, that was the conclusion the young girl reached.
“Wh-Wh-Whaaat?!”
Harumi’s face turned bright red. She was absolutely speechless. She desperately searched for the words to deny it, but nothing came to her.
“It’s okay, I’ll keep it a secret.”
“...”
In the end, Harumi was unable to say anything back to the young, smiling girl. She simply stayed quiet.
“Does your club president hate me or something?”
“Huh?”
“When I called out while you guys were talking, she got really nervous all of a sudden, remember?”
“Really?”
“...You could at least notice something that obvious.”
Kenji smiled wryly at Koutarou as he got on his bike, which he had left at Corona House. In the morning, Kenji would take the train to Harukaze Station and use his bike to get to Corona House from there. And once he met up with Koutarou, they would walk to Harukaze High together.
“I don’t know if she hates you or not, but if a scumbag like you approached her, she’d be tainted. Don’t get near her. Shoo, shoo!”
“Come on now...”
Koutarou smirked at Kenji’s reaction, but his expression soon turned more serious.
“Well, to be honest, it does seem like she is a bit shy.”
While they had only spoken a few times, Koutarou had at least picked up on that.
“Hmm, she seems pretty fine with you though.”
“A lot happened when we first met, you know.”
“Ah, you mean that time with a real scumbag.”
“Right. She was grateful back then, but we’ve bumped into each other a couple of times since. That’s probably why.”
Harumi was normally meek and bashful. If they hadn’t met under such circumstances, she probably would have been nervous around Koutarou as well. At least, that’s what Koutarou figured.
“That’s how it is. So leave her be until she gets used to you, scumbag.”
“Would you stop calling me that?”
Normally, Kenji was the one who was popular with women.
“Just understand that it’s not a laughing matter, Mackenzie-kun.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Kenji knew he was mostly joking. He smiled and shook his head as he turned his bike around.
“Well then, Kou, tomorrow’s the entrance ceremony, so make sure you get to bed early.”
“I know, I know. You don’t have to worry. I got up just fine today, right?”
“Right. Well, see you.”
“Yeah. Be safe.”
Kenji got to pedaling, and Koutarou returned to Corona House. Neither of them looked back. It was how they usually parted ways.
The door to room 106 unlocked with a click. While the door looked old, the landlord, Shizuka, made sure to change the locks every time a tenant changed. Thanks to that, it didn’t give of the impression of a worn out apartment. The door didn’t even creak as it opened, a sign that it had been well maintained.
“I’m back,” Koutarou muttered to himself as he entered the empty room.
As expected, coming home to an empty house is boring...
The image of his mother flashed through Koutarou’s mind. He recalled the sight of her welcoming him home. Until just a few years ago, that was a daily occurrence.
“You’re finally back, you thickheaded jerk!”
However, a voice rang out from the back of the room, interrupting his nostalgic moment.
“What?!”
Surprised, Koutarou hurriedly threw off his shoes and ran to the inner room.
“In the end, you never noticed anything last night, but I’ll chase you out today for sure!”
Koutarou was met with the sight of a small girl in a summer dress as he entered the room. She looked several years younger than him. With her slender body and short stature, she looked to be in elementary school. But her strong eyebrows, large eyes, and frowning mouth left quite an impression.
“Plan number one! Start up with the noises even though it’s still evening!”
Koutarou wasn’t sure if the girl had noticed him or not, but she began loudly clapping her hands in the middle of the room.
“What...?”
The sight of this girl clapping and running through the room left Koutarou astonished.
“What is she doing...?”
Koutarou was too distracted by what the girl was doing to worry about how she had gotten into his room in the first place.
“It was a mistake to wait until night to try and wake up this thickheaded dweeb with a scare! I’m so on top of my game today! I’m a genius to think of starting up with the racket while he’s still awake!”
The girl continued running around the room while happily clapping her hands.
“Now get scared and leave, you dimwit! This place is haunted!”
The girl finally turned towards Koutarou. As she did, she saw him staring at her.
“...”
“Surely you’ll leave now!”
The girl stopped moving.
“Huh?”
She hesitantly clapped one final time. And the two simply stared at each other.
“...”
“...”
“...What are you doing here?”
Koutarou was the one to break the silence. He pointed to the girl’s hands, still pressed together, and called her out in a dumbfounded tone. It was only reasonable he’d feel that way upon returning home after a long day, only to find a girl going mad in his apartment.
“Whaaaaat?!”
In response, the girl opened her eyes wide in surprise. Her already large eyes became completely round.
“H-Hey, you! You can see me?!”
The girl leaned forward and brought her face closer to Koutarou’s.
“Of course I can see you. What are you talking about...?”
“Y-You can’t just see me, but you can hear me too?!”
“What are you talking about...?”
Koutarou had no idea what the girl was trying to say, and tilted his head to the side in confusion.
“B-But, you couldn’t see me yesterday. You couldn’t hear my voice either!”
“Huh?”
The girl wasn’t making any sense to Koutarou, and his confusion reached its peak.