Obviously, I enjoyed her compliments…but I couldn’t take them at face value.
“It’s better to agonize over it,” I said, purely on reflex. Even I wasn’t sure how I expected her to interpret this. Both she and Kyou looked a little confused.
Thinking about it, what I probably meant to say was this: The reason I wanted to travel was because I felt like it wasn’t in my nature to sit still all the time, and English was a useful language to know, and I wanted to make enough money to theoretically support a family, so I just went for whatever offered me all those things. Looking at it that way, perhaps I hadn’t fully thought it through—I’d simply shrugged and said “good enough.” Sure, it did interest me, but it wasn’t my number one choice. It was possible I wasn’t giving my future the attention it deserved, and compared to that, Elle’s careful consideration seemed like the smarter option.
But I failed to adequately express this, and before I knew it, we had arrived at the school store.
Today, Kyou pulled me aside and said he wanted to talk to me—another rare occurrence. That said, I knew we’d just be chatting over our food in the cafeteria like always. But it worked out perfectly, since there was something I was meaning to ask him, too. It was about Elle and her sadness. Kyou and Mickey were close to her, so I figured one of them might know something I didn’t.
But when we took our seats at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria, Kyou hit me with something I wasn’t expecting:
“Do you think something’s going on with Miyazato-san?”
Outwardly, Elle was still wearing her usual soft smile, so I was surprised to learn that Kyou had noticed something was off. After all, I’d only noticed thanks to my power. But while I was mildly impressed…at the same time, he didn’t seem to know any of the details.
“Elle? What about her?”
“Well, ever since yesterday she’s been sort of…distant? So I thought maybe she was mad.”
I thought about teasing him, like “What are you, her boyfriend?” but that would make things complicated in more ways than one, so I bit my tongue.
“Huh. Come to think of it, she has been kinda quiet.”
“It feels like she’s avoiding me.”
“Avoiding you? What about that trip to the school store?”
“Trust me, it was extremely awkward until you got there. I think I must’ve upset her somehow…”
As I took in Kyou’s sincere concern—kinda off-topic, no offense—I found myself proud of what a good person he was. When my friends seemed sad or angry, I never let it really affect me too much. I’d think of a solution, and then take action; it was a matter-of-fact kind of approach, but also one that took a certain level of emotional ignorance.
Guys like Kyou, however, were more sensitive. They stopped to consider whether they might be the source of the problem, which, in turn, kept them from just taking action like I could. He once described me as having an “aggressive attitude” with girls, but if you asked me, that more accurately described him.
“Maybe you said something rude that pissed her off? Called her fat or something?”
“I would never say that! I’m not you! And besides, Miyazato-san isn’t fat!”
“Okay, well, maybe you said something like ‘Girls ought to be more athletic, like Miki-san!’ That’d piss her off for sure.”
“Man, why is she avoiding me when I’m nowhere near as rude as you…?”
I let out an evil chuckle; Kyou sighed and slumped his shoulders. I wasn’t able to tease him much the past few weeks due to Mickey’s anomaly, but I was glad to see he had recovered enough to complain about me. It really helped to lighten the mood.
“I can’t think of a good reason why she’d avoid you, to be honest. I could see Looney doing it as part of some scheme, but Elle’s not that kind of girl.”
“Yeahhhh… Hmmm… Could you ask Miki-san if she knows anything?”
“Ask her yourself! Actually, that reminds me…”
I was about to ask him about what Looney had said to me two days ago. After all, she made it sound like Mickey had turned that guy down for a clear reason. This led me to believe that Looney or Kyou must have done something to discourage her. Obviously, it was old news by now, so it didn’t really matter, but I thought it might help me get a clue, so I wanted to know. Maybe it tied back to Elle somehow.
But I stopped myself before asking, because I was seated facing the entrance, and I’d just seen Mickey and Elle walk in. As I froze like a deer in headlights, Mickey spotted us and waved eagerly. I waved back, and then Kyou looked over his shoulder. The pip over his head instantly switched; maybe he was reacting to Elle’s presence just behind Mickey. As for the girls, I could see their emotional reactions with perfect clarity…but I couldn’t breathe a word of it, of course.
Mickey sat down next to me, and Elle timidly sat down next to Kyou, so I struck up a casual conversation. “You guys have your parent-teacher conferences today, right?”
“Yep! Me and Elle are fully prepared to listen to them talk about how great we are!”
“I wouldn’t hold your breath if I were you, Mickey.”
“I’m gonna beat your ass, punk.”
I had expected her to punch me, but she was in a good mood, and her joy-spade didn’t waver. Instead, she let me off with a warning.
“Anyway, I heard it’s supposed to be sunny for the next two days! Man, I’m so glad the rain won’t ruin our cherry blossom picnic. Everybody remember to bring your assigned items!” she exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.
I had completely forgotten the picnic was scheduled for the day after tomorrow, but if I admitted this, Mickey would probably beat my ass for real. Lately, I’d been thinking so much, I kept zoning out.
Anyway, yes, we (and by “we,” I mean the same five-person friend group we had established late last year) had decided to throw a somewhat belated cherry blossom picnic this weekend. It was all Mickey’s idea, since she didn’t want us to “lose sight of the important stuff” while we were busy dealing with college entrance exams. Then Looney picked a date, and with that, our plans were set. Naturally, Kyou and Elle couldn’t possibly turn down an invitation from Mickey, and as for me, I loved seasonal events, so I was on board, too. Looney didn’t really care about going to look at cherry blossoms, but she kept whining about us all going on a “double date” without her, so she didn’t have a choice.
Now that I thought about it, however, it felt like this maybe wasn’t the best timing. Elle was still smiling like always, but she was leaning slightly away from Kyou…and naturally, Kyou had noticed. Both of them had sadness-clubs overhead. But Mickey carried on with a big smile regardless.
“Aren’t you excited?! Because I’m excited!”
She didn’t sweat the small stuff. I liked that about her, but every time her cheerful voice echoed through the cafeteria, Elle’s sadness seemed to swell bigger and bigger. I contemplated talking to her about it… But then again, even if I asked Mickey to ask Elle on my behalf, she was downright terrible at playing it cool.
Mickey saw my stiff smile and misinterpreted it. “What, you think I’m childish for getting excited about cherry blossoms?” She looked at Elle. “Stay away from him, okay? He’s totally dead inside.”
At this, Elle smiled stiffly to match me, but Mickey didn’t seem to notice. Instead, she kept going on and on about how “excited” she was. No way was I going to be able to use her for my purposes.
For what was probably the first time, I found myself wishing Mickey had a power like mine. Once she spotted something she wanted, she charged straight at it like a homing missile, and no one could stop her. The rest of us could only watch her go with nervous smiles on our faces.
That said, I did shoot Kyou a look that said: Take note—this is the girl you like.
“No clue. I wouldn’t know,” Looney replied.
“For real?”
“My prince doesn’t trust me? I’m going to cry,” she sniffed. “Actually, I think it’s just allergies.”
She pulled a college guidebook from the shelf. Likewise, to escape the guilt that sprang from using the counselor’s office as our secret meeting place, I grabbed a book at random. Naturally, the counselor in question was nowhere to be seen.