Chapter 15

Was it really okay for every day to go so smoothly? As Kagiura and Niibashi stood at the shoe rack changing out of their outdoor shoes, he decided to open up to his friend. Niibashi was perceptive and intelligent enough that he seemed to be able to follow even the most out-of-context statement; it made him easy to talk to. “Say you’ve got someone who wakes you up in the morning, eats all your least favorite foods for you, helps you study, is kind to you, and when they suddenly break into a smile, it takes your breath away. It would be hard not to like a person like that, right?” Kagiura asked, adding that this person even visited you on summer vacation. Niibashi looked a little exasperated. “Kagiura! Are you mooning over your girlfriend first thing in the morning? This is an all-boys school—you know that kind of talk puts a target on your back!” “This isn’t about my girlfriend!” “Ahhh, I know what you mean,” Niibashi said with a bit of a grin, immediately picking up on what Kagiura was getting at. Kagiura meant Hirano, whom he was always going on about. “Yeah. Sigh… I think I might really like him.” Indeed, the ability to say he might not “really like him” seemed to decline every day recently. “You obviously do! And you’re still saying you only might?!” “It’s still might!” When he had to say it out loud, he liked to feel that there was still room to pull the wool over his own eyes—even if it was mostly pretense. “Well, that’s great and all, but we’ve got a committee meeting today, so get your head in the game.” Niibashi sighed, but Kagiura knew his friend really enjoyed the student council and committee meetings and looking after everything. He might act like it had been foisted on him, but he really took it seriously. What was more, he was being considerate of Kagiura. Just like Hirano. Even though Hirano had his own studying to do, even though he was only a year older, he was always sure to ask Kagiura if he was doing okay and reminded him to make sure he caught up on his studies once the cultural festival was over. What Kagiura felt was too vague to be called true love; he was still at the point of might, but there was no question that he felt affection for Hirano. Watching him, so dedicated and so cool, makes me realize I have to step up, too. It was a lot like basketball practice, where a failure to pay attention could get you hurt. They were in the home stretch on preparations for the cultural fest, and it could get distracting, but in order to get the most out of the experience, he had to see his responsibilities through to the end. “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Niibashi,” he said. Preparations for the cultural festival were coming along nicely. So nicely, in fact, that although Kagiura had begged off basketball practice to go to a committee meeting, the meeting wrapped up in no time at all, and he found himself with some free time on his hands. Normally, he would have gone to join practice, even if he did have to jump in midway, but somehow he just wasn’t feeling like it today. Instead, he decided to head straight back to the dorm. It wasn’t even five o’clock. I wonder if Hirano’s back yet, he thought as he knocked and opened the door. “I’m back,” he said. Normally, he would have heard Hirano reply “Welcome back,” but this time there was no answer. Hirano was there, yes—but he was standing in the middle of the room, dressed in a woman’s yukata. “Urk,” he said. “Y-yukata…,” Kagiura said, staring openly. It looked fantastic on him. Even though it was technically a woman’s outfit. “I was checking the fit,” Hirano said. “You realize you’ve got the wrong side on top?” asked Kagiura. There was no way Hirano didn’t know the way he had it, right side on top, was only for dead people, but Kagiura felt obliged to make sure. “I’m supposed to be a ghost,” Hirano snapped. That explained it. “Ahhh, for your haunted house… So you’re going to be one of the jump scares, Hirano?” “Yeah, I am… Oh, that reminds me. Don’t come to our haunted house.” “Why not?” It would have made sense if Hirano had insisted that he show up, but telling him not to come? That was unexpected, and Kagiura felt a little put out. Of course he wanted to see Hirano’s haunted house. “I’m embarrassed to try to spook people I know.” After a pause, Kagiura said, “Which ghost are you, Hirano?” “I’ll tell you if you promise not to come.” Kagiura couldn’t make that promise; he knew he couldn’t keep it. Finally, he said simply, “I do want to come.” Hirano heaved a sigh and then, uncharacteristically, pulled the dividing curtain between their sides of the room and disappeared behind it. He was probably changing again. But even Kagiura could tell that his annoyance was just a cover for his embarrassment.