“Reina.” My voice came out dry.
Her eyes were wide open—she was just as surprised as me. “Yuuta-kun…” That voice was nostalgic. Her voice, facial expressions, and gestures all dredged up memories of that time.
I’d seen her in that long black coat, red scarf, and pair of tall heels before. Her hair was a little lighter than when we’d dated, but that was definitely the woman I’d once bonded with.
A few seconds passed in silence until the girl next to Reina spoke up. “Who’s this guy? A friend?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Kinda like that,” she replied evasively, looked at me again, and forced a grin. “It’s been a while, huh? How are you doing?”
I sighed inwardly. She was probably just asking to be polite because we were in public. The girl next to her didn’t know me. We had dated for almost a year, so I knew a few of her friends, but this was my first time meeting this one. She went to an all-girls’ school with lots of rich kids, so we didn’t have many mutual acquaintances.
Seeing how curious her friend was, it was clear that she didn’t know anything about our sordid history.
“Well… Not bad, you know,” I answered safely. It had been two months since we’d last met, but that didn’t mean I needed to spill everything to this friend of hers.
Honestly, there was nothing left to say. We’d broken up the day after she cheated on me. Even then, Reina didn’t make excuses. She’d just silently accepted it when I said we needed to break up.
Just two months. A short time when you said it out loud, but back when the wound was fresh, every day passed so slowly and agonizingly that I wanted to throw up. To me, it sure felt like a long time.
When she was my girlfriend, I’d cherished her so much. I had feelings for her that went beyond the word “love.” But once we broke up, we were immediately back to being strangers.
“Are you buying that?” Reina wrung more words out from herself in a desperate attempt at conversation and indicated to the wallet in my hand—the one for Shinohara.
“I guess. It’s a little expensive.”
“O-oh, okay. I hope she likes it.”
“Mm,” I barely replied and then looked back at the display, signaling that I was done talking. I could sense my feelings for her being sorted out.
After we’d broken up, just seeing a picture of her would make my heart practically seize up. Seeing her now had thrown me, yes, but I wasn’t as fragile as I was before. Time would solve this.
“Umm… Am I going to see you again?” she asked.
“What?”
It wasn’t me who responded, but Ayaka, who’d remained silent until now.
Reina looked at her in surprise.
“Are you insane?” Ayaka seethed.
The two of them hadn’t met in person before. I’d tried to arrange a meeting between them while we dated, but the schedules never lined up. Ayaka had seen her face plenty of times, though, so she knew what was going on.
Reina seemed to understand, so she looked away and quickly left the shop.
As she passed me by, she said, “See you.”
After my ex left, I turned to Ayaka. “Hey…”
She glanced in the direction Reina had gone and said, “Sorry. I tried to be calm since you were acting so normal about it, but she just pissed me off.”
“I appreciate the thought. That’s my ex.”
“I know. You’ve shown me so many pictures of her. She’s cute, but not much else.”
“Heh, yeah. I guess.” She probably had a lot of other good aspects, but so did everyone else, right? It’d be rude to say something like that to Ayaka right now. She’d gotten mad for my sake, after all. I let a word of gratitude slip. “Thanks.”
She grinned wryly. “Don’t bother thanking me over that. I didn’t know your ex, and I guess I was kinda mean to her.” Then, she heaved a big sigh to let go of all her rage. “Anyway, we’ve decided on the wallet? I’ll put it all on my card, so just pay me back with cash later.”
Meeting Reina again had dispelled any thoughts of my current mission from my mind, but Ayaka’s words brought me back to earth. She darted for the register, holding the wallet that I’d held in my hand mere moments ago. The bag she planned to buy hung from her other arm. She looked happy as can be, her anger from before all but gone.
“It’s always so exciting to make big purchases.”
“I can’t say I don’t understand, but… Fine, let’s buy the wallet. I’ll pay for it myself.” I figured I could blow off the steam from meeting Reina by spending irresponsibly. If I could give a gift to a friend I owed in the process, then I’d consider that killing two birds with one stone.
“Nope. I’m buying.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Putting it on my card earns me points. You’ll spare five hundred points for me, won’t you?”
“Greedy!”
We wouldn’t banter like this with others around, but we always did when it was just us. I couldn’t complain about her making my life easier, though.
“Okay, you just go wait outside for me.”
“Yeah, yeah…” I reluctantly gave up, and she gleefully skipped to the register.
After confirming that she was paying, I looked in the direction that Reina had went one last time.
My ex-girlfriend had already disappeared into the crowd.
✦ ✦ ✦
About five minutes later, Ayaka left the store, said, “Here you go. This one’s yours,” and handed me the bag with the wallet inside.
I noticed something else inside the bag, so I pulled it out to check.
“This is…” It was a key case. From the gentle black luster, I could tell that it wasn’t cheap.
“All yours,” she smiled.
“Huh? Are you sure? And why, all of a sudden?”
“Birthday present. I know, it was in July, so I missed it by like half a year, but I don’t think I’ve ever given you a birthday gift before.”
“Huh? Really?! It’s awesome. Are you sure I can have it?!” I was surprised by how loud my voice was.
Gifts tend to make both the giver and the receiver nervous. The giver worries over whether they’ll like it, and the receiver worries that they might react poorly and make the giver feel bad. I was especially bad at receiving gifts, so even when I was genuinely happy, my reactions could be a little incoherent. But this time, I was genuinely excited to get something I’d really wanted. How long had it been since I’d reacted to a gift so well without worrying about how I’d react?
Ayaka smiled in satisfaction. “Of course, it’s yours. No problem.”
“Man, really, thank you so much.”
“If you’re happy, then I’m happy. Anyway, let’s get going.”
“Huh? Where?”
“The buffet! You’re the first man I’ve ever given a gift to, so thank me with your attitude and your money!”
“Okay, you were doing so well until the money part!” I shouted, prompting Ayaka to laugh out loud. Without skipping a beat, she excitedly started her trek toward the hotel with the buffet.
I followed, recalling the words she’d just said. That was her first time giving a man a gift?
We were good friends, but that didn’t mean I knew everything about her. I’d kind of assumed that she gave gifts often. My lips relaxed into a smile as I watched her speed-walk impatiently ahead.
She probably liked our relationship as it was—two great friends who’d never cross the line into romance. But still, who could blame me for being happy that I was the first guy she’d done something like this for?
My heart had fully recovered from my troubling reunion with Reina.